Yes, I'm finally past the point where the mere mention of Crystal Ball was likely to send me into a fit of uncontrollable babbling. :P Now it's just the happy memories of it that make me giggle.
Anyway.
My friend Sprin and I headed out Friday, picked up her boy from Rolla, and I didn't get to Cathus and Rowan's until about 10 or so. All things considered, I thought we made extraordinarily good time.
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huscarl105 was already there, as was Alessandra. And they were playing Collateral Damage with Cathus. I just watched. Especially at the sheer hilarity of the characters contained within the game. Some even made my brain hurt.
Anyway.
Went to bed, woke up bright and early at 6:30, and then proceeded to mentally wake up over the next hour or so. Coordinating schedules with everyone was entertaining, to say the least, and I rode to site with
huscarl105, which was fun. Took my first few classes (Bransles with
huscarl105, helped with Arina's Beginning ECD class), then headed off to the cafeteria where I helped with Tsire's Dance Jeopardy. (yeah, I'm loud. Yeah, I helped. Honestly, I swear I'm not a herald. Honestly. :P) Then, it was off to Azenari's English Country class to firm up Scotch Cap and to learn My Lady Cullen. That was also quite fun. Sprin went to Isabeau's Beginning ECD (and apparently, my lessons in Rufty Tufty helped her help her fiance learn the dance. I am pleased). I went Russian. Korobushka is fun, no lie. I know it's not period. But it's fun. And I can't really say that I didn't have fun with it, because I did.
Lessee. Sisuela caught me halfway through the day, and told me I needed pretty garb for the ball. So I borrowed her middle class Tudor, complete with corset. That was put on before feast. I was told I cleaned up well.
At feast, Cathus and I gave such a hard time to Alessandra. It was bad. It was funny, but it was bad. No words should be used to describe half the crap we gave not only her, but each other. Sang Lowest Trees Have Tops for
cantigajoy, which I was then asked if that was my QP entry. I decided then and there that perhaps it would be less of a problem for me to do a John Dowland song as a performance than it would have been to write the icon. So I switched. Ha. Now, just need to fix my few problem spots, write my documentation, and I'm good!
After feast, it was time for dancey dancey! The musicians were practicing a few things, like the music for Korobushka...which happens to be the same music that Tetris uses. So I made living Tetris shapes. I wonder if there were any photos of that very big bit of silliness. Anyway. Ermenrich came up to me, put his arms over my shoulders as I went lower as a Tetris shape, went "GAME OVERRRRRR!" and then asked if I wanted to dance the Carolingian Pavane with him. I told him yes, and did so. And then got the hell out of Dodge when the Galliard started. I rather like the stylistic bits of the Pavane. No lie.
After that, I held off for Heart's Ease, Petit Vriens (which I danced with Sprin and her boy and had great fun doing the over-under thing that happens when large groups of people dance it), and I danced Korobushka with Azenari. That was the end of Set One.
Set Two was a set I didn't do much dancing. I did dance Scotch Cap with Cathus, but other than that, I did my normal thing of hanging out with people. As always, fun.
The dessert revel meant that I got in line. So did Ferd. And he almost succeeded in tying me to a chair or a column with the hanging sleeves of the gown. I don't remember what it was that he was trying to tie me to.
Set Three was where my hips and knees caught up with me, but I still danced the Black Alman with
huscarl105, Confesse with Cathus, and the Official Bransle (that's Toss the Duchess/Wench) with Cuilen. I loved getting tossed up into the air! So much fun! And it helped keep my legs cool.
I didn't dance much of Set Four, but I did walk around a lot just to keep my joints moving. Definitely did the Maltese Bransle (Turkish Bransle is another name), and that was when I realised that the caller was trying to kill me with the number of traits she was picking out and how many applied to me. Well, maybe not trying to kill me. But it felt like it.
Set Five was where the crowds we had with Set One left us with the very dedicated dancers by this point. I danced Chesnut with
huscarl105, who came over from the dance floor to our phat palatial estate (I dubbed it Calontir Corner) to help me off of the ground to dance with him. Afterwards, I sat with Ferd (who had his head in my lap and was doing Ferd-ish things to make me laugh and snort) and more Calontiri. And that was awesome.
Set Six was where most people were dancing in their sleep. Cathus and Rowan were exhausted (and understandably so), and even though I felt tired physically, my mind insisted that I do My Lady Cullen, and the one dance I had been waiting all night to dance, and that was Rufty Tufty. It's sad, but it's my favourite. At least right now, it is. I won't lie. I danced it with
huscarl105, and I danced his requested pick-up dance with him, and by that point it was time that everything was falling apart. Brain, knees, hips. You name it. It hurt. It was time for a nap. So, at nearly five that morning, we headed back to Cathus and Rowan's.
On the drive, I mentioned to
huscarl105 that I was considering asking him if I could perhaps become his apprentice. Of course, this is really something that requires slightly more brain power than what we had at that point in the day. Even then, I think it's a direction I really want to go in. I'm finding that I like period dance styles. A lot. And it's really a way I can make my music geek and my dance geek work well. We'll see where it goes from here. Sleep deprivation lowers inhibitions. I had meant to ask on the way to site, but never quite felt comfortable at that moment to ask.
We arrived at our destination. This was where it got funny. Due to Hurricane Ike causing mass mayhem, their screen door doesn't like to stay closed. So we had a brain puzzle. After nearly twenty hours of dance. I know. Moved the door handle. That didn't work. So, we went around to the back door. Conveniently unlocked. Once in the house, it was getting across the kitchen. Except there was a baby gate to keep Cathus and Rowan's greyhounds away from the rest of the house. More brain puzzles! Once that was figured out, it was sneaking across the kitchen, in an attempt to keep people asleep. Unfortunately, my bead container decided to fall with a rather loud crash. Yet, nothing happened. No one woke up. Not even a shift in slumber. Nothing.
So, after that, it was off to bed. But my brain still was going a million miles a minute. So I packed what I could. And then tried to fall asleep. And that actually worked.
Up the next morning at eleven. Alessandra left not long after Cathus woke up, and the rest of us hung out for a little bit, going over dance geek stuff. Fascinating, really. Anyway. We had breakfast, Sprin and her boy hung out as I got a little bit of sustenance in me, and then it was off to go home. And I didn't get home until about ten that night, and which I did, safely.
I thought it was a great event. And now I want to do more dance things. No lie. I enjoy dance activities immensely, and apparently, I was a little Energizer bunny at work today, for the event high had pretty much kept me going. Everyone asked me if I had been on any drugs. None, but those of life. And Aleve.
Much thanks to Cathus and Rowan for opening up their home, Sprin for the ride down, and to Shattered Crystal for a fantastic event. Oh, and thanks to all of my dance partners! I had an absolute BLAST. Thank you all!
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