Dear Joey, Jordan, Jon, Danny, and again, most importantly, Donnie…
I wanted to write sooner, I really did. But duty calls and my daughter had a soccer game this morning. I’m sure it would surprise you to know that I probably screamed more at the game than I did Thursday night. But we scored a goal. There was a lot of jumping, screaming, and happiness. The ref called if back, but he’s an idiot. The goalie didn’t have the ball. We kicked it in. It was a goal in my eyes and all of the parents.
However, I’ve dropped the kids off with their dad and now it’s time to continue our little talk.
So there you were in all your glory, and I have to tell you, you looked good… and I mean darn good. I remember thinking about how the last time I was at one of your concerts that I was with my mom and now I am a mom. I started to feel a little foolish because I was even there, but then I looked around the nearly sold out Verizon Center and realized that I wasn’t the only one.
For whatever reason, we were all there, to see you. It was nice to be among your own and not to feel like you were some freak of nature. Thursday night was all about you. And celebrate you we did.
Remember how I said that my twitter friends were with me? They were! I was tweeting all the things that were going on. I said things like
Major difference between 15 years ago and now? There is alcohol and I am of legal drinking age
I think some of these people are still stuck in 1993
I feel as dorky tonight as I did 15 years ago
There are men here …. Not many..but they are here… I think they were forced agant their will…
Omg I can’t believe I’m here… @beckinoles is acting old…she IS NOT going to have a seizure because of the lights
we should be getting drunk…infortunately we can’t afford it…
So ill jus spell horribly on twitter and pretend we are
not standing for natasha…i need to conserve my energy for donnie… @beckinoles appears to be getting more excited
I swaer donnie just looked at me
There were more… I tweeted alot and told everyone what was going on until my cell was about to die.
Donnie, I knew it was going to happen. You wore the suit that Becki hates and I had to hear about it. I don’t care. I like the suit. I like you in the suit, but Becki? She’s a complainer. Don’t mind her. (But do realize that she’s my matron of honor, okay? (Wear the suit to the wedding, k? She’ll DIE)
Jordon? I don’t think it was cold enough to warrant a scarf. Actually, scarves must be back in or something. And scarves are okay, but it wasn’t cold. And isn’t the point of a scarf to keep you warm? What do I know?
Becki wants to know why you all weren’t wearing your wedding bands? She obsessed over it. I told her that I knew why. But she just went on and on and on about it.
Donnie, did I mention how nice you looked? Apparently I was a little under dressed, but I’m sure didn’t mind.
and I heard you Donnie, loud and clear. But I’m sure it was hard to distinguish my screams from all those other people around us.
Danny, I was rather impressed with the break dancing. In fact, I wanted to tell the middle school boys at the dance last night that they had nothing on you and to keep trying and practicing.
At some point in the night, I must’ve gotten lost in my own little world. Up until then, I was doing a really good job tweeting the songs to those that cared in the box. You sat down, we watched a little video paying respects to those that we’ve lost, including your mom, Danny, and your dad, Donnie.
And then, all these clocks were all over the place on the screen. There was screaming. We knew something was coming, but I guess we weren’t sure what.
All of a sudden, Becki grabs my arm and as I’m turning to look at her, I realize that you are right in front of me…
I about died. It was like we had 10th row seats or something. Zoomed in on the camera, I think I could see a booger in Jordan’s nose.
All of you and that piano on that circle platform just going round and round as if you were on a merry go round. Better you than me. I can’t go on things that go around in a continuous circle.
And Jon? Obama? I guess it shouldn’t shock me since you are from one of the biggest democratic states in the country, but I was a little shocked to see his face plastered across your chest. Now I have to wonder how many screaming girls are goin gto vote for him because you wore his shirt for 15 minutes. Did he pay you? He probably should’ve because I’m sure you just got him votes.
And yes Donnie, I knew that you had to be inconspicuous about being next to me. I saw your stare. I saw your wink. Did you mouth “I love you”? Because I swear that I saw that. Love ya too babe.
