Cybher - I went to a thing!

Yep, that's where I was at the weekend.  Cybher.  If you weren't, where on earth were you? And if you were, sorry if I didn't say hello!  I was the one with hair!fail, very very pink nails, and looking a bit confused.

Rather than either making you wish you'd gone, or if you did, telling you the things you already know, I thought I'd tell you about my weekend, and what I learned.

I am paranoid about missing trains
I've always been one for being early.  But wanting to leave home on an earlier train to spend an hour hanging around Cardiff Station? Silly.   And then actually DOING that on the return journey, spending 1 1/2 hours hanging around Paddington on a Sunday morning.  Daft.

I am broken
Well, yeah I knew that.  Due to my hearing problems, I have slept with one of my hearing aids in since Squeaky was born, as I almost certainly wouldn't hear the baby monitor without.  But she was at my parents' house.  And I should have had the opportunity to let some air get to my aural passages, except that I could not sleep at all due to an overwhelming sense of unease & anxiety until I put one back in. Then out like a light.

Not a naked dude

Close the curtains
If you live in a 3rd/4th floor apartment in a city centre, directly opposite a hotel, you may want to consider closing your curtains before spending your evenings watching tv/using your laptop with no shirt on. If you don't a gaggle of slightly tipsy women will take your photo, and check on you every few minutes. It wouldn't have been so bad if he'd been fit, but he reminded me of my old driving instructor, who in turn reminded me of a serial killer.

I am bad at taking notes, and take photos instead.
This. If there are links to speakers' content online (I've found a couple, but any you've got would be useful), that would really help. There's only so much I can actually remember from a picture of a slide of a "thumbs down" image.  This actually ties in to I am Broken, as I can't hear and write at the same time, lipreading is a P.I.T.A like that.

I have serious techno-envy
The number of iPads, iPhones and general gadgetry made me feel woefully inadequate. The fact I can't work the gadgetry I have, and had to pay someone to make my lappy work before Cybher is clearly not the point. I like shiny!

My boobs are not the size I thought they were
Though I think almost everyone at Cybher made the same discovery (about their own boobs, not mine!)  Not so massively different that I need to burn all my undies & buy a massive stash of new ones, but enough different that I'll be paying the nice bra lady in my local department store a visit after payday.

London is never as intimidating as I think
And I should go more often, I have friends I should visit, and I'm sure I could couple visiting them with attending events, which would make me so much more popular.

I'd like to say a massive thank you to Siân, and all the team at Cybher for organising such a fantastic event, and to Cow & Gate Growing Up Milk, and the PR team at Frank for being fabulous sponsors and enabling me to go.


It's been pointed out to me that putting Naked Dude's picture on my blog without his permission could be an invasion of his privacy.  Instead, I've replaced it with a view from a different hotel window, this time in Canada, and no less interesting. It's inspired what might become a new semi-regular featurette - Views from a Hotel Window... hold on to your seats!  Sorry to disappoint anyone looking for a semi-nude 50-something dude, but there are plenty of other websites that might be able to help you.