I realized today that I've been all over the Polynesian Triangle in the last year - Easter Island and Hawaii are two of the three corners, and while I didn't make it all the way to New Zealand, Bora Bora is a pretty respectable distance. If I were a more sincere, #basic white girl, I would say that I'm so #blessed and post an appropriate image with an appropriate quote, but I'm not that - so I'll just say that I love beaches, and I would vote for every future conference to be held in Hawaii.
But I need to speed this up - today was great, but I'm so tired (I've only been sleeping five good hours a night, thanks to my cold situation), and I have to get up in time for the eight a.m. breakfast tomorrow because my friend Barbara is speaking there. Today, miraculously, I forced myself out of bed and downstairs in time to get a coffee before going to an 8:30am talk with Anne - and I'm glad I went, because I had some ideas while sitting there. Then, we went to the keynote brunch - the food was more like lunch food, but it was surprisingly good for hotel food. And Bella was the keynote speaker, so it's always fun to hear her talk. It's frankly a little bizarre that I've become close enough friends with the people who give speeches at these things to end up sitting at their table during the talks...I don't think I could have predicted this five years ago, but a lot of it comes down to being lucky to live in the same city as some super successful writers. Also, I think I'm vaguely endearing (and by that I mean some people love my cynical, sarcastic side), so that probably encourages them to keep me around.
sssanyway. Bella's talk went really well, although it was hijacked afterward by someone who wanted the mic to talk about their own advocacy stuff, which was just bizarre. But then I tried to go to another talk, decided it wasn't working for me, and so went to one of the outdoor bars and worked for a bit. Then I had a meeting with a couple of people from one of the retailers (hint: I make a lot of money from them, but then I pour it back into things like the gorgeous new gold MacBook that I'm typing this on, so maybe it's all going to be a wash in the end). The meeting went really well, and we talked about ways to promote Rafe and Octavia's book, and they seem excited about it. So, yay to that.
Then I took a too-brief nap and a much-needed shower, grabbed a snack, and boarded a bus for a luau. This was nice, but it was also probably a mistake - I didn't realize when I signed up that this was a massive excursion, including a bus ride that was an hour each way, plus four hours at the luau itself. The dancers were really good and I thought the kalua pork was as tasty as always, but it was too long and I felt trapped (as did others - a few people called cabs and were willing to cough up the $100+ to get from the luau back to Honolulu). Still, I had fun with the group, and I think that the new woman I met last night (Nalini) now sees that I'm not a total raging mess since I only had one watery mai tai, so it's possible we'll be able to be friends after all.
Then we came home, and while I had hoped to sleep on the bus, our guide entertained us the whole time (which involved things like doing the wobble and the macarena while seated). So that was actually pretty fun, but I hit a wall as soon as I got back to my room, and I never want to see people again. But I have to see them in nine hours, so I should go to bed and get over my temporary hermitville - goodnight!
But I need to speed this up - today was great, but I'm so tired (I've only been sleeping five good hours a night, thanks to my cold situation), and I have to get up in time for the eight a.m. breakfast tomorrow because my friend Barbara is speaking there. Today, miraculously, I forced myself out of bed and downstairs in time to get a coffee before going to an 8:30am talk with Anne - and I'm glad I went, because I had some ideas while sitting there. Then, we went to the keynote brunch - the food was more like lunch food, but it was surprisingly good for hotel food. And Bella was the keynote speaker, so it's always fun to hear her talk. It's frankly a little bizarre that I've become close enough friends with the people who give speeches at these things to end up sitting at their table during the talks...I don't think I could have predicted this five years ago, but a lot of it comes down to being lucky to live in the same city as some super successful writers. Also, I think I'm vaguely endearing (and by that I mean some people love my cynical, sarcastic side), so that probably encourages them to keep me around.
sssanyway. Bella's talk went really well, although it was hijacked afterward by someone who wanted the mic to talk about their own advocacy stuff, which was just bizarre. But then I tried to go to another talk, decided it wasn't working for me, and so went to one of the outdoor bars and worked for a bit. Then I had a meeting with a couple of people from one of the retailers (hint: I make a lot of money from them, but then I pour it back into things like the gorgeous new gold MacBook that I'm typing this on, so maybe it's all going to be a wash in the end). The meeting went really well, and we talked about ways to promote Rafe and Octavia's book, and they seem excited about it. So, yay to that.
Then I took a too-brief nap and a much-needed shower, grabbed a snack, and boarded a bus for a luau. This was nice, but it was also probably a mistake - I didn't realize when I signed up that this was a massive excursion, including a bus ride that was an hour each way, plus four hours at the luau itself. The dancers were really good and I thought the kalua pork was as tasty as always, but it was too long and I felt trapped (as did others - a few people called cabs and were willing to cough up the $100+ to get from the luau back to Honolulu). Still, I had fun with the group, and I think that the new woman I met last night (Nalini) now sees that I'm not a total raging mess since I only had one watery mai tai, so it's possible we'll be able to be friends after all.
Then we came home, and while I had hoped to sleep on the bus, our guide entertained us the whole time (which involved things like doing the wobble and the macarena while seated). So that was actually pretty fun, but I hit a wall as soon as I got back to my room, and I never want to see people again. But I have to see them in nine hours, so I should go to bed and get over my temporary hermitville - goodnight!
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