When You Meet Me

I did this last year, and since there will be many more ALI bloggers at this conference and in New York, I thought I’d write up a new version since, you know, people change.  So if you meet me in New York this week/weekend…

I am nervous too. I know, it’s sort of crazy to admit that because I have (1) been to three BlogHer conferences by now and (2) know about fifty people or so who are going semi-well, and (3) talk to a lot of you via email. But I am pretty shy in large crowds or small.

I am shorter than you think. Even people who have seen me in pictures next to other people always seem a little surprised by my height.

Though I photoshop it out before posting pictures of me on my blog, I have an eye patch and a parrot surgically implanted onto my shoulder (actually, his feet are implanted into my shoulder and the rest of his body hovers slightly above me). It’s my right shoulder, which is why I lean heavily to the left.

When I am nervous, I write things like that because I can’t think of another way to describe myself.

And then I keep them on the list the next year running even though it wasn’t really funny the first time around.

I will try to hug you. I may even try to kiss you. I will most likely cry. If any of these things make you uncomfortable and you still want to talk to me, you may want to approach me with hands raised. This is a good indicator to me that you do not like to be hugged, smooched, or cried upon.

I have no clue what I’m wearing, but it probably won’t be remarkable.  Other people are writing about their shoes and clothes and accessories, and while I would love to have some sort of style, I tend to lean more towards boring, comfortable outfits.  So I probably won’t impress you with my unremarkable wardrobe and lack of make-up.  But hopefully, my personality will be a large enough accessory.

I am going to a few of the parties this year.  In the past, I’ve sort of avoided the parties, but this year, I am going to them at least for a short period of time.  I am also not grabbing the same amount of swag I grabbed last year.  There is a lot of swag to be found, but we’re sort of in a mental space where we’re reducing rather than adding.  Unless it’s an iPad.  Ooooh, I want an iPad so badly.

BlogHer is massively overwhelming — it’s a lot of people and a lot of sound and a lot of things to remember and a lot of information.  I love meeting people there, but more so, I love keeping in touch afterward. So please give me your card. Or follow me on Twitter. Or let me know that you subscribed to the blog’s rss feed so I can return the favour.  If we already know each other, this obviously doesn’t apply to you because I will already be hugging and kissing you.  But I love meeting new people and then going through the cards when I get home and adding new blogs to my Reader.

I don’t use the kid’s names. I call them the ChickieNob and Wolvog at BlogHer too. I will miss them a lot and will probably cry if you ask me about them.  Which is not to say that you can’t ask me about them, but it’s just an explanation for why snot will be dripping out of my nose a few minutes later.

The easiest way to reach me during the conference is email.  I tend not to hear my phone when I’m at home in our quiet house, so it’s even less likely that I’ll hear it during the conference.  I also do not have text messaging on my phone.  But I generally have the computer open the whole time so I can get emails quickly.

You will probably quickly understand when you see me at the conference that the way I get so much done during the day is coffee, coffee, and coffee.

Um…those are probably the main things you need to know.  Anything else you’d like to know that I haven’t covered?  If you have done one of these posts because you’ll be at the conference or NY, please leave a link to it in the comment section below so I can read yours too.

Oh…and this is me:

And don’t forget (and yes, I am posting this daily): Friday is the 200th/300th Friday Blog Roundup cake extravaganza.  On Friday, upload a picture of a piece of cake (and don’t get hung up on the words “a piece of cake” — if you want to bake a whole cake or celebrate with an oreo or simply walk by the bakery and take a picture and not put anything in your piehole, it’s all good) and then link to your blog post using the linky function that will be in the Friday Blog Roundup.  It would be lovely if you wrote something about what community means to you.  Why you love being part of the ALI community, and how you feel when you read a particularly satisfying blog post.

Photo credit: Mary Gardella at Love Life Images.