back from florida
Nov. 12th, 2023 03:19 pmBetween the rainygrey sky, the end of DST, and the contrast with overly-sunny Tampa, I feel pretty much like I've been in a cave all day.
Tampa was a delight. As expected, Tuesday post-redeye I had a very limited amount of functionality. I had a nap and Steph shepherded me out to dinner and I slept well that night, and as expected that seems to have done the trick. I will continue to fly redeyes going east. I still don't much care for the Atlanta airport. Tampa's is ... fine. It does have a giant statue of an underwater flamingo, which is pretty cool. Barring very strange circumstances I doubt I'll be through there again, and that's okay too.
Steph spent days at her conference, while I did classwork and walked around a bit in the thirty-degree November weather wtf. Evenings we spent together, having dinner or watching a show or talking, basking in presence.
Thursday evening we went out to the eclectic Tampa art gallery, which featured a largeish exhibit on The Ancient World next to a room filled with contemporary Mexican scuplture next to American Impressionists. I got to see black-figure Greek vases in person for I think the first time, and a Monet, and maybe a dozen or so works that really caught my attention. (In particular there was an unfinished portrait study of a woman with as much character as, and a more forceful presence than, the Mona Lisa.) It's been a very long time since I've been to an art gallery. My recollection is that the Vancouver art gallery is in a terrible space (former courthouse) and not that great a collection, but maybe I'll stop in sometime. Noted: art galleries are a Thing I Enjoy. (Likely extendable to museums in general?)
Saturday we said our goodbyes and I flew off to Toronto (still the worst airport I won't pay money to avoid, and the other option was LAX which I WILL pay money to avoid), where I had a five-hour layover in the fancy lounge. Then the flight was inexplicably delayed for forty-five minutes. I stumbled home at two-thirty in the morning, to a cat who was happy to see me, and proceeded to sleep soundly for all of about four hours until my east-coast-time brain decided I'd slept in long enough.
Today I think I'm mostly recovered from travel. I've done my EI filing and ordered groceries to be picked up in a few hours, and fed myself. There was a nasty windstorm in the lower mainland on Friday night / Saturday morning and it looks like it took out power to the BCIT data centre, so I'm unable to log in for any of my classes. Should be fine: I'm caught up on lectures and homework is done through Tuesday, and I at least have the assignments downloaded so I can poke at them even if I can't complete them.
It's nice to be home, for sure.
Tampa was a delight. As expected, Tuesday post-redeye I had a very limited amount of functionality. I had a nap and Steph shepherded me out to dinner and I slept well that night, and as expected that seems to have done the trick. I will continue to fly redeyes going east. I still don't much care for the Atlanta airport. Tampa's is ... fine. It does have a giant statue of an underwater flamingo, which is pretty cool. Barring very strange circumstances I doubt I'll be through there again, and that's okay too.
Steph spent days at her conference, while I did classwork and walked around a bit in the thirty-degree November weather wtf. Evenings we spent together, having dinner or watching a show or talking, basking in presence.
Thursday evening we went out to the eclectic Tampa art gallery, which featured a largeish exhibit on The Ancient World next to a room filled with contemporary Mexican scuplture next to American Impressionists. I got to see black-figure Greek vases in person for I think the first time, and a Monet, and maybe a dozen or so works that really caught my attention. (In particular there was an unfinished portrait study of a woman with as much character as, and a more forceful presence than, the Mona Lisa.) It's been a very long time since I've been to an art gallery. My recollection is that the Vancouver art gallery is in a terrible space (former courthouse) and not that great a collection, but maybe I'll stop in sometime. Noted: art galleries are a Thing I Enjoy. (Likely extendable to museums in general?)
Saturday we said our goodbyes and I flew off to Toronto (still the worst airport I won't pay money to avoid, and the other option was LAX which I WILL pay money to avoid), where I had a five-hour layover in the fancy lounge. Then the flight was inexplicably delayed for forty-five minutes. I stumbled home at two-thirty in the morning, to a cat who was happy to see me, and proceeded to sleep soundly for all of about four hours until my east-coast-time brain decided I'd slept in long enough.
Today I think I'm mostly recovered from travel. I've done my EI filing and ordered groceries to be picked up in a few hours, and fed myself. There was a nasty windstorm in the lower mainland on Friday night / Saturday morning and it looks like it took out power to the BCIT data centre, so I'm unable to log in for any of my classes. Should be fine: I'm caught up on lectures and homework is done through Tuesday, and I at least have the assignments downloaded so I can poke at them even if I can't complete them.
It's nice to be home, for sure.