There and back again: Day 10

Went to church, met everyone on the tenth floor of the hotel for a casual get-together. In an hour or so we'll be meeting to go to the dinner.

kheetor84 is getting the run-around from her doctors, who apparently decide to run one test within minutes of telling her that they'll be performing another test. Understandably, she is frustrated and tired of it all, so let's hope they get hit on the back of the head with a humanity stick in the next 24 to 48 hours.

There and back again: day 10b and 11

Just got back from the final part of the online comics get-together, a dinner at a pirate-themed restaurant a few minutes away from the hotels. The restaurant is set up so that they've got a mockup of a tall ship inside the restaurant and tables are arranged on the different decks, with a jazz band on the lower deck playing music in the background (yay, I actually knew two or three songs!)

Lots of chatting and fun, especially the cooking part--instead of a kitchen, they bring pieces of meat and vegetables out to the table and you put it on a fondue fork and put it in a pot of oil on top of a small flame. Not very filling, but still fun.

Had a lot of fun conversations with the people at my table. One was about how movies shown on TV these days have half the scenes cut out to make room for commercials. When I mentioned that a station in Canada that was playing episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus and actually had the gall to cut out "The Lumberjack Song" for a commercial break, they reacted like I had told them that somebody spit on the Pope! XD On the other hand, I kept the fact that my birthday is on September 19th (now christened "Talk Like a Pirate Day" by the online masses) hidden from the host and guests of honour, though I have no doubt that they'll find out and make up for it next time :P

This weekend was an amazing time and I didn't want it to end, because I won't get the chance to see anyone for another two years at least. This is probably the first time in my life where I've actually been in an atmosphere where I'm comfortable around everyone in sight--not even at family gatherings, where I've frequently met relatives for the first time since I was a babe-in-arms. I've just met these people face-to-face for the first time, but because I knew them online for a couple years they're like old friends, and I'm probably closer to them than I am to most of the people at the family gatherings. I've never been somewhere where I know that everybody in the room is my friend and is concerned about me. So for those in attendance who read this: thank you.

I'm also posting for tomorrow because we're starting the trip back tomorrow and I don't know if the hotel I'll be at will have internet access. If it does, you'll hear from me; if not, see you Tuesday.