An outpouring of happenings

I've recently realized how poorly I've been blogging lately. Will try to be better. The following is just a laundry list of important and trivial things that I've done this year so far.

New Year's Eve was spent at a fair party down in Huntington Beach. Not great. Not horrible. But fair. The funniest part was sitting in the car with Lovely Lady, White Boy and Steph, waiting for it to get late enough for us to make an entrance. I finally realized how ridiculous we were being, and got us all in.

The rest of the week was spent in Palm Springs at Jam Byam's WCS dance camp. I did my first two WCS competitions (All American and Novice J&J), and even made it to the Novice semi's. It was a lot of fun (I have the dvd's to prove it), but I'm not sure I'll do it again. Really, the thrill is the pure joy of lead and follow that no camera can catch. The best moments were finding out that I made the semi's, and watch Kyle and Sarah (my favorite dancers) dance to "Word Up" by Willis (my new favorite song).

1/10/09 Finally got around to going iceskating with T Diddy. Also there were Girl Friday, Canada, Daredevil Dentist, Satine, PD and JY. Ice skating is always thrilling to me. Firstly, because the first ten minutes always makes me feel like I'm ten years old ... the chill air, the unexpected wobbliness of legs on ice, and unquenchable excitement. Plus, it's almost like dancing, trying to maneuver to the music. I think we did about an hour and a half, which is about as much as my feet can take before I start to get blisters on those particular spots on the medial sides of my feet. We recongregated back at my place for hot chocolate and leavened chat.

1/11/09 Over to Lovely Lady's place tonight to hear Shimai J make a presentation on her Cassava project in Kenya. It's amazing to me that she's been gone a year. 12 months of setting up the non-profit center to teach farmers about how to grow, harvest and make cassava marketable. The group was pretty small, because the place is small. I would love to have her make a larger presentation in the summer ... somewhere we can set up an outside projector, and invite a lot of people. I envy her the adventure and experience.

1/15/09 Picked up JLITH from the airport. We bummed around a bit, then went to Rocker Chic's apartment for a mini house party. In short, it was great. She had Scott open for her. He's so affable, cute, and innovative with his guitar. His music has some unexpected twists in it that make me pay attention. The rest of the time was divided between Rocker Chic and one of her musicians from Nashville, a tall, wildly Heathcliff-esque man that I'll just call Guitar Poet. It was great to hear him play with RC, because it helps me get a better idea of what her cd release concerts might have sounded like. Also, GP is a true artist. He did things with his guitar that I've never seen before ... on the spot recording and layering of guitar tracks. He's quite young, but brilliant. Someday he will make it big, I'm sure of it.

1/13/09 Over to the Magic Castle for RC's birthday. Very fun night with very congenial company.

2/6/09 Had my first appointment with Alice for physical therapy for my knee and back, which have been acting up after the NY dancing. Then went out to dinner at the 9:30 at the W Hotel. Came home. Was in the act of taking off my shoe, stumbled, grabbed a sheft to stabilize myself, and the small marble statue on it tumbled onto the floor. Well, almost. It tumbled onto my left great toe, then onto the floor. Ow. Went to sleep. When I woke in the morning, it was the size of a kielbasa sausage. I ended up going in to work anyway, since there wasn't much else to do. Kept it elevated a lot. Went to work on Monday and Tuesday. And one Wednesday, when there was finally time, I went in to the doctor's. Yeah, it was broken. Ugh. Six weeks for it to heal, and not much else for my pains. Oh well, it's not as bad as when I broke my ankle snowboarding. I've still been working ... I've been taking light assignments that don't require a lot of standing, taping my toe, taking advil, keeping my foot elevated, and wearing really flat shoes.

2/13/09 Spent a little time at Canada's birthday party. We all had ice cream sundaes and made valentine's cards. I wasn't in the mood to make cards, but I did show the hostess how to make the accordian booklets that Laughtear showed a while back. They were a hit. After a bit, I headed over to HSAAL's for a viewing of "Pretty In Pink," a seminal movie for anyone who was a teenager in the 90's. A bittersweet movie. I just don't understand why Andie settles for Plain Blaine. Really, he was boring and tepid.

2/14/09 Worked. Spent the evening with a good friend eating pizza, catching up and watching video clips. Platonic and fun. It's good to find joy in friendship, even though it doesn't quite slake my thirst for something truly deep and meaningful. I posted this at The Exponent blog. Pretty much sums up my current philosophical position.

2/15/09 Went over to dinner at the T family's home tonight with White Boy, Neuro ICU RN and Fedora Man. I think it was the first time that someone from the ward has invited me to a family style dinner. It was nice to get to know the T's. Sister T is wonderful. I like her superficially, and suspect that I would like her even better if I knew her better. Brother T is, well, more difficult for a feminist to like. He's affable, but not a man to feel comfortable around. Anyway, it was very nice and gracious of them to invite us all, and I enjoyed it.

2/20/09 Went with a group of friends to see Coraline in 3D. I was mesmerized ... it was visually stunning, if a bit scary, and fun. I liked the heroine's pluckiness and prickliness and courage. Next Halloween, you might see me dressed in a blue wig, with orange mittens, and a yellow rain slicker.

2/21/09 This day deserves its own post. In fact, it deserves two.

2/22/09 Improver and White Boy put on "A Third Off," a show of British sketch comedy pieces. It's the first of their shows that I was able to attend.Good stuff. My favorites were the last two. They called me up on the stage (I'm going to get that Rocker Chic for sitting me in the front row!) for the last show. I was so excited and appalled that I forgot to take my glasses off. So I am recorded on film and digital media in all my nerdy wonderfulness.

2/23/09 We went live with iView at work today. I wasn't supposed to work, but they canceled the hemofiltration class, so I volunteered to come in and help with the go-live. It wasn't bad, just kind of slow and occasionally irritating. It's going to take a lot of getting used to, and readjusting, but hopefully it will help integrate the PICU charting with the rest of the hospital.

2/24/09 Went in to work extra today, with the understanding that I'd get off early to go to the AB508 (violence prevention) class. After the day, I made good time on the red and blue lines, and got down to the Staples Center way ahead of the rest of my group. When I exited the train, I saw a sign for Staples Center parking. I started walking toward it, then a couple of Celtics fans rounded the corner. Since we were walking in opposite directions, I asked if they were going to the game. They laughed, and pointed over my shoulder. There was the Staples center in all it's lit glory. I have no idea how I missed it. I wasn't prepared for the game to be exciting. It was only the Clippers. But the game was fabulous. The Clippers and Celtics were neck and neck the whole time, with never more than a ten point spread. Even at the end, we were on tenterhooks. The Clippers won in the last 2.5 minutes by two points. Funnily enough, I think Rocker Chic and I were far more excited than our two guy friends who had come. How did I end up with such a dearth of sporty guy friends?

2/26/09 Went to choir practice directly after work. Looks Good In Tights is conducting Rob Gardner's "He Is Jesus Christ" for Easter performances in Pasadena and Los Angeles Stakes. The music is absolutely marvelous. Even without a lot of work on LGIT's part, and at only the second rehearsal, the music pulsates with life and beauty. There are a few Les Miz-ish parts, but it's not too obtrusive, and it fits. Singing it, with this choir, makes me extremely happy.

2/27/09 Went up to the valley for pollworker training. It's a last minute thing. I've actually been working on trying to get assigned to the building near me, but there were a lot of unreturned phone calls on the organizer's part, and persistent following-up on my part. But more on this later.