Got in, shown to cabin. Led around by groundskeeper guy, looks like a really good eighty or a really bad sixty, I can't tell. Hunter, which sounds to me like a kid's name but I can't keep track. Wore a janitor's jumpsuit but it was too clean, like he's not really doing that kind of work. I mean, he's not. He was giving us the grand tour. Place looks like an expensive summer camp or one of those privately-owned campgrounds that costs as much as a hotel to rent a tiny cabin with no plumbing. At least my cabin has a bathroom. I don't think I could do this if I didn't have my own toilet and shower. The temperature is nice, which isn't a shock given it's October in the Pacific Northwest. Wet, to be expected, but the rain isn't exactly intense.
I don't know what to expect but I'm not expecting much. I've been on retreats before. They promise you life-changing spiritual experiences and at best it's some quiet time alone in a nice setting. At worst it's unending rounds of icebreaker games. The other people here are all kids, the oldest is maybe thirty tops. Most of them in college. That kid Irving wasted no time in pissing me off. I made the mistake of letting him think I found him interesting on that email chain when he was going off about lucid dreams. Now he's being a little shit and lecturing me about neuroscience every chance he gets.
Actually, I think it's a reaction to how his brother is acting. Heath, the oldest one, is a fan. And I DON'T HATE MY FANS. But he's fan-boying and trying to play it cool at the same time, lurking around me and faux-casually bringing up topics he thinks relate to my comics. I don't even remember half the shit I put in my comics. And the kid is now competing with his brother for my attention, or competing with me for his brother's attention, or something, and they're both driving me up a wall.
The other two college kids are creepy and loud and keep touching me.
I wish Harriet hadn't signed me up for this without talking to me first. I know she was trying to do that thing, that "I just listen when you mention things you like, so I got you an amazing gift without having to ask for hints!" And I'd mentioned maybe wanting to go on a retreat again. But not this, not something with "unique programming". I would have been happy just renting a yurt on a farm for a few days.
The cynical part of me is also wondering how much of the motivation was the low price tag. Heath mentioned that the whole weeklong experience is around $400 a person which is suspiciously cheap. You can pay more around here just to camp in a tent someone's back yard.