it's 3 am....

but i'm not lonely.

columbus clippers game

got back to the hotel at 2, finished packing, and since the alarm clock is set to go off in an hour, i'm going to pretend i'm 19 again and pull an all-nighter.

pretty sure it will come back to bite me, but for the moment, worth every minute of lost sleep.

see, when i headed into columbus on monday (leg 3 of a three week, 4 leg trip), i was pretty sure i was going to have a miserable time of it.  our mother ship (nationwide) brought in the 50 of us 'marketers' from california for 3 very full days of training, along with it's 700 local marketing team members.  i was already tired when i got here and knew i had one more leg to go.  i wasn't sure i was going to make it.

and it WAS an exhausting three days - general sessions and classes from 8:30am - 5pm each day (and that's A LOT of sitting), but there were a couple of pleasant surprises along the way.

first and foremost, this was team bonding like nothing i've experienced before in my current company.  in fact, i found myself learning more about some of my co-workers in 48 hours then i've learned about them in almost five years. and it has been awesome.  just getting some of these folks out of the office completely changed who i thought they were, and i'm certain that when we all get back to california, the department is going to have a very different feel. i am truly very excited about the experiences i shared with my team members this week.

secondly, in my first class, there happened to be an attractive young man (the guy on the far left) sitting at our table.  since all the classes were interactive with at least a couple of table exercises, we did actually get to interact a little bit.  and, never a shy one, later that night i connected with him in the digital space, which led to a few conversations throughout the course of the event, and culminated at a meetup tonight with he and a couple of his friends.  what ended up being so cool about this was not actually that one of his friends is 6'7" (and that he called my 5'9" self 'adorable', which tends to be reserved for 5'2" and 5'3"-ers) but that i felt like i was hanging out with old friends. old EAST COAST friends.

don't get me wrong. i know ohio isn't the east COAST. but it's east of the mississippi and north of the mason dixon, and boy did i need a little dose of that!  they were sharp and quick and sarcastic and a little judgmental  and it was fan-freaking-tastic. one of them is also a very frequent traveler, so we had a few really good laughs comparing cities, and hotels, and food apps, and everything else travel related. it was refreshing to have a conversation with someone who totally gets that it's not all parties and play, but that you have to make the most of what you've got.

one of my favorite wing-women, diana, was kind enough to play the role again, and at one point i actually asked her if hanging out with these guys had made me make more sense to her.  they were a perfect example of the kind of guys i would have hung out with in virginia, and it reminded me why it is that i struggle to connect with the men in california. it's just a different breed altogether.

i was immensely grateful for the three hours we spent together, and just how 'myself' it made me feel.

when i was here in february, i didn't think columbus had anything to offer me. i had a great time, but it seemed like a 'one and done' kind of city. needless to say, i have been pleasantly surprised by the great week i've had here!