My awesomely busy weekend of awesome business
In list form because I'm just a tad too lazy right now to make a whole bunch of complete sentences. Starting with Thursday, because that is where the awesomeness busy-ness began.
On Thursday:
- Gym in the morning (6:30am)
- Work
- Food thing with OG
- Late softball game
(* Note: WE WON!!! This has never happened in my experience so there is that awesome. However, I can claim no credit for the victory because my portion of the game was mostly made of badness. Also the final score, 19-18, is a tad embarrassing [poor reflection on the defense and all]. The most awesome thing about this game was when our catcher misjudged a throw from the pitcher and was bonked in the head by a softball [soft being an inapt descriptor for these balls]. She developed a humongous welt in no time flat. I have never seen one that large.)
- Helped mom move a big-ass pile of trash (that trash left in the aftermath of construction/renovation) from the front yard of one of her properties to the street, using badly constructed boxes and a flat-tired wheelbarrow.
- Home at 10:00 something. Too late to watch first viewing of "Burn Notice" so made a valiant effort of staying awake and managed to watch the 1:00am airing.
On Friday:
- Gym in the morning (6:30am)
- Work
- To Santa Cruz for dinner and viewing of an aerial dance performance with john_b_cannon [henceforth referred to by username or by some nickname that strikes my fancy. skipper? chip? maybe ODGS i.e. ol' dirty grad student?].
(* Note: I was almost on time! But then I got lost, and then after I found the place I had to look for parking. The reverse parallel parking thing was not so perfect an ending for that particular driving experience. I was pretty much a wreck by the time I got to the restaurant. Fortunately, I got to opt out of driving for the rest of the evening.
Re: the aerial dance: apparently all that time I spent watching dance performances in college was not completely wasted. Though I can't make heads or tails of abstract art, I apparently have standards for modern dance. Who knew? Also, I now have a more complete understanding of why bendy girls are considered sexy. Maybe there's some special extra when ribbon is involved [to facilitate the bendy-ness] that has helped open my eyes to this.
Also: I love clowns. People who do not love clowns are crazy. I also love mimes. People who do not love mimes are crazy. I am also a big fan of vests. People who do not love vests should be more open-minded. I also love these. Put all this together and you more or less describe the outfit of the second performer in the aerial dance show; clown-faced daredevil, she. My only disappointment came when she broke her mime-like silence right before the end of her performance.)
- Home at 3:00 something.
On Saturday:
- Gym in the morning (8:00am)
- Dance practice with Molly
- Drove home to shower and change
- Turned right around and drove to Cousin Aurora's baby shower
(* Note: I got the job of transporting my aunt, Aurora's mom, to the shindig. Discovered at the last minute that my aunt had invited guests, and I would be driving everyone. The annoyance of this last-minute inclusiveness on her part [more weight in the car equaling worse gas mileage, necessity of tossing everything from the passenger area into the trunk, having to keep AC on during the entire trip because someone of those three ladies was wearing a bit too much perfume], was mitigated by the fact that I was then spared a 2-hour [roundtrip] drive alone with my aunt. I have no idea what we would have talked about in that case. As it turned out, she spent the entire trip alternately (1) talking about the merits of Barack Obama vs. the demerits of "that man" [she refuses to say McCain because "names give people power"] and (2) assuring the older of her guests that I was a good driver [partially true] and that I did know where I was going [untrue, but appreciated nonetheless because her friend was a nervous nelly and I kept silently willing her to STFU].
We only played one shower game. That was to write down some naughty or otherwise 'girdle up, mommy-to-be' story from your childhood, have random people read aloud, and then the party-goers had to guess which story belonged to whom. My story: "one day at school I found a bead on the floor. I put it in my ear. Eventually, my parents had to take me to the hospital to have it removed."
One of the women looked right at me and said, "That sounds like something you would do." Everyone else agreed. Which left me wondering why I seem like the type of person who'd put a bead in her ear. Also, the girl reading my card didn't enunciate and a key portion of my story was misheard. So it turns out that, to this crowd, I also seem like the type of person who'd put a bee in my ear.
Cousin Aurora's story was awesome. Her mother, my aunt's, re-telling/embellishment of the story was also awesome. Funny thing: Aurora's version of the story of how she broke her arm at age six is a story about Aurora. My aunt's version is about my aunt, though she was not the one who broke her arm. Will type the versions up later, best as I can recall them. Actually maybe I should get Cousin C's version of events too, and try to find the truth somewhere in between.)
- Drove back from Cousin Aurora's baby shower
- Proceeded directly to Connie's wedding reception. (Connie was my first roommate, post-college.)
(* Note: Connie and I never really connected. c* says this is mostly my fault, since Connie seemed to like me well enough. I don't think he's necessarily correct. Still, it's nice that I remain on her mailing list. When I think about it, Connie and I have a number of things in common. The biggest difference between us is that she's much more outgoing and generally social than I am.
