Fun stuff

I have a life full of good things the past couple of weeks:

Mostly lots of dancing, peppered with running, and sewing, and some work, some school and homework?! Naaah-been ignoring the homework as usual. Guess I should start ignoring the other things and focus on the school for 4 more weeks - good lord is that it?! That's actually a bit of a scary thought when I look at it that way...Hmm...

So, quick run down on the "fun" things and I'll spare you the details on the Future income tax asset/liabilities, process and job costing, and strategic planning ;)

Let's start waaaay back on Friday Feb 27th - samba workshop -Yay! The EvilMonkey joined me and I was a happy Indigo. I really like samba...not many people seem interested in it so a workshop with a partner is always a good thing, particularly as it was an intermediate workshop, not a beginner one. Sadly, I discovered that while I may enjoy it I do not have an infalliable memory (mind or muscle) and I spent a good deal of time tripping over myself. Ah well - tis to be expected...must try and practice more...

28th (Sat) -Sewing all day with D and Bazette as we agreed to dance for a fundraiser that is now only 2 weeks away. Eeek!
Evening - More dancing! This time with K&H for 'Dancetown'. We were missing a couple of my fav leads (EvilMonkey included), however, there was much fun to be had regardless. I was literally invited out (I will refrain from saying "dragged" as the negative conotations as that would imply I didn't want to dance with the individual-so not true!) before I'd even changed shoes, nor was I given the opportunity to do so. I quickly learned that no matter how much I love my boots they are not made for dancing in :(

March 1st (Sun) - A 'non-evening'.

2nd (Mon) - Bellydance - less than two weeks until public display of shimmies and jingles...

3rd (Tues) - Dance class with K&H :)

4th (Wed) - Introduction to Argentine Tango at the Abbey in Cumberland with Kirra Gullickson. I've wanted to take lessons in A.Tango for quite awhile, but it has always conflicted with something else in my life. Finally, I have free Wednesday evenings and if I don't have a partner well; I can't spend my life waiting on that...I'll just have to learn on my own...and then I'll be twice as thankful when I do have someone to dance it with. There were a number of people at the intro, including some intermediate level dnacers and I had the pleasure of being led around the floor by two of them - I really like this dance. If I figure out why I'll let you know, for now I'll jsut like it without too much thought as to why.

5th (Thurs) - 10km Running clinic with Sarah Seads of ELM. It's so nice to run with a group; esp a group with such a cheery , upbeat, positive leader like Sarah and equally cheery, positive, upbeat clinic participants :) It makes hill repeats seem a lot less nasty; even if it's 6 of them, up 6th St East...oiy!

6th (Fri) - More dancing, no workshop for me tonight though...

7th (Sat) - Let's just say my sewing machine has a 6th sense (or maybe it's a 1st sense for a sewing machine - does it have any other senses?) about when it's the "last minute" and it saves all its frustrating behavior for then. Despite my Husqvarna's protests, D, Bazette, and I were triumphant in the finishing of the Beladi dresses and headwraps (though D did have to resort to sewing sequins by hand-yuck!) and spent the evening at the Elks hall in the company of many other dancers [some were quite good, though I believe our teacher was the best out of all of them ;) ] waiting for our turn to perform. The fundraiser was in support of the Kitty Cat Pals society. I was in heaven surrounded by costume after costume of beautiful fabrics, sparkly embellishments, and piles of jewlery; I'm such a girl sometimes ;) That said, I was really happy with our folkloric look and we got many compliments. It was especially nice to stand out in a good way as the three of us are definitely novice dancers, but with Linda's forsight in costuming and choice of choreography we didn't look too novice to be performing. We have a very wise instructor.

