"Aw man, I love cats..."
First, for Annie. This is the biggest version I have of this.
I think my kinda lame photoshopping skills are a bit more obvious at this size. Oh well. I still like it.
So. Friday I went to work (much as I hate work I was very happy to be there for several reasons on this particular day) and spent the day mulling things over. I then sprinted off home to get ready for the wedding reception. Who's wedding reception? Just Minnie and Mickey's. I can say that I've been around for their entire courtship and that is kind of fun. I wore one of the cute dresses I got at Ross when I was in Oregon (sad sadness here...came home to discover a rip in a seam under the arm...argh) and spiked my hair in the back. I got a new haircut on Thursday (or Wednesday...uh...yeah, Wednesday) and I am quite liking it. I've decided to grow my hair out a little bit, so I'm moving away from my faux-hawk. Much as I've loved it, I think the time has come to move to something new. Anyway, I knew I wasn't going to have a lot of time after work, so I did my hair and make-up before I went to work. Many people asked me if I was wearing make-up and told me that I looked good. Then, when I got to the dance even more people commented on my my make-up. Same thing happened tonight actually. I know I've worn make-up quite a few times to dances, but I think this must be the first time everyone's seen me without glasses. That's all I can think of. Either that, or I've suddenly become very bad at putting it on and it is suddenly horribly obvious that I've smeared crap all over my face ;-)
Anyway. The reception was just really nice because aside from the kinda weird makeup thing, a lot of people just told me that I looked really cute. And I got a lot of compliments on my dancing. Which I love. You know why I got compliments on my dancing? Because my OTDL was back in town from New Mexico (seeing as he was the best man for the wedding) and I got to dance with him. I swear, I dance better with him than I do with any other lead I've ever danced with, including Dmitri. We just move the same way to the music. It was sooo great getting to dance with him again. I can't wait till he comes back to Provo for good. Aside from him, I danced with Sven and Mickey and Link and also Nikolai, who normally doesn't dance with me, but asked me to dance that night several times. The thing is, the floor, when you were in actual dance shoes, was super fast. But at first, Nikolai hadn't changed into his dance shoes. So we're dancing and he is seriously throwing me around because he still has relatively solid footing, but I'm quite literally barely keeping my feet under me as I slide all over the floor. I eventually had to tell him that he needed to lighten up his lead or I was gonna fall. But it was a good dancing night. Also, they had a photo booth there, and Sven and his girlfriend, and The Hair Goddess, and me, and OTDL, and Link all crammed in for pictures. It has been one of the aspirations of my life to go into a photo booth with a bunch of friends and it was just as much fun as I've always suspected. I have the pictures in my room now and they make me very happy.
Aside from the dancing, the best part of the night was Spitz. He also came, though he was in a bit of a bad way. But here's the thing. I've often wondered why it is that I love Spitz so much and I've finally figured it out. I discussed this with Bette and she totally understood what I was saying. I was telling her how almost everyone I know sort of just...well, they just assume I'm ok. What I mean is, there are some people...like, um, like Bunny I suppose...anyway, people who need help. They are upset, they are having a problem, and everyone comes and helps them. Or not even a problem, per se--they simply exude a need for attention and care. Then there are people like Bette and I. No one ever thinks we need help. Because we don't. That is the important thing. It's not that people are ignoring us; they aren't. We don't ask for help. We take care of ourselves and we are ok with that. We try to be that way. But. Every once in a while, a person like me meets a person like Spitz. You see, what Spitz does for me is treat me like I'm on of those people who deserves/needs/inspires...just care I guess. I've said so many times that, especially on bad nights, he always will say just the sweetest thing that will be exactly right. He always tells me that I look beautiful. He tells me that none of the guys I know deserve me. He just treats me like I'm one of those delicate, special girl creatures who needs to be petted and protected and loved. I can't even say how I adore him for that. As Bette said, its not that I need that exactly. I don't really, which is why most people don't treat me like that. But it means so much to me, even so. I can't explain myself.
Anyway, at the reception he was there and even in the midst of his intense pain and disorientation he was a complete sweetheart to me. He told me that I have a southern type of beauty and if I were to go to somewhere like South Carolina the boys would be falling all over me. He derisively dismissed all the boys around here, asking me "What? You really want to date any of these boys? I mean, take Sven for example. I mean, he's a cool dude, but really? I don't think so." He kept talking to me like this. Then, Sven himself came over and sat with us and he starts telling him what he's been telling me. At one point he interrupts himself and says "And you've got beautiful ankles. Man, Sven, she's even got good legs! phew!" and he shakes his head like he's getting all hot and bothered. I don't think I've ever blushed so much in my life. And the thing is, Spitz is the kind of guy who would say those things because he knows that is what you need to hear, even if he personally doesn't care for this or that thing about you. But somehow, I both trust him to never really lie, and also, I appreciate so much that he...I don't know. That he *does* know exactly what to say that will mean the most to me. I debate whether or not to tell him this because on the one hand, he might like to know that I notice what he does and how much he means to me. But on the other, what a monumentally selfish reason to love someone! Because he makes you feel so good about yourself.
