ATTENDEE COMMENTS/MEMORIES

Shay's Diary

You guys are determined to make me write, aren't you?

Thurs: Kelly and I left my house Thursday afternoon so we could spend the night at her father's house in Macon. I'll let her tell most of that, except for my bed partner that night.

We'd finally stopped talking to Vigdis (Kelly's stepmother) and decided to go to bed. Kelly wanted to sleep on the bed on the floor. She said she was afraid she would roll off the bed (which she did. ) so I took the other twin bed. I climbed in and their black cat named "Puss" (pronounced poos) climbed up and sat down on my legs. I didn't think too much about it, just scratched her and settled down, figuring she'd go to her own bed when she got ready. She didn't. Every time I wanted to roll over, I had to move her first. She slept pressed up against me all night. I still don't know why but it was kinda nice to listen to her purr.

Fri: Kelly and I arrived in Atlanta about noon but we had to go to the airport to pick up Maude and Lady Chris. The airport in itself was a trip and I almost got arrested there. We were simply looking for the Atlanta Bread Company, which is where we were told to meet the ladies. As we passed ticketing, we turned to the right. BIG Mistake!! The man was shouting "The line forms here." I didn't think I needed to stand in line for the Bread Company so I just started to walk past him. Even BIGGER mistake. He grabbed me by the arm and stopped me in my tracks demanding to know where I was going. In a tiny little voice I told him because there were several rather large gentlemen standing close by with M16s and I really didn't want to attract any more attention than I already had. Turns out we were passing the security line and he wanted to make sure we didn't skip it or try to cut in line. He was rather determined too. He eventually pointed the opposite direction from the way we'd been heading and Kelly and I hightailed it out of there. We finally located the other two (thank goodness Maude had that bright MB shirt on).

Deciding that we didn't want to eat at the airport we headed out. Kelly was driving since she knows more about Atlanta than I do. We tried several places (I'll let someone else go into those escapades) before we finally settled on a Blimpies. No, we weren't thinking ahead that we were having subs for dinner that night, so sue us. The rest of the trip was rather uneventful, thank goodness.

We got to the hotel about 2 or so and it took a while to settle in and check everything out. The first thing I did was go through the zines Cat had brought since I didn't have any. I ended up buying three and and am slowly working my way through them. (Jilly, your story's next if I can work up the courage.)

Kelly and I roomed with Amy and Judi who didn't get there until Amy got off work but it didn't take us long to feel comfortable with each other. The gifts shocked everyone I think, I know I wasn't expecting anything so elaborate. A lot of thought was put into those. I love my spurs but I'm still surprised I made it home alive. Kelly honestly threatened me for them but I fought her off. I was extremely grateful that we didn't have to leave the hotel that night. I had already decided I didn't like Atlanta's traffic. I think we were probably the only ones who actually went to bed at a semi-decent hour and we were up waaaay past midnight.

Sat: I actually went to the gym that first morning then decided I wouldn't do it again. Apparently no one in the hotel uses that gym because everyone that walked past while I was in there had to stop and stare through the door at me. Sweating and red-faced is not the way I want to be seen first thing in the morning. I decided I would get enough exercise with the walking I was doing. I headed back to the room and showered quickly so that I could grab a bite to eat. Then it was time for the zoo and cyclorama.

The diorama was incredible! I have never seen anything like it and I have already advised several friends who are interested in things like that to go see it. Of course, we were all rowdy and I was afraid we were going to be asked to leave but everyone was really nice, especially the British gentleman who took our group picture. I think he regretted it cause he and his two friends withdrew rather hastily after that. Then when the video camera came out, I thought we were goners. And of course none of use noticed the video cameras on the wall until it was too late. But they were good about it and let us stay in anyway or maybe they were just too scared to approach us crazy women. I don't know.

Then on to the zoo. Holly (who was the shortest one there I believe ) and I (who am not exactly tall) were not in the mood to meander. Somehow we left everyone behind except Debby and Maude. (I still say I don't walk that fast.) We tried to get some shots of the animals but every time one would get close, Holly would move up and say something to them (she tried to use their language mind you) and the poor animal would scamper away. I don't know what she said but it must have been pretty bad for them to move so quickly. Anyway, we made it though the entire zoo, which is more than I think most of the group did and we all got back in our cars and headed back to the hotel.

I missed part of the discussion because I was reading part of "Lost"...and Judi, I'm still waiting for the ending. We got dressed and headed to the Spaghetti Factory. I had to drive and I want to complain here and now about how narrow Atlanta's roads are. My Blazer is not that wide but we were certain that drunk driver on the way back was going to run into us. Luckily for us he turned around, without warning, and headed back the way he came. Ginger tried to get me to follow the directions on the paper and the signs but since you couldn't read the signs we just decided to go with the flow. If we got lost maybe we'd locate a Starbucks, or so we hoped. Unfortunately, we didn't get lost so we didn't get any coffee but that was okay. We got a White Elephant Game instead. I got Logan's Run, since I know how hard that is to find, I was hanging on for dear life.

Sun.: Stone Mountain: Cat, next time you want us at the Memorial be sure you stress Memorial because our group turned out to be rather literal and since Confederate was mentioned first, that's where we went. At least Kim was nice enough to give you a ride back, you looked rather chilled standing out there in the rain waiting for your little lost sheep. Baaaa

The train ride was interesting for the scenery but I honestly think we scared some of the passengers off. You notice no one came near the car we were all on. Things were a little noisy but that was fine. When we got off Amy, Judi, Debby and I went shopping and had lunch at a little Mediterranean café. If you ever make it back there, the Irish Cream Cake is wonderful!

Back at the hotel, we watched Achilles. Then Amy, who was forever losing her keys, asked me to let her in the room. I went to let her in and we got into a very interesting discussion. If we can get together sometime you guys will get a great fic out of it. Amy, Judi and I were hurting from laughing while we planned it. I am not making promises, although Lady Chris and Em will probably shoot us if we don't do it, since we asked them for help on it.

The trip to Agatha's was the most laughing I've done in a long time. Spicy food and lots of good friends...what more do you need?

Mon: Since Kelly and I missed out on the mall the first time we had to go. So we followed Kim and her group there. Of course, we went straight to Build A Bear. Only I didn't build one. I built a Tiger. A Chris Tiger that does the entire "Did he just call me a Cowboy?" Holly, thank you so much for putting up with all of us long enough to get our animals saying exactly what we wanted. You were a real trooper.

All in all, that was the most fun I think I've ever had in a weekend. Meeting everyone was great and I learned quite a bit about writing. (Mostly that I shouldn't mention that I ever did it but that's another story altogether.)

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