Dotted Cloud Sunset
May. 7th, 2026 08:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yourlibrarian posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
common_nature
A recent sunset seemed to be highlighting the dotted clouds in the area, which made the sky look more patterned than usual.
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yourlibrarian posting in common_nature A recent sunset seemed to be highlighting the dotted clouds in the area, which made the sky look more patterned than usual.
( Read more... )
Growing up isn't mandatory it's fucking _wonderful_
May. 7th, 2026 12:15 amsorcyressI had reason to dig up and link to this post while chatting with new-friend Alexander. They then said nice things about me doing things full and colourful even when my brain is being shit and I said NO STOP RUDE because I am good at making friends. Luckily they also speak internet, so they made me this meme in return:
And the thing it's making me think of most, irritatingly, is therapy a couple weeks ago and talking about the ways things aren't working and how I worry my brain was better n years ago, it feels like when I reread all these old posts I was doing so much better mentally.
Except of course in my love life, because like, I was way more struggling with jealousy and security and my role in 2019 and I really haven't had emo about that like that....well, since 2020, probably. Maybe 2021? It's not like my relationships are emo-free, just that like.
And like, okay, I'm worse at my job this year than I have been some years, but I'm also much more experienced and steady in my job just in general. And I've gotten a lot better at the union work side of it, and being loud there. And somewhat better at the comrade-not-cop side of working with the students (gods I love being better able to make relationships with the students, it feels so good.)
And man, one of the things I was rereading recently was all the wordsfile from when I ran Scottish Pinewoods in 2020, which was not *quite* the height of me feeling disconnected from the RSCDS but it was maybe the really sharp start of it, the part where it was really beginning to hit me how much my hobby didn't love me. And wow, all the work I have put into making my own dance class that I can have fun with and drag other people into and hopefully be a good time...that's really good work I've done, that's consistently good work, I'm super proud of that work.
Also like now I am learning how to knit and somehow that's a thing where I can force myself to just say the vulnerable words about it and not just lock up all the imposter-syndrome and rejection-sensitive-dysphoria deep in my heart where no one can see it, and so I've had some really lovely and thoughtful conversations with people who are *much* better at this thing where they just straight up explain the things kindly and happily and don't at all make me feel dumb for it.
And then there's the thing that happened recently, where I was chatting with someone about how I'm not relationship 101 material, that the whole polyamorous-kinky-genderqueer-HSV1+-ADHDnightmarechild thing should really not be your first serious relationship. Those are the parts I put in, the reasons. Long time readers might observe that there's something missing that you might expect from the list of why it's complicated to date me, and it's not that I'm _over_ being sexually abused as a seventeen year old by a man the same age I am now, you never get like, _over_ that, but I have put in enough work to make it a *lot* less relevant to my day-to-day.
...huh.
Okay. Fine.
Maybe I am allowed to accept a compliment on my personal growth once in a while. Don't you dare get all uppity and expect it'll work every time! I can still be crazy as sin, don't you worry!
But it's nice to be able to find evidence that I am growing. It's all I ever wanted. I hope you're growing too. The opposite is stagnation, you deserve better than that. So do I.
~Sor
MOOP!
And the thing it's making me think of most, irritatingly, is therapy a couple weeks ago and talking about the ways things aren't working and how I worry my brain was better n years ago, it feels like when I reread all these old posts I was doing so much better mentally.
Except of course in my love life, because like, I was way more struggling with jealousy and security and my role in 2019 and I really haven't had emo about that like that....well, since 2020, probably. Maybe 2021? It's not like my relationships are emo-free, just that like.
And like, okay, I'm worse at my job this year than I have been some years, but I'm also much more experienced and steady in my job just in general. And I've gotten a lot better at the union work side of it, and being loud there. And somewhat better at the comrade-not-cop side of working with the students (gods I love being better able to make relationships with the students, it feels so good.)
And man, one of the things I was rereading recently was all the wordsfile from when I ran Scottish Pinewoods in 2020, which was not *quite* the height of me feeling disconnected from the RSCDS but it was maybe the really sharp start of it, the part where it was really beginning to hit me how much my hobby didn't love me. And wow, all the work I have put into making my own dance class that I can have fun with and drag other people into and hopefully be a good time...that's really good work I've done, that's consistently good work, I'm super proud of that work.
