various and sundry
I like that phrase. I don't know why. I think I first read it in The Hobbit when I was maybe ten or eleven. :D
My boss wants me now to tell parents all about the summer camp on August 2nd and 3rd. The overnight thing that I do not have to do (cue maniacal laughter) that costs a hundred bucks per kid and apparently involves tents.
Oh, right, the weekend. I did stuff. I packed a ton of stuff on Saturday (which I haven't mailed, partly because it keeps RAINING and I don't want to haul boxes in the rain). Sunday my boss's mum took me to a tea ceremony that they do once a month or so; she told everyone there it was my first time at a tea ceremony (which it definitely was not), but it's been so long since I've been to one that I'd forgotten most of the protocol anyway. It was v. pretty and my feet went numb.
I really enjoy watching the Japanese tea ceremony, actually. The actions are very simple, but they're very rigidly defined and very highly ritualized, and the person performing it must be very precise. By the same token, the people on the receiving end must also respond in a precisely defined manner. Part of the ceremony involves complimenting the teacups and the small talk that goes along with drinking the tea.
The lady who headed up the ceremony this month made homemade sweets in the shape of plums (which are starting to ripen now? I'm not sure) that were absolutely gorgeous. I didn't want to eat it, I wanted to take it home. Or take pictures.
Also, randomly, I didn't know we were going to a tea ceremony, wore a shirt with a VERY low V-neck, and all but flashed the room every time I bowed (which, in the tea ceremony, is incessantly). Oops. ^^;;; I tried to be really polite to make up for it. (At least I made the junior high girl who was apparently studying tea ceremony smile. She grinned at me. My mission to get the youth of Japan to smile at inappropriate moments is proceeding nicely.)
Then there was the meet-up with Danny and Jill and some people Danny knows in Tokyo that went ... Yeah. So we saw Transformers and I spent way too much time going back and forth on the train because Danny pushed my Red Lantern button of late+lack-of-communication. Movie was cool, though. (My favorite character is Bumblebee. Hands down.)
Also, while on one of the many trains I took Sunday, it was raining and the tops of the baby mountains around here were covered in low-hanging clouds. Now I have Kyle and Connor stuck on a mountain in a thunderstorm in my head. Augh.
My boss wants me now to tell parents all about the summer camp on August 2nd and 3rd. The overnight thing that I do not have to do (cue maniacal laughter) that costs a hundred bucks per kid and apparently involves tents.
Oh, right, the weekend. I did stuff. I packed a ton of stuff on Saturday (which I haven't mailed, partly because it keeps RAINING and I don't want to haul boxes in the rain). Sunday my boss's mum took me to a tea ceremony that they do once a month or so; she told everyone there it was my first time at a tea ceremony (which it definitely was not), but it's been so long since I've been to one that I'd forgotten most of the protocol anyway. It was v. pretty and my feet went numb.
I really enjoy watching the Japanese tea ceremony, actually. The actions are very simple, but they're very rigidly defined and very highly ritualized, and the person performing it must be very precise. By the same token, the people on the receiving end must also respond in a precisely defined manner. Part of the ceremony involves complimenting the teacups and the small talk that goes along with drinking the tea.
The lady who headed up the ceremony this month made homemade sweets in the shape of plums (which are starting to ripen now? I'm not sure) that were absolutely gorgeous. I didn't want to eat it, I wanted to take it home. Or take pictures.
Also, randomly, I didn't know we were going to a tea ceremony, wore a shirt with a VERY low V-neck, and all but flashed the room every time I bowed (which, in the tea ceremony, is incessantly). Oops. ^^;;; I tried to be really polite to make up for it. (At least I made the junior high girl who was apparently studying tea ceremony smile. She grinned at me. My mission to get the youth of Japan to smile at inappropriate moments is proceeding nicely.)
Then there was the meet-up with Danny and Jill and some people Danny knows in Tokyo that went ... Yeah. So we saw Transformers and I spent way too much time going back and forth on the train because Danny pushed my Red Lantern button of late+lack-of-communication. Movie was cool, though. (My favorite character is Bumblebee. Hands down.)
Also, while on one of the many trains I took Sunday, it was raining and the tops of the baby mountains around here were covered in low-hanging clouds. Now I have Kyle and Connor stuck on a mountain in a thunderstorm in my head. Augh.