I just realized how long it has been since I posted anything, and I am a bit shocked. Life has been very good, but very, very busy. My awesome boss has been on vacation for almost two weeks and in her absence she asked me to try to fill her role as much as possible, and now I have great sympathy for her own workload. Simultaneously my own workload doubled again (it had already doubled since early March), and I have simply been crushed by pending actions that must be done.
In the past several weeks I got to participate in another excellent La Belle living history weekend down at Military Through the Ages (Jamestown Fort). Setting up in pouring, icy rain was a serious morale check for our group on Friday the 16th of March, but Saturday and Sunday it dried out and was even sunny (though it never did get warm). Our newest recruits, some of them minor children, all seemed to have fun and did a fantastic job; and the new hastilude scenario has lots of possibilities (though I personally was a bit lost from not having enough time to study my own back-story).
Erci and I got to compete in Arthur Murray’s DC area Spring Freestyles again, and that was a ballroom dancing blast. I did not dance as well as I have in the past (not having time to prepare), but the dancing and the costumes were still fantastic, and I had two incredible moments where all the years of classes, practice, and training snapped into place. One was with Erci during our Bolero, where we simply enjoyed such a good connection that we sort of flowed like liquid and had about as much fun as you can legally have in Virginia in a public space. The other was with my fantastic instructor, MJ, during a Viennese Waltz heat, where I was about to lead a new step and realized 1/3rd the way into it that we’d been cut-off by another couple and I was finally able to lead a change into a different step without much hesitation and avoid a collision. That’s happened for me in slower dances, but never in Viennese before so I am personally thrilled. The pro-shows Saturday night were all fantastic, and John and Lee’s Waltz actually made me cry it was so beautiful.
We’ve got another La Belle show coming up on April 14th and 15th at Marietta Manor (historic house in Bowie, MD), feel free to come out and see us either day from 11-4. We are getting ready to head to Kalamazoo, and do showcase routines at both dance studios (May 19th Centreville, June 2nd Tysons) and a group formation (Rumba-Cha) at Arthur Murray showcase (June 2nd). Work should begin to calm down once my boss returns on Monday the 9th, and I can give away one of the major subsystem/projects I am running (how did I end up with 4 major projects?).
I am incredibly thankful. Last week I was thankful that Erci has a second car. We were able to loan my Prius to a friend in need and I ended up driving sutragirl’s Porsche. The Porsche is not a comfortable car, seats too small, don’t line up with wheel, noisy, no place to plug in iPod; but what a visceral thrill it can give on a sunny morning for a short trip. The throaty roar of the engine drowns out your troubles and makes for a lot of fun. This week I am thankful that my boss’s vacation is almost over and that the cherry tree in the back yard is in full bloom. It is simply gorgeous.