Also like now I am learning how to knit and somehow that's a thing where I can force myself to just say the vulnerable words about it and not just lock up all the imposter-syndrome and rejection-sensitive-dysphoria deep in my heart where no one can see it, and so I've had some really lovely and thoughtful conversations with people who are *much* better at this thing where they just straight up explain the things kindly and happily and don't at all make me feel dumb for it.
And then there's the thing that happened recently, where I was chatting with someone about how I'm not relationship 101 material, that the whole polyamorous-kinky-genderqueer-HSV1+-ADHDnightmarechild thing should really not be your first serious relationship. Those are the parts I put in, the reasons. Long time readers might observe that there's something missing that you might expect from the list of why it's complicated to date me, and it's not that I'm _over_ being sexually abused as a seventeen year old by a man the same age I am now, you never get like, _over_ that, but I have put in enough work to make it a *lot* less relevant to my day-to-day.
...huh.
Okay. Fine.
Maybe I am allowed to accept a compliment on my personal growth once in a while. Don't you dare get all uppity and expect it'll work every time! I can still be crazy as sin, don't you worry!
But it's nice to be able to find evidence that I am growing. It's all I ever wanted. I hope you're growing too. The opposite is stagnation, you deserve better than that. So do I.
~Sor
MOOP!
Giving up
May. 5th, 2026 10:47 pmsorcyressI spent Sunday scrobbling in the dirt, because my friend Apollo had a backyard work party! Another friend there described it as "well, we're really being Tom Sawyered right now" and that was a both charming and accurate way to sum it up. Apollo said "wouldn't it be fun if y'all came over and helped me move rocks and dig up weeds and shovel mulch" and you know what? It super was!
Also there was a fire going pretty much the whole time, and when we pulled especially obnoxious bittersweet or tree-of-heaven out we could go and put it on the fire in triumph and that was very satisfying! After we worked, we ate snacks and sang sad folk songs --it wasn't intentionally, sad, just wound up that way-- and it was a really lovely afternoon all around!
But the thing that's really standing out, was somewhere in the middle of dealing with the tree-of-heaven, after we'd gotten some of the bigger root clusters out but still had plenty to go, I wound up spending like...ten or fifteen minutes just digging increasingly deep and pulling out the rocks from the old rock wall the roots appear to have grown through, and trying to get one of the remaining big pieces out. And I just couldn't do it. I made lots of progress, but the roots were still in there.
So I wandered to Apollo, ready to switch tasks, and said "I give up." "I'm proud of you!" they replied, and when I tried to tease about it, they continued "both for trying and for giving up". That felt. Honestly real good. It feels nice in the way I hope it feels nice when I thank people for saying no to me. It felt nice in a recognition that setting boundaries and taking care of yourself is good. It felt like a kindness, being told that not only was it okay to give up on a frustrating task that wasn't working out, but a point of pride.
I like having the friends I have.
~Sor
MOOP!
Also there was a fire going pretty much the whole time, and when we pulled especially obnoxious bittersweet or tree-of-heaven out we could go and put it on the fire in triumph and that was very satisfying! After we worked, we ate snacks and sang sad folk songs --it wasn't intentionally, sad, just wound up that way-- and it was a really lovely afternoon all around!
But the thing that's really standing out, was somewhere in the middle of dealing with the tree-of-heaven, after we'd gotten some of the bigger root clusters out but still had plenty to go, I wound up spending like...ten or fifteen minutes just digging increasingly deep and pulling out the rocks from the old rock wall the roots appear to have grown through, and trying to get one of the remaining big pieces out. And I just couldn't do it. I made lots of progress, but the roots were still in there.
So I wandered to Apollo, ready to switch tasks, and said "I give up." "I'm proud of you!" they replied, and when I tried to tease about it, they continued "both for trying and for giving up". That felt. Honestly real good. It feels nice in the way I hope it feels nice when I thank people for saying no to me. It felt nice in a recognition that setting boundaries and taking care of yourself is good. It felt like a kindness, being told that not only was it okay to give up on a frustrating task that wasn't working out, but a point of pride.
I like having the friends I have.
~Sor
MOOP!