D's partner video'd us with Bazette's sweet new camera. I enjoyed the chance to see what it actually looked like. It is so easy to beat yourself up over everything you did wrong and forget that what you know and what the audience sees are not necessarily the same thing. So I was able to come to the conclusion that it went pretty well:



8th (Sun) I ran. It was a beautiful day out; absolutely gorgeous really, although not quite as warm as you might expect when looking out the window. Too much sitting the past few days and not enough moving...so I ran...and ran...and ran for what felt like 5 mins downhil and 104 mins uphill. It was 10km, and obviously I only went as far up as I went down since I started and ended in the same place. It was good. Slow, but good :) I think I'll run it the other way around next time and see if it feels like 5 mins downhill and 104 min uphill that way too ;) I've never run that far by myself before and I didn't once think "why am I doing this?" That's a change for me. I dont' consider myself a runner, and I have often wondered why I am running. Usually, and highly inconveniently, I wonder in the middle of something significant like a long run, or a race. The sort of time when you really don't want to be succumbing to such thoughts. I came close, but looked around me considered the sunshine and the country road, and veered off into thoughts of how much I'd like a cookie instead. That was good. Now if I can just stop thinking discontentedly about cookies... ;)


...to be continued...

Must stop...

Being so last minute about everything! It ruins the fun...

(not so random thought for the day)

Hills...

...are excellent for practising being comfortable with being uncomfortable. We did six 90 second hills on 6th street East on Thursday. Oiy! During the run I felt it in my quads and hamstrings and hip-flexors and lungs...but yesterday the after effects were all in my shins and calves. Very interesting. It felt like I was wearing tight knee-high socks all day.

Hi!

I'm still here! Really I am...

-tired to take pictures last weekend...that wasn't very successful; but had fun with Bazette and Likalia, the sunshine and Bazette's brand new, and very sweet, digital camera (canon sx10?) .

-worked all week as it is reading break. I didn't study for my midterms on Mon/Tues. That was a bad choice as now it is Saturday. And I don't know nearly enough :S

-I think 5 day work weeks might be overrated...not that I have a choice, lol.

-wednesday I had an interesting conversation while getting my hair cut. My stylist swims and her coach told her that if she wants to get better (read: faster) she needs to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Such a simple statement. So very true. Just a shift in mind frame...think about it for a moment...and see where it takes you...

-ran! yes, really ran. Sarah's 10km clinic started on Thursday and it was sooo nice to be out with people again-esp nice to see friendly faces from last year. Chose to run with group 2 this time. Not sure why I was considering doing group 1...maybe because I know I could handle group 2 this week but not sure for how much longer, lol...guess I better do All my running homework this time instead of coasting through and not pushing myself...I never mind at the time because its jsut nice ot get out and run...but come race day I end up thinking "you could have done "better" than you did Indigo. I'm very comfortable with being comfortable. I think I ought to work on being uncomfortable with being comfortable. I could apply that to so many areas of my life it is almost scary. I was comfortable with being uncomfortable on our 4 hills on Thursday and it felt good :)

-Friday morning I was uncomfortable. Just plain uncomfortable. Lol, I think I forgot to stretch out my back and arms on Thursday and that was not a good choice. I could feel 'something' under my left shoulder when I woke up and on the way to work...I noticed that it was worse the more I used my right arm to lift my coffee mug, and then I tried to bend over in my chair to retreive something under my desk I realized that I needed to be very careful not to move the wrong way otherwise I was going to end up not being able to move. Well, move my back. I'm sure my legs would still have been able to walk me to the drugstore. It felt like it was going to twist itself up into a knot of muscle that was going to make the rest of my day very difficult. Very odd. I acquired Advil. That fixed it.
note to self-STRETCH

