The Internet Gods Strike Again!
Yes, as some of you know, I am again without Internet at work, for the third time in four months.
The first time, some nit put me on the wrong server and my boss was on vacation, and so it didn't get resolved for a week. The second time, the DOC landscapers chewed the wire with a lawnmower. This time, some eejit took the turn coming around to our building too quickly and crashed into the pole.
So if I am long in replying to comments or emails, this is why. Sorry :( I'm not sure when it will be fixed. They had a guy in a bucket working on it this afternoon, but that doesn't necessarily mean resolution.
This time, though, I was fairly well prepared for the outage. I got uber work on my latest short story done, the one for the silwritersguild Write a Strong Female Character challenge. It is turning into much more than I had hoped. I had originally thought to expand on Earwen's role in smoothing relations between the Noldor and the Teleri after the Kinslaying but, alas, Anaire decided that she also deserved stage time (dang Noldor and their demands!) and so it has turned out much different than I originally envisioned. But I like it so far. It's still solely from Earwen's point of view and, right now, she is dealing with her feelings towards Finarfin after having just heard of the Kinslaying. And to go Forrest Gump on y'all: that's all I have to say about that :)
Completely random: My new RamBo is up and running. Instead of giving him the same name as the old, jinxed, fried RamBo (whose name was RamBo), this one is called Fingolfin. The only problem with that is that I have legitimate fears about certain Feanorians protesting that. He just reminded me of a Fingolfin though. He came from my dad and had all sorts of old files on him; after talking to dad, I was told that it was okay to delete them. It took eighteen minutes for the computer to delete all of the junk that dad had on there. It was interesting to watch all of the files float past, though. I saw some old coverart I had drawn for an emergency preparedness plan for my dad's office. I saw a filk that I had written about our old manager at The Piece (and none too kind either!) and emailed to dad. Dad also had a copy of the governor's signature, which I found intriguing. (Although not really, as we are both state employees, and dad works at a Director's office and so probably needs such artifacts.) It seems he is a worse packrat than I am.
On Sunday night, after finishing AMC, (yes, I am going to find a way to mention that in every post for the next month!) Bobby, Potter, and I went to an evening session at the Columbia Ice Rink where I witnessed a most interesting occurence: a figure skater fight. Well, actually, it was Figure Skaters versus Asian Family. This is how it rolled:
Apparently, Male Figure Skater, who was practicing jumps around the rink, collided with Asian Teenager, who was standing idly in the center of the rink. At this point, the entire Asian Family flocked to berate Male Figure Skater. Female Figure Skater, seeing a comrade in distress, came over to intervene. Argument ensued. Entire rink staff had to come onto the ice to quell the anger.
But wait. It gets better.
This was near the end of the session, and I was cold (go figure), and so I decided to step off early. Well, Female Figure Skater and Asian Teenager were screaming at each other in the locker room. Female Figure Skater was yelling, "I work to keep people safe and don't allow children to stand in the middle of the rink!" Asian Teenager stood up and screamed, "Fuck you!" in the woman's face. Some other insults et al were distributed, at which point, Male Figure Skated--until now quietly removing his skates--leaped up from the bench and charged Asian Teenager. Rink staff, again, intervened, holding back Male Figure Skater, Asian Teenager, and Asian Patriarch, who were ready to drop the gloves and fight. Asian Matriarch began pointing to reddish marks on Asian Teenager's neck, blaming Male Figure Skater. Finally, all but Female Figure Skater departed. Female Figure Skater proceeded to berate rink staff for claiming that the center of the rink was reserved for freestyle and then not enforcing the rule, allowing events like this to occur. (Note that Dawn Felagund, Polish Figure Skater of Another Variety, read posted rules and saw nothing to this effect and so cannot vouch as to whether verbal agreement was previously given to this woman.)
Having witnessed the whole ordeal...wow.
Now, as most of you know, I am a figure skater myself, although on rollerskates, which is a horse of a slightly different color. But I am no stranger to public skating sessions and the interesting dilemmas they provoke. Public skating sessions are not good times to practice figure skating. That's why Eru decreed that there be figure skating clubs. (I belong to one and, hence, never need to go to public skates.) Too many people who don't know how to skate tend to be idiots. Now this is not all novices, but it increases inversely proportionate to a person's age. Kids who don't know how to skate, generally, are the one's skating too fast, who don't know how to stop, and who will cut you off in the middle of prepping a spin or a jump. (Very, very dangerous, hence that fact that I do not care for practicing at public skates.)
