Camp Harmony doesn't start until Tuesday, but I realized tonight that I needed to get all my packing done now, since I won't have time tomorrow night, when I'll be visiting Mom and Lacey and Quena. Packing's not too bad, though I always get paranoid that I'll forget something that's important to have when you're stuck out in the woods for five days. Oh well. Progress is being made.
I've also been trying to prepare a bit for the music theory class I want to teach. I should have started that a while ago. I haven't really been teaching at all this year, so I'm not in practice. I resurrected my old notes and handouts from last year, though, so I've been making more copies and just generally reviewing stuff and trying to remember how to go about teaching it. We'll see how it goes. I'm not sure yet what else I'll be teaching. Maybe cross-step waltz again, since that's gone over well in the past. Polka might be fun to do for a change, too. I haven't really thought of anything new to do, though.
Anyway, don't anybody bother to try to contact me this week. No computer and no cell-phone reception up there. But it'll probably be good for me to get away from a computer screen for a while. I'll be back sometime on the 4th. Happy New Year!
Sunday, December 28, 2003
Friday, December 26, 2003
Merry Christmas!
Happy yesterday to everyone!
Lacey and I spent the first part of the day at Dad and Betty Lue's new house with various Waldon-side relatives. (Dad and Betty Lue moved in last week and, as expected, they seem to have been there forever.) The gift exchange was the highly amusing part, of course, though there were some rather odd presents involved this year. I ended up with 3/4 of a set of four wine glasses (I don't drink wine) and a package of Hanukkah candles (doubly ironic, since Hanukkah is almost over). They're pretty candles, at least. And I'm very glad to have gotten them since they were an act of mercy from my cousin Pam, trading me for the jar of olive tapenade I had gotten. I don't know what tapenade is, but I don't like olives in general and these particular olives looked like several people had already not enjoyed them much, either. Blech. Jaime won the prize for most presents opened because he kept getting things that were very much not rowdy-six-year-old-boy presents (he seemed to gravitate towards delicate glass objects). So adults, on their turn, would relieve him of such presents, allowing him to open more. That kept him a lot happier than anything he actually got, I think. Anyway, lots of fun there.
We spent the rest of the day at Monee and Pa's house, making an unprecedented two days in a row with the entire batch of Waldon-Boone cousins visiting together. That was great. I think the most fun story to tell of the evening, though, would have to have been Pa receiving his iPod. Faced with the open box, he decided the most efficient way to get the iPod out was to upturn the packaging and dump it all unceremoniously onto his lap, styrofoam, manuals and all. This crime against beautiful product and packaging design sent Paul and Greg into absolute conniptions. They took it all away from him and proceeded to lovingly reassemble everything from their memories of opening their own iPods. Then they gave it back and walked him through it, making sure he savored every bit of the presentation. Either way, he definitely liked it....
Curtis (to me): "Do you have an iPod?"
Me: "No... but I'm starting to want one."
Pa: "Ooh! Ask me if I have an iPod!"
Curtis: "Do you have an iPod?"
Pa (beaming): "YES!!!"
Lacey and I spent the first part of the day at Dad and Betty Lue's new house with various Waldon-side relatives. (Dad and Betty Lue moved in last week and, as expected, they seem to have been there forever.) The gift exchange was the highly amusing part, of course, though there were some rather odd presents involved this year. I ended up with 3/4 of a set of four wine glasses (I don't drink wine) and a package of Hanukkah candles (doubly ironic, since Hanukkah is almost over). They're pretty candles, at least. And I'm very glad to have gotten them since they were an act of mercy from my cousin Pam, trading me for the jar of olive tapenade I had gotten. I don't know what tapenade is, but I don't like olives in general and these particular olives looked like several people had already not enjoyed them much, either. Blech. Jaime won the prize for most presents opened because he kept getting things that were very much not rowdy-six-year-old-boy presents (he seemed to gravitate towards delicate glass objects). So adults, on their turn, would relieve him of such presents, allowing him to open more. That kept him a lot happier than anything he actually got, I think. Anyway, lots of fun there.
We spent the rest of the day at Monee and Pa's house, making an unprecedented two days in a row with the entire batch of Waldon-Boone cousins visiting together. That was great. I think the most fun story to tell of the evening, though, would have to have been Pa receiving his iPod. Faced with the open box, he decided the most efficient way to get the iPod out was to upturn the packaging and dump it all unceremoniously onto his lap, styrofoam, manuals and all. This crime against beautiful product and packaging design sent Paul and Greg into absolute conniptions. They took it all away from him and proceeded to lovingly reassemble everything from their memories of opening their own iPods. Then they gave it back and walked him through it, making sure he savored every bit of the presentation. Either way, he definitely liked it....
Curtis (to me): "Do you have an iPod?"
Me: "No... but I'm starting to want one."
Pa: "Ooh! Ask me if I have an iPod!"
Curtis: "Do you have an iPod?"
Pa (beaming): "YES!!!"