-Friday evening I was not really all that interested in going to dance, but since Evil Monkey did want to go I certainly couldn't say no; it was an east coast swing workshop afterall which generally means she'll be playing more of that music during the rest of the evening and swing is good! After forgetting to put ibuprofen in my pocket I warned EM to go easy on the leading as I didn't want whatever was unhappy in my back to get even more unhappy. But it was fine-I think it actually helped. At one point She organized a swing circle in which the men keep switching partners so everyone gets to dance with everyone else. Very fun; and very long! She chose an 11 min Beatles medley! My goodness-that's was a workout, lol. With that, plus the rest of the hour and half of dancing I got my cross training in for the day. There were a lot of proficient dancers in the circle last night. Unfortunately, there was one extra guy. And since I was out on the floor already when she started it and EM usually doesn't like to participate in the mixers I didn't make a point of going to find him. He was the one odd one out....there is a bit more to that story...but I won't go in to it. We had fun for the rest of the evening though which, I think, made up for it.

-now it is time to study :(

Tired

I'm always tired these days.

Particularly of waking up every morning to the realization that there isn't anything in my day I'm looking forward to.

*grrrrrump*

I'm going back to doing homework.

last weekend...

I've been house-sitting for friends of my mother for the past two months. They have enjoyed wintering in Arizona and I have enjoyed wintering in their house. They will be back on Monday and I'm quite sad to have to move out - do you think they'd mind if I refuse to give the house back?

For the most part I'm not sure I made full use of having my "own" space for two months. I did, however, take advantage of the laminate kitchen flooring and large open space in the living room last night and A and Bazette and I danced till nearly 2am. I even managed a reasonable rendition of Bachata. Woot!

I am looking forward to going back to my own house since I will be able to hook my laptop up to real speakers again. Of course, I will have to go back to keeping music quiet (there will be no need to turn it up though really; there is no dancing til 2am (or otherwise) in my house), but I can enjoy the better sound quality. Also, my pigs will get to come out to run around again. Poor things have been stuck in their cage for a month and they are turning into little chubbers-not so good.

Long Overdue post

One of my Christmas presents this year (thank you EvilMonkey) was a gift certificate for a new pair of dance shoes. What do you get for a girl who has everything she needs? More of what she loves! That and dance shoes are the only shoes I actually wear out...That's not to say I was 'needing' a new pair, but I'm certainly not one to argue with a present!

So off we went to Vancouver in search of something new...

Where I found not one pair, but two!

[justify]
Ok, how often am I in Van? and how much extra would it cost to acquire the second pair if I suddenly decided I did want them? I really, really, really did try to avoid trying on the swing shoes. I've been eyeing them since EM bought his shoes from Avalon Dance Shop a good 7? years ago, but could never justify getting them as they don't do for the sort of dancing I spend most of my time on.

However, there I was surrounded by ten or so pairs of Latin shoes, with the one pair that I liked on sale for 50% off. And while they are not of the quality that my other shoes are, if they last for a year and a half or two they will be on par value-wise. So EM, thinking he is getting off fairly cheaply as far as buying shoes goes, points out that I didn't try the ones on the top shelf on. Of course not, I am not here for swing shoes. And then the aforementioned "but how much more will it cost to aquire them if you want them in the future" argument ensues...

...and I try on the shoes. And they are The Most Adorable pair of shoes I have ever tried on.

And they had to come home with me. Their pic doesn't do them justice; at some point I'll get an action shot for you :)
[/justify]


These have a taller heel than my gold shoes, but I can't really tell that when I have them on-they feel perfectly balanced and so far not at all like "cheap" shoes. They are a bit too big as I'm about a 7 & 3/4 and these are an 8. It's ok though; that leaves just a bit of room for some extra padding under the ball of my foot and those buckles on the vamp are functional :)



Oh, and after 3 and a half hours of dancing in them last night I have blister free feet!!!! No break in time needed, Woohoo!!!


You really can't question why I wanted these, can you?!...

And yes, I'm fully aware that I'm completely spoiled! ;)

A Loong Post for a Loong Afternoon

It feels like winter today. Oddly enough it takes the sound of wind howling and rain pounding outside to make it feel like winter. Even more strange though is looking outside to see that, despite the sounds of rain and wind, there is snow swirling everywhere. I would think that with all the cold and snow we've had lately it would feel more than enough like winter, but apparently I'm well trained to think of rain storms as winter and snow and cold as an interesting, if somewhat annoying, interlude; like a trip up the mountain to ski or snowshoe is an interesting interlude in everyday life.