Hometown flavour
May. 5th, 2026 11:15 amsorcyressOne of the many charming moments about the like, 90 minutes I stood around post-dance in a little cluster of seven of us, sharing stories and chatting, was when Alexander and Willow, both here from Philly, said something lamenting the lack of Rita's in Massachusetts. "At some point we're going to go on an Adventure to visit the one currently open in like, Walpole" one of them said, and immediately I am grabbing Thrantar with one hand and Alexander with the other and near-shrieking "take us with you!"
The four of us then had to explain what on earth a Ritas is and why it matters so to the three New England natives. We almost managed? Maybe we'll let them join on our Adventure and then they can see what it's like.
~Sor
MOOP!
The four of us then had to explain what on earth a Ritas is and why it matters so to the three New England natives. We almost managed? Maybe we'll let them join on our Adventure and then they can see what it's like.
~Sor
MOOP!
The horrors do keep coming, but we also keep meeting them - Late April 02025
May. 2nd, 2026 11:09 pmsilveradeptThe 2025 Most Banned and Challenged List for the American Library Association is out, and the most telling statistic in the report is not what books are there, or what justifications their censors gave for the censorship, but that fully 92% of challenges recorded by ALA originated in pressure and political groups, lawmakers, and administrators. Less than 3 percent of challenges were issued by individual parents. What brings all these boys to the yard? Well, think about it: Capitalists want to enclose the commons and turn it private, so they can control it and force it to their will, and the United States Public Library is a commons.
Billionaires and the wealthy who want to say that their superintelligent AIs will eventually go rogue are also trying to genetically engineer humans to be smarter than those superintelligent AIs, and just about everywhere you look that they've put their money into, it isn't into things like trying to make healthier people, it's trying to make the children of the wealthy into having all the genetic advances and traits, and the rest of us will just be left behind by their super-genius statuses.
Given that these are people who like to post manifestos about they are already the superior people in the superior culture and we all have to bow down to them and let them do whatever they want, I think this is definitely one of those situations where trust is less than the distance someone could throw.
The public bench seems humble and ubiquitous, and yet it is neither, with a long history and significant amounts of contention involved about public seating and which members of the public are allowed to be seated. When benches aren't being removed, they're often having their architecture turned hostile to try and prevent people from sitting for long or for using a bench as a place to catch a nap or to sleep off the ground for a night. Because the cause of the problem is placed in the bodies of the people who might not have a house to go home to, or whose life activities are related to crime and vice because they have no other opportunities to make a living. Those doing the placing, of course, do not believe they are doing anything wrong, or worse, callously believe that they are not obligated in any way to any other person but themselves, and therefore, they are allowed to dictate who they want to see and what they want to be reminded of in their public spaces.
The goal of liberalism is to make all bodies invisible in the eyes of the law, but the way that people are liberated from oppression and bindings often imposed by law is through mutuality. Law has a role to play in this situation, and often that role is in highlighting and making highly visible the bodies that it considers to be illiberal. Law can lay foundations for others to implement toward mutuality, but as we have seen, and as the article-writer points out, law cannot require anything by itself, and those who have been chosen to interpret and enforce law are often the ones deciding for or against mutuality.
( More of men behaving badly, and the repercussions of having let men behave badly in the past )
Last out for tonight, a reminder to put accessibility into your social media as much as possible, so please provide transcripts, describe your images, and the like, so that everyone who's on your social media or enjoying the content can access it..
And A project that is offering clinicians and others guides on thinking of seemingly disparate conditions in people as constellations because of the likelihood of their co-occurrence with autism or ADHD. And to think of them as constellations because trying to treat one of them well might exacerbate another.
(Materials viaadrian_turtle, azurelunatic, boxofdelights, cmcmck, conuly, cosmolinguist, elf, finch, firecat, jadelennox, jenett, jjhunter, kaberett, lilysea, oursin, rydra_wong, snowynight, sonia, the_future_modernes, thewayne, umadoshi, vass, the meta_warehouse community, little_details, and anyone else I've neglected to mention or who I suspect would rather not be on the list. If you want to know where I get the neat stuff, my reading list has most of it.)