The above-mentioned incident involved too many people who didn't need to be involved. The entire family of the teenager didn't need to involve themselves in the ruckus. I mean, even the elementary-aged children were dragged over to the profanity-laden "conference" on the rink. The one little girl was screaming and crying the whole time; I felt bad for her. Because of their over-involvement, Female Figure Skater doubtlessly felt the need to interfere on behalf of her comrade, as it was like seven to one, involving another person who didn't need to be involved.
The fact that it came to fisticuffs...just stupid.
And people need to understand the risks associated with skating. If the boy had marks on his neck because of the collision, that is sad, but I have seen girls break their arms in shows, and so I don't really feel that bad for him. The marks were probably gone the next day. It is a risky sport. I have hurt myself before--luckily, never in any major, lasting ways, although I had a groin pull (tmi, I know) that bothered me for the better part of two years--and especially when you are a beginner and don't know how to safely fall, you should expect to get hurt. Hell, I've been doing this for thirteen years now, and I expect to get hurt every time I practice! "Public" sessions don't mean public to the exclusion of people who are excellent skaters. Bobby is a hockey player and breaks into sprints whenever he has a stretch of open ice. That is no less dangerous than twelve-year-olds who want to show off for their girlfriends and so imitate a similar speed without the foggiest idea of how to stop and no less dangerous than a figure skater who wants to practice her spins.
I'm often torn, sometimes wishing that I had taken up figure skating on ice instead of wheels. First of all, it is so much easier. Have you ever tried those spins you see figure skaters doing on four, widely spaced wheels? Grrr.... Secondly, there are so many more opportunities, so many more clubs...I was at the rink where Bobby plays hockey the other day, and they had fliers for an edge clinic. I want to go to an edge clinic! But, until last year, there wasn't even a club in our area for freestyle rollerskating, so edge clinics are a long way off.
Then, I really think about it, and I am glad for my wheels. First of all, it is not so trite. Whenever we get to the rink after a figure skating session, there are dozens of girls (fewer boys) with their little skating dresses and tights and bags on wheels...our club, last year, consisted of fourteen people. Fourteen! And so it is unique and easier to network with each other than if you are talking among thousands of people.
And since I'm not at all interested in competition, then opportunities don't really matter to me. I get to perform in my (now only) one show a year; that keeps me happy. And the challenge of it makes it more worthwhile too. This may be the first time that I have felt totally comfortable on sit spins, but dammit, I have worked hard for that, practicing the durned things for at least ten years now! And so it feels like a real triumph to nail that elusive, difficult skill.
Plus, rollerskating isn't bloody cold.
Plus, there is no way in rollerskating to slice yourself on your toepicks (although a friend of mine, while doing a held spiral, did tear her finger on her truck).
Plus, for rollerskating, I don't have to buy a skating dress and can show up to practice in my uber-short shorts that say "SKATE" on the bum and a tank top. And I don't have to wear tights. Or boot covers. (Although I own all of the above, they are reserved for shows.)
Plus, rollerskates do not need to be sharpened every few weeks. Last year, I put new bearings in my wheels for the first time in ten years (because a bearing broke and my skate sounded like I had a mouse trapped inside it) and bought new toestops (because my right toestop, off which I jump for a flip jump, cracked in half). This year, I bought new laces, as mine had broken last year and were getting difficult to tie. Those are the only investments that I have made on my skates in eleven years since my feet stopped growing enough for my mom to justify the investment in proper skates for me.
Long story short: I'm sticking with rollerskating! (And I have practice tomorrow, so hopefully, my next post will not be to say that I've broken my leg.)
Oh, and I wanted to mention about the daily drabble: Because I had no Internet at work, I had no way of getting my word of the day or posting a drabble. Be prepared for a mega-drabble-series whenever the Internet is resurrected. Sorry for the delay.
Oh, and happy belated Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends!
