on friday i took the bus to denver for the 19th annual rocky mountain antiquarian book fair. it was foul. firstly, i had to leave aspen for glenwood springs at 7:15am because the buses don't leave that often. i get to glenwood and it turns out that the denver bus is running an hour behind. yo ho ho. i wait around and wait around and when i finally actually get on the bus it's full and i'm sitting next to a nice young man with spiders tattoed on his hands. i fall asleep many times. then, for the final hour of the trip, a small child screams. the mother seems to have no interest in making the child stop. it is, as you might imagine, horrendous.
after finally arriving in denver i make attempts to call my uncle who i planned to stay with. i can't get through and decide to walk to his work because i remember where that it. i get to his building, go up to the fourth floor and wander around for a bit trying to figure out which one his office is. well, it turns out that his entire department has moved to a different building. joy. i find the new place, get the keys and set out to get lunch. then i'm eating my nice, civilized sandwich and becoming increasingly depressed that i don't live in a city. i miss the city. i really do. there are interesting-looking people. there's interesting food. there's not-hellishly-marked-up shopping. there's variety. it was an extremely sad time for me. sigh.
anyway, so the book fair. it was at the denver merchandise mart. there was a gun show and a triathalon registration there also. i had a fun time trying to network with a bunch of people with no social skills. this was a work trip, after all. sigh. so i struggle through several inane conversations and buy a couple of books for the store. also, i realize that i hate book collecting. i hate it. it's a book, read it. i can understand it, but i just think it's wrong. i can't stand listening to people fuss about editions and print runs and the condition of the binding etc etc etc. vomit. so, yay for all that, i leave with more bags to lug around in the stinking heat and make my way back into town to catch the bus back to glenwood.
the bus ride home, as it turns out, is worse than the first one, which i had not thought possible. again the bus is full. i'm sitting next to a hairless 60 year old man who smells like old vomit and wants to chat. i read a magazine and listen to my walkman and crush myself against the window because this guy seems to have no grasp on the concept of personal space. after about an hour and a half he starts muttering to himself: 'oh god', 'fuck', 'here it comes', 'shit' etc. of course, i'm freaking out because i don't want to have anything to do with whatever is coming. by some miracle, he gets off the bus about half way though the trip without incident. i was hoping to sit by myself for the rest of the trip but no such luck. i sit next to a guy who eats a gas station chilli dog and is also unconcerned with personal space. sigh.
i end up getting a ride with a bunch of stoners most of the way to aspen and then catching another bus. three cheers for being home.

rah to all that.