When I arrived in Baltimore, I took the light rail to my hotel. I was so proud of myself for figuring it out so easily and it reminded me that I really need to start traveling more if I consider something that simple a victory. Jackie was able to see where I was thanks to the Find Your Friends app on her phone and was worried for two reasons: 1) My proximity to Leakin Park (for all the Serial followers out there) (If I were a more outgoing person I might say "Where my Serial lovers at?!)) and 2) because of my plan to exit the train and just wing my arrival.
I'm not a person who gets excited about new technology but I have to say that the iPhone changed my life thanks to both driving and walking GPS. I never got lost the entire time I was in Baltimore. Although that could have a lot to do with staying within a fairly close radius to my hotel and the convention center any time I was on foot.
The one shock about being away from home was probably all of the full length mirrors. We have one in our bedroom that can be tipped in a certain direction to be more flattering and then at work we don't have any mirrors in the bathroom and I love it! I have no idea what I look like all day and that's totally okay with me, good or bad. One day I had jeans on that I knew were too short to be wearing with socks and shoes and I wore them anyways, falsely assuming that just because I couldn't see it, others wouldn't either. It's freeing! I digress...
Jackie had looked up my hotel and couldn't wait for me to get home so that she could tell me that it was haunted. I never noticed anything awry but the decor was rather dark for my tastes. I did, however, enjoy the shelf space in the bathroom and having two beds; one for lounging and one for sleeping.
As for my main takeaways:
I couldn't help but notice that many librarians of my generation favor the following color palette. However, in a much less "goes together" sort of way and more of a "these colors don't match and that's how I want it" sort of way:
Colored tights are also big as are braids atop the head. For the slightly older crowd, I saw a lot of long, mousy gray/brown hair which is a nice segue to my next point.
I enjoyed the conference; I learned some new things and I got to hear Roxane Gay speak as one of the keynotes. But apparently there was a lot of negativity on Twitter. Focused more on the presentations rather than on the appearance of the attendees so I don't know what that says about me. I don't tweet so I just saved my negativity for real life conversations.
Embarassingly, I brought a lot of business cards. I think I imagined a sea of "put your card in a fishbowl to win" style giveaways. I read somewhere that you should give out business cards like smiles. Well, I like to think that I smiled plenty but that pile of cards came home with me. To date, I have only given out one and it is hanging on our fridge at home.
While I was there I had the chance to go to the Peabody Library and the Walters Art Museum, both of which were not only lovely but also free.
I got into the habit of going down to the hotel bar every night for a glass(es) of chard. I thought it would be good to get me out of my comfort zone and I'd be lying if I said I didn't secretly hope I'd meet a new librarian friend. By the third night, I thought I had the routine down pat. That is, until the bartender asked me if I was hanging in there. And truthfully, I wasn't. The Real Housewives marathon that had been playing earlier in the week was now replaced by Don't Be Tardy on the one night I had to kick back and relax.
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