I mentioned the event to c* [because he and she got along better than she and I did, and I've sometimes had the idea that continued association with c* is one of the reasons I'm still on Connie's mailing list] but he wasn't able to make it. I went through a brief moment of 'I can't go to a wedding reception for a girl I hardly know by myself!' and then sucked it up and went anyway. Had more fun than expected.
Connie and Eric [the groom] are in a dance troupe called Decadance and they all performed during the reception. I really think this is the way to go. If/when I get married, I'm definitely getting performers for the reception. Since Decadance is composed of swing dancers, even the open dance portions of the event were more fun [to watch] than usual. Also, the reception had a "green" theme. Plates and flatware were compostable. Wedding favor was a reusable grocery shopping bag, embellished with a design created by the happy couple.)
- Home at 10:30 and then proceeded to take my mom's hair out of braids.
(* Note: We took a break at 1:30am and resumed at 5:00am. At a certain point, because my head hurt from not getting enough sleep and I wanted to wrap up in time to take a nap before yoga class, I asked if she wouldn't mind helping me out with the unbraiding. Her response: "I can't. You seem to think I'm joking when I talk about my illness [the stroke she had some years ago, which affected the function of her right hand]." [I do maintain that a stroke is an event, not an illness, but whatever.] My response: "What I think is that it's almost 6:00am and we don't have much time to get this done. So anything you can do would be helpful." Magically, this worked and she actually helped with the rest. We finished around 7:00am and I went back to bed.)
On Sunday:
- Gym in the morning (10:00am)
- Brunch with Queen B at Hobee's
- Indoor rock climbing with OG
(* Note: I finally took the test and got my belay [red] card. I took the belay class back in April and hadn't been back to the climbing gym since, so the tester coached me a little on the details I'd forgotten, which was nice of her. I was a little keyed up from the test, and heights really are not my favorite thing, so this wasn't my best outing as far as climbing goes. I should probably try to go at least once a month so my nervous system doesn't go into 'Who the hell thought THIS was a good idea?!' overdrive when I get up on the wall. My belaying, except for a few moments when my concentration lapsed, was pretty good I think. OG survived several falls. I tended to give up on the climbs before falling, and after in some cases.)
- Back to work to finish that which remained undone when I left on Friday.
- Will leave in a few minutes and then maybe karaoke, maybe an outing with Oscar, or maybe some communion with my couch. Or maybe an apple fritter. That sounds like the most reliably satisfying option.
On Thursday:
- Gym in the morning (6:30am)
- Work
- Food thing with OG
- Late softball game
(* Note: WE WON!!! This has never happened in my experience so there is that awesome. However, I can claim no credit for the victory because my portion of the game was mostly made of badness. Also the final score, 19-18, is a tad embarrassing [poor reflection on the defense and all]. The most awesome thing about this game was when our catcher misjudged a throw from the pitcher and was bonked in the head by a softball [soft being an inapt descriptor for these balls]. She developed a humongous welt in no time flat. I have never seen one that large.)
- Helped mom move a big-ass pile of trash (that trash left in the aftermath of construction/renovation) from the front yard of one of her properties to the street, using badly constructed boxes and a flat-tired wheelbarrow.
- Home at 10:00 something. Too late to watch first viewing of "Burn Notice" so made a valiant effort of staying awake and managed to watch the 1:00am airing.
On Friday:
- Gym in the morning (6:30am)
- Work
- To Santa Cruz for dinner and viewing of an aerial dance performance with john_b_cannon [henceforth referred to by username or by some nickname that strikes my fancy. skipper? chip? maybe ODGS i.e. ol' dirty grad student?].
(* Note: I was almost on time! But then I got lost, and then after I found the place I had to look for parking. The reverse parallel parking thing was not so perfect an ending for that particular driving experience. I was pretty much a wreck by the time I got to the restaurant. Fortunately, I got to opt out of driving for the rest of the evening.
Re: the aerial dance: apparently all that time I spent watching dance performances in college was not completely wasted. Though I can't make heads or tails of abstract art, I apparently have standards for modern dance. Who knew? Also, I now have a more complete understanding of why bendy girls are considered sexy. Maybe there's some special extra when ribbon is involved [to facilitate the bendy-ness] that has helped open my eyes to this.
Also: I love clowns. People who do not love clowns are crazy. I also love mimes. People who do not love mimes are crazy. I am also a big fan of vests. People who do not love vests should be more open-minded. I also love these. Put all this together and you more or less describe the outfit of the second performer in the aerial dance show; clown-faced daredevil, she. My only disappointment came when she broke her mime-like silence right before the end of her performance.)
- Home at 3:00 something.