Speaking of snowshoeing...

'Twas an interesting day yesterday (Saturday). Likalia and EvilMonkey and I decided at noon to go snowshoeing as we didn't feel like running on slippery roads and it seemed like a nice day for it. We got up there at about 145 and were pleasantly surprised to be told that our rental snowshoes needed to be returned by 730, not 330 which is what we were expecting and which would have been fine because we're pretty content with an hour and a half of tromping around in snow. The temperature was perfect and the sun was intermittently coming out from behind the clouds for just long enough to tempt me to get my camera out and then it would disappear again before I could actually take the picture.

We were told at the rental counter that the trails to the northwest(?) were open and so I headed off in that direction and was promptly questioned as to why we were going that way...ok, what way would you like to go...? Instead of going toward Jutland we headed down a well trodden snowshoe path which I think was Look Out. Then we headed down, still following the well-trod path, down, down...crossed a groomed nordic trail and continued downward. At one point we did briefly consider the fact that we would have to go back up, but we kept heading down. It's so easy to just keep going down...

About 45 mins later (almost all of which was downward tromping) we stopped at a junction that was marked by a bridge, a small river with running water ("Indigo, don't get to close to the edge-it's probably not where it appears. But I want to see if there's a picture to be taken..." In my defence, I only went as far as other people had already gone, and obviously returned from, without falling in), and a hut with water monitoring equipment inside-or so a sign on the door told us. Our options at this point were to the right(ish) or to the left. After consulting our nordic trail map, arguing about properly orientating the map vs. turning it around in your head [note for Sarah - I started the discussion by turning the map around to the "proper" way before handing it back to the other two ;) ] , and deciding we were probably down by the junction of Rossiter's and Lake Approach we opted for left as it looked nice and flat.

Left was flat, what we probably should have considered though was that all the XC trails in that direction were closed and not groomed... After 10-15 mins or so of plodding through scraggly bushes (more like branches, really) that I'm guessing are usually under the snow at this time of year we came to another clear trail to our left heading back up while our current trail continued on straight ahead. A very well-worn sign informed us that if we continued on straight ahead we were entering Strathcona Park. Someone had written "Dead End" in the snow at this junction...

This time we decided to go "up" and up was good for awhile...the sun was still going in and out of the clouds, the temperature was still lovely and the only thing dampening our spirits (only slightly) was that we knew we would have to, continue climbing up all that we had gone down.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I had not brought water with me because before we left I looked at my metal water bottle, thought "hmmm, metal + cold = Ow!" and since I'm house-sitting at the moment I had no other water bottle options. Besides...we were only going out for an hour or so; lesson #1...

The problem with "up" turned out to be that it was the aforementioned dead-end. Since EvilMonkey is the "play in the outdoors" sort of individual that he is, he just kept on going up after the trail stopped. And we just kept following him. And falling through the snow into the tree holes. I think if there had been any more snow up there the tree holes would have been enough to discourage us from going any further. As it was Likalia was finding the majority of the holes and I'm impressed that she didn't just put her foot down and say enough of this - time to go back to hole-free paths. It was about this time I began to be rather disappointed in myself for not getting a bottle of water at the lodge before heading out.

Are you keeping track of time? Add another 40 mins or so at this point...

We eventually reached a fairly open area that looked like it was likely an un-groomed nordic trail and so we stopped heading up and followed it to the left. More scraggly bushes now and no more tree holes (or did you find some even here Likalia?). We figured (hoped) we were well on our way to meeting up with the trail we initially followed down.

