So I wasn't too thrilled with my father when he woke up at 9:45 the morning we were to leave for Vegas, but we didn't hit the road until about 3:30. I was wanting to rest, and check out the place and actually go to the opening ceremonies this year, because I missed them last year. But.....we got there at 7, I got to see a few friends before checking in, met my roommate for the 4 night stay (more on her later), and got to the Spirit of the words poetry contest just in time to hear my friend's contest-winning poem.
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Thursday
I've waited so long to write this post, I've forgotten quite a bit, so I guess it really wasn't all that memorable. Ah, yes. There are professional development breakfasts; basically free breakfasts where we can here people speak about a certain issue in journalism or media, and make contacts, sometimes they give stuff away, whatever. And of course, I missed it. So I'm standing in a LONG line downstairs at one of the coffee stand-type places in the lobby, waiting to pay $14 for 2 muffins some water and some juice, but I had no problem with that, really.
Hillary Clinton was the first of 2 possible presidential candidates to speak at the convention, in our "Conversation with America's Candidates" session, and she was up that morning. She likes to talk, and dance around the question a little bit, but eventually she answers part of it. But the highlight of that session was when a man asked about "socialized healthcare" and she basically told him "if you would like to be educated on universal healthcare then you can visit with my staff after the session, instead of being rhetorical and uneducated about the issue..." And that was that.
I ran into a former co-worker and ran into the job fair really quick before going to a workshop on how to perfect your live shot (that's the "live from the scene" shot you see reporters out on during the newscast. They were pretty much talking about making them better, making them draw the viewer in and really stay there and listen to the story. It was interesting, to say the least. My mentor later said she thought some, well one person in particular, went a little overboard on their live shots. But the room was packed, good information was shared. Sometime after that my buddy got there, and I was mad at him, for some reason, don't really know why. And he made it worse when he didn't answer my calls or text messages later that night, while I was hoping from media reception to reception with my mentor, her husband, and an L.A. columnist. And then he made it EVEN MORE WORSE, when I was told he was looking for me at a party, so I called and texted him, no answer, but when he finally finds me, all I get is a head nod, and he walks on. Like I'm just a random acquaintance. I eventually forgave him, but writing that got me a little heated up again. We left the party about 1-ish, caught a cab back to our hotel and fell asleep. (It was a fairly good party, for $20)
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Friday
Missed another breakfast, I think I only had a rice krispies treat and a couple of sips of water that morning. It was Barak Obama's day to speak (we did ask all of the people taking a stab at the presidency, Democratic and Republican, but Edwards couldn't make it at the time allotted, and no Republicans responded---what does that tell you?) He was late, but he came in, joking, that now he hopes, finally, that he's proved he's black enough to be President. I hung out for 2 seconds with my buddy, went to lunch and a workshop and headed back to the room. Btw, in the middle of all this, we switched rooms; ours smelled like smoke and it was SO hard for me to sleep cuz my sheets smelled like smoke and I couldn't breathe.
The first night of the convention, my roommate, being the friendly, Chatty Cathy I would later find out she was, she talked to a chick that was part of the Spirit of the Words poetry event, and she said she worked for Toni Braxton, and could get us in to see her. I had already determined before hitting Vegas that I wanted to see her, but I wasn't trying to pay at least $70+ tax. Thursday didn't work out, but Friday evening we got a call, and we had 30 minutes to get over to the hotel across the street to get in the show.
It was great, I got a very blurry photo of her legs, LOL. She's a great entertainer, and it didn't even feel like 2 hours had passed. Unfortunately I didn't discuss it with the guy sitting next to me. But she was sitting on guys' laps, and then shaking their woman's hands. She asked me and the dude next to me if we were together, and we shook our heads no, so we missed out. Oh well, she's great, and a humble person. I ran into more former co-workers, and turned in early.
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Saturday
I believe there was another professional development breakfast, but I wasn't even interested in going. I think I had water this morning. FINALLY got around the job fair, ran into some college buddies, and eventually saw my dad again, we had lunch at a buffet. I wanted to see one of the movies, although the one I wanted to see, tickets had run out days before anyway, so I wasn't that pressed to see any of the other ones. I went to another workshop, balancing life and work. It was very good. They had very good panelists who were funny and had good information to share, and have accomplished a successful career and successful personal life, whether single or married, with and without kids.
I had dinner that night at an Asian restaurant with a very good friend, and mentor, and we talked about all sorts of stuff. It was just fun to actually get to hang with her this year. I don't remember seeing her in Indy last year, but I know I literally stopped her in the hall in ATL, we hugged, and that was the last time I saw her that year.
Went to the Chicago kick-off party. It was awesome. Fairly good music, good hosts, Chocolatini's that were VERY strong. Too strong. And lots of laughter. Good times were had.
