Moraga and the DLP, Part 1
Jul. 6th, 2007 09:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
azurite9:59pm, Justin Hall, room 216
So I'm here in Moraga, a place I've never been to before. The name Moraga makes me think of "craggy" like rocks, "gag," like something you don't like, and "Morganna," the enchantress (I think) from the King Arthur legends.
On the way here via the 106 bus from the Lafayette Bart station, I kept thinking this town was so small and quaint, the sort of American town that's both classic and yet distant-- not really apart of America even though it defines it. One of my first thoughts was "You'd never think about terrorism in a place like this." People's front yards are half the size or larger of the square footage of their house. The biggest drama might be if someone chooses to repave their driveway.
I could be totally wrong, of course, but that's just the feeling I got.
I arrived with a few other DLPers, Maria from Kazakhstan (don't tell her you liked Borat), Michael, and another girl whose name I unfortunately forgot (but I know it doesn't start with M). My roommate has a unique name too-- she's got a bit of a lisp and I think her name is Shirin, but it sounds different, like it sounds like it ends with an i (even though it doesn't).
The dorm rooms here couldn't be blander-- I'm on the dorm room on the far right end of the hallway, and when you walk in, there are two would-be bunk beds, one taller than the other by just a few inches, two giant closets separated by a dinky sink and mirror, a desk on the far right side of the room, and another desk just behind me, not far from Shirin's bed.
I went to the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Pizza Party, which was good, though the pizza was nothing to write home about. I probably should have eaten before I left San Francisco, since I already bothered to go to the Benefit Brow Bar and to the Metreon to grab my "Writer's Toolbox" from the Chronicle bookstore (and what a great buy it's proving to be!![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
akavertigo, here I come).
After some eating and slight networking with whoever was sitting nearest to me, the Enterprise Reps called for an introduction session-- because there were a good 100 of us or so, it took a while, and we had several latecomers spread out over the room. I was one of the first 20 or so to go though, and I wasn't so scared then. All you had to do was say your name, school, year, major, and something interesting about your school. Easy enough, yeah? No one else is from Northridge though; there are seriously people from ALL over the country here, and some from all over the world!
I would have stayed longer to schmooze, but I hadn't put my bed together yet, wanted to wash my face (I bought the Benetint rose-scented facial tint, and DAMN that stuff rocks!
), and just couldn't work up the mojo to randomly walk up to someone's crowd and start talking. The event officially starts tomorrow, so I'll worry about schmoozing and networking tomorrow- after breakfast. :)
There doesn't appear to be wireless here (alas!) or even a working phone line for dial-up, so I'm just typing this and then saving it for the heck of it. There might be wireless SOMEWHERE on this campus (there's all of one student who's actually FROM this college and attending the DLP; people actually from Northern California *IN* Northern Californa seem to be pretty few and far between), but I have yet to see it. It's not like Monster encouraged us to bring our laptops anyway... I just wanted to, since mine is a habit. Or perhaps an additional appendage. :P
With some luck, whenever I'm not schmoozing, networking, and preparing for my future, I'll be writing SOMETHING creative in the hopes of getting my juices flowing. In the meantime, I'm tired. X_X
So I'm here in Moraga, a place I've never been to before. The name Moraga makes me think of "craggy" like rocks, "gag," like something you don't like, and "Morganna," the enchantress (I think) from the King Arthur legends.
On the way here via the 106 bus from the Lafayette Bart station, I kept thinking this town was so small and quaint, the sort of American town that's both classic and yet distant-- not really apart of America even though it defines it. One of my first thoughts was "You'd never think about terrorism in a place like this." People's front yards are half the size or larger of the square footage of their house. The biggest drama might be if someone chooses to repave their driveway.
I could be totally wrong, of course, but that's just the feeling I got.
I arrived with a few other DLPers, Maria from Kazakhstan (don't tell her you liked Borat), Michael, and another girl whose name I unfortunately forgot (but I know it doesn't start with M). My roommate has a unique name too-- she's got a bit of a lisp and I think her name is Shirin, but it sounds different, like it sounds like it ends with an i (even though it doesn't).
The dorm rooms here couldn't be blander-- I'm on the dorm room on the far right end of the hallway, and when you walk in, there are two would-be bunk beds, one taller than the other by just a few inches, two giant closets separated by a dinky sink and mirror, a desk on the far right side of the room, and another desk just behind me, not far from Shirin's bed.
I went to the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Pizza Party, which was good, though the pizza was nothing to write home about. I probably should have eaten before I left San Francisco, since I already bothered to go to the Benefit Brow Bar and to the Metreon to grab my "Writer's Toolbox" from the Chronicle bookstore (and what a great buy it's proving to be!
akavertigo, here I come).After some eating and slight networking with whoever was sitting nearest to me, the Enterprise Reps called for an introduction session-- because there were a good 100 of us or so, it took a while, and we had several latecomers spread out over the room. I was one of the first 20 or so to go though, and I wasn't so scared then. All you had to do was say your name, school, year, major, and something interesting about your school. Easy enough, yeah? No one else is from Northridge though; there are seriously people from ALL over the country here, and some from all over the world!
I would have stayed longer to schmooze, but I hadn't put my bed together yet, wanted to wash my face (I bought the Benetint rose-scented facial tint, and DAMN that stuff rocks!
), and just couldn't work up the mojo to randomly walk up to someone's crowd and start talking. The event officially starts tomorrow, so I'll worry about schmoozing and networking tomorrow- after breakfast. :)
There doesn't appear to be wireless here (alas!) or even a working phone line for dial-up, so I'm just typing this and then saving it for the heck of it. There might be wireless SOMEWHERE on this campus (there's all of one student who's actually FROM this college and attending the DLP; people actually from Northern California *IN* Northern Californa seem to be pretty few and far between), but I have yet to see it. It's not like Monster encouraged us to bring our laptops anyway... I just wanted to, since mine is a habit. Or perhaps an additional appendage. :P
With some luck, whenever I'm not schmoozing, networking, and preparing for my future, I'll be writing SOMETHING creative in the hopes of getting my juices flowing. In the meantime, I'm tired. X_X