After the dance Nikolai invited everyone back to his place to watch a movie, which we did. We watched O Brother Where Art Thou. The last time I watched that movie was last summer, with Linus and the Fella and it happened to be an epic evening of fail. It was nice to watch it again and regain some good associations with it. We hung out there till about midnight, at which point I decided I needed to head out so's to make it home without falling asleep. It was me, Link, and Wee Girl. Wee Girl had fallen through her stairs earlier that day and was quite fixated on a scrape she's acquired that looked like a smiley face.
So that was Friday. Then came Saturday. So, I've not worked for ages, as I believe I mentioned earlier. I'd thought all week that I was only working Saturday, but checked last minute before I went to bed Thursday and discovered that I actually had Saturday off, and was working Friday. Oh. So Saturday morning I was planning on doing some serious sleeping, when at 10:30 I get a call from Target. My instinctive response was to ignore it, but then I remembered how poor I was and how badly I needed hours, so I forced myself to wake up and answer the phone. Would I come in and work from 11:30 to 6? Well, if it isn't a closing shift, why not? So I went in to work. And I'm really quite glad that I did. I spent the whole day dancing in my head and just contemplating the great things that had happened to me over the last two days (Spitz...the Fella...good dancing...etc). I got off and I decided I ought to pick up some shampoo, which then led me to just browse around a bit. I remembered I was also out of hairspray, so I picked up a can of that. Big Sexy Hair. It really is the best. But also expensive. Then on a whim I wandered over to the accessories section so I could check out a fantastically cerulean messenger bag I'd caught a glimpse of earlier. It was just as delightful as I thought, but also quite expensive. So I left it there. But as I was walking away toward dollar spot my eyes fell upon the graphic tees they have in the men's department. I recalled that they had a Dr. Suess shirt over there which I really liked, so I stopped by to look. Oh heavens! I found not only a magnificent Green Eggs and Ham shirt, but also a grey one with Felix the Cat, and a beautiful orange Crush one. Happiness! But not. Cause I'm poor. I bought all three with the intent of coming home and trying them all on and deciding which I liked most, and then returning the other two. This was a bad plan, as I love all three! I'm seriously thinking about returning the hairspray (I still have some left in the old bottle) and keeping all three shirts. Oh geez.
Anyway, I ended up wearing the Green Eggs and Ham shirt to the dance. In face, I was simply in the outfit of AWESOME all around. I had my Dr. Seuss shirt, and I wore my really comfy jeans from Old Navy. Then, I decided to wear the rainbow jewelery Kandy's uncle had given me. Which led to the addition of my rainbow zeebra print belt. And this is momentous. But because you had to be able to see the awesome belt/earrings/necklace combo, I decided to tuck in the t-shirt. I NEVER tuck things in. I feel like it highlights my fat. But I did it, and went, and danced like that most of the night. And all around, I freakin loved my clothing. From shoes to ears, it was all perfect.