And please pay no attention to the next few shots that I have. Because I have 5 readers that enjoy partaking in viewing the eye candy that you and your boys are, I knew that I needed to get pictures of all of you boys for them. Because I’m nice like that.
But Donnie? You have to know that 75% of my 204 pictures from the concert are of you.
And then you sang tonight. It’s one of my most favorite older songs (Single, the one you wrote for me and opened the show with, being my current favorite). I loved it then and I loved it now….
But perhaps the best part of the song is when Donnie’s belt broke…or came undone. Regardless, I saw it dangling (the belt, people) and knew what was coming next.
I think that I’ve been praying for that since I was 15… 16 years later, it comes true. I was happy. And it was comical to see you do your little routine and stop to pull your pants up until you jumped off the platform and ran with your little entourage in tow back up to the main stage.
Impressive boys, really impressive.
I could’ve dealt without the backup dancers. I really don’t think they added anything to the show other than jealousy. Is that what you were going for? It might have worked. But I can tell you that I didn’t pay an outrageous amount of money to see them barely clothes. I paid money to see YOU barely clothed. I think you could skip them and save a little cash. Then maybe you could make the cost of your souveniers a little cheaper.
Just a thought…
And Jordan… please? a fan?
I only took these pictures because I know that I have Jordan fan readers… so don’t go getting a big head.. and Donnie? Please don’t be jealous. I think Jordan is the ONLY one of the five of you that could pull this off and it was borderline gay with him.
Donnie, I had no idea that you played the guitar, but then again, you’re always dancing and singing. Guitars are cool though. You did well with it.
We we really the loudest since your tour started or do you say that to everyone. And on the big monitor, you looked like you were going to cry, Donnie.
It’s because of your overwhelming love for me. At least you didn’t look like you had to poop like Jordan did the whole time.
Judging by my pictures, you might think that we were pretty close. I guess we kinda were, but we weren’t in the nosebleed section.
This is just confirmation that the little bit of extra money I spent on a 10x optical zoom camera last Christmas was WELL worth it…
Because this is how far we REALLY were from the stage. I’m sure it seemed like I was WAY far away, but I konw that you didn’t want to give me special treatment and one day I’ll get to spend alot of time with you boys, so let some common girls be front stage for once.
But, let’s take a minute and talk about the end of the show.
Most of the women in the audience are pretty smart. We know the old songs and we know the new songs that you’re going to sing. We also know when the end of the show is going to happen roughly. We’ve been to many other concerts before.
So don’t pretend to leave when we know that you’ve not sung Step By Step, Hangin’ Tough or Summertime.
Those are givens. You’re not fooling us.
And the silver jackets? Not sure what I think about those really…
And, again Donnie… I totally took the picture of Joey’s butt because YOU were on the other side and I have readers that like Joey.
Remember how I told you that we’re smart. Don’t come out again to sing Summer Time and Step By Step (which, seriously, you didn’t have to sing it.. because we all did.) and then pretend to leave.
We see you going up the stairs…
we see you waving good bye…
We see the empty stage…
But we know that you’re coming back because we are not LEAVING THIS BUILDING until we hear Hangin’ Tough.
In fact, there were chants going through the sections “Oh,oh,oh,oh oh… Hangin’ Tough…”
Not that I was partaking in that at all.
Then, just like I know, there was a nifty little video in which you spelled NKOTB with sports logos and the stairs lifted…
Out you all came…
..in Celtics jerseys with your names on the back.
Did I ever tell you that my brother was a HUGE Celtics fan? HUGE! Because Larry Byrd played for them. Or is it Bird? I don’t know. It doesn’t matter.
Now, this was off the hook and I think the best song of the night. We were all enjoying it. Even Becki.
You looked like you were having a good time the whole night, but especially during this song.
And then it was time to go home.
We had an awesome time with you Thursday night and hope that we get to do it again sometime. We now have you as a memory that we share. And I’ve converted Becki into a New Kids fan… 15 years later.
All in all, it was a really good show and one of the most energized concerts that I’ve ever been too. It was louder than any other concert and audience participation was greater as well.
