As the days keep turning into night.

What a week!! I did so, so much, and am using today to unwind and relax a bit. I'm gonna go for a run soonish, and then will shower and hopefully get a chance to meet up with Raquel today. Definitely psyched for that, I've missed seeing her. Really, this whole week was pretty much Trip-centric, which was awesome but I kept telling him, "You probably think I have no friends here because we've hardly run into any!!" He did get to meet 1/2 of my roommate situation, Melissa, and we had dinner with Jade last night which was way too much fun. It was great sharing my city with another Austinite, but I'm also glad to have it to myself again for these last three weeks.

Wednesday. was. incredible. Caroline and I hit up the luncheon early (right at noon) and were the first two people to sit down. Natch, we sat on either side of the table, right next to the three speakers, and wished that *we* would be the lucky ones to sit next to Rob Sheffield. Austin Scaggs sat in the middle of the trio, and Jenny Eliscu sat next to Caroline, leaving Rob's seat next to me. He came in late, but when he did arrive, he pulled his chair out and was literally sitting right alongside of me. It was crazy and awesome. I asked a question, which made me feel good because I did want to interact more with Scaggs and Eliscu, too; they were SO AWESOME! When they described what qualities a good music journalist should have, I felt like they were describing me. It made me so excited, and also more determined than ever to learn more about the history of rock and pop music. After the luncheon, I turned to Rob and said, "Hey there, I was wondering..." He stopped me and said, "Hey, how are you doing?!?" I was so overwhelmed, I said, "I'm really great, thanks! How are you??" and he responded "Awesome!" This made me feel sure that he recognized me from our first meeting, which made me really happy. I asked him if he could possibly sign my copy of his memoir, Love is a Mixtape, and then Caroline headed around the table to have her book signed, too. We laughed and told him, "You've got a fan club in the online department!!" Sarah came over at that point to be included in the fan club, and then Rob turned to me and said, "Caitlin, how do you spell your name?" I almost wept when Caroline and I were leaving the luncheon. He REMEMBERED MY NAME, for goodness' sake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Siiiiigh. We chatted about various Lifetime movies and other things, and then I tried to corral the group away from him so he could go about his day's work. Before the four of us who stuck around left, though, he invited us to befriend him on Facebook. So, yes, I'm officially Facebook friends with Rob Sheffield. I can die happy (but I hope I live on to meet more amazing people like him! Also, need to earn the friendship of Austin and Jenny now, too!)

Thursday was a good day where I got to bond with Chris during work, and then Friday, Trip and I hit up the Met, which was epic. I loved the Egyptian and modern art, although I could do without Francis Bacon, to be honest. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant, which was pretty tasty. Then Saturday, we hit up Grand Central and the Brooklyn Bridge, the latter of which was super cool. We had dinner at "our" place again, Two Boots Pizza in Greenwhich, and then we hit up Strand books for a third time. We ended up in Washington Square after that, and watched some street performers do their thing. Sunday was the Guggenheim, which made me realize I'm not really a fan of Frank Lloyd Wright at all. I like a few things he did, but since he seems to be the inspiration behind so much of the boxy architecture of modern America - no thanks, no thanks. I like that he opened up the inside of houses, dislike that structures turned angular. I preferred the ornate and delicate.

Then we went to Times Square to pick up some souvenirs for his buds, and then we scrapped plans for a trip to MoMA because of exhaustion. We grabbed dinner with Jade at a burger place (they had veggie stuff, natch,) and then headed home. He went out again at around 11 with his friend Badger, and then he left early this morning.

It's been a crazy week for me, mentally. I am still settling into the lifestyle I know that I want and need to lead, but it's still difficult when I see so many pictures of what I "should" be around me. That's super cryptic, and I apologize - if you're curious, you can ask me.

OK, I think I need to get my run on so I can be ready for Raquel, should she have time to meet up! Then I've got plans to get a little grocery shoppin' done, and then get to bed early for work tomorrow. These days go by faster and faster.