So, I'd texted the Fella earlier that day and reminded him of the dance and told him to come. He didn't respond, so I figured he wouldn't be there. I got there and it was Brumner and Link and Sven and a couple of newbies just learning. I had danced three or four songs when I saw the Fella walk in. Someone asked me to dance right when he got there so I didn't say hi till a while after. He seemed distinctly weird. Like he was feeling very moody and odd. I waved at him as I walked by, but didn't really talk to him till half way through the dance. Bear also showed up and swooped in and gave me a great big hug. Oh how I love Bear's hugs. I can't imagine any thing more comforting than being slightly squished by a big male personage. Link asked me to dance right after he got there and we were dancing right in front of him. At one point Link led this one movie he's quite fond of that, if it were anyone else, I would probably miss, but because its him, I know to expect it. As I followed it I heard Bear sort of whistle under his breath like "Oh wow! I can't believe she followed him". And then when I danced with him, he reacted similarly when I got something else. It was just another really good dance night. I danced pretty well with Brumner every time, only messing up terribly two or three times. My dances with Sancho were not the best, but certainly not the worst either. In fact, my very worst dances (aside from the one time the new guy tried to dance with me and kind of failed epically) were with the Fella. As I said, he was very odd and moody seeming when he got there. He came and asked me to dance after a few songs and it was...meh. Not too good, not too bad. Then, when he wasn't dancing, he spent the rest of the night talking to Bug. Figures. When he finally came back in towards the end of the dance I told him we needed to dance one more time and he said sure, after the next one because he was dancing with Bug. As I walked over to sit down Link grabbed me and we danced instead. At one point he tried some odd over the head arm thing, which considering our height difference is always a challenge (there have been times when he's actually jumped up just so we can make a turn...looks cool, but is much more pragmatic than it looks) and this time it didn't go so well. My arm ended up going very awkward. He was aware and instantly asked me if I was ok. Oh Link, bless your heart. Anyway, the next song was more of a 50's early rock'n'roll swing song and the Fella came over and asked me to dance. But oh my goodness! It was terrible! He was soooooo weird! Like, he just wasn't really leading anything. I spent most of the dance just jockeying and looking at him quizzically. He didn't give me anything to work with. And then at the end he says "Well that was a fun song" to which the only honest reply I could make was "mmmm". Weird weird weird. After that they announced the last song. He wandered off to ask Denim to dance. Link started hovering, but as he'd already stolen Denim from the Fella earlier, the Fella gave him a look and said "Don't you dare!" and so Link came and grabbed me and danced with me again.
See, here's the thing. There's a sort of unwritten rule about asking girls to dance, especially when there aren't very many there. You don't ask the same girl too many times without enough other girls in between. Unless you want to date her. Or she's one of those girls. You know, the one's that everyone wants to dance with all the time. Sort of. It's hard to explain, but you get a feel for it when you go to a few dances. I mean, when you start you notice those girls who all get asked to dance just a little bit more often and that is half the reason you realize that they are the good dancers. I remember Minnie used to be one of those girls, when she came, before she started dating Mickey. Everyone loved to dance with her. She'd been around a long time and she was friends with everyone and she was a good follow. She was always dancing. I felt like on Saturday, for the very first time, that I was one of those girls. I felt like I danced a whole lot more than I have in the past. And very few of those dances were ones I asked for. And when Link couldn't dance with Denim for the last dance, even though we'd just danced two songs earlier, I was the one he went for next. And you have to remember that not so long ago Link used to completely avoid me at dances. And there's Sancho asking me at least once, often twice a night now. It is a really really nice feeling. And here's a shameful confession. As I said, I was having a very good dance night and I was dancing almost all the time and periodically I would catch the Fella watching me and it made me happy. That he could see that I really am becoming a good dancer that people want to dance with. Even if our dance sucked. Oh I'm such a jerk.
Anyway, after the dance the plan had been made to go and lindy bomb Wee Girl's stake dance, which was going to be held in the underground parking garage of a complex in her ward. As everyone began to head off, I was left standing by the Fella chatting with him. Sort of. He was still in his odd mood. I asked him if he was going to go to Wee Girl's dance and he said he didn't think so. Then, after a few minutes he says all moody "I don't want to go home, but I don't want to dance on concrete." To which I gave the only appropriate response, a sarcastic "Life is full of difficult decisions, isn't it?" He looked at me and kind of smiled, acknowledging that he was being a bit petulant. At this point, everyone had left but him, me, and Link. Thinking he was going to take off, I went and changed my shoes, but instead he went over to the piano and started playing, while Link sang along. After I got my shoes changed I joined them at the piano (I figured Link must be planning on getting a ride with me, though we'd not discussed it) and enjoyed the impromptu concert. The Fella seemed still to be a bit out of sorts, but his humor was improving. Finally, he stopped with an apology for boring us. As we all walked out he read the address of the dance off and said he figured he'd make an appearance. Link stopped off for a drink, so as we walked out into the hall he was about 50 paces behind us. As the Fella was singing the last song he'd played, Link randomly started beatboxing. I laughed, and the Fella started adapting his song to Link's rhythm, which he slowed down slightly to fit, and suddenly we had this fantastic hip-hopped version of some shmaltzy jazz song (one line of the lyrics was "Oh, I'm as helpless as a kitten up a tree"). I'm seriously cracking up, but then the Fella, in addition to singing, starts flail hip hop dancing as we walk down the hall and I about died! It was one of the most awesome things I've ever witnessed and we were all laughing our heads off. The Fella has his mom's car right now, so we drove separately to Wee Girl's dance. I was determined to beat him there, so I pulled out super fast. Then, as I realized I was about to go the wrong way down the parking lot I veered insanely across to get on the right side and totally cut the Fella off. I hadn't meant to be quite so unsafe, but it was still awesome. My wheels were squealing and it was by far the most irresponsible driving I've ever done in my life.