You went non-stop. I was impressed. You’re a little older but 2 hours and 15 minutes of NON-STOP energy? All that dancing? All that singing? Impressive.
I was a little worried going into the concert wondering how good it was really going to be. I mean, after all, you are 15 years older now… but you pulled it off.
You made a memory for me, that toped the memories I had from 15 years ago.
For that I am grateful.
But I’m even more grateful that my best friend got to be there with me and I got to spend time with her and build memories together.
Until next time… you still got the right stuff…
Dear Joey, Jordan, Jon, Danny and most importantly Donnie…
Let’s talk.
This is my BFF, Becki. Do you remember us? We were sitting in section 101, row D seats 3 and 4.
No, not the drunk girls who felt the need to hug Becki before they left. We were sitting right in front of them.
We had a really good time last night, but I must tell you, I’m feeling the effects. You see, after leaving the concert at 11:15pm last night, after 2 hours and 15 minutes of solid energy and amazing performances out of you guys, we left the Verizon center listening to lots of drunk women singing hanging tough, walking down the street, and decided to walk 5 blocks to Metro Center to avoid the crowds on the train.
Of course, at the time, it was pure adrenaline helping us walk. I think we were floating. I’m pretty sure we were flying high up the street, but the good news is, we found the spy museum so that we knew we were going this morning.
But after we got on the train, which, by the way was pure genius on my part, as there were NO crowds, we rode our two stops to DuPont Circle and then proceeded to walk UP the hill to the hotel. Let me just clue you in on the layout of DC. Just because a hotel says it’s at DuPont Circle? Yeah, that doesn’t mean that it is anywhere NEAR the DuPont Circle metro station. DuPont circle must be huge because it’s a hike an a half from our hotel to the Metro station.
But we talked, we bonded even more… more than I thought we could, because we now have you in our memories.
And once we got home? The toilet didn’t work. And so we called to get them to fix it. And an hour later, after we went down to the front desk to tell them that we were tired, they finally sent someone up to fix it.
At 1:30, two hours and 15 minutes after we exited one of the best concerts we had ever seen, we finally got to bed.
But the problem was, my daughter is a bed hog and so I didn’t sleep well. And then, even though I thought my phone was dead and on vibrate, the alarm went off reminding me to take Matthew to school for First Priority at 7:15am.
We finally got up and spent the day at the Spy Museum before the kids and I headed for home. We drove as fast as we could, because my son attended his first Middle School dance tonight and I had to be home to chaperone.
And chaperone I did.
But I was home all of 10 minutes before I had to leave to get the kids to the dance.
And so I finally got home after lots of walking and dancing and here I sit, writing to you, because I’ve promised my 10 readers that I would tell them all about the concert.
And so I will.
I must tell you, the little “text to win” game that we got to play in the beginning while we were wating for you? That was pretty cool? Do you read all the text messages that people send in and they display on the screen?
If you do, then I’m sure that you saw me talk about how all of my twitter friends were there with me and my screen name. Just add @relocatedyank and you can follow me too.
I was kind of hoping that we would win that backstage passes or the front row pass, but we didn’t. I was sure that we would since I wasn’t looking my best. You know, because I forgot my makeup at home and I was wearing mom jeans and sneakers.
But you know what? I was comfortable and in case you didn’t read the first part of this, there was a lot of walking to do.
Anywho, it was fun sending all those text messages trying to win.
And then your first opening act came on.
Blah, blah, blah.. no he was good. But honesty requires me to tell you that I spent the majority of his set playing with the settings on my camera so that I could get decent pictures of you when you finally graced us with your presence.
If I hadn’t, I would’ve had a lot of pictures that looked like this…
And that just wouldn’t be cool.
Now, I don’t know who this guy is. He did have one song that I knew, but that was all. Seriously, I don’t know for certain who he is. I read that Nasri, the dude that wrote Click, Click, Click was there, but I could be wrong.
And then Natasha Bedingfield came out.
I used this time to go and purchase items that were rediculously priced. Seriously guys. Why don’t you kiss us first so at least we know we’re getting screwed.
