They didn’t know the music was in my soul

Posted on | 1 year ago, around lunchtime | 7 Comments

I arrived in Houston Saturday night, reaching my hotel sometime around 7:00 … only to find that the lobby was loudly occupied by a pair of women in vinyl slutty nurse costumes. Before them on a table were several large bowls, occupied each in turn by what appeared to be raver-style blinky LED bling, candy pops, and assorted novelty pills. Beside these offerings sat a tray covered with champagne flutes.

The nurses collectively said, “Wooooo!” in that way of girls hanging out of limousine sun roofs and wearing mardi gras beads, and offered me my pick of the table’s stash.

(Really, I should’ve taken a picture. And/or two-fisted the champagne flutes.)

But instead of accepting whatever the heck it was they were pushing, I asked them where check-in desk was; and once I’d finally located this useful locale, I asked what precisely was the deal with the fantasy healthcare professionals. (Not that I have a problem with slutty nurses, or nurses of any other stripe. I was just curious, that’s all.) The hotel employee – a woman in a significantly less eye-catching polyester uniform – rolled her eyes and said that she thought it had to do with hearth health awareness month. Or something.

And that, my friends, is all the explanation I ever got.

The nurses were gone when I came back downstairs an hour later to meet up with the marvelous Jess Nevins for drinks and shenanigans, and I was disappointed. I felt like I needed witness confirmation in lieu of photographic evidence. Oh well. You’ll have to take my word for it.

Anyway – me and Jess went out for tapas (reaaaaally good tapas), then hit up a coffee shop for after-party sodas and caffeine. It was exceedingly awesome to see him, as I don’t see him often – and besides the fact that he’s a lovely person, he’s also a huge pop academia dork just like yours truly. Ours in not a big tribe. It is nerdy and it spends too much time in libraries. But it is always a hoot when we get together and geek out.

Back at the hotel (still devoid of slutty nurses, as if they’d never been there at all), I settled in for the night, got a little work done, watched some late night TV, and listened to the four men across the hall – who were practicing their barbershop quartet routine. They sounded pretty good, and they stopped by midnight, so I didn’t complain about it.

my stand-in for future events Then, of course, yesterday it was time for the big event at Murder by the Book. I was psyched to meet the store people – each and every one of whom was deeply cool and lovely – and I was utterly tickled to hang with the store pugs, Gus and Sam.

Gus is the fellow pictured to the right, who stole my seat. He’s also the fellow who hung out in my lap while I signed special orders. Sam is a little older and more reserved, but equally charming – with his little piggy noises and his love of cookies.

The event itself was fantastic, and not just because I had several old friends in the crowd. I got to say hello to a guy I haven’t seen since college (hi Bill J.!) and I even got to meet Paulina and Andrew‘s adorable goblin baby! (He was wearing a little stripey outfit reminiscent of a certain baby in a certain David Bowie movie about a certain goblin king.) The audience was great; stories were told; books were signed; and I continued to play with the pugs throughout the proceedings because hey, pugs.

Seriously – I can’t thank the store (and its crew, and its customers) enough for having me out there. It was great to be back on the Gulf (even the weather was beautiful!) and a blast to meet so many neat new people, and hang with a few distant friends … even if it was only for a little bit.

For alas, shortly after the event it was time to head to the airport. One of the employees gave me a ride (thanks again!), and I was early enough to nab a bit of supper before take-off … which turned out to be more of a complicated affair than usual.

As you know if you followed my Twitter stream last night, the flight was rather seriously delayed – because while we were taxiing to the runway, the gentleman in the seat behind mine had a heart attack.

His seating companion was a friend who was aware of his health issues; he summoned the flight attendant, there was a flurry of panic, and it was announced that we were going back to the gate – where paramedics would remove the man from the flight and take care of him. But in the meantime, was there a doctor on the plane?

Yes, and an EMT too, as it turned out. Between them, they retrieved the plane’s emergency equipment and defibrillator, hooked the man up, and tried to keep him calm/talking/popping aspirin while locating his medications and whatnot. Things appeared to be looking up, or at least stabilizing by the time we actually made it back to the gate … but the paramedics weren’t there to meet the plane after all.

Apparently it had been a busy night at George Bush International. Rumor had it that there was another heart attack at one end of the joint, and a woman in labor somewhere else; so we camped at the gate for another twenty minutes and eventually a couple of dudes showed up with a skinny plane wheelchair and they took him away. He flashed the thumbs up while he was leaving, so I’m just going to hope for/assume the best, and wish him well – wherever he is.

Maybe if the slutty nurses had gotten to him sooner, this whole situation could’ve been avoided. Ah, well.

* * * * *

Anyway, that’s the story of my exciting weekend in Texas. Today I slept in until after eleven a.m., which was unintentional – but probably badly needed, given all the travel (and the 6-1/2 hours spent on the plane, all told, last night). Besides, it’s Presidents’ Day. I think the husband and I will head out for lunch and take it easy.

I could use a holiday to recover from that-there weekend, I tell you what.

Category: misc

Comments

7 Responses to “They didn’t know the music was in my soul”

  1. Brad Wheeler
    February 21st, 2011 @ 2:05 pm

    It make sense, but I’m a little surprised that they actually ask, “Is there a doctor on the plane?” Seems like the liability issues alone would be considerable. Glad the guy was okay though.

  2. Kat Richardson
    February 21st, 2011 @ 5:28 pm

    Gad, you have all the interesting emergencies. I got the kid with malaria.

    Glad you made it home safely and had fun before you boarded the plane.

  3. Princess Arylin
    February 22nd, 2011 @ 1:00 pm

    Sounds like you had an interesting time in Texas, wish you could have gotten pics of the nurses. Glad you made it home safely. Btw, loving Bloodshot :D

    Do you know if you are going to make it to Dragoncon this year?

  4. Les
    February 22nd, 2011 @ 2:06 pm

    Cherie can you remind us the names of authors or titles you were talking about in Houston re: Native American and Chinese steampunk please? My memory is awful. Thanks!

  5. Cherie
    February 22nd, 2011 @ 3:40 pm

    Hey there! And for starters, I think I only mentioned Tobias Buckell (a Caribbean-born writer who does wonderful steampunky stuff) and the Chinese artist James Ng (whose work is imperial Asian steampunk, and simply to die for). For further references in a bigger way than me sitting here going, “Hmm…and who else …?” I’d recommend you hit up a couple of blogs that specialize in the subject of multiculturalism in steampunk:

    http://thesteamerstrunk.blogspot.com/
    http://beyondvictoriana.com/

    Poke around there, and you will turn up a great deal of inspiration, I’m certain :)

  6. Miss Kagashi
    February 23rd, 2011 @ 3:04 pm

    Thanks for the plug, Ms. Priest. If anyone needs any help with reference images for Native American steampunk I have access to a whole archive of photos.

  7. Cherie
    February 26th, 2011 @ 7:18 pm

    Happy to be of service, Miss Kagashi :)

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