After I left the RB parking lot I drove far more safely and we ended up pulling up at the same time as the Fella. He pulled up to the curb one car ahead of us and I was keeping my eyes on his car because I still wanted to beat him into the dance. But when Link finally got out of the car I realized that there was no one in The Fella's car, though I hadn't seen anyone go in. At which point the Fella leaped out at me from behind the car that had been parked between us. Somehow, he'd managed to get out of his car and sneak back without me seeing him. He seemed disappointed that I neither jumped nor screamed and asked if he's scared me. I told him he had a little, but when people startle me like that my instinctive response is just to freeze. We then started riffing on me acting like a deer in the headlights and getting hit by a car some day and we were laughing idiotically. As we got to the complex I got a call from Nikolai asking where everyone was. Apparently he'd shown up to the dance to discover us all gone. I passed the phone over to Link to give him the address of the Wee Girl's dance (see, at this point, I've driven Link around enough that he understands that his job is always the navigator) He stayed outside to talk to him, so the Fella and I went down to the dance together. A few steps from the doorway we both stopped short and looked at each other with matching looks of disgust. From where we were, the music was already too loud and we could see that someone was over-working a fog machine. The Fella looked at me and said "No. I'm going home." I argued and asked him what he'd do if he went home? "Read a book?!" Which sounded terribly tempting to me as well. But I managed to convince him to go in for a few minutes and we took the last few steps.
As I came in Bear saw me and came over and started calling my name and waving his arms around as though he'd lost me in all the fog. We called out for each other for a few minutes till, finally "finding" the other, we hugged each other like we were terrified of getting lost again. It was awesome. I sure do love Bear. He's so much fun. We went over and joined the little sub circle that the Fella had found, of all the swing kids. We were all trying really hard to have fun, but when you've experienced a real dance, where actual dancing occurs instead of the spasmy writhing of your typical stake dance, it is hard. And they weren't even playing good music to just jam with. So we're standing there all thinking "this is lame". This goes on for a couple songs and then "Single Ladies" comes on. The Fella comes over to me and yells in my ear (because that is the only way you could talk with the music so loud) "That's it. I'm leaving." I yell back something like "Aw, no! Stay for a little while" (even though I'm pretty much agreeing with him...it sucked) and he says "Well, see...as soon as that song came on and everyone started cheering I got really angry..." I gave him a kind of pleading "please stay" look and he grabs me and says "well...I guess you could lindy to this" and we start dancing. This dance, as opposed to the others, was actually good, but alas it only lasted for about two minutes before the humidity of the fog machine and the heat of a cement box--after a couple hours spent dancing already--wore us out. And we neither of us were feeling the song. We were just dancing for spite. So we stop and he leans over and yells "Do you have to wait for Link before you can go?" I tell him no, I'm sure Link can get a ride and I go and ask him if he minds hitching a ride home with Sven and Bug. No problem he says. Then as I go to grab my stuff Bear sees me and asks if I'm leaving and commands me to wait till after the song so he can give me a hug goodbye. One awesome Bear-hug later (see...that's why his name is Bear!) me and the Fella gratefully make our escape. As we're walking up the stairs Sancho tries to convince us to stay but we brush past him speedily.
As soon as we're free of that bloody fog the Fella launches into this epic rant, listing all of the things that were wrong with that dance. A couple sentences in I gleefully ask "Is this going to be a long rant?" "YES!" he exclaims and then continues without hesitation. It was cracking me up. Finally he stops with a muttered "I could go on, but I probably should stop." and when I beg him to continue he's lost his flow. This takes us out to his car, where we then stand and talk for the next 45 minutes. We talk about how much he hates girls going on missions (I can only assume this was in reference to Bug, though he claimed that it was a general observance) and our respective experiences in high school and with high school English teachers, and how we both love cats. He told me about how, when they were kids, they would go and sleep outside and the cats would come and creep into their sleeping bags and snuggle with them. And I told him about how my cat used to curl up at my neck and sleep with me. When he said that he likes cats that bite you, I knew exactly what he meant, and we both made the same growling noise and hand motions at the same time, pretending we were playing with a cat. Several cars drove past and I finally said that every time a car drove by I imagined it running over my feet. He said he kept imagining the same thing. Finally, around 11 he said he needed to go home. He said he wanted to write, and that he was glad he was kind of tired, because when he's tired he feels sentimental. So he got into his car, and I got into mine, and we went home for the night.
There is more for me to write, the random conversations of Sunday, and the awesome mcawesomeness of today. But this post is already insanely long and I have to go to work. So I shall save it for later. But can you see now why I have had the most fantastic weekend ever? Because it surely has been.
