I keep my head above the waves
Jul. 3rd, 2010 09:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timerippleLJ! I did not mean to abandon you for weeks on end while I gallivanted in foreign parts! Honest. It's just that gallivanting around New York and then Washington, DC was so much easier without having a computer along for the ride.
But I'm back now.
Last week I took the bus to NY to hang out with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
snowqueenofhoth in her brief States sojourn. I promptly stole her copy of White Cat by Holly Black, because I was kind of burned out on killer unicorns at that point. We went to dinner at The Melting Pot. FONDUE! It was amazing. I had way too much fun doing questionable things to ravioli. NOM NOM.
The next day we chillaxed, then went to Flushing in search of mehndi and fancy manicures. Then into the city for some pre-dinner karaoke, except our usual place was fully booked and we hadn’t brought the magazine with the karaoke listings, so we kind of looked at each other, decided we were over the whole “let’s walk around New York!” thing, and chilled in a Starbucks with the most ridiculously slow bathroom line I’ve ever seen. Then we strolled up Broadway for Mediterranean dinner withsnowqueenofhoth’s high school friends. Which could conceivably have been a little awkward since they weren’t my high school friends, but they were super nice.
We ate--need you ask?--fondue. Among other things. But mostly fondue.
We got up super early the next morning to drive me to the airport, but as it turned out, Delta cancelled my 8:30 flight for no apparent reason. I stood in line for an hour waiting to see the one ticket dude who had to deal with an entire line of angry people--from a bunch of different flights-- with lots of luggage. I got him to put me on a flight that at least got me to DC that afternoon, as opposed to that evening as they’d originally tried to do, by being dressed in Business Casual and insisting I had to be at this Very Important Conference TODAY. Wow classism much. You know what, Delta? You treat both your customers and your employees like crap. See if I ever fly with you again.
Then I went and sat on the floor between ticket counter banks and tried not to cry. It had not been a good morning so far. The TSA dudes were super nice to me, though, even when they had to make sure my Johnson’s freaking baby powder wasn’t explosive or anything. They could probably tell I was upset.
Finally cried from frustration in the bathroom. Re-applied mascara. Finished killer unicorn book (Ascendant by Diana Peterfreund), bought Ash by Malinda Lo with which to while away the remaining four hours until my flight. Fumed at injustice of having to buy a book en route to American Library Association Annual Conference, aka Free Books for Fiona.
Most unfair.
Navigated DC metro, got to ALA in time to get my badge and run into some people for dinner. Went back the next day. Got far too many books, even for being there only five hours. It was really interesting to see how people treated me differently from Midwinter, when I was Some Random Person and now I work at a respected bookstore. Some houses were super nice and happy to talk to me. Couldn’t even get close to two others, both of which very intelligently arranged author signing tables blocking access to their upcoming children's book displays. Genius, guys. Really.
Had a squeefest over at Simon & Schuster while Holly Black signed things. Made extra sure to squee oversarahtales and begged them to send her to Boston. Wangled an invite to the S&S Illustrator Luncheon via my Super Sekrit Awesome Connections, which was great fun. I left early to catch some other lovely people after their own luncheon. Hugs all round. I wound up with a signed ARC of Erin Bow's debut novel Plain Kate, which I've been looking forward to for almost two years now. I read it on the airplane and tried not to cry. Her VOICE, oh my goodness. Lovely.
So now I'm back and slowly getting acclimated to being an employed member of society.cadragongirl has left to celebrate the Fourth with her excellent family, and I'm in something of a jdrama/kdrama slump lately, so I think I'll just sit around and watch Veronica Mars Season 3.
Also, for the record, it turns out you can't live on instant chocolate pudding, actually.
But I'm back now.
