(They are so too lyrics! Here!)
恭喜發財 for the Year of the Pig! I’m told it’s a “fire pig” year, which means a lot of barbecues, I guess. I’ll have to make something suitable.
So I had a travellin’ weekend; a friend from my regular dance class and I went up to the Fat Chance studios for a couple of classes (This was also the weekend of Dundracon, so this also meant a lot of driving since we still have only the one car* and R:tAG was running a session of his cool as-yet-unpublished game so I had to drop him off). The classes were interesting and of course Fat Chance is like the Mecca of ATS, but I have to say that my personal learning style needs more words and more feedback than those particular classes provided. Plus they apparently hired the Marquis de Sade to provide flooring for the studio; it’s some kind of rubber that not only has seams so bumpy that you can stub your toe on them, it is also so grippy that it tore the calluses off my left foot**. No lie; I now have three nickel-size holes in the sole of my foot (right side of the ball, left side of the ball and fleshy part of the big toe) all the way to the dark red tender meat layer. Owie. Note to self – put ballet shoes into dance bag for next time.
Afterwards we went (limped, in my case) to a lovely little tea house called Samovar and completely by coincidence, across the street was Imagiknit, a yarn store that I’d always wanted to visit but never actually found. So we spent a while there, but… OK, you might want to sit down for this part…
I didn’t buy anything.
Not a scrap. Part of it was the old ferret-shock of being overwhelmed by choices, some of it was them not having quite enough of the only yarn I really wanted***, but the main reason is that Stitches West is this weekend and I plan to go – what’s the phrase? – ah yes, “buckwild” there. Because this time, unlike last year, I am mentally and financially prepared.
So then it was back to Dundracon, and I got to play in an excellent Savage Worlds game**** unexpectedly, which was very nice.
Man, there’s a lot of stuff to do here. This Queen Elizabeth and the Pirate event is happening this Saturday, which I didn’t hear about in time, plus I’d want to go to a Costuming Guild event suitably attired and I don’t have anything appropriate. But now I’m keeping an eye on their calendar, and dayum, I could spend a lot of time with these people.
Choices, choices...
* About twice a year, we think “Gee, it would be convenient to have another vehicle” but so far we’ve resolved it by either renting something or just sucking it up and doing more driving, which has worked out to be far cheaper.
** You almost always do spins on your left foot in this dance style, and you usually practice barefoot.
*** Thin cotton for this. I can find the thin alpaca, no problem, but the cotton is proving more tricksy. I want to keep the mix of the two yarns instead of just using a single thicker one, because I suspect that the firmness of the cotton is a big part of the structured look that I love so much about it. To get a firm fabric with a single wool yarn, I think I’d have to change the gauge, and that’s problematic with this design (note how the shaping on the sides is done).
**** Set in Austria just before the Seven Years’ War but with the difference that dragon riders are a key part of a country’s military. A fantasy air force, basically. So much fun!
I think I'm going to get a honda scooter this summer. They are cheep and great for getting from place to place in Vancouver. The best thing is it costs only $4 Canadian to fill the gas tank each week.
Though I must admit I'm not sure I'd want to drive one down San Jose way... I remember the drivers down there having a certain homicidal glee.
I'm not even sure if scooters are allowed on the major roads here. I don't think I've ever seen one.
I wouldn't say "homicidal glee," I'd just say they're... very focussed on where they're going. But I have to say there's more courtesy here (letting people merge, signalling) than I typically saw in S'toon.