I think my kinda lame photoshopping skills are a bit more obvious at this size. Oh well. I still like it.
So. Friday I went to work (much as I hate work I was very happy to be there for several reasons on this particular day) and spent the day mulling things over. I then sprinted off home to get ready for the wedding reception. Who's wedding reception? Just Minnie and Mickey's. I can say that I've been around for their entire courtship and that is kind of fun. I wore one of the cute dresses I got at Ross when I was in Oregon (sad sadness here...came home to discover a rip in a seam under the arm...argh) and spiked my hair in the back. I got a new haircut on Thursday (or Wednesday...uh...yeah, Wednesday) and I am quite liking it. I've decided to grow my hair out a little bit, so I'm moving away from my faux-hawk. Much as I've loved it, I think the time has come to move to something new. Anyway, I knew I wasn't going to have a lot of time after work, so I did my hair and make-up before I went to work. Many people asked me if I was wearing make-up and told me that I looked good. Then, when I got to the dance even more people commented on my my make-up. Same thing happened tonight actually. I know I've worn make-up quite a few times to dances, but I think this must be the first time everyone's seen me without glasses. That's all I can think of. Either that, or I've suddenly become very bad at putting it on and it is suddenly horribly obvious that I've smeared crap all over my face ;-)
Anyway. The reception was just really nice because aside from the kinda weird makeup thing, a lot of people just told me that I looked really cute. And I got a lot of compliments on my dancing. Which I love. You know why I got compliments on my dancing? Because my OTDL was back in town from New Mexico (seeing as he was the best man for the wedding) and I got to dance with him. I swear, I dance better with him than I do with any other lead I've ever danced with, including Dmitri. We just move the same way to the music. It was sooo great getting to dance with him again. I can't wait till he comes back to Provo for good. Aside from him, I danced with Sven and Mickey and Link and also Nikolai, who normally doesn't dance with me, but asked me to dance that night several times. The thing is, the floor, when you were in actual dance shoes, was super fast. But at first, Nikolai hadn't changed into his dance shoes. So we're dancing and he is seriously throwing me around because he still has relatively solid footing, but I'm quite literally barely keeping my feet under me as I slide all over the floor. I eventually had to tell him that he needed to lighten up his lead or I was gonna fall. But it was a good dancing night. Also, they had a photo booth there, and Sven and his girlfriend, and The Hair Goddess, and me, and OTDL, and Link all crammed in for pictures. It has been one of the aspirations of my life to go into a photo booth with a bunch of friends and it was just as much fun as I've always suspected. I have the pictures in my room now and they make me very happy.
Aside from the dancing, the best part of the night was Spitz. He also came, though he was in a bit of a bad way. But here's the thing. I've often wondered why it is that I love Spitz so much and I've finally figured it out. I discussed this with Bette and she totally understood what I was saying. I was telling her how almost everyone I know sort of just...well, they just assume I'm ok. What I mean is, there are some people...like, um, like Bunny I suppose...anyway, people who need help. They are upset, they are having a problem, and everyone comes and helps them. Or not even a problem, per se--they simply exude a need for attention and care. Then there are people like Bette and I. No one ever thinks we need help. Because we don't. That is the important thing. It's not that people are ignoring us; they aren't. We don't ask for help. We take care of ourselves and we are ok with that. We try to be that way. But. Every once in a while, a person like me meets a person like Spitz. You see, what Spitz does for me is treat me like I'm on of those people who deserves/needs/inspires...just care I guess. I've said so many times that, especially on bad nights, he always will say just the sweetest thing that will be exactly right. He always tells me that I look beautiful. He tells me that none of the guys I know deserve me. He just treats me like I'm one of those delicate, special girl creatures who needs to be petted and protected and loved. I can't even say how I adore him for that. As Bette said, its not that I need that exactly. I don't really, which is why most people don't treat me like that. But it means so much to me, even so. I can't explain myself.
Anyway, at the reception he was there and even in the midst of his intense pain and disorientation he was a complete sweetheart to me. He told me that I have a southern type of beauty and if I were to go to somewhere like South Carolina the boys would be falling all over me. He derisively dismissed all the boys around here, asking me "What? You really want to date any of these boys? I mean, take Sven for example. I mean, he's a cool dude, but really? I don't think so." He kept talking to me like this. Then, Sven himself came over and sat with us and he starts telling him what he's been telling me. At one point he interrupts himself and says "And you've got beautiful ankles. Man, Sven, she's even got good legs! phew!" and he shakes his head like he's getting all hot and bothered. I don't think I've ever blushed so much in my life. And the thing is, Spitz is the kind of guy who would say those things because he knows that is what you need to hear, even if he personally doesn't care for this or that thing about you. But somehow, I both trust him to never really lie, and also, I appreciate so much that he...I don't know. That he *does* know exactly what to say that will mean the most to me. I debate whether or not to tell him this because on the one hand, he might like to know that I notice what he does and how much he means to me. But on the other, what a monumentally selfish reason to love someone! Because he makes you feel so good about yourself.