On Saturday:
- Gym in the morning (8:00am)
- Dance practice with Molly
- Drove home to shower and change
- Turned right around and drove to Cousin Aurora's baby shower
(* Note: I got the job of transporting my aunt, Aurora's mom, to the shindig. Discovered at the last minute that my aunt had invited guests, and I would be driving everyone. The annoyance of this last-minute inclusiveness on her part [more weight in the car equaling worse gas mileage, necessity of tossing everything from the passenger area into the trunk, having to keep AC on during the entire trip because someone of those three ladies was wearing a bit too much perfume], was mitigated by the fact that I was then spared a 2-hour [roundtrip] drive alone with my aunt. I have no idea what we would have talked about in that case. As it turned out, she spent the entire trip alternately (1) talking about the merits of Barack Obama vs. the demerits of "that man" [she refuses to say McCain because "names give people power"] and (2) assuring the older of her guests that I was a good driver [partially true] and that I did know where I was going [untrue, but appreciated nonetheless because her friend was a nervous nelly and I kept silently willing her to STFU].
We only played one shower game. That was to write down some naughty or otherwise 'girdle up, mommy-to-be' story from your childhood, have random people read aloud, and then the party-goers had to guess which story belonged to whom. My story: "one day at school I found a bead on the floor. I put it in my ear. Eventually, my parents had to take me to the hospital to have it removed."
One of the women looked right at me and said, "That sounds like something you would do." Everyone else agreed. Which left me wondering why I seem like the type of person who'd put a bead in her ear. Also, the girl reading my card didn't enunciate and a key portion of my story was misheard. So it turns out that, to this crowd, I also seem like the type of person who'd put a bee in my ear.
Cousin Aurora's story was awesome. Her mother, my aunt's, re-telling/embellishment of the story was also awesome. Funny thing: Aurora's version of the story of how she broke her arm at age six is a story about Aurora. My aunt's version is about my aunt, though she was not the one who broke her arm. Will type the versions up later, best as I can recall them. Actually maybe I should get Cousin C's version of events too, and try to find the truth somewhere in between.)
- Drove back from Cousin Aurora's baby shower
- Proceeded directly to Connie's wedding reception. (Connie was my first roommate, post-college.)
(* Note: Connie and I never really connected. c* says this is mostly my fault, since Connie seemed to like me well enough. I don't think he's necessarily correct. Still, it's nice that I remain on her mailing list. When I think about it, Connie and I have a number of things in common. The biggest difference between us is that she's much more outgoing and generally social than I am.
I mentioned the event to c* [because he and she got along better than she and I did, and I've sometimes had the idea that continued association with c* is one of the reasons I'm still on Connie's mailing list] but he wasn't able to make it. I went through a brief moment of 'I can't go to a wedding reception for a girl I hardly know by myself!' and then sucked it up and went anyway. Had more fun than expected.
Connie and Eric [the groom] are in a dance troupe called Decadance and they all performed during the reception. I really think this is the way to go. If/when I get married, I'm definitely getting performers for the reception. Since Decadance is composed of swing dancers, even the open dance portions of the event were more fun [to watch] than usual. Also, the reception had a "green" theme. Plates and flatware were compostable. Wedding favor was a reusable grocery shopping bag, embellished with a design created by the happy couple.)
- Home at 10:30 and then proceeded to take my mom's hair out of braids.
(* Note: We took a break at 1:30am and resumed at 5:00am. At a certain point, because my head hurt from not getting enough sleep and I wanted to wrap up in time to take a nap before yoga class, I asked if she wouldn't mind helping me out with the unbraiding. Her response: "I can't. You seem to think I'm joking when I talk about my illness [the stroke she had some years ago, which affected the function of her right hand]." [I do maintain that a stroke is an event, not an illness, but whatever.] My response: "What I think is that it's almost 6:00am and we don't have much time to get this done. So anything you can do would be helpful." Magically, this worked and she actually helped with the rest. We finished around 7:00am and I went back to bed.)
On Sunday:
- Gym in the morning (10:00am)
- Brunch with Queen B at Hobee's
- Indoor rock climbing with OG
(* Note: I finally took the test and got my belay [red] card. I took the belay class back in April and hadn't been back to the climbing gym since, so the tester coached me a little on the details I'd forgotten, which was nice of her. I was a little keyed up from the test, and heights really are not my favorite thing, so this wasn't my best outing as far as climbing goes. I should probably try to go at least once a month so my nervous system doesn't go into 'Who the hell thought THIS was a good idea?!' overdrive when I get up on the wall. My belaying, except for a few moments when my concentration lapsed, was pretty good I think. OG survived several falls. I tended to give up on the climbs before falling, and after in some cases.)
- Back to work to finish that which remained undone when I left on Friday.
- Will leave in a few minutes and then maybe karaoke, maybe an outing with Oscar, or maybe some communion with my couch. Or maybe an apple fritter. That sounds like the most reliably satisfying option.