It's Gives the Word "Pop" a New Meaning

There's something very cool about New York. I've been here a few times now and I'm just fascinated by the energy and the eclectic mix of it all. But it's noisy. I mean, it's NOISY! I lay there in my hotel room last night, listening to the sirens and cars honking and general city noise, while trying to will myself to fall asleep. It didn't work. I finally stuffed my ear buds in my ears and tuned in to the ocean sounds on my iPod to drown it out.

So, after a less-than-wonderful night's sleep, I didn't wake up until 10:30 this morning. Oops. Kinda missed the morning sessions. And breakfast. And the coffee in my room tasted like butt. (No, I've never tasted butt, but I'm certain that is what it would taste like.) I wonder if there's a Dunkin' Donuts around here.

Last night, I got a call from Lisa Belkin, who writes the Motherlode blog for the New York Times. Check it out! She's a smart, insightful writer. I met Lisa when she interviewed me a while back. I remember she asked me, "Do you exaggerate what you write on your blog or does all that stuff really happen?"

I believe I told her, "Oh, hang on a minute! My son is on the refrigerator! Clayton get down from there! What do you want? Ask for help if you want something up high! Brooklyn, tell me you did NOT just spill nail polish on the couch! I'm sorry, Lisa, you were saying?"

"Nevermind."

Anyway, she called and asked me to join her and a small group of bloggers at the New York Times for lunch and a tour of the building. Since she reads my blog, she knew that Vic was here and hanging out with me so she invited him along as well. We bloggers gathered in the lobby, introduced ourselves, and started chatting while waiting for Lisa. Victor tried to join in the conversation, but I could tell his eyes were starting to glaze over. And then it happened. He saw tv-type screens. A lot of them. In a true ADD moment, he walked to the wall o' screens and stared, mesmerized by their flashing pictures and words. Or maybe it wasn't so much an ADD moment as a "guy thing". I'm not sure. But anyway, that was it for him. He was hooked. We didn't see him again until the end of the tour.

By the way, thank you Lisa for the nice visit with you, the interesting tour, and the yummy lunch! You're awesome!

The day went on, I did stuff, I met people, I had fun. I made several security guards freak out and call in the SWAT team. I probably shouldn't have put that part in there, but I'd hate for you to hear about it on the news first. Sooo, I'll explain. I was waiting for the elevator along with about 30 other people when there was this LOUD noise. It sounded like a bomb. People around me did the whole "duck and cover" thing. I had no idea what had happened until I felt the moisture on my leg. I looked down and saw broken green glass everywhere. I looked at my hands, where I'd been holding two glass bottles of Sprite. There was only one bottle remaining. (This is why they make plastic bottles, duh!)

Uh oh. In slow motion, I turned around and saw people to the left and right, cowering from the "bomb". An entire family was drenched in Sprite. Another person may have been impaled by projectile green glass. Sprite may have been dripping from the ceiling and running down the elevator doors. The scene, which had been unfolding in slow motion for me, suddenly caught up to real time as a couple security guards came racing around the corner, rapidly talking into the microphones on their lapels. I thought to myself that I should explain what happened and apologize profusely and make sure someone could clean it up quickly before an innocent person slipped and got hurt on the broken glass. I thought that. But as the security guards moved in, I frantically pounded the elevator button repeatedly and made a hasty retreat. I'm pretty sure my conference badge has been tagged and there are wanted posters up all over the hotel. I'm a little embarrassed afraid to go near the scene of the crime. I may just stay in my room tomorrow.

Finally, this evening, I went to a party hosted by Mom Central and Johnson & Johnson. Someone mentioned they were looking for dad bloggers so I told them that I happened to know one. I ran back to the hotel, grabbed Vic and dragged him over. So, this guy John starts talking to Vic and decides that Vic is awesome. "Wow! You have six kids? And you're single? And they live with you?? Oh my gosh, how do you do it??!!!" I think he may have bowed down a little while saying that last part. Then he turned to me and asked, "Do you have kids?"

I answered him, "Yep. I'm a single mom of six kids." I believe he said, "Oh". I stood there blinking, my mouth slightly agape. There is so no justice in this. A single dad takes care of his kids and it's all, "Oh my gosh, how do you do it?! You're amazing! You should win an award!" When a single mom takes care of her kids, it's all, "Yeah, well, that's expected. They are your kids afterall." And actually, it's not just single parents. It's parents, in general. Grrrr.

Anyway, I have another activity-filled day tomorrow (you know, setting off Sprite bombs, dodging security and what-not), so I'm gonna fire up the ocean sounds on the ole iPod and try to get some sleep before I have to wake up entirely too early (and on eastern time, at that)!