Thanks to the WSU English Department's overwhelming generosity, we had the fortune of being able to travel via luxury charter bus to ATTW / CCCC 2007 in New York City. Fortunately, thanks to Grayhound, we were not unnecessarily burdened by our luggage during our stay.
4 hours prior to Session A5, we arrived at 4 am in our lavish hotel room with spacious communial showers and authentic arctic water piped directly from the Alps (cross-ventilated by a permanently open bathroom window). Laundry detergent was conveniently located in a store 5 blocks South of the hotel; this early morning stroll afforded us a rare glimpse of Manhattan nightlife. Even without a map, we were able to navigate through the unlit streets via strategically located piles of garbage ("remember, our hotel is south of the mattress and 1 block west of the dirty needles").
After we emerged from the piles of garbage and theorized our hotel shower [it's an "or" gate with zero potential for practical application], we discovered that NY has implemented a brilliant new fitness plan specifically designed for tourists. After a vigorous workout on the Nordic Track, ie 6th avenue, we arrived at the Hilton for Session A5.
The ease and comfort of our travel hoodies, combined with our total lack of data, really took the pressure off of our panel. For example Hilary presented her abstract ("my slideshow is at a rest stop"), sans data, and quietly exempted herself from paying the registration fee. While the CCCers pretended not to notice our distinctive style, their bemused expressions belied the fact that we were mistaken for characters on the Simpsons: in that sense, we were treated like celebrities. Francie loved our conference room so much that she designated it as a satellite of her 12th floor WSU office and permanent new home for her iMac.
Thanks to ATTW 2007 Ross Pudaloff Richard Grusin Laundry Detergent Session A5, our travel log enjoys a remarkably high page rank in Google. Thanks for the line on the CV.
Sincerely,
Hilary Anne Ward
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6 comments:
wow
um,
ok
Well, if you want to think positively, you'll always have a hell of a story to tell!
Well, I *did* pay my registration fee, though I thought it was quite odd that ATTW required a higher grad student fee than the CCCC. And it did feel like I was presenting super-long abstract for an actual paper, though, sadly, it *was* my actual paper (can't bring myself to do a "how-to" one yet...) Btw, you forgot to mention the garbled voices of the bus drivers (which I will mention in one of my future blog posts...)
~Jessica
OK! Let the record show that Jessica indeed DID pay the registration fee and presented her full paper as planned (but sans slideshow). Due to the literary nature of blogger and me, minor details may be omitted for conciseness.
Coming soon: Jessica's witty retelling of the hilarious "don't-you-speak-ENGLISH?" episode [see J's blog].
My laptop is a clunky Dell, and I'd happily give it up for a new MacBook or something. However, it's UPS-ing its way to me via Carbondale, IL, or something like that.
Oh, look--you made me blog!
Oooh my gosh -- you're blogging! I'm beaming with pride. Let the record show that fjr's laptop is a Dell.
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