Back from the frozen North, again
Feb. 10th, 2003 12:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jayI should be gathering my things and heading to the office, after this morning's telecon wasn't... but I'm hugely unmotivated for some reason. Maybe it's the prospect of JL stalking me in the hallways again with his air traffic scheme. Or the three parallel drilling projects, when I have a human-robotic science productivity paper due in one week.
In any case, I'm back home after a lovely long weekend in frozen Minneapolis... lots of ice and snow, and temperatures were mostly below-zero F, -10 to -25C. With my field gear, I was still warm, or at least had ample opportunities to be warmed once indoors ;-).
Red-eye overnight Wednesday.. breakfast with Nancy's mom... who called Nancy "Sally" because she's so picky and specific about ordering her eggs... skating Thursday afternoon was good... then that night, I actually did a couple of the ice dances, with partners. And went out with the club afterwards for coffee... it was fun. And I got kissed by two beautiful women besides Nancy (smile). Then we went to a loud-and-smoky club... the smoke was a turnoff, but at least it was a danceable spot.
Skiing on Friday (at Alton, outside of St.Paul... a glacially-formed deep V-shaped valley) was lots of fun, after I got my legs back under me. It was Nancy and my 4-year anniversary (going back to alt.polycon 4 in 1999 in Chicago) and -15F outside, so we stayed home and cuddled, then went out for an after-midnight snack with Dave and M.
Bridging the gap between virtual and the real world, we straggled out of bed Saturday morning and had brunch withkitchenwitch and her husband sugarbeet. He's quite friendly and talkative and outgoing, while kitchenwitch struck me as quiet-but-mischevious, pretty with her eyes fairly dancing at times. Not at all curmudgeonly ;-).
Then we bought hard cider ("Sydre", a nice sparkling cider) and cheeses and veggies, went back to Nancy and Dave's and cleaned and cooked for the party that night, and then Nancy and I went skating.
The skating session threw me into reconsidering the sport... it was that bad. I'm competitive by nature... simply enjoying an activity isn't generally enough, I need to be at least middle-of-the-road competent and preferably competitive. If I'm perpetually among the worst at something, I'll usually cut my losses and spend my time and energy elsewhere. At skating, a skating-club friend of Nancy's came up, offered help and asked how many weeks I'd been skating.... when I'd been doing it for years. *That* was quite a confidence-sapper... I'm working on beginning freestyle moves, and someone offers to help me with forward stroking. I couldn't bring myself to try any of the dance patterns that I'd done successfully on Thursday, for fear of drawing more "help". If I still look like a rank beginner after 2+ years of lessons and practice, I shouldn't be wasting time on the sport.... I was disconsolate.
Returning home, Nancy was frustrated and upset at my competence-or-nothing attitude and my possibly giving up skating (an enjoyed shared activity). After arguing for over an hour (over how I should consider changing my attitudes), she broke down and started yelling at me... it was a small house. I became impassive and non-reactive, then slipped away and locked myself in the basement bathroom. At 7:15pm... guests were due to arrive in 15 minutes for the party.
So as guests began arriving upstairs, Nancy and I were communicating through a door in the basement... Dave kept things afloat until the two of us made up downstairs and returned. Then it was like the snapped-tension after a thunderstorm... we were relaxed. The party was fun, and I learned how to play "The Great Dalmuti".
Then yesterday I went with Dave and heard Nancy sing as a soloist at the Christian Science church where she works... it's a tiny church, there were just 25 people in the audience. Nancy is the entire musical department ;-). It brings in some cash on the side for her... and she has a beautiful mezzo-soprano singing voice that I'd never heard before.
Then... over brunch, we were discussing someone's look at the party and Nancy dared me to color my hair likewise. Not being one to be easily discouraged, I said I'd do it if she'd manage it, since I'm utterly clueless about hair-things (I used to use bar soap to wash my hair, etc.). I suggested a darker shade than the bright copper Nancy wanted, which may have actually been a mistake... it was an interesting experience. Kind of reminds me of both finger-paints and dipping aircraft parts into chemical baths for finishing. It came out purplish (chuckle). Almost like that of a 24-year-old female colleague at work, albeit without her accompanying piercings. It looks a bit strange, but will supposedly disappear in a week or so. And yes,patgreene noticed it immediately at the airport (grin).