After the dance Nikolai invited everyone back to his place to watch a movie, which we did. We watched O Brother Where Art Thou. The last time I watched that movie was last summer, with Linus and the Fella and it happened to be an epic evening of fail. It was nice to watch it again and regain some good associations with it. We hung out there till about midnight, at which point I decided I needed to head out so's to make it home without falling asleep. It was me, Link, and Wee Girl. Wee Girl had fallen through her stairs earlier that day and was quite fixated on a scrape she's acquired that looked like a smiley face.
So that was Friday. Then came Saturday. So, I've not worked for ages, as I believe I mentioned earlier. I'd thought all week that I was only working Saturday, but checked last minute before I went to bed Thursday and discovered that I actually had Saturday off, and was working Friday. Oh. So Saturday morning I was planning on doing some serious sleeping, when at 10:30 I get a call from Target. My instinctive response was to ignore it, but then I remembered how poor I was and how badly I needed hours, so I forced myself to wake up and answer the phone. Would I come in and work from 11:30 to 6? Well, if it isn't a closing shift, why not? So I went in to work. And I'm really quite glad that I did. I spent the whole day dancing in my head and just contemplating the great things that had happened to me over the last two days (Spitz...the Fella...good dancing...etc). I got off and I decided I ought to pick up some shampoo, which then led me to just browse around a bit. I remembered I was also out of hairspray, so I picked up a can of that. Big Sexy Hair. It really is the best. But also expensive. Then on a whim I wandered over to the accessories section so I could check out a fantastically cerulean messenger bag I'd caught a glimpse of earlier. It was just as delightful as I thought, but also quite expensive. So I left it there. But as I was walking away toward dollar spot my eyes fell upon the graphic tees they have in the men's department. I recalled that they had a Dr. Suess shirt over there which I really liked, so I stopped by to look. Oh heavens! I found not only a magnificent Green Eggs and Ham shirt, but also a grey one with Felix the Cat, and a beautiful orange Crush one. Happiness! But not. Cause I'm poor. I bought all three with the intent of coming home and trying them all on and deciding which I liked most, and then returning the other two. This was a bad plan, as I love all three! I'm seriously thinking about returning the hairspray (I still have some left in the old bottle) and keeping all three shirts. Oh geez.
Anyway, I ended up wearing the Green Eggs and Ham shirt to the dance. In face, I was simply in the outfit of AWESOME all around. I had my Dr. Seuss shirt, and I wore my really comfy jeans from Old Navy. Then, I decided to wear the rainbow jewelery Kandy's uncle had given me. Which led to the addition of my rainbow zeebra print belt. And this is momentous. But because you had to be able to see the awesome belt/earrings/necklace combo, I decided to tuck in the t-shirt. I NEVER tuck things in. I feel like it highlights my fat. But I did it, and went, and danced like that most of the night. And all around, I freakin loved my clothing. From shoes to ears, it was all perfect.
So, I'd texted the Fella earlier that day and reminded him of the dance and told him to come. He didn't respond, so I figured he wouldn't be there. I got there and it was Brumner and Link and Sven and a couple of newbies just learning. I had danced three or four songs when I saw the Fella walk in. Someone asked me to dance right when he got there so I didn't say hi till a while after. He seemed distinctly weird. Like he was feeling very moody and odd. I waved at him as I walked by, but didn't really talk to him till half way through the dance. Bear also showed up and swooped in and gave me a great big hug. Oh how I love Bear's hugs. I can't imagine any thing more comforting than being slightly squished by a big male personage. Link asked me to dance right after he got there and we were dancing right in front of him. At one point Link led this one movie he's quite fond of that, if it were anyone else, I would probably miss, but because its him, I know to expect it. As I followed it I heard Bear sort of whistle under his breath like "Oh wow! I can't believe she followed him". And then when I danced with him, he reacted similarly when I got something else. It was just another really good dance night. I danced pretty well with Brumner every time, only messing up terribly two or three times. My dances with Sancho were not the best, but certainly not the worst either. In fact, my very worst dances (aside from the one time the new guy tried to dance with me and kind of failed epically) were with the Fella. As I said, he was very odd and moody seeming when he got there. He came and asked me to dance after a few songs and it was...meh. Not too good, not too bad. Then, when he wasn't dancing, he spent the rest of the night talking to Bug. Figures. When he finally came back in towards the end of the dance I told him we needed to dance one more time and he said sure, after the next one because he was dancing with Bug. As I walked over to sit down Link grabbed me and we danced instead. At one point he tried some odd over the head arm thing, which considering our height difference is always a challenge (there have been times when he's actually jumped up just so we can make a turn...looks cool, but is much more pragmatic than it looks) and this time it didn't go so well. My arm ended up going very awkward. He was aware and instantly asked me if I was ok. Oh Link, bless your heart. Anyway, the next song was more of a 50's early rock'n'roll swing song and the Fella came over and asked me to dance. But oh my goodness! It was terrible! He was soooooo weird! Like, he just wasn't really leading anything. I spent most of the dance just jockeying and looking at him quizzically. He didn't give me anything to work with. And then at the end he says "Well that was a fun song" to which the only honest reply I could make was "mmmm". Weird weird weird. After that they announced the last song. He wandered off to ask Denim to dance. Link started hovering, but as he'd already stolen Denim from the Fella earlier, the Fella gave him a look and said "Don't you dare!" and so Link came and grabbed me and danced with me again.
