love you mean it

I had an excellent day all in all - and I got a truly excellent amount of sleep last night, which helped. I'm still congested and snot-filled, and I'm still not 100%, but I didn't let it stop me from enjoying my day.

I got up later than previous days, but early enough to grab breakfast and chat with a couple of writers from my small group for awhile. Then I sat at the cafe and nursed a cold brew while scribbling in my notebook, which was v enjoyable. At some point I decamped to my room to change into shorts since the day warmed up, and then I spent some quality time this afternoon with others from my small group.

We didn't have a workshop scheduled this morning (there were various optional tings instead), but a bunch of us met up to discuss our work independently. There were student readings tonight and more tomorrow night, for which people can sign up for a three-minute slot. Three minutes isn't much time, so some of us met up to read our things to each other to get some practice with timing + feedback on whether it was working. It was really fun to do, and I'm enjoying getting to know some of the people in my group more - and it's too bad that we only have two more class sessions left.

Sadly I had to bail to do another meeting with my boss and Adit, but that only took an hour and I ate a sandwich while we talked, so it could be worse. Then I did some personal work, ate dinner, and dialed into a special session of city council. That meant I missed the first few readings tonight, but I caught several people I wanted to see, and had a glass of wine with a couple of my classmates, so that was great.

And now I need to go to bed - goodnight!

you're too sweet for me

I had an excellent day at my writing workshop - I'm starting to make some friends, and I'm really enjoying my breakout group. I also figured out my nutrition situation - I had a bigger breakfast (clearly their strong suit), bought a sandwich for lunch (meals are included at the dining hall, but I wasn't in the mood for lentils; I had to pay for the sandwich at the cafe, but it was one of the best sandwiches I've had in a long time, so it was #worthit), and then had a reasonably acceptable dinner.

I was, however, quite tired - while my cold is improving, I got less than six hours of sleep last night, and I woke up to do a bit of writing before class at nine, so I was wiped out. So after the workshop ended, I attempted a nap, then grabbed aforementioned sandwich, talked to some people, took care of various tings, and then journaled/napped in the sun. Unfortunately I had to spend two hours on a day job call in the late afternoon, but I ended in time to grab dinner before going to the evening readings. They were all quite good, so that was v enjoyable.

And now I'm going to go to bed and attempt to get eight hours of sleep for the first time in a week - my sleep debt on my oura ring is the highest I've ever seen it, so it's time to prioritize some sleep over anything else. Goodnight!

but i want you to want me too

I had an excellent first day at my retreat, although it started off a bit rough - I did not sleep well last night due to my cold + the fact that my bed creaks whenever I move, and so the morning was painful. But I grabbed breakfast, grabbed cold brew, and then had three hours of class (?), which was a very long and good discussion on place.

After that, I came back to my room and took a quick nap, and then I grabbed lunch. I found an adirondack chair by the pond in which to journal / work on my assigned writing prompt this afternoon, and I did do some writing, but I also did quite a bit of napping in the sun. Then I went to an afternoon panel session, spent some time talking to my mom, relaxed a bit more, and then grabbed dinner. When I was done eating, I went to this evening's readings, which were from four more faculty/staff members, and all of them were excellent and v. inspiring.

Then I came back to my room, though about going to bed, and instead wrote for the last two hours. But now I really do need to sleep if I'm going to get enough rest for tomorrow's workshop. Goodnight!

i'm taking a [amtrak] on the hudson river line

I am feeling slightly better today - my throat isn't quite as bad, so I was able to sleep last night, but my nose is running and my cough is still acting up, which may make for some awkwardness in a bunch of small group writing sessions this week.

But I woke up this morning feeling like some sun might help, so I grabbed a cold brew and sat in Madison Square Park (not to be confused with Madison Square Garden) and journaled while people watching. The city was very quiet this morning, likely because everyone was out late celebrating last night - all the guys at the front desk of my hotel were running on a couple of hours of sleep since they were the 6am shift, but they all claimed it was worth it. It was a v fun week to be in NYC even if I did get sick, and I guess I'm now a Knicks fan until next year.

After I was done journaling, I grabbed an amazing gluten free bagel with salmon and cream cheese from the bagel place in my hotel - and now I'm bitter that I didn't know they had amazing gluten free bagels until today, because I would have had one literally every day if I'd realized. Then I was cutting it close to finish packing, but I trimmed my bangs, showered, packed, and checked out exactly at my checkout time. I left my bags at the front desk and did an hour of personal work, and then I headed to the train station to catch a train to my next adventure.

