quasigeostrophy | I needed that.

medusas_secret and I went contra dancing last night, to the regular Tuesday weekly dance in Indy. I haven't been to a contra dance since I went with her to one in Urbana, IL several months ago, and I haven't been to the local one in well over a year, IIRC. I expected to get shit from some of my friends who are regulars, but didn't get too much actually. I did run into someone I never expected to see again. My friend M and his girlfriend at the time, S, introduced Toni and me to contra dance many years ago. M and S have long since broken up, M quit going to contra dance, and we figured we'd never see S again. In fact, at no local contra dance I'd been to since had I seen her. Scary.

The dance was a lot of fun, if proof that I'm dreadfully out of shape. I did fairly well, considering the length of time I'd been away - I guess after you reach a certain ability level it's like riding a bicycle. The band last night was from out of town, which as usual meant a lot of newbies. The first couple of dances were a bit rough as they figured things out, but the rest of the evening went fairly well. The caller was from the local organizers and did a good job, although for the large percentage of newbies, I was surprised at the complexity of some of the later dances he called. Never did a contra corners (thank $Deity, with that crowd), but he did throw one move in that I had never encountered here or at dances elsewhere: a Mad Robin. It's a Do-Si-Do with your neighbor while you keep eye contact with your partner. Kind of like a Gypsy with someone walking in between. Potential for collision is high.

As expected, the regulars I know all made comments at the end of the dance about making sure I keep coming back. I'm certainly going to try. Of course, next week I'm going up to Chicago to check out a couple of exhibits at the Art Institute. And see

elmegil,

gremlin44, and possibly

asetwoman as well.

We came home last night and crashed. Toni was already in bed. I had one of those night's sleeps wherein I know I slept but don't feel like I did - probably never got much REM sleep. So, I'm a bit groggy this morning.

medusas_secret is still in bed, but will probably be heading home soon after she gets up. It was good to see her again. I'm glad she came over for the dance. Later today I desperately need to get some new wiper blades for the Baja and find some glue to try to repair one of our blinds. For now, caffeine...