Thursday, July 22, 2010

Another weird day in my life

I'm in Madison staying at the hotel we are having a conference at for work. I started out from home at 6:30 and didn't get to the hotel until 8:15 this morning. Construction, rain, commuters, trucks, closed roads....it was like a war zone. The conference speaker is excellent. The food here is not. When you are on state rate, you don't get much of a choice. For some reason I decided it would be fun to go to the mall after the conference today. So I went and looked at clearance stuff, bought a pair of sandals, looked at mother of the bride dresses. I have a year to go so I have plenty of time to look. Man, there are some butt ugly dresses out there! I am not going to be the "elderly" looking mother of the bride -- no sequins and jacket dresses for me, no way! But I do need to keep the girls covered and contained and I need something that won't make me look like a potato sack with lumps and bumps. I will need all year to find this creation, I just know it. So I bought a pair of sandals. I was trying them on and looked up and realized that there was a transgender person with better legs than mine, and a regular looking guy fingering some high heels. This kind of thing always happens to me when I am out and about by myself.
So then, I go get something to eat and it is very noisy all of a sudden. They have announcements going all the time, stay in the mall, away from the windows, get away from the sky lights....I felt like it was an indoor war zone. It was pouring rain, lightning, thunder, it was awful. And where exactly does one go when there is a tornado warning and you are at the mall? No one seems to know. I waited as long as I could but it was deafening and I was way over my toleration point so I ran for the car. Had to get gas of course. Then it took 40 min to get back downtown. Unreal. I have to get back home and be glad I don't live in Madison. What has happened to this place? People are judgmental and rude, it is crowded and loud, and quite frankly, it doesn't smell so good.
It is also my granddaughter's birthday, number 8, and she is a wonderful blessing. I tried to get her on the phone, but they aren't home. She spent the night with me the other day so we could have our quiet time together. I like those days. It is special. I'm in bed already, watching tv, listening to another storm roll through. Where do you go when there is a tornado warning and you are on the 5th floor of a hotel? No one seems to know.