So on day three I was still stick. I was feeling better than the day before, but still sick. However, my day was still very eventful. I was feeling good enough to go to the first few panels of the day that had topics such as 4D: Extra Sensory Appeal and Expanded Spaces, HBO, Long-Form Television and the Woman’s Film, True Crime for the ‘Quality’ Palate, Dining at the Table of (Cultural) Horrors, The Gothic Heart of ‘Hinterland’, and (Im)moralities of Style in ‘American Horror Story’. And they were all very good. I knew about 4D amusement pieces due to going to numerous amusement parks that had those sorts of attractions and I’ve always loved them. It would be interesting to see if they can be brought up into a mainstream option for cinema watching but that may be far off. (For those that don’t know, 4D is when you’re being hit with a spray of water or puffs of air to simulate what you’re seeing on the screen in front of you). I’m also very much into true crime documentaries and shows as well as horror and darker themed pieces of entertainment so these were very great to see. Here’s where it became eventful, but first a bit of back story. Through lack of communication as well as miscommunication where part of my trip should’ve been paid for by the school I ended up having to pay for the entire trip myself. And because I paid for it by myself I realized part of my time could be spent doing some sight-seeing. I ducked out right before lunch and had a bit of an adventure. After walking around the USyd campus for a while (they had a 90s party there a few days before, kind of sad I missed that) I went back to the hotel, changed into some more casual clothes, and asked the man at the front desk the best things that I could see nearby. The first thing I looked at was the nearby pubs and stores, of which they have the best names for them (one being called Pretty as a Pitcher and a quick food stop called Da Munchies). Then I got into the taxi and asked for the driver to take me to Newtown so I could look around. Newtown is a suburb of Sydney and has amazing architecture, very modern, much like Sydney does. Then I got a taxi back and walked around King’s Street which has a really cool bookstore. If I hadn’t already used enough of the money I had gotten from the ATM I would’ve bought some while I was there. (But I also packed my carry-on bag enough to bring the books I already had with me rather than try to take any back. But being a writer and an avid reader if I had another bag I would’ve bought as many books as I could, it would’ve broken down enough of the long flight back). Then I went back to the hotel to sleep for another two hours that night and go to the last day of the conference. If I’m ever able to go back to Australia again I’d probably stay in the hotel just to be able to see the same stores and sights all over.
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And now day two of my Australia trip. Do you remember how I said on day one that I had gotten sick from airplane food (that’s my guess anyway as well as a lot of traveling)? And if you’re friends with me on Facebook you saw my post saying that airplanes are metal tubes of sickness? It’s because they are, but that’s not the point. (I’m looking at you lady who kept coughing on my head on your way to the bathroom). My point is day two of my trip and day one of the conference, I was still sick. Couple that with only getting two hours of sleep due to jet lag and I’m already thinking it’ll be an interesting day. And interesting is certainly the best word for it. While staying awake for all hours of the night I did get some things done. I got writing done (if anyone didn’t know I’m working on a couple of novels, the story Reagan that goes along with our Quadruple or Nothing series, as well as a re-write of Two Pair), I went around the hotel a couple of times trying to see if there was any way that I could get a good view for a picture of the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the ANZAC Bridge (spoiler alert, I didn’t; but if security was watching me on cameras I’m sure they thought I was up to something), worked on my presentation for my last day there (cutting a hour and a half presentation down to at least 15 minutes is hard), caught up on a lot of my shows that aired while I was gone, and sent out some applications. Finally the hours passed and it was time to go to the conference. My professor, whom had called my room the night before to make sure I got in okay, and I met up in the lobby and walked the short walk to Sydney University village where the conference was being held. On the way I saw a sign on the side of the curb that said ‘look right’ (it’s in the slideshow below), saw a cool Australian White Ibis (thanks, Ty!) and checked out some really cool stores on the way. And everyone is so nice that they greet each other while walking down the street, even if they don’t know you. I’m a distance runner and every now and then I’m home I go running at the park or downtown with my Dad and not many people actually say ‘hi’ or respond when you greet them. So it was great to see it shown here so much. We go to the conference and get our name tags and greet the people who set it up and were running it. The conversation topics quickly went from how glad they were we came all the way from the United States to the things we had to see while sight-seeing to our presentation topics. For the conference, along with our name tags, we also go a Sydney University mug, a Sydney University pen, and a Sydney tea towel. Not going to lie, I had to ask my sisters and Google what a tea towel was because I didn’t know what they were used for. Speaking of tea; I don’t like tea. I don’t like hot tea, iced tea, sweet tea, unsweetened tea, green tea. I don’t like tea. Australians love tea. As a matter of fact on the schedule there was a break for Morning tea, Lunch, and Afternoon Tea. Every day we were there I was asked for a cup of tea and to be polite I said sure and pretended to drink it. That’s probably why they gave us the mugs as a souvenir. And this is where things started a bit badly. I was still feeling a little queasy but was better than the day before. Still the thought of being sick was in the back of my head. The thing that got me discouraged though, which I don’t think helped me being sick at all, was what when I was speaking to someone who was working the conference about the schedule and the different panels she mentioned that by the end of the last day people usually weren’t interested in staying past lunch as well as the panels that were put towards the end were the ones that didn’t have much interest in. Guess who’s was the last presentation, of the last panel, of the very last day? I’ll give you three guesses and the first two don’t count. My mood immediately plummeted. I already know that my topic of research interest—extreme sports—is already very tiny but it still hurts to know that not many people would be interested in the topic. But I put on my brave face and smiled and told her that there were plenty of interesting panels the last couple of days and you never know what would be said at them. I’m good at putting on a brave face, but honestly I was a bit hurt. Still, I sucked it up and went to the panel entitled Disability, Gender, and Queer. Topics within that included Beauty Contests for Landmine Survivors (by my professor), Mental Illness and Artistic Creation, Mental Illness in the X-Files, and Postracial Feminism, Reaffirmation of Whiteness. Then it was time for lunch, where I faked drinking more tea while talking to some people, and then I had to duck out. I was too sick by that point that I was starting to get a bit dizzy. So I went back to the hotel (stopping by a market/grocery store we passed on the way to the conference that, thank God, had Ben and Jerry’s), ordered room service (which was good and actually pretty cheap), talked to my sisters on Skype for a bit, and got prepared for the next day. Where, again, I only got 2 hours of sleep but got a lot of writing done. If it weren’t for the fact that the hotel didn’t have a gym nor did I find one near me, my productiveness would’ve been perfect. Downside, I now get it when people say their eyes burn with lack of sleep. |
About Me
Loves anything red. Rock music, playing the guitar, drawing, writing, tattoos, and sports are some of my interests and hobbies. I like to laugh, I like to think I'm funny. I talk a lot...just a warning. Archives
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