Ok, I think it's my turn to tell about things that happened to me as I participated in the RinkUnion.... Sit back, and read on...

So, it takes 9 hours to get from SouthWestern Ohio, to Fairfax, VA. Not a bad time for such a long distance, although I'm sure I drove way too fast. When I got to the hotel I asked if Sam and Leen were there yet, and the lady said no, but that the people 'over there' (she pointed at two people) asked for them too. I looked over and started to say "Are you..." and that's as far as I got before Issachar said "FAMOUS!!!". He hugged me right off the bat, which I just seemed to expect from him. It was cool. He introduced me to Jaqueline, who is super nice, and we decided to go out to dinner. We never could get out of the stupid street in front of the hotel.. (it surrounded a mall), because it just kept circling, and all we saw were signs for West Ox Road... which I'm fairly sure I never actually saw the road, just the signs.

Anyway, we went out to eat, talked and returned. Then Darien, Leen and Mina met us right out front and we all talked and everything. It was great. Sam and Dave finally arrived, and Dave gave me the guitar that I bought from him, which totally roX0red! I'm so excited. Now, if I can only learn how to really play. :)

Anyway, I'm trying to only tell things that weren't previously mentioned, so you don't have to hear them twice, and my fingers don't fall off.

Ok, so Saturday was cool. Iss was first down to the Convention room (The Huntley), and I saw him writing "Rinkworks We don't stinkworks." I laughed, it was cool.

Everything was fun SATREDAY. hehehe. The best really was the poetry reading. I was surprised. I honestly didn't think I'd enjoy it. Even though I write poetry, I rarely like hearing it read. And I really don't like reading my own to others. But somehow it turned out really great. Mina's reading was spell-binding. Iss's first poem (rather, a song) totally made me laugh real hard. His other ones were great too. Dave reading Darien's poem ruled, and Bal's Haiku and other poem(s?) were hilarious. And of course, I was glad to hear the Pain Poem that Sam read. That roX0red as always.

The rest of the day goes as everyone has said. Sinbad of the Seven Seas was great. I laughed so hard. It was great watching it with everyone.

Sunday morning I woke up with 50 billion balloons on the floor... See, we brought them there after the Convention room was done being used, and they had all deflated overnight. Somehow, one crazy balloon floated all the way across the room, and into the bathroom, and then weasled it's way down behind the toliet. That was quite an interesting thing to see first thing in the morning.

Touring DC was good. I think we were all affected by the Vietnam Memorial, but I couldn't do a better job than Dave in describing the feeling, so I'll leave you to read what he said about that.

I think we were all wiped out on Sunday, and as sad as I was to see everyone go, it was nice to have a quiet evening, and ordering room service with Sam and Leen. Then a good night's sleep was just what I needed.

I left Monday morning, and all was good except I got a stupid speeding ticket. At least it was in Ohio, but still far away from home. I was going 82 in a 65. Actually, I don't mind though. You see, I was speeding with purpose (for once). The guy in front of me was a jerk. It starts like this. There were two semi's on the right side lane, and he was in front of me in the left. Then one semi wanted to go around the other one. It was fine. They were plenty in front of us. Just as the semi got into our lane, the car in front of me started tailing him, and waving his hands around like he was mad. That made me mad. I hate people that get mad for no reason, and trust me, there was no reason! So, as soon as that semi was over, I started tailing that guy. I wanted to get next to him and yell at him for being stupid. (In all reality he probably would've have been able to understand what I was saying, but I wanted to at least try.) But before I could do that, a cop pulled up beside me and motioned me to follow him. It was weird, but then I realized he was getting that guy too. I really didn't want to get pulled over, but it was worth it just to see him get pulled over. And he was doing 83. Hehehe. That made me too happy for words. :)

Ok, so that's it for now. There's really too much to tell, so I'm sure I'll add on later. Everything was great. I can't wait until next year!

fam "still sore as ever" ous