$40 for a tee shirt????
I did line your pockets though. I bought my daughter a button, myself a keychain and a small poster. Which I kept unwrinkled the whole concert and all the way home.
I know, you’re proud.
And then?
The lights went down. There was lots of screaming. I couldn’t believe it.
I was there. I was there to see you. I drove all that way, spent all that money, and it was finally here. The day that I’ve been waiting for.
There was a really awesome video playing. Tension was building. Excitement was in the air.
And then, there you were…
I have so much more that I want to say, so much more that I need to say, but as you can see, I’ve had a really long day.
If you’ll please excuse me, I’m going to head to bed for the night, but I’ll make sure that I pick up this letter where I left off next time…
I’ll be loving you forever,
I promise you a full update when I get back to the ‘Noke. There were some 12second.tv issues and mainly it was the upload time but I have full videos to share with you when I get home and download them.
All I can say is that it was AH. MAZE. ING.
Seriously.
And I can’t wait to share everything with you… and I mean everything…
Including Donnie’s drawers. 
The post is going to be long, I can promise you that….
but while you’re waiting for me to sleep, go to the spy museum, drive four hours home, and chaperone a dance before I post, answer me this…
If you’re a New Kids fan, why are you so thankful that they came back? Is it the music? Is it pretending to be 15 again? Is it nostalgia?
I don’t know the answer to this one, but I’m pondering it and perhaps I will find the answer when I’m driving home…
For now, it’s late…
I’m old…
and we’re waiting on the maintenance man to come up and fix the toilet… while we pray that we don’t get busted for having six people in a hotel room that’s only registered for two.
sshhhh…
Until next time…
You know how sometimes when you get trapped in your own mind, you think about things that you wish you could say to someone who you know you will probably never see again?
And you wish that you had the opportunity to say it to them? Just to get it off your chest. Just to let them know the truth about how you were really feeling?
And you know how sometimes, when you’re imagining this conversation in your head, you’ve thought about what they would say? What you hope they would say?
And during this whole process, you can imagine how great it would feel if it all panned out that way?
Fortunately, for me, I’ve been able to take this conversation from the confines of my brain and execute it in real life. I was afforded the opportunity to sit down and talk, to share my feelings, to explain what I’ve been carrying with me for quite some time now.
I’ve also been able to hear the things that I always hoped that I would hear, even if it is much later than when I had hoped to hear them.
And even though deep down, I didn’t need to hear them to know, I WANTED to hear them. For confirmation.
And after waiting all this time to actually say what I wanted to say and hear what I wanted to hear, it feels exactly the way that I hoped it would.
Good.
Until next time…
A few weeks ago, Heather (remember Heather? She’s the one that made fun of my cooking skills on MY blog…) anyway, she emailed me and said that she’d be in town (and by in town, I mean an hour away) and wanted to proposed a bloggy meet-up.
I went over the top with this one. First off, you know how I love to meet people from the internet. I mean, it’s one of my favorite things to do. Except meet men, online. But I think there’s a difference in meeting a man on a dating site and meeting a blogger, in which you’ve been peeking in their “homes” for quite some time.
Anywho, I love to meet bloggers, but also?
No one, and I mean NO ONE, has ever emailed me and said, “I’m going to be in town, want to meet up?” Because no one really ever comes near here and I’m the one that’s always travelling.
So I felt loved and important and was just so freakin’ excited that someone wanted to meet me!!!!
At the recommendation of Katherine, (we missed you today!) we went to Flat Rock. I love twitter which is where I posed the question.
After waiting forever for me to tell her where we were going to meet and give her directions, we settled on where we were going to eat and what time.
Guess what?
She actually showed up!
(That was my other fear, that she would just not show..no, I’m kidding. She has never appeared to be that way…)
She was there waiting for me as I was frantically trying to access my email on my phone because I thought I gave her the wrong directions and Heather, LadyBug and I had the most delightful lunch.
We even ordered the same thing.
