06/10/00 -- There's no turning back, now
Are we there yet?
The alarm went off way too early. Sleeping
had been an adventure and I had the most disturbing dream. Something
about some guy I knew who was at a weird sort of convention (like a normal
genre convention, only with a strange BDSM hint to it) who had been a
really nice guy, but because of four teenagers who were made up like sluts
(hair done all professionally, makeup out to there), he was a rude
jerk. The thing I realized when I woke up is that in the dream, the
guy was Tank Abbot. I freaked. Why was I dreaming about Tank
Abbott? He had more teeth in the dream, though. Thank
goodness.
Anyway...
We checked out of the hotel. We grabbed
McDonald's for breakfast a little ways down the road, then kept
driving. We grabbed Wendy's for lunch after we cross the border into
Michigan.
Are we there yet?
We were 40 miles outside of Lansing when we
realized that we could still turn back. Yes, turning back was an
option (we weren't there yet), but it wasn't an option.
Can I just say that I was scared to death?
I mean, terrified. I'm going to find out that I'm a talentless
hack. I'm going to have a billion ideas (no more novel ideas, I
promised Paula) but I'm not going to be able to turn any of them into a
viable story.
We get there with only one wrong turn.
There are funky detours on the campus, but we still find Owen hall.
We unload the car into convenient green bins with wheels (I would've
killed for something like that at LC! And the elevators, too!) and
haul stuff upstairs to the third floor (where my key has issues with the
lock) and dump it into our coffins (er, rooms -- I never realized how good
I had it at LC -- my single there was twice as big, though it didn't have
the cool cupboards and shelves built into the walls).
Another trip got Paula's AC and the rest of my
stuff upstairs and I set about unpacking. After hearing on the ce2k
mailing list that we should bring power strips, I managed to leave mine at
home.
And the necessity for the first trip to Meijers
was there.
At this point, I'd met a handful of folks (Mark,
David, Linda, Susannah, ... Santa Claus) and we all pile up into my car
and Jim's car and head off to the store. I bought way more stuff
than I'd planned to buy. And forgot some other stuff that I didn't
realize I'd needed until I got back and went d'oh! I'm sure
there will be many more Meijer's trips in the future.
But I got my desktop set up with the power
strips. And I have a bowl for my instant oatmeal, now.
Everything works. Er, except my network
connection. I don't have DHCP set up for MSU yet. But I'm sure
I'll get that done at some point. Right now it isn't *that* high of
a priority. By Monday night, though, I'm sure I'll have the shakes
because I need my net fix. *snrk*
Things seem to be settling pretty well.
We all had dinner at Olive Garden after
dinner. Mark even got his dinner (though I had to change my order to
get mine -- Mark said it's because the kitchen thought it was his order
*snicker*). And we got back to campus kinda late.
But I didn't feel like it was late. I'm not
adjusted to the time zone change yet.
In my room, after dinner, I showered myself with
Blue Otter Pop juice. Half of the Otter Pops were frozen. I
offered Susannah one. The one next to it burst and I wound up
sucking the juice out of it so I wouldn't spill anymore all over myself --
it was entertaining (and apparently mildly lascivious -- but I'll deny
that if you ask me directly *teehee*).
Oh! Here's my address, if anyone wants to
send anything exciting (or even not-so-exciting):
Stacey Wenkel
W-348 Owen Graduate Center
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48825-1109
Cards, comics, encouragement, and Focus Toys
(that's for my coworkers!) are appreciated! :)
I can't believe this is really happening!