Billionaires and the wealthy who want to say that their superintelligent AIs will eventually go rogue are also trying to genetically engineer humans to be smarter than those superintelligent AIs, and just about everywhere you look that they've put their money into, it isn't into things like trying to make healthier people, it's trying to make the children of the wealthy into having all the genetic advances and traits, and the rest of us will just be left behind by their super-genius statuses.
Given that these are people who like to post manifestos about they are already the superior people in the superior culture and we all have to bow down to them and let them do whatever they want, I think this is definitely one of those situations where trust is less than the distance someone could throw.
The public bench seems humble and ubiquitous, and yet it is neither, with a long history and significant amounts of contention involved about public seating and which members of the public are allowed to be seated. When benches aren't being removed, they're often having their architecture turned hostile to try and prevent people from sitting for long or for using a bench as a place to catch a nap or to sleep off the ground for a night. Because the cause of the problem is placed in the bodies of the people who might not have a house to go home to, or whose life activities are related to crime and vice because they have no other opportunities to make a living. Those doing the placing, of course, do not believe they are doing anything wrong, or worse, callously believe that they are not obligated in any way to any other person but themselves, and therefore, they are allowed to dictate who they want to see and what they want to be reminded of in their public spaces.
The goal of liberalism is to make all bodies invisible in the eyes of the law, but the way that people are liberated from oppression and bindings often imposed by law is through mutuality. Law has a role to play in this situation, and often that role is in highlighting and making highly visible the bodies that it considers to be illiberal. Law can lay foundations for others to implement toward mutuality, but as we have seen, and as the article-writer points out, law cannot require anything by itself, and those who have been chosen to interpret and enforce law are often the ones deciding for or against mutuality.
( More of men behaving badly, and the repercussions of having let men behave badly in the past )
Last out for tonight, a reminder to put accessibility into your social media as much as possible, so please provide transcripts, describe your images, and the like, so that everyone who's on your social media or enjoying the content can access it..
And A project that is offering clinicians and others guides on thinking of seemingly disparate conditions in people as constellations because of the likelihood of their co-occurrence with autism or ADHD. And to think of them as constellations because trying to treat one of them well might exacerbate another.
(Materials via
adrian_turtle, azurelunatic, boxofdelights, cmcmck, conuly, cosmolinguist, elf, finch, firecat, jadelennox, jenett, jjhunter, kaberett, lilysea, oursin, rydra_wong, snowynight, sonia, the_future_modernes, thewayne, umadoshi, vass, the meta_warehouse community, little_details, and anyone else I've neglected to mention or who I suspect would rather not be on the list. If you want to know where I get the neat stuff, my reading list has most of it.)
May Day Full Flower Moon.
May. 2nd, 2026 03:10 pmfull_metal_ox posting in common_natureTaken at 22:25 Eastern US Daylight Time over the parking lot joining Winn-Dixie and a local hotel, the latter outlined by its lights.
Once again, the photo doesn’t reflect what my corrective-lensed eyes actually saw—a serenely luminous disc the pale yellow of Muenster cheese—but the image is stark and dramatic. The lens flare on my cheap-ass burner phone made it resemble a black star sapphire (or, to read the image as suitably floral and local, a spider lily):
(I wasn’t the only one prowling this clear moonlit tropical night in search of food; two of the Burrowing Owls at my apartment complex were out hunting on the side lawn, as a third stood perched at the nest; this represents a full year of continuous occupancy and breeding, reflecting how safe they must feel here. They squawked at my approach, but did not hiss.)
Once again, the photo doesn’t reflect what my corrective-lensed eyes actually saw—a serenely luminous disc the pale yellow of Muenster cheese—but the image is stark and dramatic. The lens flare on my cheap-ass burner phone made it resemble a black star sapphire (or, to read the image as suitably floral and local, a spider lily):
(I wasn’t the only one prowling this clear moonlit tropical night in search of food; two of the Burrowing Owls at my apartment complex were out hunting on the side lawn, as a third stood perched at the nest; this represents a full year of continuous occupancy and breeding, reflecting how safe they must feel here. They squawked at my approach, but did not hiss.)
Question thread #150
May. 1st, 2026 06:22 pmpauamma posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_devIt's time for another question thread!
The rules:
- You may ask any dev-related question you have in a comment. (It doesn't even need to be about Dreamwidth, although if it involves a language/library/framework/database Dreamwidth doesn't use, you will probably get answers pointing that out and suggesting a better place to ask.)