We talked and talked and talked some more and then we had to leave. I wanted to take her to the Star because you can’t come to Roanoke without going to the Star, but it was cloudy and raining.
Fortunately, she’s coming back in January so we can try again… in the cold and snow. It will happen!!!
But before we left, we took pictures of ourselves, so we could you know, blog about it.
Her picture on her camera is so much better and I was secretly hoping that by the time I got around to posting that she would’ve posted already so that I could steal hers, but I promise when it’s up, I’ll show it to you. Because in hers?
All three of us are actually looking good, smiling and looking at the camera.
And LadyBug…
I just want to steal her. And I said that outloud.
I’m pretty sure you don’t want to say that outloud to someone that you just met on the internet. I might now be labeled the scary woman… maybe that’s why Heather hasn’t posted yet….
But still, isn’t she the CUTEST….
Really makes me want to have MORE (I know, I’m crazy, and yes, I’ve read the posts over the past few weeks about how my older children were driving me crazy.)
So there you have it.. go see Heather… and tell her to put up the pictures already!
Until next time…
Do you know how when you’re traveling to the beach you get to a certain point where you can smell the beach before you actually arrive?
And do you know how when you’re starving and dinner’s not quite done, but you can taste it already?
That’s how I feel about the fact that school starts on Monday.
MONDAY.
I have never been so freaking excited about a Monday rolling around in my life.
Ever.
The school supplies are purchased and delivered the the respective classrooms and lockers. Orientations and Back to School nights have been completed.
First day of school outfits have been selected.
And the kids are with their dad for the rest of the weekend.
But with the first day of school comes Samara’s 9th birthday.
The big 9… her last year in the single digits and so this weekend I have to bake go to Kroger and buy 24 cupcakes.
I thought about baking them. I WANT to bake them, but with the last few weeks being like they have, I’m going to go and buy them and not feel guilty even though I know that she’s going to have a COW when she realizes that I am not baking them.
Hence the reason I’m doing it while she is at her father’s.
I’m smart like that.
This is not the first time that Samara has returned to school on her birthday. The last time though was so traumatic. It was the first day of kindergarten. She was so afraid that NO ONE would wish her a happy birthday but as it turns out, they did.
And I made sure to tell her BOY teacher (she’s not happy about this) that it was her birthday.
And now that she’s arriving on her birthday AND with a broken bone, I’m sure that they will roll out the red carpet… or something like that.
And Matthew?
Well, his orientation was yesterday and I have to say that the nervousness that I had is gone. They switched classes and afterwards I asked him who his home room teacher was.
He smiled and said, “Well. I was in two different homerooms before I found mine.”
Asking him to explain, he continued… “Well, I went in the hall when they called my name and there were two groups. I went with the one that I thought that I was supposed to go with. And then I got lost. So I asked two cheerleaders who were in the hall and they took me to the room. And then the teacher goes, ‘who’s name didn’t i call’ and when I told him mine, he said i was in the wrong room and pointed me to another room… which wasn’t my room, but the next one down was. So I got there right as they were all going to learn to open their lockers.”
And he laughed through all of this.
A year ago? A huge meltdown would’ve happened right there in the halls of Hidden Valley Middle School.
I think we’re going to have a good year…
and it’s so close….
so close…
I can actually hear the peace and quiet from the hours of 8-2.
Until next time…
BlogHer was fun.
Spending time with Sally, Celia and their kids was even more fun.
Seriously.
While I never felt that I found my place at BlogHer, I definately felt at home and a part of the home that rested on the top of a mountain in Marin.
For those of you who don’t know, I met Sally online several years ago. At first it was a business acquaintance but over time, she became a friend. She’s been through a lot with me including spending time on the phone with me and the BFF right after the dramatic end of my last serious relationship. She’s also given me sound advice on men since then. Which is comical for many reasons, but I love Sally to death.
And now, I have a place in my heart for the rest of her family.