In any case, I'm back home after a lovely long weekend in frozen Minneapolis... lots of ice and snow, and temperatures were mostly below-zero F, -10 to -25C. With my field gear, I was still warm, or at least had ample opportunities to be warmed once indoors ;-).
Red-eye overnight Wednesday.. breakfast with Nancy's mom... who called Nancy "Sally" because she's so picky and specific about ordering her eggs... skating Thursday afternoon was good... then that night, I actually did a couple of the ice dances, with partners. And went out with the club afterwards for coffee... it was fun. And I got kissed by two beautiful women besides Nancy (smile). Then we went to a loud-and-smoky club... the smoke was a turnoff, but at least it was a danceable spot.
Skiing on Friday (at Alton, outside of St.Paul... a glacially-formed deep V-shaped valley) was lots of fun, after I got my legs back under me. It was Nancy and my 4-year anniversary (going back to alt.polycon 4 in 1999 in Chicago) and -15F outside, so we stayed home and cuddled, then went out for an after-midnight snack with Dave and M.
Bridging the gap between virtual and the real world, we straggled out of bed Saturday morning and had brunch with
kitchenwitch and her husband sugarbeet. He's quite friendly and talkative and outgoing, while kitchenwitch struck me as quiet-but-mischevious, pretty with her eyes fairly dancing at times. Not at all curmudgeonly ;-).Then we bought hard cider ("Sydre", a nice sparkling cider) and cheeses and veggies, went back to Nancy and Dave's and cleaned and cooked for the party that night, and then Nancy and I went skating.
The skating session threw me into reconsidering the sport... it was that bad. I'm competitive by nature... simply enjoying an activity isn't generally enough, I need to be at least middle-of-the-road competent and preferably competitive. If I'm perpetually among the worst at something, I'll usually cut my losses and spend my time and energy elsewhere. At skating, a skating-club friend of Nancy's came up, offered help and asked how many weeks I'd been skating.... when I'd been doing it for years. *That* was quite a confidence-sapper... I'm working on beginning freestyle moves, and someone offers to help me with forward stroking. I couldn't bring myself to try any of the dance patterns that I'd done successfully on Thursday, for fear of drawing more "help". If I still look like a rank beginner after 2+ years of lessons and practice, I shouldn't be wasting time on the sport.... I was disconsolate.
Returning home, Nancy was frustrated and upset at my competence-or-nothing attitude and my possibly giving up skating (an enjoyed shared activity). After arguing for over an hour (over how I should consider changing my attitudes), she broke down and started yelling at me... it was a small house. I became impassive and non-reactive, then slipped away and locked myself in the basement bathroom. At 7:15pm... guests were due to arrive in 15 minutes for the party.
So as guests began arriving upstairs, Nancy and I were communicating through a door in the basement... Dave kept things afloat until the two of us made up downstairs and returned. Then it was like the snapped-tension after a thunderstorm... we were relaxed. The party was fun, and I learned how to play "The Great Dalmuti".
Then yesterday I went with Dave and heard Nancy sing as a soloist at the Christian Science church where she works... it's a tiny church, there were just 25 people in the audience. Nancy is the entire musical department ;-). It brings in some cash on the side for her... and she has a beautiful mezzo-soprano singing voice that I'd never heard before.
Then... over brunch, we were discussing someone's look at the party and Nancy dared me to color my hair likewise. Not being one to be easily discouraged, I said I'd do it if she'd manage it, since I'm utterly clueless about hair-things (I used to use bar soap to wash my hair, etc.). I suggested a darker shade than the bright copper Nancy wanted, which may have actually been a mistake... it was an interesting experience. Kind of reminds me of both finger-paints and dipping aircraft parts into chemical baths for finishing. It came out purplish (chuckle). Almost like that of a 24-year-old female colleague at work, albeit without her accompanying piercings. It looks a bit strange, but will supposedly disappear in a week or so. And yes,
patgreene noticed it immediately at the airport (grin).
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-02-10 08:28 pm (UTC)You didn't do a test sample first? Talk about plunging in with both feet. Gee, now I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow's meeting... I want to see the look on everyone's faces -- you'd better be there because C is expecting us to talk another 10-15 minutes about our work. On what, I don't know -- I'm still working on subprocess charts.
no subject
Date: 2003-02-10 09:21 pm (UTC)