Greetings from Philadelphia ! Yes, after much ado, I am here, sitting at my friend, Ben's, computer. It was a bit of an effort, but all is well and I'm alive and full of coffee and pop tarts.

I got to the station yesterday for the 7:15am bus and the bus driver informed me that his bus didn't go where I needed to go. I begged to differ. Despite the fact that he would theoretically go to Syracuse, and my ticket had me going to Syracuse, he insisted that I would have to change buses at Buffalo, but nevermind because the roads were still closed.

ME: Ya, okay so the roads are closed now, but surely they'll open by the time we reach Buffalo, right?
BUS: I don't know. They're closed right now.
ME: Yes, but aren't they working on getting them open? Buffalo is over two hours away. Don't you get road information?
BUS: What, do I look like a weather man to you? (Nasty smile and big shrug)
ME: (Really tired of this crap...) Well, you look like a busdriver, but you sound kind of like a jerk.

Anyway, I decided I didn't want to be on a bus driven by this ass so I opted to sit around for the 8:30am. That driver was very nice, and yes, the roads did open. From Niagara Falls pretty much to a couple hours out of New York City, there was quite a bit of snow on the ground. Things were very pretty. I got hassled for the first time ever when I went through Customs. The officer confiscated my clemintine oranges, even though I offered to eat them right there on the spot. I won't go into it, but he was an officious dork. Two passengers on the bus were detained and had their luggage entirely searched while a video crew filmed the whole procedure. I didn't think they'd let the Middle Eastern man get back on, but eventually they did. So, not having had to leave anyone behind, we continued on. I slept almost the entire way, which made the trip completely bearable. I slept from Toronto to Niagara, then from Buffalo to Rochester, then from Rochester to Syracuse. I did a bit of drawing window-gazing from Syracuse to Utica and then from the rest stop after Utica, I slept through until almost NYC. I met a travel mate at the Port Authority and we talked almost the entire way to Philly. We had much in common, from being tall, to having cats, to having a parent that suffered a stroke. She was pretty neat. She also was an artist specialising in illustration.

Megs picked me up at the station. I got to hang with the homeless/crazies and cab drivers outside the station, which was kind of fun. The homeless guys tried to hustle cabs for arrivals, and intermittently asked for change. A guy tried to hawk me an ugly gold chain, but he found no luck with me. No sir. A couple of cops came out of the station and shooed some of the loiterers away. The cops were quite humourously dressed, though, both wearing their police sweaters over their flakjackets, badges pinned on their chests, and both were wearing sports-team toques with the team logos at the back of their heads. I came to the conclusion that people in Philadelphia talk to themselves even more than Torontonians do, and that's saying something. It must be in the water. Megs picked me up, with a large hot chocolate waiting for me in the car, and then we went to the South St Diner for some food. When she dropped me at Ben's I was still wide awake, thanks to all the sleeping I did on the bus, so I went with him for a short walk to get some take-out. We met Ali, his roommate, outside the house and then walked over together. Needless to say, I did not buy food, being plenty full, but the walk was nice. I'd done an awful lot of sitting all day.

Ali and Ben have a cat named Nicodemus who is quite a sexy creature. He's a sleek grey with white feet and a coal-black nose and very yellow eyes. He's a bit of a handful, but very sweet, and currently he's sleeping on my knee. Ben's out with Ali and in about twenty minutes, I'm going to walk over to the convention centre to hang my art. God, I hope it sells. I hope, I hope, I hope. We'll see, I guess. Tonight, Megan is taking me to Panang, an Asian fusion restaurant and at some point, I'm going to take a bunch of photographs. Philly is such an amazing looking city. It's really nice. If I could get a job, I'd move here in a heartbeat. Anyway, I should go fix my hair and make myself presentable. I've got a lot to do.

Soooo... a funny thing happened to me on the way to Philadelphia.