After picking me up from the airport, Sally and I went to the BlogHer Newbie Mixer where I practically attacked Backpacking Dad. It wasn’t for any other reason than I actually recognized him and I only started reading his blog after his fan-freakin-tastic chapter over at Chapter Bytes. After we both admitted that we were the type of people that would gladly stand and talk to the same person all night so as to avoid actually TALKING to other people, we parted ways. Sally and I went to grab a bite to eat and I had to see just how much Sally would appreciate my humor… and my camera.
She passed the test. She even told me to stop apologizing after I would catch myself acting like a complete child while walking through San Francisco… that was followed closely by “Becki told me you’d be like this.”
And I was.
Then it was off to the People’s Party where we collected more SWAG and met MORE people… and then I got separated from her as I followed Redneck Mommy down the elevator. Apparently Sally saw me get on the elevator but I didn’t see her… so she tracked me down and politely mentioned that it was 1am my time and that I should probably get some sleep.
Thank God she was my voice of reason that night. Knowing me, the type of person who fears she will miss out on something if she is not the last person to leave OR goes to bed early, I would’ve stayed way too long and been tired for the rest of my trip. (So I saved the late night out for when Sally wasn’t around… lol)
Then we were off to meet the fam and for me to see the house that Sally lives in.
Celia is more of a dork than I am. I met my match. And I wasn’t even in the house for longer than 5 minutes when I realized it.
She asked Sally if I was the same in person and when Sally said yes, Celia asked if I looked like the emoticons that we are always using when conversing via Skype, complete with her own rendition.
She proceeded to act out several more emoticons and just as I was starting to turn around and act our this one, 
she beat me to it. I could not stop laughing.
It was then I realized that I needed to step it up a little alot if I were going to be able to compete for talk time and laughs around this house.
While I didn’t get to spend much time with them my first night, and I stayed in the city Friday night, the entire family, minus Alejando (the girlfriend was more important than the virtual friend visiting) came to pick me up. And I laughed the whole way home. We made fun of each other and I was proclaimed a dork.
The people in the 7-11 where we stopped to get ice cream stared at us and rightfully so. We were a sight. And I was in my element and my comfort zone.
Sally and I sat and played with our new Zivio’s (which we both LOVE) while Celia entertained.
And Celia was very sad that she didn’t have a new Zivio like we did….
Build a bridge, Celia…
Celia left us to balance her chi…. I don’t know what that exactly means. (You know those California people are weird.)
And before long, my chi was being balanced…
(Note: I have decided that I should lay down in all my pictures because I think I look so much thinner…)
And before you know it, we’re hanging out and Celia is playing a mini-guitar. Sally told me what it was… it’s a cuatro from Venezuela… and it’s cute and Celia has an awesome voice.
It was hard for me to focus on that at first because I was laughing so hard… the song was a catchy little tune and it might have been about how a bedet is better than a BOB. (This is a family friendly blog, so I’ll let you figure that one out….)
And then she pulled out the big guitar. And again amazed me with her talent. I shouldn’t be… the whole family has more talent in their little finger than I have in my whole body… see that art that hangs above the bed? Yeah… their son did that.
AH-MAY-ZING… seriously.
And then we talked some more. And laughed some more. And talked. And laughed.
And then we HAD to go to bed because we needed to get up to head to the city for a day of being a tourist.
Which excited me (and my camera) to no end.
The girls joined us in the city and we had the best time. It was a lot like hanging out with my youth girls at home. I got to be silly and girly and let loose in a city that I knew no one.
So here are just a few pictures of our time in the city….
On the Ferry… they were cold and I was taking pictures… wusses…
Me and the Golden Gate Bridge… do you know how many pictures I have of the Golden Gate Bridge? ALOT. Of the 428 I have, 300 of them are probably of the Golden Gate. Don’t ask me what my obsession is… I’m not sure. But bless Sally for making sure that I was actually in some of these pictures.
Nicole and I… (and the bridge)
Sally and I… it was cold. Did I mention that? And windy. I might have wished that I had a brush.
Sally on the street car. She thinks I’m crazy but she secretly wants me to be her neighbor
Sally and the girls… waiting for the ferry…
Nicole, Me and Andrea being goofy. They like me. I love teenagers.
