The 75th Congress, part 2

Day 2, Monday, May 22

Happy Victoria Day! I hope everybody was able to enjoy the first long weekend of the summer.

In Toronto today, it was fucking cold. At least it didn't rain, but it was overcast, windy and cold. This evening though, the sun is out but is too low to provide any heat. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a little warmer.

This morning, Global Convention Services arrived and started setting up the booths for the book fair. They had four of their guys and had hired six students to help. So they didn't really need my help. They have a system down for the set-up and didn't have any questions for me. So I hovered aroudn for a few hours, then I went over to the Hospitality York offices to check my emails, incase there were some last minute questions from exhibitors. No rest for the wicked, I guess. Then, I had nothing else to do. I ended up picking up some Subway for lunch, went back to my room, read and actually fell asleep for about two and a half hours. When I woke up, I went over to check on the booths' progress. They ended up doing alot of work and they figure they'll be completely done by midday tomorrow.

At 6 o'clock, I went to dinner with my colleagues Irene, Danielle and Irene's husband Ralph. A number of our colleagues arrive tomorrow. We went to Kelsey's, cause there isn't much else open tonight. That is probably one of the major downsides about being at York U for the Congress, other than the fact that we are at fucking York University! The fact that the university is in the middle of fucking nowhere, and that we are very far from downtown Toronto, our dining and entertainment options are extremely limited and even non-existant. So I may end up spending lots of time in my room. Good thing I brought a few books with me.

The shitty thing about today was finding out that I actually didn't really have to come down to Toronto as early as I did. I probably could've left today, even tomorrow and it wouldn't have made a difference. But the way I look at it, this is my first year as book fair coordinator so I'm learning. I'll know for next year not to arrive on site so early, it's not really necessary.

Stay tuned...