San Diego was lovely–for the most part. Lovely weather. Lovely gardens all around. A great time spent with friends I see far too infrequently and lovely people.
Well, mostly lovely people. My friend blogged about the WFC creeper who joined our table Friday night and overstayed his welcome by far too long. Five minutes was my breaking point, actually, because it took him that long to drunkenly (and loudly) begin proclaiming the virtues of his girlfriend–but not so much his wife’s–along with how much alcohol he had consumed.
It went downhill from there.
The good thing about the hotel? The gardens.
The bad thing about the hotel? Too spread out, no central spot to meet up, and I could swear people who were supposed to be there who never showed. I also discovered I have a shorter fuse for loud parties (even with people I enjoy) as I age. I now need more down time to recover.
Friday morning, Amber and I took a trip to the Salk Institute to see her building. I was not particularly in love with it initially, but as the tour went along, I found myself snapping photos. Turns out the buildings interact with the passage of time, and shadows spread or contracted with the sun. Amber has some great pics posted here.
Totally cool, although I’m uncertain whether architects actually consider shadows when designing. But what an amazing concept.
I attended several readings and enjoyed them all. I managed a few panels, and I have a bagload of books to show for the trip. (And that was after being picky, mind you.)
It’s sad that I probably won’t attend the Toronto WFC, and definitely not Brighton 2013. I’ll have to be sure to get to Wiscon those years, so I can visit with Chance. (I’ll also have to twist Amber’s arm and get her there.)
But for now, I’d settle for face down on my pillow. Halloween was not the easiest yesterday, and today my class was suffering from an abundance of sugar. They kept me running, and lunch was a fifteen-minute affair so I could play catch up.
Still, the pain is well worth the weekend.