See, here's the thing. There's a sort of unwritten rule about asking girls to dance, especially when there aren't very many there. You don't ask the same girl too many times without enough other girls in between. Unless you want to date her. Or she's one of those girls. You know, the one's that everyone wants to dance with all the time. Sort of. It's hard to explain, but you get a feel for it when you go to a few dances. I mean, when you start you notice those girls who all get asked to dance just a little bit more often and that is half the reason you realize that they are the good dancers. I remember Minnie used to be one of those girls, when she came, before she started dating Mickey. Everyone loved to dance with her. She'd been around a long time and she was friends with everyone and she was a good follow. She was always dancing. I felt like on Saturday, for the very first time, that I was one of those girls. I felt like I danced a whole lot more than I have in the past. And very few of those dances were ones I asked for. And when Link couldn't dance with Denim for the last dance, even though we'd just danced two songs earlier, I was the one he went for next. And you have to remember that not so long ago Link used to completely avoid me at dances. And there's Sancho asking me at least once, often twice a night now. It is a really really nice feeling. And here's a shameful confession. As I said, I was having a very good dance night and I was dancing almost all the time and periodically I would catch the Fella watching me and it made me happy. That he could see that I really am becoming a good dancer that people want to dance with. Even if our dance sucked. Oh I'm such a jerk.
Anyway, after the dance the plan had been made to go and lindy bomb Wee Girl's stake dance, which was going to be held in the underground parking garage of a complex in her ward. As everyone began to head off, I was left standing by the Fella chatting with him. Sort of. He was still in his odd mood. I asked him if he was going to go to Wee Girl's dance and he said he didn't think so. Then, after a few minutes he says all moody "I don't want to go home, but I don't want to dance on concrete." To which I gave the only appropriate response, a sarcastic "Life is full of difficult decisions, isn't it?" He looked at me and kind of smiled, acknowledging that he was being a bit petulant. At this point, everyone had left but him, me, and Link. Thinking he was going to take off, I went and changed my shoes, but instead he went over to the piano and started playing, while Link sang along. After I got my shoes changed I joined them at the piano (I figured Link must be planning on getting a ride with me, though we'd not discussed it) and enjoyed the impromptu concert. The Fella seemed still to be a bit out of sorts, but his humor was improving. Finally, he stopped with an apology for boring us. As we all walked out he read the address of the dance off and said he figured he'd make an appearance. Link stopped off for a drink, so as we walked out into the hall he was about 50 paces behind us. As the Fella was singing the last song he'd played, Link randomly started beatboxing. I laughed, and the Fella started adapting his song to Link's rhythm, which he slowed down slightly to fit, and suddenly we had this fantastic hip-hopped version of some shmaltzy jazz song (one line of the lyrics was "Oh, I'm as helpless as a kitten up a tree"). I'm seriously cracking up, but then the Fella, in addition to singing, starts flail hip hop dancing as we walk down the hall and I about died! It was one of the most awesome things I've ever witnessed and we were all laughing our heads off. The Fella has his mom's car right now, so we drove separately to Wee Girl's dance. I was determined to beat him there, so I pulled out super fast. Then, as I realized I was about to go the wrong way down the parking lot I veered insanely across to get on the right side and totally cut the Fella off. I hadn't meant to be quite so unsafe, but it was still awesome. My wheels were squealing and it was by far the most irresponsible driving I've ever done in my life.