Sally and I and the Bay Bridge… I now like that bridge too… but not quite as much as the Golden Gate.
Are they not the most gorgeous girls? I want to adopt them.
Now, some of you may be notcing that the family dynamics are, well, a little different from the norm. Whatever the norm is. Quite honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Honestly? I see them as normal. Their house is filled with laughter and love. So much love and laughter. Their home is warm and inviting. They are open and loving. I felt very welcome in their family and have already told the kids that I am their new Aunt. I want them to come and visit me. I want to go back and visit them.
Soon.
And as Sally was driving me to the airport, I felt the tears forming behind my eyes. I knew that one phrase or one view of the city would release them and I told Sally how I felt. I told Sally how welcome that her family made me feel; how a part of their lives that I felt.
I didn’t feel like I had just met her in person and while I have known her for 2+ years, I never expected to bond or click with her like I did.
As I watched Sally pull away from the United terminal after depositing me and all my SWAG, a tear escaped. I knew it would. I knew that it was a matter of time.
But in my core being, I felt as if I was leaving a weekend visit with family, knowing that it would be a long time before I was able to see them again. I didn’t like that feeling. But I was ever so grateful to have had the opportunity to spend with them, to fit in, to laugh, to be welcomed, and to feel like I belonged.
I can’t wait to be able to visit again.
Until next time…
Staying at the hostel Friday night was really cool. While I was a wee bit nervous that I might have been placed in a co-ed dorm (thanks Becki!) I was not. When I checked in, I asked, and she told me that no, I’d be rooming with 3 other people who all had the same parts as me.
Whew. (But you could you imagine the blog fodder that might have accompanied that?)
I dropped my stuff off before the closing keynote and then ventured back to the conference. As previously mentioned, when I came back to my room I met one of my roommates, but the other two beds were unoccupied.
When I came strolling in during the wee hours of the morning, my other roommates were sleeping peacefully.
The following morning I was awoken by a conversation of which I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming it or if it really was happening. That followed with the text messages going off and while one might think that a vibrating cellphone is quiet, mine is not.
And because I can’t stand knowing that there are messages, I had to look at them. Most of them were the tweets that had began with the conference at 8am. There was just no way that I was going to be there. Three hours of sleep after being up for 22 hours and my body confused as to the actual time warranted a little bit of sleep in the morning.
There were DMs from Lisa B. who was following the tweets of HP throughout the conference and this one…
Please tell me you are following HP_BlogHer2008 — you have a chance to win a laptop right now at BlogHer
As if I hadn’t gotten the tweet from HP and didn’t know that I was missing my shot as retiring the craptop for a pretty new addition to the family. I thought about getting up, getting dressed and hoofing it there for my chance to guess where Ann’s necklace was, however, I know that it had to be some obscure country, otherwise it would’ve been too easy to guess, hence, not making the contest as fun or drawn out.
I responded to Lisa, mustering up every bit of energy that I had to rub my eyes and actually type the response, making sure that I had the text code right so that it would go just to her and not to everyone else. I managed to get out
hi I’m not even there right now……i just got up….didnt get to bed until 5am pst
For the record, Ann’s necklace from was from Cambodia. I don’t even think I know where Cambodia is. I would’ve never guess that, so choosing sleep over trying to win a laptop was a wise move on my part.
Shortly there after there was another text from Bri. Remember Bri? She was the one that I was planning on attaching myself like a leech to. The only problem was that we didn’t find one another Thursday night or Friday night and only shared a brief text encounter Friday afternoon. Why I thought that I would run into her while mingling through 1,000 attendees and exhibitors, I’m not sure, but I did.
And the conversation went a little like this…
Bri: Good morning are u up and around yet?
Me: sadly, I just woke up….
Bri: That’s ok im still laying here too. Just thought id see if you wanted to walk over together for the first session
Me: How long you need to get ready?
Bri: Not too long. 20-30 minutes
Me: Same here…how about 945-10 in the lobby?
Bri: Sounds good. See you there.
