crazy summer
July was busy but August has been whackadoodle! (and expensive)
Early in the month, I got an unexpected phone call from a friend in Maine who needed to get the hell out of the place she'd been living. Pronto. So I got in the car and drove what was supposed to be six hours. But thanks to traffic, construction, rainstorms, fog and poor navigation, it turned into like 10 hours. But the moment I got there, I realized it was the right thing to do. The next day, thanks to a couple of errands and meal breaks, the journey was about 12 hours. Sigh. She stayed with me first a couple of days, then in Astoria, and then we sent her off to family in Memphis. I was just glad to offer safe harbor and a calm-ish environment in between.
A few days later, I was totally excited to get an email from one of El Vez' crew... I've been to so many of his shows and made nice with the team enough that they always remember me. http://www.elvez.net/ Anyway, Clark sent me a personal freakin' invitation to the NYC show. I went and got the total superfan treatment: front row seats and lots of hugs. Good damn times.
The next week was Ryan's birthday, and I'd planned a short getaway weekend to Boston, a town neither of us had ever been. I did a bunch of research and planning and put together a lot of activities for us, including two days of sightseeing in Boston, one in Salem, and a day at the Wicked Lindy Weekend event in Danvers. (That was very low-key. Took a few classes and had some chats and dances, but it was mostly about introducing Ryan to the hotel event format.) It was mostly surprises for him, and a lot of trouble for me, but worth it in the end. It was kind of fatiguing, but lotsa fun. We did a Duck Tour on an amphibious vehicle in town and on the Charles River, ate in Little Italy (with Caryn Zielonka Itzhar, nearing her due date, and her husband Amnon), did a trolley tour of Salem (cheeeeese), and about half of the the Freedom Trail (walking tour of the Revolutionary War historic sites).
The drive there and back was also longer than expected. This is becoming the norm.
Just the past weekend, Ryan, Josh and Devona and I rode down to Washington DC for the International Lindy Hop Championships hotel event. Both journeys took hours longer than Google said they should. Sigh. Despite that, we four made pretty good travel companions and roommates, though the lack of privacy was an adjustment. We were there in part because Ryan, Devona and 12 other New Yorkers were competing in the Cabaret division as the Brooklyn Bombshell Revue. Heather Flock reworked and perfected a version of her Mermaid Parade routine, and the group rehearsed extensively in July and August. I knew I wouldn't be able to go to all the rehearsals, so I volunteered to be the choreographer's assistant instead of competitor. I was happy to support and help the team, without taking on the stress.
I entered the Advanced Jack and Jill and lost bigtime -- as expected. Didn't even make the finals, but with a field of like, 30 women and only seven finalists, so it was kind of slim odds.
Other than that, the weekend was pretty fun. Talked to a lot of people I don't see often, like Meg and DJ and Julius and Holly. Had quite a few fun dances, but realized how rusty I am and how much my gym routine has fallen off... lost a lot of my conditioning. So *that* definitely has to change.
Tomorrow there's a little gathering at Rodeo for birthday drinks for Ryan. Rodeo's always fun.
This coming weekend, his best buddy Colin is getting married, so I'm along for wedding-date duty. At first I was very "meh" about a weekend in the Catskills -- that's closer to camping than I usually get -- but now I think i'm looking forward to a weekend in which I'm totally not responsible for planning or social directing. Plus I think I'll get a lot of reading done between nupital events, seeing as how there's no TV, phone or Internet in the cabins.
Lessee... work is slow. Nothing much to be done about that, but I'm ok for a little while. It was expected. Would be nice if the $1,500 that people owe me shows up very soon, but again, all I can do is invoice and wait.
And I think that's mostly it. Next time, shorter update. ;)
Early in the month, I got an unexpected phone call from a friend in Maine who needed to get the hell out of the place she'd been living. Pronto. So I got in the car and drove what was supposed to be six hours. But thanks to traffic, construction, rainstorms, fog and poor navigation, it turned into like 10 hours. But the moment I got there, I realized it was the right thing to do. The next day, thanks to a couple of errands and meal breaks, the journey was about 12 hours. Sigh. She stayed with me first a couple of days, then in Astoria, and then we sent her off to family in Memphis. I was just glad to offer safe harbor and a calm-ish environment in between.
A few days later, I was totally excited to get an email from one of El Vez' crew... I've been to so many of his shows and made nice with the team enough that they always remember me. http://www.elvez.net/ Anyway, Clark sent me a personal freakin' invitation to the NYC show. I went and got the total superfan treatment: front row seats and lots of hugs. Good damn times.
The next week was Ryan's birthday, and I'd planned a short getaway weekend to Boston, a town neither of us had ever been. I did a bunch of research and planning and put together a lot of activities for us, including two days of sightseeing in Boston, one in Salem, and a day at the Wicked Lindy Weekend event in Danvers. (That was very low-key. Took a few classes and had some chats and dances, but it was mostly about introducing Ryan to the hotel event format.) It was mostly surprises for him, and a lot of trouble for me, but worth it in the end. It was kind of fatiguing, but lotsa fun. We did a Duck Tour on an amphibious vehicle in town and on the Charles River, ate in Little Italy (with Caryn Zielonka Itzhar, nearing her due date, and her husband Amnon), did a trolley tour of Salem (cheeeeese), and about half of the the Freedom Trail (walking tour of the Revolutionary War historic sites).
The drive there and back was also longer than expected. This is becoming the norm.
Just the past weekend, Ryan, Josh and Devona and I rode down to Washington DC for the International Lindy Hop Championships hotel event. Both journeys took hours longer than Google said they should. Sigh. Despite that, we four made pretty good travel companions and roommates, though the lack of privacy was an adjustment. We were there in part because Ryan, Devona and 12 other New Yorkers were competing in the Cabaret division as the Brooklyn Bombshell Revue. Heather Flock reworked and perfected a version of her Mermaid Parade routine, and the group rehearsed extensively in July and August. I knew I wouldn't be able to go to all the rehearsals, so I volunteered to be the choreographer's assistant instead of competitor. I was happy to support and help the team, without taking on the stress.
I entered the Advanced Jack and Jill and lost bigtime -- as expected. Didn't even make the finals, but with a field of like, 30 women and only seven finalists, so it was kind of slim odds.
Other than that, the weekend was pretty fun. Talked to a lot of people I don't see often, like Meg and DJ and Julius and Holly. Had quite a few fun dances, but realized how rusty I am and how much my gym routine has fallen off... lost a lot of my conditioning. So *that* definitely has to change.
Tomorrow there's a little gathering at Rodeo for birthday drinks for Ryan. Rodeo's always fun.
This coming weekend, his best buddy Colin is getting married, so I'm along for wedding-date duty. At first I was very "meh" about a weekend in the Catskills -- that's closer to camping than I usually get -- but now I think i'm looking forward to a weekend in which I'm totally not responsible for planning or social directing. Plus I think I'll get a lot of reading done between nupital events, seeing as how there's no TV, phone or Internet in the cabins.
Lessee... work is slow. Nothing much to be done about that, but I'm ok for a little while. It was expected. Would be nice if the $1,500 that people owe me shows up very soon, but again, all I can do is invoice and wait.
And I think that's mostly it. Next time, shorter update. ;)