Weekend update
Jan. 16th, 2006 10:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mousmeHokay. This weekend was jam-packed with stuff and things and action, so I think I ought to record it for posterity.
:::ETA:::
Holy shit this got long. Cut-tagging now for your convenience.
:::/ETA:::
After the Week of Annoyance, it was a much-needed break, actually. Friday was crazy-busy, both at work and when I got to my dance club. I was volunteering that evening, the way I do most Fridays, and this time around I was supposed to work the front desk from 7:00 to 10:00. Then, I thought, I would do a little bit of dancing and go home early, since I had a big day planned Saturday.
Hah.
As it turned out, my assessment was optimistic at best. It was all for a good cause, mind you: two of our members recently returned from competing in Stockholm, and one of them is now the world line dancing champion in three categories (solo, couple, and renegade). So the club declared a kind of impromptu celebration, which meant that dozens of people showed up. Ten dozens, actually: at the end of the evening I counted 120 people not counting the volunteers.ΒΈ
In other words, it was a mad rush, starting at 7:15 or so and going until about 2:00am. Luckily for me the guy meant to replace me at 10:00 arrived early (around 7:30) and lent me a hand. I then returned the favour until 2:00am, because otherwise neither one of us would have survived the evening. Handling the front desk around the middle of the month is a lot of work: you have to register people, take payments for the evening class, do the coat-check, take payments for everyone renewing their monthly fees, take payments for people renewing their yearly membership cards, answer questions about upcoming events, register people for said events (we have four currently in process), and answer any other requests that might come our way. Oh, and answer the phone.
So, take all those duties and multiply them by 120 people with varying needs, and you'll have an idea of what our evening was like. The advantage of being two people at the desk on Friday was that we actually got to dance a fair bit. One person minded the desk while the other danced, and so forth. When you're alone, let's just say that dancing does *not* happen.
Finishing at 2:00am meant I was home and in bed by about 3:30am. I was up at about 9:20 the next morning (an hour later than when I'd originally planned to get up) in order to get to an early band practice. That was brutal, to say the least, and since most of my bandmates were in similarly rough shape, we decided that early practices were not the best of plans. At least, not on a regular basis. We got in a good practice, though, working out the kinks in a couple of our old songs and bashing out a very good beginning for Moon Over Bourbon Street. Once we get that down, it will be awesome. Also, Till My Head Falls Off is sounding better every time we play it. We're nowhere near done with that song, but I find it very encouraging to hear our progress on it every week.
After practice I bopped up to Alexandria in the car to visit![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fearsclave. He wasn't home when I got there (ironically, he was in Montreal with a friend, but I didn't know that), but The Wuh-Mun was, and so she and I had a cozy time cuddled up on the sofa with the television George (her cat) and Jack (their mutant beagle-golden retriever hybrid who's all muscle and hyperactivity and unspecified neuroses). She generously allowed me to fiddle with the digital crack otherwise known as Bejewelled, which I shall never, ever put on my own computer because otherwise humanity will never hear from me again, and we watched an infuriatingly shallow documentary about women in the prison system.
fearsclave got home just as The Wuh-Mun had to leave for work, which was impeccable timing for me, if not so much for them. We ordered a pizza, and continued watching television. We decided that Ewan McGregor was trying to take over reality television, because no matter what channel we turned to, there he was on some reality show. We were amused.
Upon learning that I had never seen Kiki's Delivery Service,fearsclave was duly appalled and set it up on the DVD player. It's a fun little movie, although there were any number of small plot points that didn't get resolved which kind of got under my skin. Enh. I just like resolution in my stories, I guess.
We stayed up even later watching Pitch Black, whichfearsclave had never seen. It stands up well to being watched more than once, I find, although I think fearsclave was offended by the shoddy science behind some of the astronomical art. Since I know next to nothing about astronomy, it just looked cool to me, even if it wasn't realistic. I like the movie more for the character interaction than for its supposedly science fiction aspects. Really, it's a horror-suspense film that *happens* to be set in space. The science fiction is just an excuse to invent a Big Bad Horror that's not among the regular Earth-bound monsters. It's a good piece of ensemble acting, and in many ways kind of a gamer movie, although not nearly as much as The Mummy was a gamer movie.
Passed out in bed at about 2am or so, and was up once again bright and frigging early in order to go to breakfast.wultabat and looking4wings ended up not joining us, because looking4wings wasn't feeling well enough to come, so it was just the three of us once more. It was too bad they couldn't come, but I shall make a point of going up to see them in a few weeks after the whole January kerfuffle has died down.
I did manage to get a bit of writing done, too. Not nearly as much as I'd hoped, since I got sucked in by the digital crack, but I wrote a post for SG15 and forged ahead on Beyond the Pale, enough that I think I may be working past the small block that's keeping me in this story arc of which I'm not very fond.