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
Mordor Gingerbread
Today was the First Ever Christmas Eve Boone-Haas-Waldon-Cavalli Gathering. Much fun was had by all, particularly in the making of the gingerbread houses. We had three very nice, standard houses, covered with candy and all very happy looking. Cristie, being the archaeologist of the family, created a site of ancient gingerbread ruins. It included crumbling pillars, bones, pottery shards, and roped off areas of excavation. The candy decoration was on the sparse side.
Curtis, however, had what I thought to be the genius idea of the group. He built Orthanc out of gingerbread. That was cool. He even got a round, orange gummy candy, put a dark M&M in the middle, and made the Eye of Sauron at the top. I got to help him create the rest of it, and I spent quite a while trying to make a gummy bear Nazgûl on an evil candy cane beast with pretzel wings. There was a marshmallow Mount Doom, with red licorice lava, and Frodo, Sam and Gollum creeping up the side (more gummy bears). The black gates of Morder became white, since we had to use sugar cubes. A gummy bear orc army waited behind while two circus animal cookie cave trolls stood gaurd on top.
That was all set up. The real problem came when we started to decorate. Once you start sticking frosting and colored candy all over something, it starts to look decidedly less evil. Still, we did our best and I think we really made it about as evil as could be expected of a gingerbread house. Take a look at some of the pictures, though, and judge for yourself.
Curtis, however, had what I thought to be the genius idea of the group. He built Orthanc out of gingerbread. That was cool. He even got a round, orange gummy candy, put a dark M&M in the middle, and made the Eye of Sauron at the top. I got to help him create the rest of it, and I spent quite a while trying to make a gummy bear Nazgûl on an evil candy cane beast with pretzel wings. There was a marshmallow Mount Doom, with red licorice lava, and Frodo, Sam and Gollum creeping up the side (more gummy bears). The black gates of Morder became white, since we had to use sugar cubes. A gummy bear orc army waited behind while two circus animal cookie cave trolls stood gaurd on top.
That was all set up. The real problem came when we started to decorate. Once you start sticking frosting and colored candy all over something, it starts to look decidedly less evil. Still, we did our best and I think we really made it about as evil as could be expected of a gingerbread house. Take a look at some of the pictures, though, and judge for yourself.
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
Saturday, December 20, 2003
An Achy Breaky Week
Things have been breaking this week. It's very silly. It all started last weekend when I took fRed in for an oil change and ended up with him getting three different valve or gaskety type things replaced to stop various leaks. Then there were the broken modem difficulties, which have already been chronicled here. On Tuesday, we woke up to find the bottom of our water heater (in the hall outside my room) had rusted out, and water was slowly covering the hallway. Arthur, in one of his standard acts of heroism, got us a new one and installed it. This was followed shortly after by our bathroom sink springing a leak, and also being fixed by Arthur (I assume, since I was gone at the time).
I'm pretty sure something's got to be broken in Alameda, because I get lost every single blessed time I try to go to the Friday Night Waltz there. I also think that many dancers had broken cars last night, since the dance was about a third of its usual size (lots of room for redowas and polkas, though). One thing that was certainly not broken, however, was the dance to Chopin's B minor waltz. That was a good dance.
Meanwhile, though, fRed was starting to experience new problems. The oil light started flashing ominously on the way to the dance, and when I got out of the car, I could smell the oil from a leak that had supposedly been fixed last weekend. The dipstick registered absolutely nada. Luckily, I stayed overnight at the Attias' house, and Armand took me out to get some oil this morning. I had to pour four quarts in before heading home and taking fRed back to Midas, where they found that, in the process of fixing something last week, they busted something else. But they're repairing it for free right now, at least.
So I guess it's just been one of those weeks. Hopefully things will get back to normal soon. Right now, everything seems to be under control (knock on wood). So I'm just relaxing inside with a nice cup of hot Thai iced tea. Which, I guess, would just be Thai tea. Whatever it is, it's good.
Happy birthday, Carol!
I'm pretty sure something's got to be broken in Alameda, because I get lost every single blessed time I try to go to the Friday Night Waltz there. I also think that many dancers had broken cars last night, since the dance was about a third of its usual size (lots of room for redowas and polkas, though). One thing that was certainly not broken, however, was the dance to Chopin's B minor waltz. That was a good dance.
Meanwhile, though, fRed was starting to experience new problems. The oil light started flashing ominously on the way to the dance, and when I got out of the car, I could smell the oil from a leak that had supposedly been fixed last weekend. The dipstick registered absolutely nada. Luckily, I stayed overnight at the Attias' house, and Armand took me out to get some oil this morning. I had to pour four quarts in before heading home and taking fRed back to Midas, where they found that, in the process of fixing something last week, they busted something else. But they're repairing it for free right now, at least.
So I guess it's just been one of those weeks. Hopefully things will get back to normal soon. Right now, everything seems to be under control (knock on wood). So I'm just relaxing inside with a nice cup of hot Thai iced tea. Which, I guess, would just be Thai tea. Whatever it is, it's good.
Happy birthday, Carol!
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