And happy Noldor Columbus day to my American friends!
The first time, some nit put me on the wrong server and my boss was on vacation, and so it didn't get resolved for a week. The second time, the DOC landscapers chewed the wire with a lawnmower. This time, some eejit took the turn coming around to our building too quickly and crashed into the pole.
So if I am long in replying to comments or emails, this is why. Sorry :( I'm not sure when it will be fixed. They had a guy in a bucket working on it this afternoon, but that doesn't necessarily mean resolution.
This time, though, I was fairly well prepared for the outage. I got uber work on my latest short story done, the one for the silwritersguild Write a Strong Female Character challenge. It is turning into much more than I had hoped. I had originally thought to expand on Earwen's role in smoothing relations between the Noldor and the Teleri after the Kinslaying but, alas, Anaire decided that she also deserved stage time (dang Noldor and their demands!) and so it has turned out much different than I originally envisioned. But I like it so far. It's still solely from Earwen's point of view and, right now, she is dealing with her feelings towards Finarfin after having just heard of the Kinslaying. And to go Forrest Gump on y'all: that's all I have to say about that :)
Completely random: My new RamBo is up and running. Instead of giving him the same name as the old, jinxed, fried RamBo (whose name was RamBo), this one is called Fingolfin. The only problem with that is that I have legitimate fears about certain Feanorians protesting that. He just reminded me of a Fingolfin though. He came from my dad and had all sorts of old files on him; after talking to dad, I was told that it was okay to delete them. It took eighteen minutes for the computer to delete all of the junk that dad had on there. It was interesting to watch all of the files float past, though. I saw some old coverart I had drawn for an emergency preparedness plan for my dad's office. I saw a filk that I had written about our old manager at The Piece (and none too kind either!) and emailed to dad. Dad also had a copy of the governor's signature, which I found intriguing. (Although not really, as we are both state employees, and dad works at a Director's office and so probably needs such artifacts.) It seems he is a worse packrat than I am.
On Sunday night, after finishing AMC, (yes, I am going to find a way to mention that in every post for the next month!) Bobby, Potter, and I went to an evening session at the Columbia Ice Rink where I witnessed a most interesting occurence: a figure skater fight. Well, actually, it was Figure Skaters versus Asian Family. This is how it rolled:
Apparently, Male Figure Skater, who was practicing jumps around the rink, collided with Asian Teenager, who was standing idly in the center of the rink. At this point, the entire Asian Family flocked to berate Male Figure Skater. Female Figure Skater, seeing a comrade in distress, came over to intervene. Argument ensued. Entire rink staff had to come onto the ice to quell the anger.
But wait. It gets better.
This was near the end of the session, and I was cold (go figure), and so I decided to step off early. Well, Female Figure Skater and Asian Teenager were screaming at each other in the locker room. Female Figure Skater was yelling, "I work to keep people safe and don't allow children to stand in the middle of the rink!" Asian Teenager stood up and screamed, "Fuck you!" in the woman's face. Some other insults et al were distributed, at which point, Male Figure Skated--until now quietly removing his skates--leaped up from the bench and charged Asian Teenager. Rink staff, again, intervened, holding back Male Figure Skater, Asian Teenager, and Asian Patriarch, who were ready to drop the gloves and fight. Asian Matriarch began pointing to reddish marks on Asian Teenager's neck, blaming Male Figure Skater. Finally, all but Female Figure Skater departed. Female Figure Skater proceeded to berate rink staff for claiming that the center of the rink was reserved for freestyle and then not enforcing the rule, allowing events like this to occur. (Note that Dawn Felagund, Polish Figure Skater of Another Variety, read posted rules and saw nothing to this effect and so cannot vouch as to whether verbal agreement was previously given to this woman.)
Having witnessed the whole ordeal...wow.
Now, as most of you know, I am a figure skater myself, although on rollerskates, which is a horse of a slightly different color. But I am no stranger to public skating sessions and the interesting dilemmas they provoke. Public skating sessions are not good times to practice figure skating. That's why Eru decreed that there be figure skating clubs. (I belong to one and, hence, never need to go to public skates.) Too many people who don't know how to skate tend to be idiots. Now this is not all novices, but it increases inversely proportionate to a person's age. Kids who don't know how to skate, generally, are the one's skating too fast, who don't know how to stop, and who will cut you off in the middle of prepping a spin or a jump. (Very, very dangerous, hence that fact that I do not care for practicing at public skates.)
