conference rundown..

lowlights:

* having to evacuate during the wine reception due to a fire alarm..20 minutes of standing outside in the rain..
* calling a paramedic for a delegate who had collapsed..
* realising half an hour before lunch at 12 on sunday that we had booked the caterers for 1pm..
* the 40 minutes of panic when it looked as if dj shaz (the dj for our 'historical karaoke') wasn't going to show..
* the distinct lack of sleep..
* the pub in which we were having the karaoke running out of red wine before i got a chance to buy any..
* having to drink disgusting pink wine instead..
* schmark deserting me..
* missing 2 roddick matches..

highlights:

* all the keynotes, but especially deborah cartmell's address on adaptations of jane austen, and kate mosse's very engaging talk..
* the few panels i managed to get to being really interesting, and hanging together really well = yey for me as programme editor..
* not having to worry about the little things thanks to our fantastic conference assistants..
* all the nice things the delegates said to us, especially the lady who told me it was "the best conference she'd ever been to"..
* getting more drunk than i meant to on sunday evening..
* managing to avoid a hangover all the way through..
* surviving it..

stressed to the max..

currently experiencing increasing levels of stress and panic as the conference i (together with 4 other people) have been organising for over a year speeds towards us....how can it be in four days? urgh.

not much time to do anything other than freak out, although i am of course trying to fit in as much wimbledon viewing as possible..it's very calming, you know....here's hoping for a roddick win this year..

in my spare moments i am also very much enjoying the new album by alak (previously known as alas, alak, alaska)..it's unlike anything else i've heard recently, and is really quite charming.....go and listen to it here..if you like it, you can also download it for however much you would like to pay (minimum $1)..well worth it, i'd say.....

we've been holding this moment for you..

go and listen to 'psychic city', the new yacht single, now please..i've had it in my head since i saw them perform it at latitude last year..now i have it in my grubby computer mitts i can't stop listening to it..

sidenote..

have changed the font again..will probably change it again..

i quite like this one, though..garamond was good for a while, but a wee bit too small when small, and too big when medium..this one looks good in small, don't you think?

i do, however, want to know how to change the line-spacing so that the lines are a bit closer together..anyone have any tips? han?

vote vote vote!

internet, i need your help..on han's recommendation i ordered 4 pairs of glasses to try on from glasses direct, and i have now whittled that 4 down to 2..

the safe black pair:


or the slightly bizarre and almost certainly inadvisable big grey pair:


i've kind of already made up my mind - almost certainly inadvisable pair have edged their way into my heart just by virtue of their inadvisable-ness....but i would like your opinions..if you have any thoughts, please voice them in comments..

yuk..

this 'pride and prejudice' comic from marvel looks horrible....the drawings are not how i would have imagined them at all (not that i had ever imagined what 'pride and prejudice' would look like in comic book form)..far too smooth and sleek and, well, marvel-y..

i agree with kate beaton..her comic book reimagining of the novel looks like it would be much more fun..

check out my skills..

so i have just changed the font on this blog to garamond....i think the reason i did this is because i have just spent the last 4 days typing in said font, and now anything that's not in garamond looks weird..

i read something on the internet, though, that said some people might not have certain fonts installed..so, if you can't read this, do let me know..

..and i just realised that if you can't read this, then you're not going to know to let me know, are you?

..it's been a long week..