multitudes

I woke up to darkness. I parted the curtains hoping for a sunrise - instead, the glittering lights of the Monte Carlo hotel sign across the way. Since then the sun has come up on the other side of my hotel and is shining on the top half of the (faux) New York skyline and the mountains behind it, the Monte Carlo, more rooftops and buildings.

"It is 5am, and the sun has charred the other side of the earth and come back to us" - Screenwriter's Blues, Soul Coughing

Last night I went to a reception with a live band playing jazz standards. The room was packed and people stood in clumps, shouting conversations, sipping little martinis and eating hors d'oeuvres passed by waiters. This morning my voice is scratchy. I am feeling the disorientation of being at a conference - if you don't force yourself to go outside, you could spend 3 days straight in the same building, breathing the same stale air. A coworker told me every hotel in Vegas has a signature scent that it pumps in through its ventilation system to cover up the smoke and other bad odors that arise when people overeat, overdrink and never go outside. Lovely.

Well, time to get back into character, by which I mean gussy up and schmooze and talk shop until 10 or 11 tonight. I'm going to a meet-and-greet at a bar called the Double Down Saloon, so I should be able to report back with some local color...