Back from the Ball

I'm home from the Browncoat Ball and, as usual, I had an utter blast. I saw friends I only get to see once a year. I got my waltz on and remembered how much I utterly love dancing. I got to swing dance with a man in a kilt (and his skirt swirled almost as much as mine did). And I got to experience the whole weekend in a swanky suite, thanks to the fact that this hotel really knows how to grovel to unhappy customers. This place wasn't much smaller than my house, with a full kitchen, living room, office alcove and bedroom with walk-in closest and bathroom with a Jacuzzi tub and separate shower. I felt like a movie star. Pity, though, that I spent so little time in the room.

I did come to the realization that this hypothetical relaxing vacation I keep mentally planning may not actually exist for me. Travel itself is tiring enough that there's not much point in going to another place just to relax in a hotel room, and if I'm in an interesting place or around interesting people, I feel like I'm wasting my time if I'm just hanging out in a hotel room. Besides, I don't tend to relax or rest well in hotels. Even if the bed is comfortable, it's different, and the TV service is usually lousy. About the only time I've really relaxed in hotels is if I stay an extra night after an event, like the time I took a flight bump after an RWA conference and the airline put me up in a hotel for a night, so I spent the extra day sleeping, or like this year at ApolloCon when I stayed the extra night. I think for me the way to have a relaxing, restful vacation is to let myself rest when I get home. Being away makes me appreciate home more, and I'm tired enough after a trip to just let go. Last night, I slept for nearly twelve hours, and I'm seriously thinking about a nap today. I've declared it a holiday, other than this post.

There was one other exciting thing about the weekend. I went against the flow and on the weekend of the Texas vs. Oklahoma game in Dallas, I left Dallas and went to Austin. But we did watch the game in the hospitality suite, and being in Austin meant I got to see this:



That's the UT tower, lit orange for the victory. I'd never before seen it lit for a win against Oklahoma because the only time we beat OU while I was in school, I was out of town. The photo may be blurry because it was taken through my hotel room window and then through the hotel atrium window, so it's two layers of glass. And, of course, that's about the only thing I managed to take pictures of because otherwise I was too busy doing stuff to remember that I had a camera with me. I'll have to wait for other people to post pictures.