Thanks heavens for having a lap top, which gives me a chance to write. I'm in Missoula at the conference and we're coming up to the break. The first two lectures have been interesting, but the current one is a tad hard to see.
The last week has been somewhat hectic. Thursday the weather was so miserable, strong wind and heavy rain compounded my depression. None of my experiments were working and I was just in a very black mood. I went home about 5 pm and ate half a pizza. Judy came around and we had a drink or two, which cheered me up somewhat.
On Friday I was busy and yet had nothing to do. I was due to pick up the rental car at 2 pm, and so I couldn't really do very much all day. I left a long list of instructions for Pat and Lisa to do for the next week, my boss wasn't in because of a death in his family. I was watching an item on Ebay and it was raining on and off. I picked up the car, and then had to race back to the lab to finish up some things. I then had to go home and pack, something I was supposed to do last night, but which I didn't do because I was feeling down and out. I finally got everything together and left about 4 pm, however because of the sudden downpour and road work it took me a long time just to get onto the highway. The clouds finally went away and the day became very nice. I'd never been to Western Montana before, despite having been here for almost 18 months, and it was a nice if long drive. I finally made it through the mountain passes and arrived in Missoula around 7 pm. I got to my hotel and had time to crash out and have a quick shower. As I was getting dressed, there was a knock at the door and it was Bonnie and Elizabeth. They had driven up from Dillon for the Pride weekend and I was very happy for them to crash at my place.
We left the hotel about 8 pm and had a look about downtown Missoula. It took us forever to find a place to eat, but we had certainly built up and appetite by the time we found that a pizza place. Elizabeth is cool, and I hadn't seen her since last October when she came to one of the Q dances. We ate and talked and left about 10 pm and wandered back through town to our hotel. Our plan was to buy some beer and then play some D&D. I talked to Tiffany on the phone as we walked back and she told me that Doug had been in an accident but was ok. She hadn't done much that week because she was in the “training” program, but was happy enough to socialize and get paid.
We picked up some Summer Honey beer and headed back to the hotel. We were all really rusty since none of us had played in quite a while, and it took us until midnight to get their characters rolled up, since I was acting as DM. Nevertheless, it was fun and we left it at a minor cliff hanger around 2 am.
We woke up at various times the next morning a little after 9 am. The Pride March was scheduled to start at 10 am, at which point we were in the hotel foyer having bagels. We arrived after a short walk we arrived and could here the drum corps in the distance. A short wait later and we were cheering on the marchers. There was a good mix of people there, and I was happy that there was a turnout in a state like Montana. We followed the March down to a park by the river, at one point even accidentally falling into the March at one point. We wandered around the booths and checked out what the vendors were selling. Bonnie met a few people she knew, and even I met some people from the Q group. We were out standing on the grass when some girls came up and said hello, they were Wendy (blonde hot tub girl), Abbey (brunette with an “I Love Nerds” t-shirt) and Andrea (long blonde haired drummer). I hadn't seen Wendy for a very long time, but I'd met her at another Q dance. Abbey and Andrea were playing in a band in town next Thursday and so I was thinking of attending that.
Bonnie's back was hurting, so I gave her a quick massage. We then walked over to an Indian restaurant where we'd agreed to meet a family that Bonnie knew. That was really fun, and after that we walked back to the park. Bonnie wanted to attend one of the workshops, and so Elizabeth and I walked back to the hotel to drop off some things and chill out. About 2 pm we drove back to the park in my rental car and picked Bonnie up. There wasn't too much else we wanted to see for a while at the Pride Fair, so instead we drove out further to see the Big Sky Brewery, makers of Moose Drool beer. We enjoyed a few samples of different beverages, I particularly liked the Imperial black ale. By the time we had finished there, it was about 4 pm. We were quite tired from the sun and activity, so we drove back to the hotel and had a long nap. When we got up around 6 pm, we passed Subway to get something to eat, and Bonnie and Elizabeth met a girl called Crystal whom they had gone to school with.
They spent a long time talking and agreed to meet up later on. By the time I finally found an ATM and something to eat, the variety show which we had been intending to go to was mostly over. We got in for free and the last half hour was very good. After that we had intended to the big drag show, but dropped back by the hotel for some things. Finding the drag show was a little harder than expected and when we got in, it was really packed and smoky and noisy. The drag show was ok (I'm not a huge fan of drag) but by the time we got out of there around 11 pm, we were half deaf and stinking of cigarette smoke. Crystal hadn't called, so Bonnie called and we drove over to see her. I didn't really know her or the people they were talking about from Dillon, so I was a little bored. We read some of Elizabeth's Buffy fan fiction which was interesting, and then we left about 2 am because Crystal had to work the next day. We stopped off at a grocery store on the way home and then we crashed out about 3 am.
We didn't wake up the next day until after noon, and we took our time getting up. Bonnie's back was still hurting, and we dropped by to see Crystal. After that we drove over to the mall to have a look around. We grabbed some noodles for lunch and geeked out at the electronics shop and then the book store. Around 3 pm we headed back to the hotel room to pack and finish our little D&D adventure, and that was fun. Bonnie is a member of the Unitarian Church, and there was a pastor giving a sermon at the local congregation. We drove over and brought some food for the potluck dinner. That was nice, and the people were very friendly. The service was interesting and much more to my liking than most church services. The sermon was about “Coming Out” and was thought provoking for good and bad reasons but was very good. After that it was getting late (~9 pm) and Bonnie and Elizabeth had to leave. Lots of hugs went around and then headed home. I drove to the University to collect my registration stuff and look through the conference booklet. I stayed up until about midnight before crashing out.