After I left the RB parking lot I drove far more safely and we ended up pulling up at the same time as the Fella. He pulled up to the curb one car ahead of us and I was keeping my eyes on his car because I still wanted to beat him into the dance. But when Link finally got out of the car I realized that there was no one in The Fella's car, though I hadn't seen anyone go in. At which point the Fella leaped out at me from behind the car that had been parked between us. Somehow, he'd managed to get out of his car and sneak back without me seeing him. He seemed disappointed that I neither jumped nor screamed and asked if he's scared me. I told him he had a little, but when people startle me like that my instinctive response is just to freeze. We then started riffing on me acting like a deer in the headlights and getting hit by a car some day and we were laughing idiotically. As we got to the complex I got a call from Nikolai asking where everyone was. Apparently he'd shown up to the dance to discover us all gone. I passed the phone over to Link to give him the address of the Wee Girl's dance (see, at this point, I've driven Link around enough that he understands that his job is always the navigator) He stayed outside to talk to him, so the Fella and I went down to the dance together. A few steps from the doorway we both stopped short and looked at each other with matching looks of disgust. From where we were, the music was already too loud and we could see that someone was over-working a fog machine. The Fella looked at me and said "No. I'm going home." I argued and asked him what he'd do if he went home? "Read a book?!" Which sounded terribly tempting to me as well. But I managed to convince him to go in for a few minutes and we took the last few steps.
As I came in Bear saw me and came over and started calling my name and waving his arms around as though he'd lost me in all the fog. We called out for each other for a few minutes till, finally "finding" the other, we hugged each other like we were terrified of getting lost again. It was awesome. I sure do love Bear. He's so much fun. We went over and joined the little sub circle that the Fella had found, of all the swing kids. We were all trying really hard to have fun, but when you've experienced a real dance, where actual dancing occurs instead of the spasmy writhing of your typical stake dance, it is hard. And they weren't even playing good music to just jam with. So we're standing there all thinking "this is lame". This goes on for a couple songs and then "Single Ladies" comes on. The Fella comes over to me and yells in my ear (because that is the only way you could talk with the music so loud) "That's it. I'm leaving." I yell back something like "Aw, no! Stay for a little while" (even though I'm pretty much agreeing with him...it sucked) and he says "Well, see...as soon as that song came on and everyone started cheering I got really angry..." I gave him a kind of pleading "please stay" look and he grabs me and says "well...I guess you could lindy to this" and we start dancing. This dance, as opposed to the others, was actually good, but alas it only lasted for about two minutes before the humidity of the fog machine and the heat of a cement box--after a couple hours spent dancing already--wore us out. And we neither of us were feeling the song. We were just dancing for spite. So we stop and he leans over and yells "Do you have to wait for Link before you can go?" I tell him no, I'm sure Link can get a ride and I go and ask him if he minds hitching a ride home with Sven and Bug. No problem he says. Then as I go to grab my stuff Bear sees me and asks if I'm leaving and commands me to wait till after the song so he can give me a hug goodbye. One awesome Bear-hug later (see...that's why his name is Bear!) me and the Fella gratefully make our escape. As we're walking up the stairs Sancho tries to convince us to stay but we brush past him speedily.
As soon as we're free of that bloody fog the Fella launches into this epic rant, listing all of the things that were wrong with that dance. A couple sentences in I gleefully ask "Is this going to be a long rant?" "YES!" he exclaims and then continues without hesitation. It was cracking me up. Finally he stops with a muttered "I could go on, but I probably should stop." and when I beg him to continue he's lost his flow. This takes us out to his car, where we then stand and talk for the next 45 minutes. We talk about how much he hates girls going on missions (I can only assume this was in reference to Bug, though he claimed that it was a general observance) and our respective experiences in high school and with high school English teachers, and how we both love cats. He told me about how, when they were kids, they would go and sleep outside and the cats would come and creep into their sleeping bags and snuggle with them. And I told him about how my cat used to curl up at my neck and sleep with me. When he said that he likes cats that bite you, I knew exactly what he meant, and we both made the same growling noise and hand motions at the same time, pretending we were playing with a cat. Several cars drove past and I finally said that every time a car drove by I imagined it running over my feet. He said he kept imagining the same thing. Finally, around 11 he said he needed to go home. He said he wanted to write, and that he was glad he was kind of tired, because when he's tired he feels sentimental. So he got into his car, and I got into mine, and we went home for the night.
There is more for me to write, the random conversations of Sunday, and the awesome mcawesomeness of today. But this post is already insanely long and I have to go to work. So I shall save it for later. But can you see now why I have had the most fantastic weekend ever? Because it surely has been.