Sugar, We’re Going Downtown

This week was so busy and so very good that I’m just not sure how to describe it – there was a work trip and music and food and art and thrift finds and dancing and it was glorious.

It started on Monday, as most weeks do, but this Monday had me traveling across the state to attend the annual conference hosted by one of the companies from whom my employer purchases software. As I’m the primary user of said software, I was able to attend. Of course, I picked up Road Snacks along the way:

I typically don’t go in for social hours or mixers or whatever one wants to call them, mainly because I’m not good at socializing or networking, but having spent six hours driving to my destination I wanted to do something, and so told myself I’d go for a few minutes. I ended up spending the entire time talking to people who sat down near me. I guess sitting down at a table with lots of extra seats rather than a table for two was a good choice?

And that’s pretty much how the conference went: using breakfast to network followed by eight or nine hours of conference sessions about tech in higher ed followed by an evening event hosted by the company – the evening events were not required but boy howdy did they know how to treat their customers.

For example, the second night they rented out a local museum and brought in charcuterie and sushi and live music. It took a while to get there, because even though the museum was less than a mile from the conference there were also World Cup games being played just across the street and so car travel was quite delayed, and with temperatures pushing 100F few folks wanted to walk – though I know some who did.

That’s how I found myself mostly full of cheese and nibbles and perhaps a drink or two making my way from the top floor of the museum down to the first floor, rounding a corner, and coming face-to-face with this:

Yes, that’s The Sugar Shack by Ernie Barnes, which served as an inspiration for the recently-released and near-perfect movie Sinners hy Ryan Coogler and starring Michael B. Jordan. If you haven’t seen it yet, do so at your earliest convenience.

I stood in shock, then sat on the floor because no benches were provided in that exact part of the museum (they were plentiful elsewhere), and perhaps cried a bit. One of the other conference attendees stopped and checked in on me, and realizing I was simply Overcome by Art spent several minutes talking with me about what the piece means and says to each of us.

Then I found some of the folks I’d connected with the night previous and we went through the rest of the museum together before going back up to the top floor for live music.

The band was The Party Feels out of Tennessee and they did an excellent job covering a wide variety of music to keep higher ed professionals of various age groups entertained – yes, even me. I was bopping along and my new acquaintances wanted me on the dance floor. I declined, saying I’d only dance if the band started playing early 2000s pop-punk/emo.

So, of course, the band started playing Sugar We’re Going Down by Fall Out Boy.

I can’t dance; I have rhythm in my soul but not my soles and so failed to impress anyone with my “dance moves” (loosely defined) but astounded them with my perfect lyrics.

The event the second night was a Casino Night, which I was not going to attend due to it being a D&D night, but when our game was cancelled I went to check it out. Of course, the only thing I could think of was Casino Night from the US version of The Office where Michael Scott says

Old friends, new lovers, and the disabled – all are welcome at Casino Night!

I thought maybe my years of rolling a dice would translate into being able to play craps but I was very wrong and so spent the majority of the night eating sliders, fried cheese (not mozeralla sticks, but breaded and fried cheese “pucks”), and taquitos.

The third day was made of workshops to help us get the most use out of the software, to meet us where we’re at and help us problem solve our specific issues. The conference ended in the early afternoon and then it was time to drive home.

I was concerned when I got into traffic almost immediately after leaving the parking lot and moving at what seemed like a slow pace for the first hour or so, yet my GPS was right on target: as I was leaving, it told be I’d be home in just under five hours, and I did.

When I got home, Krystal had pizza and a movie waiting, and I unwound with KPop Demon Hunters – a movie on Netflix that has no right being as good as it is. Come for the story; stay for the minor characters:

On Saturday I spent the morning reviewing some monologues before going to auditions for our local production of The Laramie Project. I know they tell everyone their audition was really good, but even if I don’t get a part I know that I gave it my best.

Then I went to the thrift stores and found a fair number of movies – so many, in fact, that someone either went entirely to streaming, or something more unfortunate happened. It looked like someone’s entire collection. We already owned most of them, but I did pick up copies of

• Outcast
• King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
• V for Vendetta
• 1408
• Exodus: Gods and Kings
• Zodiac (German release)

I also picked up a paperback of At the Water’s Edge (which for 25 cents seemed a deal) and a silver plate oval meat rest with a Tree of Life motif. I got it for $3 and they’re going for about $20 online but I have no plans for selling. I also got some tree-branch-themed candle holders.

Saturday night we went to a party with friends. The theme was “nostalgia” and once again we were reminded that we’re getting old: our nostalgia is the 1980s; other’s is the early 2000s. Krystal joked that we shouldn’t have to show our IDs; our choice of nostalgic era showed our age, lol.

We had a good time and came home having enjoyed catching up with old friends and making new acquaintances.

Now I’ve spent the morning doing dishes, cleaning my silver plate purchase, and writing this blog post. Later this evening, there’s a World of Darkness campaign on the schedule.

How have you been?
What are you doing?