The above-mentioned incident involved too many people who didn't need to be involved. The entire family of the teenager didn't need to involve themselves in the ruckus. I mean, even the elementary-aged children were dragged over to the profanity-laden "conference" on the rink. The one little girl was screaming and crying the whole time; I felt bad for her. Because of their over-involvement, Female Figure Skater doubtlessly felt the need to interfere on behalf of her comrade, as it was like seven to one, involving another person who didn't need to be involved.
The fact that it came to fisticuffs...just stupid.
And people need to understand the risks associated with skating. If the boy had marks on his neck because of the collision, that is sad, but I have seen girls break their arms in shows, and so I don't really feel that bad for him. The marks were probably gone the next day. It is a risky sport. I have hurt myself before--luckily, never in any major, lasting ways, although I had a groin pull (tmi, I know) that bothered me for the better part of two years--and especially when you are a beginner and don't know how to safely fall, you should expect to get hurt. Hell, I've been doing this for thirteen years now, and I expect to get hurt every time I practice! "Public" sessions don't mean public to the exclusion of people who are excellent skaters. Bobby is a hockey player and breaks into sprints whenever he has a stretch of open ice. That is no less dangerous than twelve-year-olds who want to show off for their girlfriends and so imitate a similar speed without the foggiest idea of how to stop and no less dangerous than a figure skater who wants to practice her spins.
I'm often torn, sometimes wishing that I had taken up figure skating on ice instead of wheels. First of all, it is so much easier. Have you ever tried those spins you see figure skaters doing on four, widely spaced wheels? Grrr.... Secondly, there are so many more opportunities, so many more clubs...I was at the rink where Bobby plays hockey the other day, and they had fliers for an edge clinic. I want to go to an edge clinic! But, until last year, there wasn't even a club in our area for freestyle rollerskating, so edge clinics are a long way off.
Then, I really think about it, and I am glad for my wheels. First of all, it is not so trite. Whenever we get to the rink after a figure skating session, there are dozens of girls (fewer boys) with their little skating dresses and tights and bags on wheels...our club, last year, consisted of fourteen people. Fourteen! And so it is unique and easier to network with each other than if you are talking among thousands of people.
And since I'm not at all interested in competition, then opportunities don't really matter to me. I get to perform in my (now only) one show a year; that keeps me happy. And the challenge of it makes it more worthwhile too. This may be the first time that I have felt totally comfortable on sit spins, but dammit, I have worked hard for that, practicing the durned things for at least ten years now! And so it feels like a real triumph to nail that elusive, difficult skill.
Plus, rollerskating isn't bloody cold.
Plus, there is no way in rollerskating to slice yourself on your toepicks (although a friend of mine, while doing a held spiral, did tear her finger on her truck).
Plus, for rollerskating, I don't have to buy a skating dress and can show up to practice in my uber-short shorts that say "SKATE" on the bum and a tank top. And I don't have to wear tights. Or boot covers. (Although I own all of the above, they are reserved for shows.)
Plus, rollerskates do not need to be sharpened every few weeks. Last year, I put new bearings in my wheels for the first time in ten years (because a bearing broke and my skate sounded like I had a mouse trapped inside it) and bought new toestops (because my right toestop, off which I jump for a flip jump, cracked in half). This year, I bought new laces, as mine had broken last year and were getting difficult to tie. Those are the only investments that I have made on my skates in eleven years since my feet stopped growing enough for my mom to justify the investment in proper skates for me.
Long story short: I'm sticking with rollerskating! (And I have practice tomorrow, so hopefully, my next post will not be to say that I've broken my leg.)
Oh, and I wanted to mention about the daily drabble: Because I had no Internet at work, I had no way of getting my word of the day or posting a drabble. Be prepared for a mega-drabble-series whenever the Internet is resurrected. Sorry for the delay.
Oh, and happy belated Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends!
And happy Noldor Columbus day to my American friends!