This conversation, throught text, lasted 10 minutes. That’s important.
And now, because I’ve promised someone that I will meet them, I knew that I HAD to get up and get moving. It was now twenty after nine.
As I got up and sat on the edge of the bed, my roommate from the bunk across the room got up as well. She was the one that wasn’t home at 1am and sleeping soundly (as most people would be) when I came in at 5.
I wasn’t sure what to say to her as we had both just gotten up. I know how I am when I first arise so I just started going through my bag to pick my clothes out for the day.
I’m not sure who started the conversation first, however, she did talk to me first and explained the morning phone call. It was then I realized that I wasn’t dreaming and she started to explain the phone call while she dug through her suitcase.
And then I asked the question that I asked everyone all weekend.
“So where are you from?”
“St. Louis,” she replied.
NO! Bri was from St. Louis. What are the odds?
“Bri?” I asked…
“Heather?” she returned.
Yes. We ended up being roommates. Neither of us were in a “blogher room” but we ended up being roommates.
Is that not the weridest thing?
So we got ready, had breakfast, I checked out and we walked to the conference together. And that’s the last time that I saw Bri. We never crossed paths again.
But it made for a super interesting story for the blog… and I wish that I had gotten to spend some more time with her. The brief time that we talked, I really liked her.
Until next time…
I’m an honorary Canadian. Just so you know.
There’s a story… there always is.
It involves a homeless guy and time spent with the Redneck Mommy.
But I’m just too tired. I’m in the hostel in the lounge and it is nice.
My roommate is nice…one of them, but I haven’t met the others.
I can tell you that the people next door came and asked us to be quiet. It was a couple. Apparently the walls are paper thin.
I wanted to say “yes we’ll be quieter, just remember that if you’re thinking about having sex” but I didn’t. But that made me wonder if loud sex was international. I don’t know why it wouldn’t be, but these are the random thoughts that I have.
I guess it’s like trying to figure out how people can have sex in an airplane bathroom. (Although the bathroom on the plane over was a tad bigger than those that I had been in before, but still… and I SWEAR there was a couple that was headed back to join the Mile High Club…they went back to the bathroom together and had that “look”.)
But why am I talking about sex?
Having a blast. Hostel, so far, is tres cool.
Looking forward to meeting more bloggers tomorrow.
This was a GREAT experience for me and I can’t wait to explore the city on Sunday with Sally.
And tonight, someone said they would totally read my blog because I am energetic and lively and interesting. I do have to admit that as I was talking tonight there were a few moments when I thought to myself “who is this woman?”
But then I looked down at the sweatshirt with the hole and realized it was just me.
Until next time…
One of the best things about layovers is the people watching…i like to imagine where they are coming from, where they are going and their circumstances behind their travels. It helps that I have an active imagination.
It does not help that I am nosy.
For example, there is a gentleman sitting next to me who received a skype call. After calming down because it scared me half to death when it rang, I tried to place the accent. Then I realized I needed to place the language. It sounded almost french because it was so phlem-y but then I heard words like “muy bien” and “tambien” and realized that he was speaking Spanish. I think… I guess placing 9th in the State of Virginia on the National Spanish Exam 13 years ago is paying off… I can pick out words such as “very good” and “also”.
I feel smart.
For now, to try to curb my excitement, I’m going to explore the Dulles airport and search out others who are San Fran bound. I’m sure they are here.
And do some more people watching.
And find an outlet because the craptop is about out of juice after just an hour. That’s not so bad I guess, and I wouldn’t mind. If I had an hour layover or purchased an hour worth of WiFi (which sucks, by they way… thankyouverymuchatt&t… next time i’m giving my money to boingo!) but I purchased two and have a 2.5 hour layover.
I’m excited. I’m seeing all the tweets of those traveling there and those already there and I can’t wait to get there.
So, I’m off… to eavesdrop on the people next to me. They are not happy and I think maybe from Germany. Older couple, too, and no…. Scotland… because they just said that.
Poor man… the wife is treating him like it’s his fault…this could get interesting…
Until next time…