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Sunday
I always go to the Gospel Brunch. Honestly, best food of the conference, and you get to hear great artists. This year it was a group called Damali, Marvin Winans and Jonathan Butler. They were all great, and I got a picture with Marvin Winans. I absolutely LOVE the ENTIRE Winans family.
Now.......
This is where my vacation went downhill. It stumbled a little bit earlier, but completely fell off here.
Got to the airport, it's horribly designed (but I'm partial cuz at DFW you really don't have to walk more than 50 feet to get to your gate, you get dropped off right there). But here, you got dropped off down where the ticket counters are, and checked baggage goes. THEN you have to ride an escalator up to gates, walk, ride a moving sidewalk, and then walk some more to your gate (also like this at LAX).
So I get to my gate, an hour and a half till we're supposed to leave. I'm good, got a green tea frappuccino and a banana nut muffin, and just people-watching. Trippin off the slot machines 20 feet away from me. Now the flight was to leave at 3. At 2:30, the plane wasn't there, but it showed up shortly and deboarded, and they were cleaning and checking equipment, then....."we'll be boarding in 14-20 minutes, there's a mechanical situation we're gonna take care of, and we'll get you to Dallas as close to on-time as possible."
2:45- "We're not at a 'we'll let you know' stage. It's going to take longer and we'll let you know at 3:45 when we'll be taking off."
3:15- "I'm sorry I have more bad news, we'll let you know at 5:00 when we'll be boarding and headed to Dallas."
3:45-"I'm very sorry, more bad news. This flight has been cancelled. All coach passengers follow Kay to the ticket counter and we'll get you on another flight, first class and special needs passengers can stay and we'll find another flight for you."
Now before leaving for L.A. I did have the opportunity to bump up to first class for $150, but I wasn't that concerned. I should've went ahead and did it.
So we're waiting, forever, for them to get people on other flights. Luckily they were putting us up in a hotel, and even gave us $20 in meal vouchers (half of which I still have now) and we were all schlepped to the Hampton Inn.
Now I had several friends who weren't flying out till Monday anyway, so I called them, asked if they had a place to stay, and said they could come stay with me. But since I hadn't heard anything, I went ahead and got a room with 1 bed. Friend #1 calls, sure, I'll be over in half an hour. So I call to get a 2-bed room. I switch, and the a/c doesn't seem to be working. So I said I'll wait an hour, and if it doesn't work I'll switch rooms again. My friend gets there, and I'm waiting another 30 minutes, it's not cooling. So I call down, they send up an engineer, and he says "oh you're on the 6th floor, it's not gonna get any cooler than his, with all the heat rising and all." So he has a switched to another room, and he gave us free drink coupons.
So we move, friend #2 shows up. Friend #3 calls, finds out where we are and tries to get a room there. I gave away the coupons cuz I wasn't interested in drinking anymore, and me and friend #1 go and get something to eat. Jack in the Crack says they were open for people to come in till 11, but at 10:30, the doors were locked, and they weren't trying to let us in, so we move on to McDonald's. On the way there, friend #3 calls back, asking to stay in our room. It's cool with everybody, so he shows up just after we get back. We had good times. Laughing, HARD, every 2 minutes. Idk how friend #2 slept through it all, but she did. I think we went to sleep around 2, and me and friend #1 woke up at 6:15 to catch our flights. I got a little comped breakfast, talked to friend #2, and then rushed down to check out and catch the shuttle. I was told it would come every 10-15 minutes, there was a shuttle sitting out there, but the lady downstairs said 8:00. It was 7:50 so I was sorta okay, my flight was to board at 8:55. I get to the airport again, dragging bags, had to check them again, had trouble finding the baggage counter, got back upstairs and the security line was LONG. I had to consolidate bags, throw out the water I bought AT THE AIRPORT less than 24 hours before, and got to the gate just before they started boarding.
Finally getting to Dallas and heading to go get my car at 3, I had to move my bags to my car, get some Chick-fil-a (hadn't had it in ages) and gas, and headed back to Wichita Falls. My air's out, I'm sleepy and frustrated, so I'm trying to get home ASAP, and I get pulled over. For going 10 over. He wasn't very sympathetic to my terrible time getting home story, nor the fact that I had to be at work in 4 hours and still had to go to sleep. I would actually go and try to get this one dismissed, but I got it in KKK town, so I don't even wanna try and show up. But the trooper hoped I could make it to Vegas again and have fun next time.
So I get 2 1/2 hours of sleep. I'm dealing with new and temporary people on my show, it went okay. The next night, I wake up, terribly sick. So now, I'm getting over a cold, I have a little bit of a lingering cough, but I think I'll be okay.
And that's Vegas. Not too sure if I'll be going back anytime soon. I'll be trying to figure out how to put pictures up at some point.
