Tuesday, April 17, 2007

my own personal hell

Tomorrow I will embark on a treacherous journey.

I will board a commuter train to walk to the Orange Line to ride to the Airport to fly to Tampa Bay to connect to Ft. Lauderdale to take a shuttlebus to Miami. There, I hope to learn a thing or two about my industry and my career path. I will likely have to eat by myself. I'm sure I'll do a lot of standing around awkwardly. And I will definitely be spending quality time in the room with premium cable channels I do not have at home.

This situation looms dire because I am the girl whose tiny dungeon office seemed so much like a torture chamber that her blog posts were cries for rescue; the college student who couldn't sleep until she heard her roommate's key jangling in the lock; the girl who feels sorry for those who go to movies by themselves, because poor things, they have no one with whom to make snide commentary. And unfortunately my go-to partner in crime for these work-type conferences, cc, has a family thing keeping her from tearing up the palm-tree scene with me. Oh, the fun we would have had!

But for the same reason I force myself to precariously look down from high places, I will force myself to smile and go through with the trip. But it's a good thing I'll have my trusty Wonder Woman luggage tag along for the ride:


Luggage tag, inspired from an article in Bust Magazine, made by me.


A little rough around the edges, hiding complete terror with a healthy sense of feisty. Yep, that's how I roll.

17 comments:

omar said...

C'mon, you'll be fine! Have a great time! Tell Shaq I said hi.

Bill C said...

Wait. Something to do with Wonder Woman from Bust Magazine?

I'm having a little trouble in the straight face department. But perhaps I misunderstand.

Regardless, let me be (among) the first Floridian(s) to say Welcome! Also since you're-- well, you, I won't add the usual "now go home" rejoinder. Hope you enjoy your stay; if you fly over the Orlando-Daytona corridor, wave hello!

I'll keep an eye to the sky.

ML said...

Enjoy yourself in Florida. It's not so bad going to another place by yourself.

Lia said...

Have a wonderful time; it'll be good. Nothing wrong with ordering takeout and eating in the hotel, if it's that hard to eat alone in a restaurant. Nothing wrong with eating alone in a restaurant, though.

My only question would be: isn't it easier to find flights to Miami than to Ft. L-via-Tampa Bay? Doesn't make sense to me.

jazz said...

the point of this, if i'm not mistaken, should also be to network.

the more time you spend by yourself watching cable, the more money you're wasting.

get a business card from everyone you know. talk to strangers at least 5 times a day. you must!

Alla said...

you go girl- just smile and introduce yourself to EVERYONE and they'll THANK heavens that you made the first move.

Beenzzz said...

I hope you have a wonderful time in Florida. It can be a bit intimidating to travel by yourself, but you'll be fine! I love your luggage tags.

Syar said...

Have a great time in Florida!

*scurries off to make own luggage tag*

Anonymous said...

Have fun and enjoy yourself ... or try to, at any rate.

Jon said...

That's awesome. If, god forbid, your lugage does get lost, there's no way it doesn't find its way home.

Jon said...

next week, I'm going to learn how to spell the word "luggage." Should be a fun lesson...

cadiz12 said...

hey guys! i seemed to have survived up until day 3, and because H was sweet enough to read them to me i got all of your helpful advice. i have given out cards and gotten some and made a point to have lunch/dinner with all different crowds of people i didn't know, jas, and be my friendly self. ale, you were right! smiling and saying hello really helps everyone.

miami is gorgeous but i think i'm allergic, i seem to be sniffling nonstop and taking cold meds at night. oh well, whatever to keep me awake during the time when i'm supposed to be learning stuff. and i have.

shaq says "wassup," i long-distance-waved to you Jam, and thanks for all the wellwishes, guys. i have had a good time. as for miami directly, Lia, it'd be just fine if i had a corporate creditcard to charge it to, and since the hotel is swanky and i am broke as a joke, i'm traveling by mule, practically.

but i'm banking on it being worth it.

Anonymous said...

Reading the fourth sentence, I thought you wrote, "I will likely have to eat myself."

I've only just now recovered from the initial laughter. The pure nonchalance of such a statement sent me into hysterics, and while that's not what you really wrote, you sure cheered me up, so thank you for that.

All the best in Miami!

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

Florida! I love Florida. Folks are friendly there. Yes, all you got to do is smile and people respond positively.

Wave to Miami for me.

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

And VERYYY NIIICE travel tags!

Jon said...

Seriously, who goes an entire week without posting?

Unknown said...

SWEET luggage tag! Absolutely LOVE it. And I'm jealous you got to be so near RaJ and Shaq at the same time. That's like celebrity by proxy. Can I have your autograph?