In the afternoon, there was snowshoeing. We spent about three hours or so bashing about in the Godforsaken Howling Wilderness that isfearsclave's back forty, and had a splendid time, even if it was cold enough to freeze the nose off your face. While we were out in the open fields I was seriously worried that I'd have to turn back and get a balaklava to wear over my face, but luckily that only lasted about ten or fifteen minutes before we were in the woods and sheltered from the wind. Next time, I'll bring a balaklava just in case, although I think I would have been too warm once we were among the trees.
I hadn't snowshoed in a little under a year, and so the activity held a few surprises in store for me. For one, I didn't fall once this year. Last year I spent a great deal of time ass over teakettle in the snow. I didn't figure out what I was doing differently untilfearsclave pointed out that last year I hadn't had any ski poles to keep me upright. It's true: I bought the poles last year, but never got the chance to use them before the snow melted beyond all recognition. So after a few equipment malfunctions (collapsible ski poles are finicky beasts), I was able to maintain a good and steady (and stable!) walking pace behind fearsclave.
Unfortunately, I also didn't realize what an important role thick socks play in this activity. My feet weren't cold, because they very rarely are, but damn did I develop a nasty blister on my left foot. Since I've been wearing my Magnum boots since 2002 without any problems, I know it's not the boots. This was the first time I'd worn really thin socks with them, though, and I think that combined with the snowshoe strap rubbing at my Achilles' tendon served to raise said blister. Yowch. Next time, thick socks.
We followed the snowmobile trails all the way to a main road and back, and branched off onto smaller trails along the way there and back, mostly landing in people's backyards, but on one notable occasion we stumbled across what was most likely a beaver dam.fearsclave wants to go back in summer to investigate, and if I'm in the vicinity I shall certainly be accompanying him. I've had a soft spot for beavers ever since I read I Want To Go Home by Gordon Korman. Those of you who have read it will know what I'm talking about. Those of you who haven't, what are you waiting for? Go now!
We returned in time to collapse in an exhausted heap on the sofa and allowed The Wuh-Mun to feed us grilled cheese sandwiches, which were just about the best thing I've ever eaten. Ever notice how strenuous excercise in the cold opens up the appetite? Yeah.
I was [] this close to being in a coma after that, but managed to stay coherent long enough to say my goodbyes and pack and head back to Montreal after that, although it turns out I forgot about half the stuff I brought with me. Bleh. Now I have to buy a new hairbrush.
The moral of the story is: if you're overtired, be very careful when you're packing.
And that's it for this entry. I think I shall make a separate one about 24 so that it doesn't get lost in all the verbiage.
:::ETA:::
Holy shit this got long. Cut-tagging now for your convenience.
:::/ETA:::
After the Week of Annoyance, it was a much-needed break, actually. Friday was crazy-busy, both at work and when I got to my dance club. I was volunteering that evening, the way I do most Fridays, and this time around I was supposed to work the front desk from 7:00 to 10:00. Then, I thought, I would do a little bit of dancing and go home early, since I had a big day planned Saturday.
Hah.
As it turned out, my assessment was optimistic at best. It was all for a good cause, mind you: two of our members recently returned from competing in Stockholm, and one of them is now the world line dancing champion in three categories (solo, couple, and renegade). So the club declared a kind of impromptu celebration, which meant that dozens of people showed up. Ten dozens, actually: at the end of the evening I counted 120 people not counting the volunteers.ΒΈ
In other words, it was a mad rush, starting at 7:15 or so and going until about 2:00am. Luckily for me the guy meant to replace me at 10:00 arrived early (around 7:30) and lent me a hand. I then returned the favour until 2:00am, because otherwise neither one of us would have survived the evening. Handling the front desk around the middle of the month is a lot of work: you have to register people, take payments for the evening class, do the coat-check, take payments for everyone renewing their monthly fees, take payments for people renewing their yearly membership cards, answer questions about upcoming events, register people for said events (we have four currently in process), and answer any other requests that might come our way. Oh, and answer the phone.
So, take all those duties and multiply them by 120 people with varying needs, and you'll have an idea of what our evening was like. The advantage of being two people at the desk on Friday was that we actually got to dance a fair bit. One person minded the desk while the other danced, and so forth. When you're alone, let's just say that dancing does *not* happen.
Finishing at 2:00am meant I was home and in bed by about 3:30am. I was up at about 9:20 the next morning (an hour later than when I'd originally planned to get up) in order to get to an early band practice. That was brutal, to say the least, and since most of my bandmates were in similarly rough shape, we decided that early practices were not the best of plans. At least, not on a regular basis. We got in a good practice, though, working out the kinks in a couple of our old songs and bashing out a very good beginning for Moon Over Bourbon Street. Once we get that down, it will be awesome. Also, Till My Head Falls Off is sounding better every time we play it. We're nowhere near done with that song, but I find it very encouraging to hear our progress on it every week.