Remember that we didn't start out 'til 2PM? Yeah...It's now nearly 4...and the sun is dipping lower and lower at a surprisingly face pace...I started to wonder if maybe it would be better to just turn around and head back. I didn't actually voice this thought though. This would be lesson #2 of the day.

Our nice wide open "trail" came to an end. We were not happy to see this. We (Likalia & I) were getting tired and it was threatening to get dark. We knew where we were in relation to the lodge...that wasn't a problem...we just had to keep going "up". The problem was that up required crossing ravines at this point. The first one we encountered was not too much of an issue. The next one was enough to make me stop and say that I was not going down that slope-visions of tree holes and falling down the rather steep slope and getting skewered by big branches were floating through my head and it really did not seem like a reasonable idea. EvilMonkey was perfectly content to keep going. We hmmmed and hmmmed and went back and forth long the length of it only to find that it intersected with another ravine or things got very forest-y and no less steep. At this point we could see the lighted runs up the hill; and EM said whether we aim to go straight up breaking our own trail or go back the way we came was up to Likalia and I. I'm still envisioning any number of mishaps that could befall us on the straight towards the lodge route which included, but was not limited to falling in water, or twisting or breaking parts of ourselves in the dark.

I decided back was the only way I intended to go. Sure it might be a much longer route, but at least we knew it was a guaranteed route. Lesson #3...

It felt like a very loooong trek back. It would have been beautiful with the moon, the glow of the lights in the sky, the trees, etc if I hadn't been hungry and thirsty, annoyed with myself, and knew that Likalia's hip was bothering her as well as her ankle bothering her from twisting it on one of the tree holes. I must say I was rather happy to see the lights and lodge come into clear view at 630pm that evening. So much for an hour and half of snowshoeing.



I wouldn't normally be inclined to post my own stupidity for the world to read, but writing is reflection and therefore-hopefully-learning.

Lessons of the day:
1.a) Don't make assumptions.
1.b) Bring water.
2. Be aware of constraints eg. be aware of the time, abilities of group members, etc and...
3. Don't be a sheep and rely on someone else to think for you.

[The one thing I did manage to get right was dressing appropriately :) Mmm, toasty warm the whole afternoon; finally got to really try out my snow-pants and fancy waterproof mittens, as well as enjoy my Mizuno 'breath thermo' tights which I LOVE for running in in colder weather...they go nicely under snow-pants as well! I'm a girl, what can I say - I like clothes. That, and I've only recently started to acquire outdoor clothes that are really functional; for years everything I had was cotton &/or unbreathable...]


Whew. I haven't written a post this long in quite awhile. I wonder if anyone will get this far... ;)

So Done...

...with mountains and snowshoes at the moment.

I may or may not elaborate about this. I'm going to go eat my first real food of the day and have a very long bath full of bubbles and epsom salts...

then perhaps I will come back and write...or at least post some pictures.

Feeling slightly smug in my winter wonderland

Winter is upon us in a big (for the valley) way! We've had real snow for 5 days now and the temperature has been sub-zero the whole time...weird! Lol, I brushed the snow of my car this morning and it was blowing back at me in the wind instead of falling on my feet in a sloppy slushy mess.

It's beautiful; I love snow, I even like the cold and have been enjoying the all the opportunities to wear my snow gear that I seldom get to use. I should have taken the opportunity to go out last night and enjoy the beautiful Silent Night with my camera...but I was tired and lazy and did not :( I hear there is more snow on the way though, so perhaps I will take the opportunity some evening this coming week.

The opportunities for me to wear snow gear are generally coming in the form of waiting for the bus. Grrr, I love snow and cold, but I now hate driving in it. Missy stays parked and I either walk, take the bus, or annoy those people I know who actually drive in the snow by bumming rides off them. It's not that I'm against the idea of driving in snow in general-I'm against the idea of driving Missy in the snow in her current condition...

