I am *not* a suckup....

I'm not. Really. I didn't intend to go out to dinner with all the instructors tonight. I had actually managed to get my co-workers into the group with the instructors. Only then the instructors got side tracked by the full-scale copy of the Parthenon. And then the pond. And the goslings. At which point my co-workers wandered off to find dinner, which is completely understandable. Eventually the instructors and I went to dinner too. And listened in on Tim McGraw concert along the riverfront. And then hung out and listened to some live music at a bar. Then took the shuttle back to the hotel and had a round at the hotel bar. Just chatting about Life, the Universe, which Star Trek series was the best, and Everything. It was awesome.

I realized that I really miss having debates with people about politics and national/international events. Those subjects don't come up much in my world at the moment or at least not where differing opinions are respected. Several people had differing opinions tonight (lane splitting is evil and should be illegal vs. lane splitting is ok, but probaby stupid, plus the various social/political commentaries). As long as you had some reason for having your opinion (as opposed to saying "because I read it in the paper", that was cool. I haven't had a conversation like that in *ages*. I miss people who think critically about the information being thrown at them and who question it. I miss being around people who are not sheep and who are aware of the events in the world and who demand action be taken to change things, then go about changing the world instead of just complaining or expecting someone else to do it. My brain is happy. I had more fun tonight than I've had in a year.