- You may also answer any question, using the guidelines given in To Answer, Or Not To Answer and in this comment thread.
The rules:
- You may ask any dev-related question you have in a comment. (It doesn't even need to be about Dreamwidth, although if it involves a language/library/framework/database Dreamwidth doesn't use, you will probably get answers pointing that out and suggesting a better place to ask.)
- You may also answer any question, using the guidelines given in To Answer, Or Not To Answer and in this comment thread.
Post Storm Sunset
Apr. 30th, 2026 01:12 pmyourlibrarian posting in common_nature
We had some severe storms come through our area this week, and had tornado sirens going off both in the morning and evening. Luckily the first set of storms had a mild tornado farther south of us. The second set had a potential formation going over us but luckily nothing actually came together and we only got a bit of hail.
( Read more... )
it's been storming a lot recently...
Apr. 27th, 2026 08:38 pmbatiferrite posting in common_natureBut at least the lilacs and violets are happy!
I've also been preparing to start a garden for the first time, pretty excited about it! I've got some fence container-things set up in my backyard, filled with fresh potting soil and some seeds ready. I've been talking to a coworker about it; apparently, tomatoes, cucumbers, and green beans are good starter plants that basically grow themselves. I also have a pack of red strawberry popcorn that I bought on a whim a year or so ago that I'm hoping will still be viable.
 |  |
There was also a double rainbow a while ago. :3
I've also been preparing to start a garden for the first time, pretty excited about it! I've got some fence container-things set up in my backyard, filled with fresh potting soil and some seeds ready. I've been talking to a coworker about it; apparently, tomatoes, cucumbers, and green beans are good starter plants that basically grow themselves. I also have a pack of red strawberry popcorn that I bought on a whim a year or so ago that I'm hoping will still be viable.
A small update
Apr. 26th, 2026 04:53 pmmtbcIt's been difficult for me to get around to much lately around the day-to-day needs so here's a small slice of latest events. First, the weather's been glorious lately, it almost makes it feel okay to live in Glasgow; I could get used to this. Yesterday, we took our dog L. over to Glasgow Green and today I still hope we get to bring him for a walk along the Clyde.
Recently, we got coffee with R.'s childhood friend and their partner: they were passing through Glasgow, which was great. It is interesting to see here somebody who lived so near R. far away and long ago.
Yesterday, R. observed that our mattress really isn't great in how it transmits disturbance on one side of it over to the other. So, this morning we headed to IKEA to replace our VALEVÅG pocket-sprung mattress with an ÅNNELAND hybrid mattress. I was skeptical about how well we would be able to fold our old mattress and fit it into the car but R. led and it all worked out. The council waste centre was rather busy on a sunny weekend afternoon but there was parking near the mattresses and, with the help of R.'s sons, the mattress replacement is now complete.
We also stopped at Sainsbury's, which is near IKEA. It's one of the more pleasant supermarkets to shop in: the aisles are generally wide and the self-scanning handheld device's UI isn't annoying.
I realized that I've generally been sleeping rather well for quite some time now. I think it may be the change in job: having dropped a couple of grades in responsibility, going from leading teams to taking Jira tickets, the stress is reduced commensurately.
On not-in-office days, I've been using the cross-trainer more often than not. I am pleased to be achieving this change in habits. My calf is a bit sore but, as always, ignoring an issue seems to work fine: if I don't use it as an excuse not to exercise then the exercise tends not to make it any worse. My eating has not been anywhere near modest enough but the food has been tasty so, well, there's that.
At work, I have an on-site visit in NYC coming up and I have already checked that the hotel also has a cross-trainer. It will be interesting to try getting between Newark Airport and Penn Station by rail: it looks easily achieved but is a new experience for me. We do have business Uber but I got on so badly with the Uber app and their customer service that I am happy to avoid it.
Often, I've felt as if my body and mind were moving through molasses: I can do what I must but everything's effort, whether mental or physical. More recently, that's happened less. It seems premature to link the improvement with exercising but time might tell.
Recently, we got coffee with R.'s childhood friend and their partner: they were passing through Glasgow, which was great. It is interesting to see here somebody who lived so near R. far away and long ago.
