the slackmistress takes san francisco.

I'm still here, sitting nestled between the cool sheets, curled with my laptop. Cartoon Network is on the TV. My head hurts, my feet are killing me, my brain is about to explode, and I am so completely overwhelmed I don't even know where to start.

I have never in my life felt so completely welcomed by a group of people. Most of my writing life is spent on the outskirts watching everyone else rather than in the center being watched. There are 250+ photos on Flickr with the tag slacksumeeting. As I told my friend Tantek, I finally know what it feels like to be followed by paparazzi. Flickrazzi, he called them. There are good photos and bad photos (you didn't actually think I'd link to one, do you?) and erm, bad girl photos. We drank until 2am and danced until 4am and brunched and lunched and schmoozed and hung out. I drank champagne in bed with my evil twin C. and I had girly sleepover time with N. and I ate the best burrito of my life out of a paper bag seated on the cold ground in Dolores Park, where my friend J. and I sipped Moscow Mules and watched A Fish Called Wanda.

Today was the last get-together, brunch in the Haight at All You Knead. I expected ten people, tops. My friend N. and I walked in to discover a such a crowd that they couldn't seat us all at the same time. Consumators took over half the restaurant. My friend J. turned to me and said next time you come to San Francisco, you have to make it a stealth trip. We can't handle crowds like this.

I am exhausted and oversocialized, like a toddler on a three-day pass to Disneyland. My life isn't like this, I explained. Or, as I told my friend N. last night, I am a dork. I am so incredibly touched and shocked and amazed and pleased that people want to hang out with me, but seriously, I'm a dork. I hope they all realized that. She laughed. Because that's what friends do, of course.

What an insanely successful trip it's been. I've had hang out time, I've had schmooze time, I've had how-are-we-taking-over-the-world time, I've had meeting new fabulous people time, I've even had the opportunity to play counselor-on-the-spot and field test my nerd dating advice time. I have hung out with rockstars all weekend, including Internet Rockstar himself. I have remembered faces and forgotten names and met so many fabulous new people who I still didn't get enough opportunity to hang out with.

I haven't processed the whole experience yet. I don't know if I can. Tomorrow is a breakfast and then I hit the road, pointing the Pink Mini southward to return to real life. But I've got some absolutely marvelous things brewing there as well. Seeds are being planted. I'm just gardening in shiny boots and fishnets...