Conference Time!

This post may seem a little off, but there is nothing I can do about it.

I am coming off a high.

Not a for real high (never have done drugs in my life), but almost a retreat high.

Sunday night I returned from what has had to be the best conference of my professional life. Every keynote speaker was amazing (that never happens), every last one of my workshops was fantastic and I feel that I learned so much that I HAVE to take back with me and implement in my job. I have been talking about it non stop and I think Sassy is way too nice to shout at me to “shut up already!”  So this will be the last you hear of the PD benefits…maybe.

Wednesday was my first night in Disney and I was so sad that I was going to be missing karaoke with my girls for the second week in a row and I was wandering around our hotel gift shop trying to figure out what I would do with the rest of my night. It was only 9 pm and I was about to surrender to being old and just go up to bed when I heard some one mention karaoke.

My ears perked up and I had to know where. Once I found that out, I made my way to the sushi restaurant in the resort. Something I should have known, the Japanese have to know how to start a karaoke party!

I have never been so wrong in my life.

The petite small voiced girl playing KJ was putting forth what I am sure she felt was a huge effort in getting people excited and signed up to sing and she was failing miserably.

It was the saddest moment in the Happiest Place on Earth

You have to know, if I go to a karaoke night by myself, I want it to be dead and awkward. When I go with others, they expect me to start the party and I have to sing songs that do just that. Please understand that no one puts a gun to my head and makes me sing “Proud Mary” or an equally fantastic tune, I just know what’s expected and I give the people what they want!

I had the opportunity to sing ballads all night long; no matter how much they bored people, no matter how much they may to complain. I didn’t have to see them anymore in my life.

I finished singing Norah Jones and all of my hopes were dashed. Someone Annette introduced me to in the lobby came in and he invited me to sit with others from a different branch of our company and I accepted.

My name is Lainie Mac, and I am a compulsive party starter.

I had to, there were people there and they deserved a good karaoke night! So I sang Proud Mary and did the dance, pulled a foreign business man on stage and made it happen for an ever grateful KJ.

The night went on and we had a blast and I started to get pulled on stage by others, sang more songs and danced in encouragement of other performers. We decided to head out and smoke cigars and I was just gonna leave, but the KJ wouldn’t let me! She asked me to stay for one more song and she was gonna put me next so I agreed and chose “I Want You to Want Me” by Cheap Trick.

Before I was up, she announced that I would be leaving (collective groan) and announced my last song. Everyone cheered and sang along and I got hugged on my way out the door.

I had a great conversation with the gentleman I had cigars with (I know, I am totally one of the guys no matter how much I try not to be!) and I got some great career advice along with resources. Believe me, the cigar breath I have for the next five years of my life was well worth the amount of good networking that time outside did for me.

I ended up hanging with them the rest of the conference and I barely saw Annette even though we shared a room! I attracted the attention of (another) 24 year old and I worked super hard to create an appropriate boundary because I have accepted that 24 is just too young! (Yes, I realize I was singing a different tune two months ago, but I now realize that I dodged a bullet with Brad so back off!) Anyway, Billy is a sweet kid and he was really working it, he actually reminded me of Ralph when we first met six years ago with a lot of the same mannerisms. I ran into my old friend, Sister Felicia while I was at the conference (super random, but awesome!) and she got to meet him and thought the same thing!

Not only do I have a type, but my type has me.

Every attempt I made to shake him never worked, he wasn’t even deterred by another guy entering the picture, and he just worked harder.  I didn’t know what else to do but remind him of his age and mine in conversations. (“Great weather we’re having isn’t it? I’m 33 and you’re 24). Yes, I realize I still have 18 days until I turn 33, but it was best that I round up for this situation.  We were having a great time and I really enjoyed hanging out with him, but he would get all moony-eyed and I was reminded that I am a magnet for younger men.

It is so hard to be me.

We ended up on the same shuttle to the airport and we sat together and cracked each other up and when the other guy and I were texting (not gonna talk about him now, maybe another time…or not) he called me on it and point blank and was all “why don’t you just marry him already?”

Real mature, Billy.

I just sighed and gave him my undivided attention because he had been calling me on my attachment to my phone all conference. (I was just missing CeeCee, Prue, Trix and Stacy and I didn’t want to be out of our Facebook messaging loop.) I figured we have had a great time and even though I was not going to fall in love with him anytime soon, I might as well maintain the friend I made and not piss him off in the next 30 minutes. It might make the transport awkward.

I was on such a conference high as well as preoccupied with some of the things that happened while I was in Florida that it really didn’t even faze me when Mona didn’t start when we got to the parking lot or even when she and I got a speeding for barreling down Ohio Blvd. later that night!

Now that I am home, I realize that conference and everything I experienced was definitely the second best thing about my year (the musical still holds the top spot!). I got to meet new people and experience new things and even cross something off my bucket list: on Friday morning, Billy and I were part of a flash mob!!

When we asked, we were so excited and we were trying to act normal before it started and we were definitely off on some of the moves, but we had a blast and I will never be able to listen to "Some Nights" the same way again.

Another benefit if the conference is that it challenged me to want to make my job work. Which means I might be staying in Terre Haute for a little bit longer and I am not sure about how I feel about that at the moment.

It drives me crazy (and blesses me) that God always knows exactly what I need and when. This conference was one of those things.

There was so much more that happened in between the party starting, cigar smoking, workshop attending, flash-mobbing and heart breaking that I am working on sharing with all of you, I just need a little more time to understand it all myself. And when I am ready, I imagine it will take some time to tell the tale.

Just know that I had a fantastic time and I am feeling a combination of blessed and frustrated which we all know means that God’s working on something in my life so I am just going to have faith, and maybe another cigar.