Yesterday, R. observed that our mattress really isn't great in how it transmits disturbance on one side of it over to the other. So, this morning we headed to IKEA to replace our VALEVÅG pocket-sprung mattress with an ÅNNELAND hybrid mattress. I was skeptical about how well we would be able to fold our old mattress and fit it into the car but R. led and it all worked out. The council waste centre was rather busy on a sunny weekend afternoon but there was parking near the mattresses and, with the help of R.'s sons, the mattress replacement is now complete.
We also stopped at Sainsbury's, which is near IKEA. It's one of the more pleasant supermarkets to shop in: the aisles are generally wide and the self-scanning handheld device's UI isn't annoying.
I realized that I've generally been sleeping rather well for quite some time now. I think it may be the change in job: having dropped a couple of grades in responsibility, going from leading teams to taking Jira tickets, the stress is reduced commensurately.
On not-in-office days, I've been using the cross-trainer more often than not. I am pleased to be achieving this change in habits. My calf is a bit sore but, as always, ignoring an issue seems to work fine: if I don't use it as an excuse not to exercise then the exercise tends not to make it any worse. My eating has not been anywhere near modest enough but the food has been tasty so, well, there's that.
At work, I have an on-site visit in NYC coming up and I have already checked that the hotel also has a cross-trainer. It will be interesting to try getting between Newark Airport and Penn Station by rail: it looks easily achieved but is a new experience for me. We do have business Uber but I got on so badly with the Uber app and their customer service that I am happy to avoid it.
Often, I've felt as if my body and mind were moving through molasses: I can do what I must but everything's effort, whether mental or physical. More recently, that's happened less. It seems premature to link the improvement with exercising but time might tell.
Further adventures in NEFFA!
Apr. 26th, 2026 01:05 amsorcyressIiit's still NEFFA!
Gosh I am suddenly weirdly tired! I can't imagine why this might be! What could've possibly caused this?
Actually, the thing I want most right now is like. Playing video games or something silently by myself. It's been a great day but also a _very_ social day. I have had so many wonderful discussions! Short and long, in snippets across a set or hours wandering and hanging out. Real damn good!
(Highlights include a very rewarding bit of convo about the ways SCD is a little too insular sometimes with Jenny Beer, an extremely illuminating fun fact of learning that the concept of clothing that doesn't fit the people wearing it is even more recent than I thought (it's a post WWII factory conversion thing!), and a glorious two hours hanging with Alexander and Willow, including an amazing reading of the most nonsensical academic paper abstract that has ever been written.)
In terms of actual official things I did:
*I started the day by wandering down to Observe the Morris dancers! Muddy River has a zillion people I know on it! WhistlePig has fewer people I know but as I mentioned offhand to one of the other people watching, it has an extremely high proportion of people I have Big Idle Crush Feels For, which makes a lot of sense for the dedicated queer team. I had good morning chats with bunches of people and also got to see an *extremely* new babby, just two weeks out of his mother and small and neato!
*I managed to miss all of the pre-noon things that were otherwise on my "maybe I'll do that" list, but I hung with Lucretia some and had a lovely-but-sad chat with Val about the state of public school education (grr). I did manage to wander back up the hill in time for Susan dG's "Jane Austen's Squares" session, which surprised me slightly by being not Regency (the period in which Austen's books are set) but in fact late baroque (the period Jane would've been dancing as a 15-20 year old!) It's been a hot minute since the last time I've been in one of Susan's classes, and I found it very pleasant to realize just how much my teaching style is cribbed from hers. (I don't know that anyone else would see the parallels, but yeah, there's some stuff there about how to make hard dancing accessible).
*From there was lunch (more siopao!) with Justin dC and Charis, then Justin and I realized we were both interested in Scott Higgs and Jenny Beer's panel on "Better Dancing is More Fun!". Which like. If that wasn't already inherently enough to catch you, they also had Joanna Reiner give a 3-5 minute spiel about some of the good stuff she intentionally does for her floors. MORE AMAZING TEACHERS OKAY?! It was really good vibes!
*Had a half hour of chatting time with friends, where I confirmed a band for my GenderFree SCD class party in June (yay! This was starting to get slightly urgent! I also confirmed a band for the 2027 party, which I hope will be a Bigger Shindig1!). I also exchanged Important Baby Gossip with Beth, which was extremely fun to do!
