Happy Birthday, Mom!

Happy Birthday, Mother Media!

I LOVE YOU!!!

Summer is ON

The new face of evil

Lunch on the lawn

Peaceful picnic area on the U of M's St. Paul campus.

At last, Sprite investigates

Squirrelly

Cheeky little bigger about six feet from my chair -- and the cat
beneath it.

Night of 10,000 Frolics

Last night we held the first, probably the first annual, Night of 10,000 Frolics fundraising event for the T'ai Chi studio. Cabaret-style entertainment upstairs, food & drink & silent auction downstairs, socializing everywhere. Over all, I think it was a moderate financial success — we'll learn the finally tally soon — and people had fun. I still found a couple things to grump about, but more to appreciate.

Down sides

• My job was stagehand. Since no one really told me what needed to be done, I assigned myself the job of trying to keep the performers' entrance/exit area clear. And I failed miserably, because most people honestly don't believe that rules, cautions, admonishments, and my guiding hand on their shoulder are really meant for them. Just like at the Chinese New Year demonstration. Weasels. People are not going to change, so I will not beat my head against this brick wall again.
  
• The performance space was terribly hot and stuffy, and my territory just outside it wasn't much better. Plus, humidity > 65% all night. I perspired for 6 hours straight.
  
• The two services I donated to the silent auction garnered just one bid between them. I was hoping to raise more money.
  

Up sides

• Because I was working outside the performance space, I didn't have to sit still and look polite during the interminable blues numbers. I've never learned to like the blues, no matter how well they're played — and they were played very, very well last night. Just END THE DAMN SONG already.
  
• Despite the stultifying atmosphere, the performance area was nice and spacious, with a gorgeous wood floor for the dancers.
  
• Where else are you going to see English Morris dancing, clogging, ballroom cha-cha & hustle, and Middle Eastern sword-balancing/belly dancing all in the same night?
  
• Also on the program: Chinese puppetry, Shakespearean stage combat, folk singing (the good kind), Morgan Willow reading a couple of her excellent poems, and the aforementioned blues.
  
• Because I was there to work rather than to play, I was dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans — the better to hide the sweat and not gross up a nice outfit. I'm grateful I didn't opt to wear my beautiful scholar's robes, in which I would have suffocated.
  
• The free food was terrific. Nick and Jeff are wizards in the kitchen. They put together fab mayo-free sandwiches and addictive little cheese/fruit/roasted peppers-on-tiny round toast thingies. I ate at least a dozen of them, each different from the last. Plus: THREE KINDS OF BROWNIES.
  
• I was not on the organizing committee. They had a couple months of headaches over this event, and they did a bang-up job, and I'm deeply grateful I was not part of it.
  
• I got to chat with several interesting people I wouldn't normally see, including Sifu Doug Anderson, our Sifu Paul's Eclectsis teacher and the founder of the style.
  

Until next year . . .

weasel redux

On May 16, I blogged about an interviewee who was supposed to call me but didn't, blowing me off for the third or fourth time in a row. I rescheduled the interview to yesterday, June 6. I called him at the appointed time and guess what! He didn't answer!

I left him a voice message and called three more times in the next 20 minutes, figuring hey, he might have gotten caught up on another call. But no. When he finally called me back, he said he'd forgotten all about the interview and guess what! needed to reschedule.

So we're going to try again on Monday. Or at least I am. Last chance.