Last week I took the bus to NY to hang out with
snowqueenofhoth in her brief States sojourn. I promptly stole her copy of White Cat by Holly Black, because I was kind of burned out on killer unicorns at that point. We went to dinner at The Melting Pot. FONDUE! It was amazing. I had way too much fun doing questionable things to ravioli. NOM NOM.The next day we chillaxed, then went to Flushing in search of mehndi and fancy manicures. Then into the city for some pre-dinner karaoke, except our usual place was fully booked and we hadn’t brought the magazine with the karaoke listings, so we kind of looked at each other, decided we were over the whole “let’s walk around New York!” thing, and chilled in a Starbucks with the most ridiculously slow bathroom line I’ve ever seen. Then we strolled up Broadway for Mediterranean dinner with
snowqueenofhoth’s high school friends. Which could conceivably have been a little awkward since they weren’t my high school friends, but they were super nice. We ate--need you ask?--fondue. Among other things. But mostly fondue.
We got up super early the next morning to drive me to the airport, but as it turned out, Delta cancelled my 8:30 flight for no apparent reason. I stood in line for an hour waiting to see the one ticket dude who had to deal with an entire line of angry people--from a bunch of different flights-- with lots of luggage. I got him to put me on a flight that at least got me to DC that afternoon, as opposed to that evening as they’d originally tried to do, by being dressed in Business Casual and insisting I had to be at this Very Important Conference TODAY. Wow classism much. You know what, Delta? You treat both your customers and your employees like crap. See if I ever fly with you again.
Then I went and sat on the floor between ticket counter banks and tried not to cry. It had not been a good morning so far. The TSA dudes were super nice to me, though, even when they had to make sure my Johnson’s freaking baby powder wasn’t explosive or anything. They could probably tell I was upset.
Finally cried from frustration in the bathroom. Re-applied mascara. Finished killer unicorn book (Ascendant by Diana Peterfreund), bought Ash by Malinda Lo with which to while away the remaining four hours until my flight. Fumed at injustice of having to buy a book en route to American Library Association Annual Conference, aka Free Books for Fiona.
Most unfair.
Navigated DC metro, got to ALA in time to get my badge and run into some people for dinner. Went back the next day. Got far too many books, even for being there only five hours. It was really interesting to see how people treated me differently from Midwinter, when I was Some Random Person and now I work at a respected bookstore. Some houses were super nice and happy to talk to me. Couldn’t even get close to two others, both of which very intelligently arranged author signing tables blocking access to their upcoming children's book displays. Genius, guys. Really.
Had a squeefest over at Simon & Schuster while Holly Black signed things. Made extra sure to squee over
sarahtales and begged them to send her to Boston. Wangled an invite to the S&S Illustrator Luncheon via my Super Sekrit Awesome Connections, which was great fun. I left early to catch some other lovely people after their own luncheon. Hugs all round. I wound up with a signed ARC of Erin Bow's debut novel Plain Kate, which I've been looking forward to for almost two years now. I read it on the airplane and tried not to cry. Her VOICE, oh my goodness. Lovely.So now I'm back and slowly getting acclimated to being an employed member of society.
cadragongirl has left to celebrate the Fourth with her excellent family, and I'm in something of a jdrama/kdrama slump lately, so I think I'll just sit around and watch Veronica Mars Season 3. Also, for the record, it turns out you can't live on instant chocolate pudding, actually.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-07-04 02:30 am (UTC)The power of business casual is quite astonishing, as I also found out this week. One that I was not expecting was that fewer skeevy guys check me out in the airport. I do appreciate that.
eta: and I am finally reading Palimpsest. It distressed me a lot to begin with, and I am slowly edging toward thinking it extremely good. We shall see how my reaction to the second half evolves. But--it is an awkward book to read on a plane, particularly if you are seated next to a curious sevenish-year-old.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-04 12:22 pm (UTC)Ooh Palimpsest. Yeeeeeeeahhhh, I can see how that would be awkward! I'm pretty sensitive to what I read in public, especially since it's usually children's books that garner me some strange judgey looks.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-04 05:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-04 12:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-04 10:05 am (UTC)American airports and airlines kind of suck. Fortunately, I tend to fly Japanese. ;)
no subject
Date: 2010-07-04 12:25 pm (UTC)Believe me, if I could fly Japanese in this country, I would. ;)
no subject
Date: 2010-07-07 06:27 pm (UTC)FONDUE!!!
no subject
Date: 2010-07-18 02:28 am (UTC)