*Off we all went to the beginner SCD session, which was quite well taught (nice job Charles!) and also extremely beginner-filled, in a way that feels heartening and also makes me more annoyed at myself that I forgot to bring my flyers. Sigh! But it was fun! And then I didn't bother to change my shoes, just swapped sides of the hotel for the regular-type SCD, except I forgot that the two events were on opposite of the "sometimes events start on the hour and sometimes they start on the half-hour" thing that NEFFA does, which means I danced three _very_ good waltzen first! Okay fine, technically what Bret and I did was some variety of tango, but Monya and I did an _incredible_ Waltz with lots of lead switching and intensity and good non-verbal communication and it felt soooo goodoooo! And Teah was excited to let me lead, which felt good --leading waltzes was like the single dance skill I really felt like I _lost_ during 2020/2021, and I'm extremely pleased to feel like it has come back some.
*SCD was fine! Howard made some _wild_ choices dance-wise, but he fit the pieces together pretty well. And then I found myself outside chatting with Alexander and Willow, and I guess checking the timestamps on the schedule, that's then what I did from about 6:30 until 10. Huh. Nice job!
Ben stopped by at one point which was Very Good, and Tuesday joined for a bunch of it, and it was really lovely. And we did eat dinner-type things, and I did not successfully buy them gelato this time around, but that will be a future adventure maybe.
*Anyways, I had a hard cutoff of 10 because that was Michael Karcher's "Stream of Contraness" 41-dance hash. To Torrent, natch! Apparently they all signed up together and everything, which is very sweet. I happened to encounter a wild Anna Rain, at exactly the right time to ask her to dance and she said yes and I said "but I prefer not too wildly flourishy" and she said "oh yes that's perfect" and it was SO GOOD!
And then I never made it back to the hotel half of the festival like I intended. I chatted merrily with Keira and Charis and Annie and then with Hannah and Ian and then saw Sammy-the-new-musician-we-like-so-much-at-Scottish who was bubbly and enthusiastic and excited to ask me to do the last contra. How could I say no to that? We did an extremely chaotic and energetic dance and it was grand! (oh to dance with nineteen year olds!2)
I wrapped with a lovely conversation and walk with Apollo, and then it was time to drive back to the AirBnB! The fomo is real, but counterpoint, it's incredibly valuable to not accidentally stay up singing until three AM when I've got rehearsal at 9 tomorrow. Speaking of which...off I go to bed, goodnight!
~Sor
MOOP!
1: This year is "Flights of Fancy" (Emily and Dirk Tiede, Beth Murray) and next year will be Torrent (Sarah and Ross Parker, Nadia Gaya). Hellll yes for all these musicians!
2: I am, first of all, too young to be any sort of "gosh did I have that much energy when I was that age" and also yes _yes I did_. And let's be real, yes I _do_, because there was a very good climbing tree at the NAFest a couple weeks ago, and weirdly no one else was in it at any point.
Gosh I am suddenly weirdly tired! I can't imagine why this might be! What could've possibly caused this?
Actually, the thing I want most right now is like. Playing video games or something silently by myself. It's been a great day but also a _very_ social day. I have had so many wonderful discussions! Short and long, in snippets across a set or hours wandering and hanging out. Real damn good!
(Highlights include a very rewarding bit of convo about the ways SCD is a little too insular sometimes with Jenny Beer, an extremely illuminating fun fact of learning that the concept of clothing that doesn't fit the people wearing it is even more recent than I thought (it's a post WWII factory conversion thing!), and a glorious two hours hanging with Alexander and Willow, including an amazing reading of the most nonsensical academic paper abstract that has ever been written.)
In terms of actual official things I did:
*I started the day by wandering down to Observe the Morris dancers! Muddy River has a zillion people I know on it! WhistlePig has fewer people I know but as I mentioned offhand to one of the other people watching, it has an extremely high proportion of people I have Big Idle Crush Feels For, which makes a lot of sense for the dedicated queer team. I had good morning chats with bunches of people and also got to see an *extremely* new babby, just two weeks out of his mother and small and neato!
