SETC Convention, Tuesday

I cannot pinpoint the last time I stayed out (practically) all night drinking. I can tell you that the massive headache I had upon waking stirred the edges of very distant memories. My cell phone alarm went off at 8a and I must have dismissed it instead of snoozed. I awoke with a start at 8:30a and rushed through a shower, etc. By the grace of God I somehow made it to my 9am Pre-Con meeting. I was slightly comforted in that I was not the only one suffering from the late night/early morning. I muddled through my "Hi, I'm Cheryl Ann..." introduction with just a tiny slurring of my name and even managed to keep down the yogurt, fruit and granola parfait offered for breakfast. As soon as the meeting adjourned I headed back to my room for a few more zzzz's.

Perhaps it was the war my stomach was waging with the yogurt or my worry over missing the hotel maid, but I just could not rest. I finally got up and with the help of the hotel staff I accessed my free internet. I spent the next several hours reading and replying to the numerous emails sent to our general mailbox.

The rest of my day was spent catching up on my work email, unpacking and ironing all my outfits, as well as a 30 minute power nap. Around 5p I met up with Quiana and more members of the Dream Team for a mandatory briefing and at 6p we headed up to Beth's suite for a reception that included the Dream Team, Job Squad, Central Staff and numerous Board members.

Piling into available cars we headed to a 7:30p dinner at Ramsey's. Chris, Quiana, Hardy and I grabbed a table by ourselves. This time I ordered the meat loaf with mashed potatoes, fried okra and apple fritters. The meat loaf was pretty spicy, but very good.

The four of us headed back to "the office" around 9:30p to help pull tickets for Tituss' concert. The wrong date was printed on the tickets and we had to find and fix each one. I sent Quiana to her room after an hour. Our previous night of drinking and her full working day were starting to wear her thin. April came in to assist and by 11p we had accomplished our task. Fifteen minutes later I was ensconced in my very comfortable bed reading the first few pages of the Nicholas Sparks' novel I bought for the trip.