Thursday, January 17, 2008

Arts Cruise News

Well, I'm back from the Arts Cruise. My partner and I had a great time.

I'm blown away by how well Quent and Linda planned the Arts portion. Grand pianos, recitals, plays, drawing demonstrations, information packets for our rooms, transportation, sound systems, and on and on.... And to think this was their first attempt at a conference! Wow! Congratulations to both of you!

As for the vacation aspect, we knew going into the trip that the cruise ship and the kind of crowd it would draw were not going to be our scene -- and we couldn't have been more right about that! -- but we also knew that almost nothing could prevent the two of us from having a great time on our own, and I'm sure we would have, except that we rarely had to be alone. So many interesting and passionate people attended that we found ourselves with another, unexpected problem: too little time to visit with everyone we wanted to meet. Even now I'm thinking of people I only just barely met and wishing that I could buy them a drink and hang out for a while. Sigh...

The presenters were all great. Given the challenges they faced -- you'd understand what I mean if you had gone -- they all did an exceptional job. Everyone kind of rolled with it, so to speak. Even in the rare cases where I didn't favor a particular musical performance or score or agree with something that was said, it was a constant pleasure to just be among so many similarly-impassioned romanticists. Speaking of that, the impromptu dancing in Nefertiti's Nipple (or whatever the place was called) was fabulous to watch! Thanks to all of you!

So much joy, so little time. :-)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are a little too modest. The two of you added an indispensable component to the group, and I am very glad to have met you both. Best of luck with the writing and the kick-ass printer project. Hope to see you soon in your neck of the woods.

Bryan

Toiler said...

Hi, Bryan. Thanks for the generous comment. After a busy weekend, I finally have a chance to reply.

I had a great time meeting and talking to you, too. Somehow the week seemed to fly by, and conversations were much too short. More for the future, I hope.

Oh, and I meant to say goodbye after Monna Vanna, but we didn't make it to the last act. So I'll take this chance to say thanks for the inspiration. It's good to see an artist working hard, figuring it out, and putting it all together, especially with so much panache.

All the best to you and Sarah!