1st of all she's a rear wheel drive and we all know about rearwheel drive and snow I'm sure. Not exactly a great combo. I can't change this aspect of Missy so I'm resigned to accept it. Add in the fact that she's a tank, so once she gets going she has the potential to keep wanting to go; I fear not being able to stop her on hills. This is a new fear and I'm not sure where it came from as I have yet to slide through an intersection at the bottom of a hill. Finally, and most importantly(the current condition I referred to above), are her tires; I firmly believe they suck.

When I voice this opinion I generally am faced with the response of "well you just don't know how to drive in snow." I certainly can't argue with my lack of snow driving experience; I lived east of the Rockies for 10 years of my life, but I was little so the only important snow experience I gained was how to effectively tie a long scarf about my neck and head to keep out the wind, keep my touque on, and expose as little of my face as possible to nasty -30's windchill. Maybe I'm being completely naive (and please tell me if I am), but isn't driving in snow sort of like walking in snow? Common sense, reasonable footwear, don't rush, expect the unexpected, and watch out for other idiots who lack said common sense? Nobody has ever told me I'm a bad driver in general (and I'm sure my bro would let me know if I was) so I'm sort of assuming being a reasonable driver should transfer over to snow...mind you, who ever admits to being a less than reasonable driver?

So, tires, snow, smug...getting to the smug part here ;)

I was already to wake up yesterday, take advantage of the relatively clear roads and actually drive to work. I'm not against taking the bus at all. I just don't like having to go extra early (because otherwise I'll be late) and stand outside in the cold because I'm not important enough to have a key of my own. Maybe not the 'greenest' choice on my part...but well, that's just the way it is. The weather, however, had other ideas and snowed on us again and so I took the bus again. I mentally patted myself on the back for a good choice as the bus slowed down quite quickly and did a couple of tiny fishtails in order to avoid running into a 4Runner that was 'parked' only halfway off the road in the gardens on the inside corner of the Dike Rd facing up the hill in the downward lane (did that make any sense?). How on earth did they do that?!

This morning (no work) I got up to beautiful sunshine and decided that I'd test out Missy and my tires to see how things went in this "real" sort of packed snow that is not a crazy sloppy slushy mess. After some serious excavation I found my car (ok ok, serious for here - not exactly "serious" in the way most Canadians would speak of serious ;)). My father had kindly brushed her off for me after the snow last weekend, but since I didn't drive her anywhere this week he didn't see the need to brush her off after yesterday. I think he belongs somewhere that gets real winter and not here on the wet coast. I also think he secretly enjoys pulling out our snowblower (hehe - yes, we have a snowblower!) and making short work of clearing peoples' driveways on our street.

Anyways, back to my car. I cleared her off, got in, started her, tried to move, turned her off, got out, found the shovel and cleared behind her tires (ooops-duh!), got back in, turned her back on, backed up out of my spot, stopped, contemplated a bit, pulled forward back into my parking spot on the edge of our property, backed up again at a slightly different angle onto the driveway, stopped, contemplated pulling onto our street, then pulled forward again back into my spot, turned her off, got out and annouced to my father (who had come out to watch the proceedings I guess) that that was quite enough of that and that'd I'd go back to taking the bus. He, having spent all but 19 years of his life east of BC, laughed at me. Fair enough.

Some minutes later he came inside and informed me that he had taken Missy up and down the street and yes, the tires aren't good, although no tires are great on this surface, and even though the ones I have look like they still have wear left in them, he'd suggest getting a couple of good winter tires to put on the back wheels.

So here I am feeling a bit smug because someone other than myself has finally decided that my tires might actually suck. Woohoo :)

Now, my question is why only two? I understand that the back wheels are the drive wheels, but that's only half the contact with the ground; what about the front wheels that have all the engine weight over them? The ones that the back wheels are pushing around, the ones that initiate a turn? Shouldn't they want to grip better as well? Could someone please explain this to me?

*EDIT* -feeling slightly more smug...
4 it is. Aside from the fact that there are none to be had.