Hello again

Well, I'm sure you've noticed that it's been a few days since I had a chance to write. In fact, I think the last entry was about a week ago!

I've had kind of a rough week. Well, busy. Good, but busy. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were taken up by ECIEC. Monday was taken up by desperately trying to finish my handout for ECIEC. Friday and today were taken up doing fun stuff with Clare and Theo and Maryanne, who were visiting.

Well, let me tell you how it all went! The worst day for ECIEC was Tuesday. Not only did I present then, but we also had a reception that Angelo and I had to put on- wine, cheese, fruit and fancy cheeses. It came off just fine (everything did, presentation included) but it involved an awful lot of running around like a crazy woman. Also, getting everything going in the morning- including the all-important coffee- meant getting up at 6 AM.

Now, it's not that I mind getting up at oh dark hundred in the morning, per se. But I stayed up quite late on Monday night finishing my handout. And then I stayed up quite late on Tuesday, hanging out with Thad. And then on Wednesday night, Ari wouldn't sleep. Thad was working, so I was a single mama for the night, and I could not get Ari to sleep before about one in the morning. Needless to say, I was a bit of a zombie the next day... I even contemplated trying to intake caffeine, but I hate coffee and I hate tea and I hate coke, so there you go. Besides, caffeine always makes my heart race (the few times I've ingested it, anyhow).

Anyway, by the end of the conference, I was deep in the throes of serious sleep deprivation. When I said "a bit of a zombie" above, I meant an absolute giggling, drunk-acting lunatic who passed straight out at the first sign of a couch. It was fair ugly (and embarrassing).

Now, the Papkes (sans Marcus) got in Wednesday evening. This was really nice, because it ameliorated our carless situation somewhat. Clare was really sweet and was happy to ferry me around to the rest of my evening activities for the conference. The black velvet picture above, by the by, is me and Ari dressed to go to the ECIEC party at Brian's on Thursday night.

On Friday, Clare and I hung out together and discussed religion while Thad and his sibs went to COSI to see the Star Wars exhibit. We mostly spent the rest of the day hanging out, playing games and eating the leftover food from ECIEC- I brought home about 4 dozen fancy Panera bagels and also a big pan full of Turkish food from the aforementioned party.

We also went to the Guardtower, to show Clare what a gaming store is like. And we had a nice walk, to go see the reindeer climbing up a neighborhood tree. Oh, and we got Clare to play a game with us and watch a movie. It was quite a nice day all told.

Today was Pride and Comfest. Maryanne joined us in marching, and Theo and Clare decided to eschew the clamor and decadence of the Columbus Pride celebration. Marching in the parade was much easier and more pleasant this year. It must have something to do with the whole not-being-pregnant thing.

Ari was mostly happy to be at her second Pride. I actually ended up getting burned a bit, but she didn't! I think the solarveil did it's job, since we only put a little bit of sunscreen on her feet and not elsewhere.

After pride, we headed over to Comfest. We were pretty tired, though, and it was pretty hot, so we didn't end up spending much time there. Clare did get Ari a pretty cute batik shirt, and that was awesome. Then we went home, and just sort of collapsed for a while. Then, we went out to dinner. When we got home, we watched a very short movie and Clare decided she'd best to get to bed- they're leaving at around 4 in the morning upon the morrow. Ari actually passed out during the movie (around 9:30), so that was nice.

Thad and Theo appear to be intent on staying up all night (or at least until 4) playing games, but I'm taking the opportunity to catch up on everything that I neglected during ECIEC. After all, MSSI starts Monday.