*I managed to miss all of the pre-noon things that were otherwise on my "maybe I'll do that" list, but I hung with Lucretia some and had a lovely-but-sad chat with Val about the state of public school education (grr). I did manage to wander back up the hill in time for Susan dG's "Jane Austen's Squares" session, which surprised me slightly by being not Regency (the period in which Austen's books are set) but in fact late baroque (the period Jane would've been dancing as a 15-20 year old!) It's been a hot minute since the last time I've been in one of Susan's classes, and I found it very pleasant to realize just how much my teaching style is cribbed from hers. (I don't know that anyone else would see the parallels, but yeah, there's some stuff there about how to make hard dancing accessible).
*From there was lunch (more siopao!) with Justin dC and Charis, then Justin and I realized we were both interested in Scott Higgs and Jenny Beer's panel on "Better Dancing is More Fun!". Which like. If that wasn't already inherently enough to catch you, they also had Joanna Reiner give a 3-5 minute spiel about some of the good stuff she intentionally does for her floors. MORE AMAZING TEACHERS OKAY?! It was really good vibes!
*Had a half hour of chatting time with friends, where I confirmed a band for my GenderFree SCD class party in June (yay! This was starting to get slightly urgent! I also confirmed a band for the 2027 party, which I hope will be a Bigger Shindig1!). I also exchanged Important Baby Gossip with Beth, which was extremely fun to do!
*Off we all went to the beginner SCD session, which was quite well taught (nice job Charles!) and also extremely beginner-filled, in a way that feels heartening and also makes me more annoyed at myself that I forgot to bring my flyers. Sigh! But it was fun! And then I didn't bother to change my shoes, just swapped sides of the hotel for the regular-type SCD, except I forgot that the two events were on opposite of the "sometimes events start on the hour and sometimes they start on the half-hour" thing that NEFFA does, which means I danced three _very_ good waltzen first! Okay fine, technically what Bret and I did was some variety of tango, but Monya and I did an _incredible_ Waltz with lots of lead switching and intensity and good non-verbal communication and it felt soooo goodoooo! And Teah was excited to let me lead, which felt good --leading waltzes was like the single dance skill I really felt like I _lost_ during 2020/2021, and I'm extremely pleased to feel like it has come back some.
*SCD was fine! Howard made some _wild_ choices dance-wise, but he fit the pieces together pretty well. And then I found myself outside chatting with Alexander and Willow, and I guess checking the timestamps on the schedule, that's then what I did from about 6:30 until 10. Huh. Nice job!
Ben stopped by at one point which was Very Good, and Tuesday joined for a bunch of it, and it was really lovely. And we did eat dinner-type things, and I did not successfully buy them gelato this time around, but that will be a future adventure maybe.
*Anyways, I had a hard cutoff of 10 because that was Michael Karcher's "Stream of Contraness" 41-dance hash. To Torrent, natch! Apparently they all signed up together and everything, which is very sweet. I happened to encounter a wild Anna Rain, at exactly the right time to ask her to dance and she said yes and I said "but I prefer not too wildly flourishy" and she said "oh yes that's perfect" and it was SO GOOD!
And then I never made it back to the hotel half of the festival like I intended. I chatted merrily with Keira and Charis and Annie and then with Hannah and Ian and then saw Sammy-the-new-musician-we-like-so-much-at-Scottish who was bubbly and enthusiastic and excited to ask me to do the last contra. How could I say no to that? We did an extremely chaotic and energetic dance and it was grand! (oh to dance with nineteen year olds!2)
I wrapped with a lovely conversation and walk with Apollo, and then it was time to drive back to the AirBnB! The fomo is real, but counterpoint, it's incredibly valuable to not accidentally stay up singing until three AM when I've got rehearsal at 9 tomorrow. Speaking of which...off I go to bed, goodnight!
~Sor
MOOP!
1: This year is "Flights of Fancy" (Emily and Dirk Tiede, Beth Murray) and next year will be Torrent (Sarah and Ross Parker, Nadia Gaya). Hellll yes for all these musicians!
2: I am, first of all, too young to be any sort of "gosh did I have that much energy when I was that age" and also yes _yes I did_. And let's be real, yes I _do_, because there was a very good climbing tree at the NAFest a couple weeks ago, and weirdly no one else was in it at any point.