At the train station I had just enough time to grab a gf chicken caesar wrap to go and drink part of a glass of rosé before boarding. My destination was a retreat center about ninety minutes north of the city, out in the farms and wooded areas of the Hudson River valley. I got here without issue and checked in, and then I unpacked into my little cabin, walked around to get my bearings, took a brief nap, and ate a quick dinner in the cafe.

I'm here for a five day writing workshop that I applied for almost on a whim a few weeks ago. I was looking for something different than my usual writing excursions, and I stumbled across this workshop geared toward writing about place and environment. Since so much of what I'm writing these days has to do with Iowa, which is a v specific place, this seems like it's going to be quite fruitful. Tonight there was an intro session with readings from a few of the faculty members, and I'm pretty excited to get to know them - even if I'm also exhausted, and still sick, and feeling shy in the midst of a bunch of new people. I'm sure that will wane as the week goes on, but tonight I'm indulging my desire to go to bed early so I can recover. Goodnight!

big lights will inspire you

I did not have the day that I intended to have in New York today. That was mostly because I slept very poorly last night and woke up feeling sicker than I did yesterday, which was a real bummer. I'm bound and determined to recover in time for what I have coming up this week, and so sadly I cancelled all of my friend plans so that I could sleep. This meant missing out on seeing both Sara and Terry, which was v unexpected, but hopefully I'll be back in a couple of months. 

So I dozed fitfully through the morning, then had breakfast in the hotel lobby. I also ventured out to run a couple of errands, which mostly meant buying several more types of cold medicine plus some bug spray so that I'm ready for my trip up the Hudson tomorrow. The errand running really wiped me out, and so I came back to the hotel and slept/read various articles on my phone for most of the afternoon. I went around the block to grab some food for an early dinner at four pm, which was well-timed. The restaurant was totally empty, and the cops were already setting up barricades for the various Knicks activities that were expected tonight. My food was tasty and probably would have been even better if I hadn't been sucking on honey-flavored throat lozenges.

But that wiped me out again, so I came back to my room and slept some more. Unfortunately, that means that I'm now pretty much wide awake, but I haven't declined any further today, so hopefully that means that I'll turn a corner. And I ended up watching the end of the Knicks game on my room TV. While I kind of wish that I was out in the city celebrating, it was still cool to be here during the NBA Finals run, even if I'm experiencing it from bed. 

I'm going to attempt to sleep since I need to get up and pack and check out tomorrow morning. Wish me luck with all of that - goodnight!

I like the way you move

I am v unfortunately getting sick - yesterday I had convinced myself that it was the after effects of karaoke, but overnight it became apparent that it was just my immune system in total rebellion.

So I slept fitfully last night, and then got up in time to drop my laundry at a place down the street with same day service (and willing to wash and fold nine pounds of laundry for the cost of one dress with the hotel laundry service). I also bought cough drops, although perhaps I should have stood in line for Sudafed.

I would have been tempted to stay back today, but I left my laptop in the office last night, so I had to go in. I had too many meetings, but they were all uneventful. And then I came back to my hotel, picked up my laundry, and spent two hours taking with Avichal, Curtis, and Aditya. This took it out of me, and I was going to just grab food at the hotel bar, but the live music was too loud, so I went to pecora bianca and had a v tasty gf pasta with vodka sauce. 

And now I'm going to try to sleep a million hours to promote recovery - goodnight!

I know you're trying to forget

I had a reasonably good day despite feeling much better than I deserved and much worse that I wanted to. I didn't get much sleep and I felt it all day...but the work I did do was good. And I had a v delightful extended dinner and drinks with Maya at Thai Diner - the line was ridiculous, but it was v nice to catch up. 

But now I need to sleep immediately - goodnight!

I scream at the top of my lungs what's going on

I accidentally had an Adit kind of night tonight. I was at the office a little after 8am and worked v diligently all day, until our team dinner at an Italian restaurant at 6. There were twelve of us at dinner, which was great. Then we whittled to 8 before going to a bar, where we hung out until they closed at midnight (and watched the Knicks win at the last second on Adit's phone, which we shared with the bartenders, and then we got comped more shots).

Then we whittled to the final 5, and went to karaoke, where we sang in a private room for two hours, which means it's now 2:30am and I vaguely want to die. But even though the city is still buzzing (thanks to the Knicks), I'm safely ensconced in my hotel and am going to try to power through enough sleep to get me through tomorrow. Goodnight!