Not a morning person

I am not a morning person.  I don't think it matters what side of the globe I wake up on, I will likely never be a morning person.  This weekend was an evil combination of not being a morning person, having to listen to a bunch of idiots run and scream up and down the hallway well past the 1 am, waking up coughing and wheezing because of the the amount of cigarette smoke and mold being vented around my room.  yeah, not a morning friendly weekend.  Thank God I didn't have to share a room with one of my colleagues--I would not have wished that on anyone. 

Last night the damn kids (and adults) were yelling up and down the hallway "I'm going to the pool?  You coming?"  I was ready to scream back at them "NOOOOO, I'm not so shut up!"  Alas, they weren't speaking to me.

Last night I spent most of the evening hanging with my two best buds from work.  I hung out in Ricci's room until midnight since she didn't seem to have as a high a mold count as my room.  As I was trying to sneak quietly back to my room, I admit, I got a little scared.  The hallways were dark (because the lights are burned out) and several of the rooms had their doors propped open with towels or underwear (yes, underwear).  I was lost because there are no signs and the hotel had several different wings.  As I was going past one propped open door I heard one guy say "get you ass over here!  Somebody needs a spanking."  Honestly, the music from the movie Deliverance started going through my head. 

And because I got lost I had to walk past that room twice.  Isn't it amazing that I am exposed to more hillbilly culture traveling to the Indiana/Kentucky state line than actually going south? 

We stopped at one local restaurant on Friday for lunch and the locals STARED.  It will pretty obvious that they had us pegged as NOT LOCAL and all I can say is THANK GOD.  Yes, I realize that my attitude probably sounds rather harsh, but I'll be honest, I grew up in an area pretty similar to that.  Not a good place to live for a girl who's heart has always been in China and not in manure.  Without looking I can identify cow, pig, and horse manure on smell alone.  I can look at and smell corn and know when it is time to harvest and I know that you never shake hands with a man wearing bib overalls and "dirt" under his nails.  Hint: the dirt isn't dirt, it's manure.

I finally figured out at 1:30 AM (after listening to doors slam and people running and yelling up and down the hall) that my best course of action would be to turn the air/heat unit all the way to fan and blast it on high.  It sounded like a jet engine taking off and was just the kind of white noise I needed to block out the other noises.  It was so loud that I didn't hear my alarm when it went off. 

I got some passive-aggressive revenge this morning.  At 7 AM, Ricci and walked through the now deserted and quiet hallway talking in our "outside voice" about going to the pool.  All the way up and down and hallway and when I left, I slammed the door hard enough to make the wall shake.  I know it's not productive, but boy did it feel good. 

You know it's a bad hotel when even the hotel staff know not to ask how you are enjoying your stay.  And in case you are wondering about why I didn't get the hotel staff to intervene...I did.  Nothing happened.  The hotel was full and they couldn't care less.

But I don't want to end this on a negative note, because I actually had a good time--I just hated the hotel and as I said, I'm an absolute bear when I don't get enough sleep and am forced to sleep in a room that causes me to feel that ill.  I still have hives, but hopefully I don't pick up anything else (like bed bugs or plantar warts).

The conference was good, I had a good time with my colleagues and evidently my new nickname is Chuckles.  Yeah, Jason felt that was appropriate.  I have to be honest, I tend to "perform" when I am in a group of people and because I was under-slept and over-caffeinated it made me even sharper.  I really enjoyed bonding with some of my colleagues and spending time with them.  This time together does create team building--much needed in my department!