After practice I bopped up to Alexandria in the car to visit
fearsclave. He wasn't home when I got there (ironically, he was in Montreal with a friend, but I didn't know that), but The Wuh-Mun was, and so she and I had a cozy time cuddled up on the sofa with the television George (her cat) and Jack (their mutant beagle-golden retriever hybrid who's all muscle and hyperactivity and unspecified neuroses). She generously allowed me to fiddle with the digital crack otherwise known as Bejewelled, which I shall never, ever put on my own computer because otherwise humanity will never hear from me again, and we watched an infuriatingly shallow documentary about women in the prison system.fearsclave got home just as The Wuh-Mun had to leave for work, which was impeccable timing for me, if not so much for them. We ordered a pizza, and continued watching television. We decided that Ewan McGregor was trying to take over reality television, because no matter what channel we turned to, there he was on some reality show. We were amused.Upon learning that I had never seen Kiki's Delivery Service,
fearsclave was duly appalled and set it up on the DVD player. It's a fun little movie, although there were any number of small plot points that didn't get resolved which kind of got under my skin. Enh. I just like resolution in my stories, I guess.We stayed up even later watching Pitch Black, which
fearsclave had never seen. It stands up well to being watched more than once, I find, although I think fearsclave was offended by the shoddy science behind some of the astronomical art. Since I know next to nothing about astronomy, it just looked cool to me, even if it wasn't realistic. I like the movie more for the character interaction than for its supposedly science fiction aspects. Really, it's a horror-suspense film that *happens* to be set in space. The science fiction is just an excuse to invent a Big Bad Horror that's not among the regular Earth-bound monsters. It's a good piece of ensemble acting, and in many ways kind of a gamer movie, although not nearly as much as The Mummy was a gamer movie.Passed out in bed at about 2am or so, and was up once again bright and frigging early in order to go to breakfast.
wultabat and looking4wings ended up not joining us, because looking4wings wasn't feeling well enough to come, so it was just the three of us once more. It was too bad they couldn't come, but I shall make a point of going up to see them in a few weeks after the whole January kerfuffle has died down.I did manage to get a bit of writing done, too. Not nearly as much as I'd hoped, since I got sucked in by the digital crack, but I wrote a post for SG15 and forged ahead on Beyond the Pale, enough that I think I may be working past the small block that's keeping me in this story arc of which I'm not very fond.
In the afternoon, there was snowshoeing. We spent about three hours or so bashing about in the Godforsaken Howling Wilderness that is
fearsclave's back forty, and had a splendid time, even if it was cold enough to freeze the nose off your face. While we were out in the open fields I was seriously worried that I'd have to turn back and get a balaklava to wear over my face, but luckily that only lasted about ten or fifteen minutes before we were in the woods and sheltered from the wind. Next time, I'll bring a balaklava just in case, although I think I would have been too warm once we were among the trees.I hadn't snowshoed in a little under a year, and so the activity held a few surprises in store for me. For one, I didn't fall once this year. Last year I spent a great deal of time ass over teakettle in the snow. I didn't figure out what I was doing differently until
fearsclave pointed out that last year I hadn't had any ski poles to keep me upright. It's true: I bought the poles last year, but never got the chance to use them before the snow melted beyond all recognition. So after a few equipment malfunctions (collapsible ski poles are finicky beasts), I was able to maintain a good and steady (and stable!) walking pace behind fearsclave.Unfortunately, I also didn't realize what an important role thick socks play in this activity. My feet weren't cold, because they very rarely are, but damn did I develop a nasty blister on my left foot. Since I've been wearing my Magnum boots since 2002 without any problems, I know it's not the boots. This was the first time I'd worn really thin socks with them, though, and I think that combined with the snowshoe strap rubbing at my Achilles' tendon served to raise said blister. Yowch. Next time, thick socks.
We followed the snowmobile trails all the way to a main road and back, and branched off onto smaller trails along the way there and back, mostly landing in people's backyards, but on one notable occasion we stumbled across what was most likely a beaver dam.
fearsclave wants to go back in summer to investigate, and if I'm in the vicinity I shall certainly be accompanying him. I've had a soft spot for beavers ever since I read I Want To Go Home by Gordon Korman. Those of you who have read it will know what I'm talking about. Those of you who haven't, what are you waiting for? Go now!We returned in time to collapse in an exhausted heap on the sofa and allowed The Wuh-Mun to feed us grilled cheese sandwiches, which were just about the best thing I've ever eaten. Ever notice how strenuous excercise in the cold opens up the appetite? Yeah.
I was [] this close to being in a coma after that, but managed to stay coherent long enough to say my goodbyes and pack and head back to Montreal after that, although it turns out I forgot about half the stuff I brought with me. Bleh. Now I have to buy a new hairbrush.
The moral of the story is: if you're overtired, be very careful when you're packing.
And that's it for this entry. I think I shall make a separate one about 24 so that it doesn't get lost in all the verbiage.
