One Last Pre-AWP post

Am I packed for my trip to Tampa for the AWP conference?  No I am not--but that's O.K.  I know what I will pack, and it's just a matter of getting it into suitcases.  I am not taking a plane, and thus, I am feeling much less anxiety.  I thought it would take me 6 hours to get there by car, but it only takes 4 hours according to Google Maps, and so, I feel even less rushed.

I hope to get on the road between 9 and 11.  I have plans to meet a grad school friend for dinner tonight once we both get there.  I haven't made any other plans, even though I know my chance of meeting up with anyone serendipitously is fairly slim in such a large group of people.  My spouse may come later, but it's hard to know.  I want to keep options open, which may mean that I don't have some options.

I am taking my laptop with me, so I will have a way to try to communicate with people, to set up a coffee or a meal, if I get there and discover that I wish I had made more plans. I plan to blog a bit while there, instead of what I did in 2011, which was taking lots of notes by hand and then reflecting later.  This year, I'll be staying at a conference hotel, so I'll have more time than I did in 2011, when I commuted to the conference from my parents' house in the Virginia suburbs.

I hope to have some time to write--I need to fill up my well, and I hope it will spill over into writing.  I want some time to read.  I need some renewal.

I am looking forward to the drive across the Everglades.  I am looking forward to exploring Tampa.  I am always refreshed by new vistas.

Will I buy books?  I'll have a car, after all.  Yes, I will, but I won't feel obligated to keep them.  I'm trying to think of my book budget as akin to my wine budget or dining out budget or movie budget--once I bought books so that I could keep them forever.  Now I want to buy books and only keep the ones that REALLY speak to me.  I want to get to a point where I see books as amusement and the occasional experience that truly nourishes--like the rest of my entertainment budget.

The morning is sliding away, so let me close here and finish my preparations.  For those of us travelling today, I wish us smooth journeys.  For those of us who can't travel, I wish you all sorts of abundant recompense for staying put.