All the highways in upper New York state were closed due to an ice storm. Well, fancy that. It might have been nice if this information was posted on the information boards, if someone had been told to come out and tell everyone... but no. It was the bus driver. "All the highways in New York are closed due to an ice storm. So, if you're going to Buffalo, that's where this bus stops. If you're going to Rochester, New York City, or Philadelphia, you should come back in the morning and take the 8:30am." Just like that. There were a lot of very displeased would-be bus-riders, except for the five people going to Buffalo. Anyway, I checked the schedule on greyhound.ca and found that there is a bus scheduled to leave at 7:15am. I'm shooting for that one, since it's probably going to be less crowded.

Goodnight.

My gosh, I am very tired. I feel like I never went to bed last night, rather than simply getting to bed later than usual. I had a very hard time getting up this morning, but in the end, I dragged myself out and made it in on time. I'm mostly packed, except for a few last things which will need rounding up.

Chris will be picking me up around 8:30pm and taking me to Megan's house. We'll chill and watch The West Wing and then sometime after 10pm, he'll drive me to the bus terminal. My bus is at 11:15 tonight and I'll arrive in Philly tomorrow around 2:20pm. I really hope I can get some sleep on the bus. Really. I need it.

I have to pick up my paintings at the framing place (I have no idea what it's called, I just know that it's quite affordable). I have enough in my account to do that, and then I will be all set. I'll pack them up carefully, putting one into my baggage and the other larger ones into my portfolio that I cleaned out especially for this event. I'm nervous, or excited, I'm not sure which, but mostly I'm just tired. I really don't want to have problems at customs... I want it to go nice and smoothly. I don't want to have problems about my bringing art across the border. I just want to sleep... sleeeep.... sleeeeeep...

Here I am, sitting with Natasha, not getting what needs to be done dealt with. Fair enough, I've spoken to several people on the phone, including my friend Adam G_______ and discussing what work he wants me to do for him), and my friend Chris, who will be kind enough to drive me to the bus terminal tomorrow night. Yep, that's right, tomorrow night I'm boarding a bus and sitting in it for fifteen hours in order to go to Philadelphia. One of these times, I -will- get to Philly without a maxium of discomfort and with a visit that actually lasts more than a few days. Ya, the day I'm rich.

Which could happen if ILM loves me. Sorry, I'm laughing. If ILM replies to me, I'll be happy. Yes, I do mean Industrial Light and Magic. I sent out my portfolio and resume to them today because they are currently offering a storyboard/concept art position that I actually qualify for. Anyway, I got all nervous about submitting it, and I paid through the nose (over 18 bucks, which considering my current financial status seemed like an awful lot) to get it sent out. The woman in the postal outlet kept trying to get me to take the pages out of the folder so that they could fit in the cheaper envelope, despite my explanation that "it has to go in the folder - it's a portfolio... for a job... No, it has to stay in the folder, really". Anyway, it was a good portfolio. Maybe ILM will take notice. Ray, Mom, and about three people at work today all gave it their approval. I bought a special portfolio thing to take into interviews, too, which I will eventually fill with copious amounts of art. I also bought a new sketchbook for the trip and a new fine-tipped ink pen since someone pushed the tip of my old one up inside the nib.

I'm really tired. I was going to go into the fun things I did this weekend, but I just don't have the energy. Perhaps tomorrow, on a break at work. Now is the time for packing things. Packing. I should make a list.

Six pairs underwear.
Five pairs socks.
Two bras.
Three tee-shirts, two long-sleeved shirts.
One button-down.
One loud tie.
One pair jeans.
One pair loud plaid pants.
Nightgown.
Blanket and towel? Possibly.
One pair each of boots and sneakers.
Toiletries.
Medication.
Snuffles.
Camera, film.
Sketchbook, pencil case.
Prints, artist bio, cards.
Art, carefully wrapped.
CD player, musical selection.
Sisters' presents.
Sandwiches, etc.

I think that should do it. Chances are, I'll think of a couple other items tomorrow at work.