My exposure to Americana started early.
When I was maybe six years old, I was pulled out of the lunch line in school - not to get into trouble like I first thought - but to go out into the car park, where, sitting in the back of a car, I met a relative of my father. He had travelled from Scotland to the US as a young boy, lived his life there, got married, and when he retired, travelled back to Scotland with his wife for a visit.
They didn't have much time available, but they took the time out to come and meet us, and left with a promise - that if I ever made it to the US, he'd take me to Disneyland.
A year or so later, just before the 4th of July, his brother came to visit, and brought his wife and daughter, and her husband. My granny was ill with heart problems, but she rallied enough to attend the 4th of July barbecue (I think her words were "I'll go to this barbecue if its the last thing I do"... and it very nearly was... but that's another story) we organised in our back garden.
To make it all a bit more realistic, they'd brought mini stars and stripes flags with them, and there are many pictures of my sister and I very patriotically waving those flags (that it was patriotism for a country that wasn't ours didn't enter into our heads), but that's not the bit that has the most resonance in my memory.
Although they had no reason to, and didn't have to, they brought us presents. Simple presents, for sure, but, at least to me, priceless.
For me, there was a Velveteen Rabbit colo(u)ring book, and a box of 48 Crayola crayons, complete with gold and silver crayons!
The book was beautiful, and the story lovely and I literally loved it to death (and never actually coloured it in - it was too precious to ruin with my childish attempts at colouring), but the crayons - the crayons were special. For starters, you couldn't get a set of crayons with that many colours at that time.
For a moment, I was cool. I had more - and better - crayons than any of the other kids.
Of course, I used up, grew up and forgot about the crayons - save for occasional reminders of that barbecue and to be honest, I don't think I'd thought about it for a couple of years.
Until I was in Austin.
In a corner of the convention centre there was a huge play area. A massive lego pit next to a bunch of tables with paper, playdoh, pens, colouring books and yes, crayons and as I sat down and looked more closely, I saw the pack.
Pack upon pack of 48 crayons, there for the using.
... and as I picked one up, the memories came rushing back.
The smell of the wax, the feel of the wax and paper under my fingertips, and the childish excitement of having so many crayons. Surely 48 was the pinnacle of crayon selection.
Apparently not.
As I told the story to Mike he told me that not only do they have boxes of 48, they have boxes of 64, 96 and even 120 (and, I've since found out, 150) crayons.
150 colours of crayon. How my inner 7 year old rejoices.
I think my jaw dropped, and when Mike and Christine kindly took me to experience the Aladdin's Cave that is a Target store I had to go see for myself, and sure enough, there they were - a multitude of multiple crayon packs.
So of course, I bought one.
Not the 48 pack though - because 48 packs don't come with silver and gold any more, and I had to have me some metallic wax - but a 64, complete with in-the-box sharpener.
An in-the-box sharpener and metallic crayons?
How could I not.
My inner 7 year old is in crayon heaven once more.
So I had all this stuff I wanted to write, about SXSW and America and lifelong ambitions and backstory and then I got home from work on Monday night, felt really crappy, and went to bed early when the internet went a bit flaky.
Then Tuesday was one of those days where you just shouldn't have got out of bed.
I got up, got dressed and went to the client site where I was supposed to be working that day, and promptly sat in reception for an hour, because there was a misunderstanding. The more time went on, the worse I felt and so I phoned work, left a message at reception and headed home, with the intention of working from home for the rest of the day.
Then I got on the bus, but missed the stop, and then stayed on because I realised it terminated near another Tube Station, except I missed that too (because I'd never been there and assumed it terminated at the station, and it didn't, so got off that bus, and ran across the road in front of traffic to catch another bus which said it went to a tube station I knew I could get home from.
Then I got off one stop later, when I saw the tube station I'd previously missed, and got on the tube. Living at the end of the line has its advantages, so I didn't fall asleep and miss my stop.
Then when I finally got home, after all that hassle, I discovered I had no internet.
At all.
So I phoned Orange, who were useless and unhelpful and told me to call back.
So I called back, and got someone nice, but ultimately useless and unhelpful, and this pattern continued for five days, with me getting progressively more frustrated, and losing my voice more and more in the process.
Five days. At home. With a cold. And no internet.
Reader, I was ready to reach through the phone and rip someone's head off and use it as a fruitbowl.
Til a couple of hours ago, when it magically, came back from wherever it had gone.
"don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got til it's gone" indeed.
Still, I did manage to watch three films, half a series of Studio 60, almost a whole season of West Wing, read a novel, three magazines and crochet half a wrap, as well as sleep for more than 14 hours a day, so it wasn't all bad.
