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In case you were wondering where I was - and I'm well aware that contingent is small these days - I've been down for the count since the Etsy Trunk Show with what turns out to be a bronchial infection.
Uncontrollable coughing, check. Hard time breathing, check. Complete lacking of ability to get a damn thing done, check.
I literally could not do ANYTHING. I was completely wiped out. I am felling better today thanks to the generally spurned miracle of modern medicine - aka:
* a shot to Da Butt of steroids
* an inhaler for asthma
* antibiotics
* delightfully narcotic cough syrup for night time use
Yes, I'm *that* sick. Wheee! However, with the steroids, inhaler, and antibiotic in me, I almost feel human again... enough to update everyone and let them know that I'm alive, if they care, and look! Here's an updatey-type post!
So if you haven't heard the drama about the trunk show, let me start off by saying that ONCE I GOT THERE it was AMAZING. However, getting there stressed me out about as much as anything in my life every has, and I'd like to never have to go through that again, please and thank you. What is "that" you ask? "That" is me starting to break down on I-81 outside of Hagerstown MD at 9am, on the day I'm supposed to be arriving in NYC... then waiting for hours at the repair shop with my important stuff piled all around me while they got the part in and discovered that it was the wrong size... then lugging all said stuff to a hotel where I sat around, unhappy and stressing and bored, because there was no way to fix the car until the next day. Did I mention that the next day was Friday, which is the day the trunk show was scheduled for, and that Hagerstown is 4 hours from there on a good day? Mmm, gotta love stress. If it wasn't for the facts that I'd worked my ASS off for the show, and I had a car full of other people's stuff as well as my own, I would have turned around and went home, seriously.
I spent that night in the Sleep Inn - home of a truly fantastic shower, btw - and managed to wrestle a meal from Cracker Barrel before attempting to pass out from exhaustion and frustration. I should note that having to drag all my crap around, including my camera and laptop, is what sealed the desire to get a Helio Ocean. From now on, I'll have everything in one small package. Hurrah!
Miracle of miracles, my car was ready the next day by 11:30am! I think that my outburst of frustrated tears when I was told the car wouldn't be ready until Friday softened their hearts or something. If you ever break down in that area, call me and I'll tell you where to go, seriously - they were awesome and life savers. I hopped in the Jeeple, took off like a relatively sane madwoman, and managed to make it to NYC by 4:30ish. As luck would have it, despite the usual horrid traffic at the Holland Tunnel and on Canal St, I had no issues really, didn't get lost, and even managed to score a parking place RIGHT IN FRONT of the building. How often does THAT happen in NYC? Finally, the Gods were smiling on me.
All the lovely ladies of the Etsy Labs came down to help me unload my car, which was so fantastic. And when I got to the legendary 6th floor, the wonderful![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ceilingsarecool and Hiromi of Bathing in Luxury had already set up the room, cleaned the holy heck out of the place, and had everything pretty much ready to go. I threw my setup together in the fastest way possible - seriously, it was a land speed record - and then threw together the DJ stuff in much the same fashion. [yes, I DJed too! Even got lots of compliments for the 80s weirdness that I spun, which was super nice.]
People started coming in at FIVE. A few, but enough to make me eeeeeeeeek and rush around like a fool. By that point everyone was set up, including the luscious Miss Lollibomb Beauty and the delightful Heather Martinsville Emporium as well as the aforementioned Soap and Di. I had my Threeravens.net stuff set up behind the Coffin Color eyeshadows, as my space was at a premium, but everything looked fantastic.
The show was amazing. We stayed busy until I turned off the tunes. Everyone had some sales, and Coffin Color did FANTASTICALLY well. [I don't think I ALL CAPS enough words, do you?] I had a couple of friends dancing toward the end, all the booze was consumed, Rob's tea cookies that he baked for the event were all gobbled up, and I even had a delightful visit from the lovelyfury_of_sunsets, who I haven't seen in much too long.
Best part of that day, besides actually arriving there safely and seeing the event be a success? I was able to *finally* get food at 10pm with Aurora, Hiromi, Heather and her son at Rice, which is a restaurant I'd wanted to try out for a while. SO fucking good, especially when you haven't eaten in over 12 hours. It was also so good to be able to sit down and just talk and enjoy the company of friends old and new.
I finally came back to the Labs to sleep on a rollicking air mattress - not the best sleep I've ever had, but all those naps during sound check at The Dawning have served me well for sleeping in adverse conditions - and managed to have a really nice diner breakfast with Hiromi and Jen and spend a couple of hours talking over EGCG stuff with Hiromi before we both vacated NYC.
That's right, I struggled that hard to get there, and then I only managed to stay for 24 hours. I really wanted to spend more time, but I was anxious to get home for some reason - in retrospect, I must have felt the beginnings of this crud I have coming on.
The drive back wasn't much to talk about, other than the singular experience of driving down Fancy Gap at 4am with In Tenebris playing and my heart beating from the adrenaline of driving fast down a mountain pass.
I've sung the rhapsodies of night driving before, so we'll leave it at that. Oh, Lake Norman is really lovely in the early morning, too.
The time I've been back? That's been me feeling like ass, with a side diversion into ill-advisedly vending at the Charlotte Pagan Pride Day. It was a marvelous day - although much too hot for my liking - but I think that I totally overdid it, and had no business being there besides that overweening drive to Not Let People Down. :/
Now I will try to take advantage - slowly! - of my energy gain, and catch up on some sorely neglected things in my life. If I've missed anything super important, I apologise. ._.
