Gosh. What a weekend.
I have to say i felt very overwhelmed most of the time. And i did it all without anxiety medication.
Happily embraced by some. Awkwardly avoided by others.
I am only going to say this once - i'm sorry if i've made you uncomfortable. But this is my life. I will not apologize for who i am or the things i have done.
I met and met again some wonderful women. Friends. I couldn't have done it without them.
I couldn't have done it without jen. My roomie, my friend, my kindred spirit. The one who understood when i disappeared from parties. Brought me coffee. Just let me be.
The conference was great. The sessions i attended were great. The speakers engaging and full of useful information.
Again, being the geeky eco-conscious country girl, i was alarmed by the lack of recycling and general waste i saw. Swag bags tossed in the garbage. Mass consumption of free goods that will later be tossed out. Personally, i would rather see all the money that goes into the swag being used to fund the BlogHers Act initiative. As priviledged north americans do we really need more stuff just for the sake of "freebies"? Nothing is free. When i see knick-knacks and mass produced plastic crap it makes me think of who and what has suffered to produce them.
Chicago is a beautiful city, but the fact that they do not have recycling is shameful at best and criminal in it's self-indulgent lack of global thought.
The closing session was a keynote with Elizabeth Edwards. I really had no idea who she was until the conference. I walked out as i am unimpressed with being a campaign stop for an american politician who is too chicken to legalize gay marriage. Correct me if i'm wrong, but that's what i heard her saying. The whole "wife of the future president" thing is nauseating too.
It was not a topic of interest to me as a canadian.
Then we went to a cocktail party at the childrens museum where i had too much free wine because i had had enough of being surrounded by hundreds of people. Then a small sushi dinner with Lisa Stone who is an amazing woman.
Jen and i went to the Art Institute today which was spiritual. I had no idea walking in that i was going to see works by every famous artist who ever exisited. It was the perfect anti-conference thing to do.
Jen left in the afternoon which was tearful and sad. I adore her.
I wandered the city for hours and enjoyed an armenian dinner on my own. In the morning i'm going to shop a little. Check out the apple store and see if they can fix my iPod. Then home again.
That's my big recap.
This year i don't feel like going home and having a nervous breakdown. This is my year of new beginnings.
Posted by Jess at 08:34 PM Permalink
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Meeting you was bittersweet. Sweet because I got to but I was pissed not to have more time, one on one, with you and others. The whole weekend was far too overwhelming for me, and I doubt I'll ever attend again. I think it sucks that certain people felt they had to avoid - that's just crap. On the other hand, I applaud you for not apologizing. You rock.
Posted by Karen | July 29, 2007 10:39 PM