Just frustrating. Like having your arm cut off.
(a partial story, via twitter - more to follow)
pixeldiva is on the ground in London. Home at last. 09:36 AM March 15, 2007
pixeldiva is on the plane, waiting for take-off. Good-bye USA, thanks for everything. 02:23 AM March 15, 2007
pixeldiva is eating ice cream and mini oreos and waiting for boarding to start. 01:56 AM March 15, 2007
pixeldiva is eating chicken nuggets from Wendy's and waiting for the flight back home. 01:20 AM March 15, 2007
pixeldiva is on the ground in Dulles. 12:34 AM March 15, 2007
pixeldiva has just got on the plane from gate 23. Thanks everyone she met (and some she didn't) for a fabulous first US and SXSW experience. 09:33 PM March 14, 2007
pixeldiva just passed Dan Rubin on the way to the gate at the airport. Now watching the rain and hugging a stuffed armadillo. Will miss Texas. *sniff* 08:20 PM March 14, 2007
pixeldiva has resolved the international conflict with minimal casualties. Is at Homeslice having pizza before heading to the airport. 05:37 PM March 14, 2007
pixeldiva has just had the guy on the front desk of her hotel apologise to her for George Bush and Dick Cheney. Funny. 03:56 PM March 14, 2007
pixeldiva is still trying to resolve international conflict. Deadline approaching fast. Insert music of high tension here. 03:51 PM March 14, 2007
pixeldiva thinks that "giggle hangover" is a great phrase to describe how I'm feeling this morning. 02:55 PM March 14, 2007
pixeldiva is packing. Which may be more entertaining than it sounds. 02:48 PM March 14, 2007
pixeldiva is going for breakfast, and hoping that the international conflict gets resolved while I'm away. 01:57 PM March 14, 2007
pixeldiva is up, awake, and trying to resolve international conflict. 01:43 PM March 14, 2007
pixeldiva didn't win a wii. 09:22 PM March 13, 2007
pixeldiva is waiting to see if she's won a wii. 08:37 PM March 13, 2007
pixeldiva is chilling out in a musical pod chair, listening to Indian Summer by America. 04:47 PM March 13, 2007
pixeldiva is in the typography sucks panel. 03:41 PM March 13, 2007
pixeldiva looks out of the window to see grey skies and rain. changes mind about what to wear. 01:44 PM March 13, 2007
pixeldiva cringes. 01:37 PM March 13, 2007
pixeldiva wonders what franklyRichmond has against accessibility testers 01:23 PM March 13, 2007
pixeldiva is going to bed, to sleep the sleep of the truly exhausted. 06:06 AM March 13, 2007
pixeldiva is now in Paradise. 05:06 AM March 13, 2007
pixeldiva is mildly moist and getting wetter by the minute. 04:35 AM March 13, 2007
pixeldiva is drinking root beer, which tastes like sweetened TCP. 03:57 AM March 13, 2007
pixeldiva is wondering where chicken fried steak has been all my life. 03:46 AM March 13, 2007
pixeldiva is savouring the experience of root beer, chicken fried steak and milkshake to a soundtrack of lynard skynard 03:11 AM March 13, 2007
pixeldiva is at 20x2, enjoying the ambiance. 12:19 AM March 13, 2007
pixeldiva would shoot. 10:49 PM March 12, 2007
pixeldiva is seeing the future of JavaScript. 09:10 PM March 12, 2007
pixeldiva has rocked WalMart, and had the best chilli cheese fries ever for lunch at Casino El Camino. 08:00 PM March 12, 2007
pixeldiva is getting huge amounts out of the Get Unstuck panel. 03:59 PM March 12, 2007
pixeldiva is in the Get Unstuck: Moving From 1.0 to 2.0 panel 03:08 PM March 12, 2007 from web Icon_star_empty Icon_trash
pixeldiva has just checked, and it's a beautiful morning in Austin. 02:02 PM March 12, 2007
pixeldiva slept and is now awake, listening to weird american morning radio show as I start to get ready for the day. 01:36 PM March 12, 2007
pixeldiva should, by all rights, be sleeping, but instead is totally wide awake and wired. weird. 06:50 AM March 12, 2007
pixeldiva isn't worried about what she might find, can't be any worse than t**girl, but is on a work laptop so isn't going to google anything dodgy. 06:50 AM March 12, 2007
pixeldiva is in ur hotel room, lyin on ur bed 06:43 AM March 12, 2007
pixeldiva is in ur hilton bar, drinkin ur patron 05:50 AM March 12, 2007
pixeldiva is on your bus, leaving your bowling. 05:07 AM March 12, 2007
pixeldiva is rocking at smurf by smurfwest - http://www.flickr.com/photo... 01:04 AM March 12, 2007
pixeldiva is in ur bowling alley, with ur molly, eatin ur pizza 12:50 AM March 12, 2007