Uncontrollable coughing, check. Hard time breathing, check. Complete lacking of ability to get a damn thing done, check.
I literally could not do ANYTHING. I was completely wiped out. I am felling better today thanks to the generally spurned miracle of modern medicine - aka:
* a shot to Da Butt of steroids
* an inhaler for asthma
* antibiotics
* delightfully narcotic cough syrup for night time use
Yes, I'm *that* sick. Wheee! However, with the steroids, inhaler, and antibiotic in me, I almost feel human again... enough to update everyone and let them know that I'm alive, if they care, and look! Here's an updatey-type post!
So if you haven't heard the drama about the trunk show, let me start off by saying that ONCE I GOT THERE it was AMAZING. However, getting there stressed me out about as much as anything in my life every has, and I'd like to never have to go through that again, please and thank you. What is "that" you ask? "That" is me starting to break down on I-81 outside of Hagerstown MD at 9am, on the day I'm supposed to be arriving in NYC... then waiting for hours at the repair shop with my important stuff piled all around me while they got the part in and discovered that it was the wrong size... then lugging all said stuff to a hotel where I sat around, unhappy and stressing and bored, because there was no way to fix the car until the next day. Did I mention that the next day was Friday, which is the day the trunk show was scheduled for, and that Hagerstown is 4 hours from there on a good day? Mmm, gotta love stress. If it wasn't for the facts that I'd worked my ASS off for the show, and I had a car full of other people's stuff as well as my own, I would have turned around and went home, seriously.
I spent that night in the Sleep Inn - home of a truly fantastic shower, btw - and managed to wrestle a meal from Cracker Barrel before attempting to pass out from exhaustion and frustration. I should note that having to drag all my crap around, including my camera and laptop, is what sealed the desire to get a Helio Ocean. From now on, I'll have everything in one small package. Hurrah!
Miracle of miracles, my car was ready the next day by 11:30am! I think that my outburst of frustrated tears when I was told the car wouldn't be ready until Friday softened their hearts or something. If you ever break down in that area, call me and I'll tell you where to go, seriously - they were awesome and life savers. I hopped in the Jeeple, took off like a relatively sane madwoman, and managed to make it to NYC by 4:30ish. As luck would have it, despite the usual horrid traffic at the Holland Tunnel and on Canal St, I had no issues really, didn't get lost, and even managed to score a parking place RIGHT IN FRONT of the building. How often does THAT happen in NYC? Finally, the Gods were smiling on me.
All the lovely ladies of the Etsy Labs came down to help me unload my car, which was so fantastic. And when I got to the legendary 6th floor, the wonderful
ceilingsarecool and Hiromi of Bathing in Luxury had already set up the room, cleaned the holy heck out of the place, and had everything pretty much ready to go. I threw my setup together in the fastest way possible - seriously, it was a land speed record - and then threw together the DJ stuff in much the same fashion. [yes, I DJed too! Even got lots of compliments for the 80s weirdness that I spun, which was super nice.]People started coming in at FIVE. A few, but enough to make me eeeeeeeeek and rush around like a fool. By that point everyone was set up, including the luscious Miss Lollibomb Beauty and the delightful Heather Martinsville Emporium as well as the aforementioned Soap and Di. I had my Threeravens.net stuff set up behind the Coffin Color eyeshadows, as my space was at a premium, but everything looked fantastic.
The show was amazing. We stayed busy until I turned off the tunes. Everyone had some sales, and Coffin Color did FANTASTICALLY well. [I don't think I ALL CAPS enough words, do you?] I had a couple of friends dancing toward the end, all the booze was consumed, Rob's tea cookies that he baked for the event were all gobbled up, and I even had a delightful visit from the lovely
fury_of_sunsets, who I haven't seen in much too long.Best part of that day, besides actually arriving there safely and seeing the event be a success? I was able to *finally* get food at 10pm with Aurora, Hiromi, Heather and her son at Rice, which is a restaurant I'd wanted to try out for a while. SO fucking good, especially when you haven't eaten in over 12 hours. It was also so good to be able to sit down and just talk and enjoy the company of friends old and new.
I finally came back to the Labs to sleep on a rollicking air mattress - not the best sleep I've ever had, but all those naps during sound check at The Dawning have served me well for sleeping in adverse conditions - and managed to have a really nice diner breakfast with Hiromi and Jen and spend a couple of hours talking over EGCG stuff with Hiromi before we both vacated NYC.
That's right, I struggled that hard to get there, and then I only managed to stay for 24 hours. I really wanted to spend more time, but I was anxious to get home for some reason - in retrospect, I must have felt the beginnings of this crud I have coming on.
The drive back wasn't much to talk about, other than the singular experience of driving down Fancy Gap at 4am with In Tenebris playing and my heart beating from the adrenaline of driving fast down a mountain pass.
I've sung the rhapsodies of night driving before, so we'll leave it at that. Oh, Lake Norman is really lovely in the early morning, too.
The time I've been back? That's been me feeling like ass, with a side diversion into ill-advisedly vending at the Charlotte Pagan Pride Day. It was a marvelous day - although much too hot for my liking - but I think that I totally overdid it, and had no business being there besides that overweening drive to Not Let People Down. :/
Now I will try to take advantage - slowly! - of my energy gain, and catch up on some sorely neglected things in my life. If I've missed anything super important, I apologise. ._.
