atlanta atlanta atlanta

it's currently 3:48PM on a beautiful friday. and i'm bored to DEATH.

I woke up this morning at 6:15 after a dreadful night's sleep. there's a big garbage dump outside, and i think they collect garbage at like 2AM, cuz that's when a big truck came and started being really really loud. then again at 4AM. omg... when i got dressed, and looked out the hotel room window, i realized that the sun doesn't rise 'til waaaaaaaay later!!! and since atlanta is a dangerous city, and there were no shuttles to the congress centre yet, AND i had to walk about a kilometer to the subway, i doddled and doddled 'til 6:45 to leave my room. then i got their complimentary breakfast, which, btw, sucked ass! maybe all "continental breakfasts" are like this, but the hotel in Shady Grove had one kickass breakfast! sausage, eggs, bacon, sweet bread stick, plus stuff i don't remember... it was gooood. this one: cold plain bagels, sliced bread (white and brown), cinnamon bread (it's not good, trust me), eggos, OJ, apple juice, milk ,and boxed cereal. the only cool thing is this waffle maker... but seeing as there was no ice cream, no chocolate syrup, no fruit, no anything to go on the waffle, it sucked major ass. so breakfast was nasty. off to the course i registered for.

The walk to the subway wasn't as bad as i expected, even tho it was STILL dark when i left (7:15AM... i should remmeber that it's not summer anymore ... big snow storm in Buffalo! i learned this while at CNN... was there snow in TO too??)... anyways, i get to the congress centre, and low-and-behold - there was another breakfast there! this one was slightly better than the one at the hotel, but it still was pretty bad. ... then the lecture started, and we saw 4 or 5 real ALS and SMA patients (muscle degeneration diseases... inherited). anyway, first pt was this 4 yr old boy, he was sooooooooooooooo adorable!! the MD asked him "what's ur name", and he looked at his daddy while his daddy whispered his name to him, u know, just in case he forgot his own name. (this disease does not affect their intelligence at all. in fact, they are usually smarter than their peers) anyways, then the MD asked "so, where are you from?", everyone expecting an answer like "Atlanta, GA" or smt like that. 'cept he recites his entire address, postal code and all!! hahahaha! it was so funny! and i actually said "HA!" outloud, REALLY LOUD... then felt really ba dafter, cuz i was the only who said anything... *sniff* ... it was truly embarassing, i just hope no one noticed...

anyways, after the lectures were over, it was lunch time, and i was sooooooooo looking forward to lunch.... 'til i realized that it was a sit-down lunch with other ppl!!!! having no friends here, and knowing no one (while everyone else seems to have clique already), i decided to skip lunch and head over to the CNN centre. even tho i hate CNN, and refuse to watch it unless it's the ONLY thing on tv, i still did that Inside CNN thing. it was pretty cool! they had a lot of pictures of stills from their broadcasts: challenger explosion, tiananmen square massacre, etc etc etc (famous pictures), so i thought that it was pretty cool how they can get all these good shots and stuff ... okay, maybe not so cool, it's just that they have a lot of money... no, it's still pretty cool/intriguing/interesting/captivating ... which i guess is a good selling point for a TV program. anyways, seeing the control room was really really cool, and i gotta say Don Lemon (his name is so funny!) is really really really hot!!!! wow!!! he's my favourite anchor now. hahahaaa!!! i saw him LIVE, through a window... well, i saw his back...

the tour lasted 45min, and we went up the world's longest free standing escalator to begin the tour. anyways, the whole thing was kinda cool, and again, Don Lemon is really hot. after the tour, i ate at Wendy's, and then took the free shuttle (it finally started!) back to my hotel... where i found my room NOT cleaned (they were delayed). just now, a cleaning lady came to clean the room and i scared the crap out of her. i just asked for some clean towels... nothing else needs ot be done, really. i'm not that much of a pig :P besides, i hid everything in my luggage, and just took it out, so i didn't wanna pack it again... i'm THAT paranoid about this city. not a good thing. (i've heard that ppl steal stuff from hotels here.... AND they made me sign this thing when i chcked in that said they're not responsible for stolen items - gebus...)

and now i'm in my hotel room, bored to death. on the shuttle bus back to the hotel, i got to see downtown Atlanta in the sunlight, on a gorgeous day such as today. ... and i gotta asay, it's not impressive at all. SF has its hills and gorgeous views, and the coolest place ever: alcatraz. :P NYC has its tall tall buildings and picture-esque everything. TO has some unique architectur,e and of course, its pride and joy: the CN tower. Shanghai has a KICKASS skyline. and Washington had amazing museums. ... Atlanta. has. nothing. no appeal. ... the only thing that makes it stand out is the sheer shock at how many black ppl are here. it's the same as going to SF and the sheer shock there are how many asian ppl are there. it's exactly the same. EXACTLY. 'cept instaed of hearing a southern accent in SF, u hear broken english or just no english period. so, my Conclusion of the day: CNN tour was cool, and the weather is nice today, but other than that, atlanta sux. oh ya, and i've picked up a southern accent, even tho i've talked to NO ONE ('cept the hotel concierge, store ppl).... i just absorb these accents. must. goto. london. to learn. british. accent!!!! then australia for an aussie accent.