So this weekend I went to the great state of Tennessee for the first time ever. There was a conference in Nashville that I "crashed." It was a campus programming conference and I attended it last year in St. Louis, but since I no longer work in programming there was no reason to attend. However I made a good friend at last year's conference and I was bummed that I wouldn't be going and couldn't hang out with her. Christina works in Idaho so obviously I wouldn't normally cross paths with her. So I saw this yeat's conference was in Nashville and I looked it up online and it was only like 4-5 hours away. So I decided to go up for the weekend and crash in Christina's room. BTW the conference was at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel...what up. I love the Gaylord Hotels - I stayed at the Orlando one for a conference a few years ago it was magical.
Anyway I ended up leaving after work on Friday to drive to Nashville since Christina and her studets wouldn't get there til after 9pm anyway. The drive there was tiring, but it was also cool too pass places I'd never been before. Somehow I never got lost, although a few times I really thought I was lost. So I got to the hotel around 10pm and Christina and her students got there like 5 minutes after me. We basically hung out out, caught up and explored the hotel Friday night. We were all beat so we called it an earlyish night - 1am. Oh and the beds were sooo comfy, I generally really enjoy hotel beds and pillows.
Saturday we got ready and went downtown. The hotel has bumpin' Suburbans that taxi you around for a flat fee of $25, plus our driver Luther was a hella cool guy with a movie phone voice. So me, Christina and her 3 awesome programming students went downtown and explored the Ryman Auditorium, walked up and down Broadway, went to some shops, Hatch Showprints and ate yummy BBQ at Jack's. Jack was even there giving out single red roses to all the ladies. Good Times. The coolest thing about Nashville which is nicknamed Music City is that all the bars are open from like breakfast til last call and have tons of different performers and bands throughout the day. I look forward to exploring downtown Nashville more in the future.
We headed back to the hotel because they all had to go to an opening conference event so I stayed in the hotel room and watched the movie Definately, Maybe on HBO. Ummmm it was soooo good. I didn't expect it to be the type of movie it was. I really need to buy it or at least rent it again.
Later there was a showcase - at this conference peformers, comics, etc do their thing for people homing that schools will book people. Well I brought my name badge from last year and snuck in with Christina and her students. I was only there for the last 2 acts so I didn't feel that guilty. Then there is a big thing called Camp where all the agents and acts have booths and get free stuff and the agents try to get you to book them. Generally I find it all stressful and overwhelming. Well I snuck into that too and it's funny because I was trying to be so sly, but then when I saw people I knew I told them that I was crashing haha. I met up with a few agents I knew as well, good times. Conferences always feel like high school reunions (well I've never been to a HS reunion and I never plan to go, but you get the drift).
Christina and I ended up hanging out with some friends and were up til like 3am.The part that stunk was that we had to be up at like 9am for Christina to get to a conference thing and for me to get on the road. I had such a good time overall that I completely forgot it was Valentines day for the most part and therefore wasn't bitter haha. I also loved having a roommate for a weekend. I swear the next place I move I want a roommate - hopefully one of my speed dial friends.
The drive home was horrid, I was SOOOO tired. I like willed myself home and not to fall asleep. I also was in a big rush to get home because I left Freddie home alone for the weekend for the first time ever. I gave him plenty of food and water, plus he had his litter box - yes litter box - he is litter boxed trained and has dog litter too! I was more worried that he has gotten out of the kitchen and was ripping my apartment apart, but luckily he didn't escape and he was fine. I spent the rest of Sunday motionless on the couch.
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