Lasting Impressions

Blogher is over and I will be talking a lot about it. First, it's right there all over my brain like a (beneficial) fungus and second, I went as a representative for friends who couldn't join me. I have people to link to and sessions to summarize and parties to fairly gush about. I just....I mean....remember my brain? Swathed in information and I can't quite find the entry point. But what else could I possible write about today. So, with apologies to all the people I met and things I did this weekend, I'm going to talk about the bathrooms.

There was no pee on the seat at Blogher.

This is a big deal for me. I'm a sitter, you see. Unless it's a true horror show (Belmont Race Track, I'm looking at you) I don't hover. I wipe off the seat and I go quickly but I prefer to sit. If my legs are all tense I can't get completely empty, you know? I have to steady myself on the walls which, somehow, I find more disgusting than sitting on a wiped seat. The damn thing was designed with a seat so I am by God going to use it!

There is no earthly reason for a women's room to have pee on the seat. None. There's no excuse for it. If you're sitting then everything should be appropriately directed. If you prefer to stand or squat (and who am I to refuse your preferences) then you're clearly in good enough shape to turn around and make sure to clean up behind yourself before you depart. Is pee gross? Eh, probably a little. But you chose to spray yours all over a public bathroom so your standards can't be all that high. (If you've hovered high enough that you've sprayed the seat you know that means you've likely sprayed yourself and your own clothes, too, right?)

At Blogher, though, there was no pee on the seat. I heard people using seat covers (another fine option available to us all) and I stood in long lines while people were in a hurry but I never had to wipe a seat before I could sit (good thing, too, since I made an unfortunately button-heavy trouser choice on Friday). I suppose we could attribute this to the high quality service of the Hilton, but, while the Hilton folks did their best for us, there was no way they could have had someone polish each seat before we sat. Which means that every woman at that conference took responsibility for her own urine.

That might not sound like much to you but to me it's proof that I spent my weekend in the company of women of great quality and compassion. My thanks to all of you.