pixeldiva is wondering where the rest of the Brit Insurgence Force are. 11:11 PM March 11, 2007
pixeldiva is all panelled out. Hiding out in the day stage cafe to catch up with herself again. 10:11 PM March 11, 2007
pixeldiva is way out of her depth in the future of javascript panel, wonders if she can leave without making too much noise. 09:11 PM March 11, 2007
pixeldiva is in the Future of JavaScript panel 09:04 PM March 11, 2007
pixeldiva is feeling very concerned in the AJAX or Flash panel. 08:45 PM March 11, 2007
pixeldiva is in the AJAX or Flash panel 08:35 PM March 11, 2007
pixeldiva is sitting in the hallway, and has the only pc in sight. Feels weird. 08:10 PM March 11, 2007
pixeldiva is sitting two rows behind Anton in "Why we should ignore users" 03:04 PM March 11, 2007
pixeldiva is back in her hotel room, with proper old style twangy country blues music left playing for me on the radio. So wrong, and yet, so right. 07:17 AM March 11, 2007
pixeldiva is discussing twitter. 06:36 AM March 11, 2007
pixeldiva pondering on accessibility in the high class/low class web design panel 12:00 AM March 11, 2007
pixeldiva wishing she could tell what the songs that are playing in the hall are - there's been some good music 10:49 PM March 10, 2007
pixeldiva thinking that grids totally rock 09:50 PM March 10, 2007
pixeldiva has decided to go to the Grids are Good panel. 09:03 PM March 10, 2007
pixeldiva finds it strange that people said that the type of music doesn't influence the types of work they do, cos she's very influenced by music 06:08 PM March 10, 2007
pixeldiva is feeling inspired 05:54 PM March 10, 2007
pixeldiva is in the influence of art and design panel, listening to erik sagen talk about pop culture 05:47 PM March 10, 2007
pixeldiva has internet. yay. 05:24 PM March 10, 2007
pixeldiva wishing she could get on the wifi for more than just gtalk/twitter 04:34 PM March 10, 2007
pixeldiva is in the emerging social and technology trends panel 04:19 PM March 10, 2007
pixeldiva feels slightly odd. thinks it might be jet lag. goes for shower to try and get rid of weirdness. 02:58 PM March 10, 2007
pixeldiva is going for breakfast. Wondering if she'll be brave enough to try grits, if they offer them. 02:10 PM March 10, 2007
pixeldiva is up and awake, and slightly freaked out by the fact that Austin is foggy rather than sunny right now 01:40 PM March 10, 2007
pixeldiva desperately needs to sleep, but is too wired and buzzed by the experiences of the last 24 hours (and the last 8 in particular) to be able to 04:44 AM March 10, 2007
pixeldiva is in Austin, eating a sandwich and chatting with some locals. Has had a total of 4 hours sleep in the last 36. Is slightly wired. 09:13 PM March 09, 2007
pixeldiva is on the ground in Washington DC. 04:12 PM March 09, 2007
pixeldiva is in the departure lounge with two hours to go, after the shortest check in and security process ever. Typical! 05:58 AM March 09, 2007
pixeldiva is in a taxi, heading for Heathrow. 04:54 AM March 09, 2007
(add me on twitter to follow what I'm doing now)
Seven years ago I sat up, in the middle of the night, and pressed publish on my very first blog post.
Just in time for (what seemed like) the entire blog community to up and go to the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival.
I decided, right then and there, that this was something I really wanted to go to. Everyone seemed to be having so much fun, and I wanted to join in.
Seven years on, it seems kind of fitting that I'm once more, up in the middle of the night and pressing publish on a first blog post (albeit, the first one in a couple of months).
What's even nicer is that this time, I'm up in the middle of the night waiting for a taxi.
I'm waiting for a taxi that'll take me to Heathrow, and from Heathrow, I'll travel to Washington Dulles, and then from Dulles on to Austin.
Seven years on, I'm going to SXSW, and checking off two ambitions in one go (the other being to go to the US, end of).
I'm sorry I've been away for so long, there's a lot of story to be told, and it will, in time.
For now though, hello again.
... the online home and (not very) alter(ed)-ego of Ann McMeekin, a recently freelance Web Accessibility Consultant.
... passionate about many things, most of which will turn up on this site at some time or other.
... contactable via email.
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