Please subpoena this post

November has proved to be an exciting month. I'll go somewhat chronologically.

I participated in my first skating exhibition, performing in the adult synchronized skating team Champaign on Ice. Things were a little rocky in our performance, but we pulled through and ended together with smiles on our faces. My parents and some friends (Mica, Chris and Jessica) came to see me, which was awesome! It was great to have their support and see their beautiful faces afterward!

One new thing I learned that I love about skating? The built-in velveteen panties in case someone accidentally sees up your short flippy skating dress:



The night before the skating exhibition, I decided not to go "crazy" (that is, not to drink vast quantities of liquor and stay out late dancing), and ended up going to the Neko Case concert with Jenelle and Tricia:


I look so much more photogenic in this picture than in all the GEO pictures that got taken at the protest:



Of course, I'm posing in this, I'm wearing more makeup than just foundation and chapstick, and it's not 7:45 am :) My narcissistic self thought that it would look as if I'd cared too much about my appearance if I'd worn too much makeup to the protest. Just how bad does that make me?

I tried taking pictures of Neko Case, but didn't want to use a flash, which was a good idea, because the pompous hipsters surrounding us were mad enough (although not very verbally; they just sort of snorted their noses in our general direction-sorry hipsters, you know I love you!!!) that we were taking pictures of each other with the flash at intermission. It was my first Canopy Club concert, as it was for Jenelle and Tricia, and we thought the venue was really cool. The inside is reminiscent of other buildings' interiors on Oregon, like Red Herring and Espresso Royale Café at Oregon and Goodwin.

Here is one attempt:

Unfortunately, the only picture that doesn't have trippy "moving" people in it due to my zooming in while in "Night" mode has a random head in it (presumably attached to a body).

I've also decided to participate in this year's National Novel Writing Month.

This project consists of writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days, from 12:00:01 am on November 1st until November 30th. I started 10 days late, and I only have 10,845 words so far, but it's exciting to be able to write a work of fiction with such abandon; the reason that there is a word count goal is so that participants don't get bogged down in the details and don't worry about going over and editing everything. All you do is submit your 50,000+ words to be counted and verified between Nov. 25 and Nov. 30; quality doesn't matter, as the people who run NaNoWriMo do not read your novel, which is automatically deleted after your words are counted.

I usually have trouble writing fiction, but since I don't have to worry about having every detail be perfect, the words are flowing pretty well, and I'm constantly having ideas as to where the plot(s) could go. I don't know if I'll have time to finish, but trying to create something is rewarding in and of itself.

One thing I hate when I've been writing so much in word documents on my computer is that I try to Command + S everything: emails, notebooks, orders on line at Subway.... It's unsettling.

Last weekend was a busy, and sort of represents all the events of this month: I went to freestyle Saturday morning to practice my freestyle 1 material, then I got a ride from Liz, another grad student in the French department, to go to Willard Airport for a GEO negotiation in the afternoon, and we stayed there about 3.5-4 hours! The entire negotiation lasted about 6 hours, but the GEO and the administration weren't able to come to agreeable terms regarding language in the contract protecting tuition waivers for out of state and international students, so a strike was authorized! Then I went to dinner with Jessica, Sean and Dan to meet Chris and his mom, but left early to meet Mica for Le mariage de Figaro (the opera, not a discussion of our reading list!). Her neighbor played Cherubino and was awesome!

Sunday was kind of awash as I anticipated the strike, did some homework, and attended a Picket Captain meeting, while developing an ulcer and several panic attacks.

On Monday and Tuesday, I went on strike and protested at the FLB. It was a very unique experience, and I'll never look at any of the buildings on the quad, especially not FLB, where I spent most of my picketing hours, or Foellinger Hall, where the final rally took place at the end of the second and final day of the strike and we were told that an agreement had finally been made. I have tons of photos which I'm not going to put up here. The whole thing was surreal, and I met a lot of people from my building through the protest that I probably wouldn't have met otherwise. It was rewarding to fight for my union and to get what we wanted in the end. The ratification process is ongoing, and once everyone's voted, we'll find out if the strike is "officially" over (although we're all back in the classrooms).

One last news item:

I now am the proud owner of a new pair of ghetto-fabulous designer glasses:

Weird picture of me wearing them.... At least my face looks thin it it.... And... are those cheekbones?!! haha



I now declare this post over.

Life forces

     I had my skating class last night, which was fun, except for the fact that I was incredibly off balance throughout the entire lesson and kept tripping over myself and forgetting I was on ice skates.  At the end our instructors taught us the "lunge", which isn't actually on our level's test, but still fun.  Unfortunately, although I can do a lunge, I cannot come up out of it without falling.  Fortunately, though, since you are much closer to the ground doing a lunge than you would be doing many other skating maneuvers, the fall is not that bad.

     My skates are getting a bit scuffed, which saddened me at first, but then I decided that scuffs will only prove my dedication:

(it's kind of hard to see, but there are a couple scuffs toward the front of the boot near the sole)

     Jessica graciously drove me to Meijer this afternoon, where I bought lots and lots of food, including ingredients for a sandwich I had bought and devoured from Espresso Royal and that I had hoped to replicate.  I gave it a try tonight, and since I really liked how colorful my dinner looked, I decided to take a picture:

(Unfortunately, I don't have a food setting on my camera.  Sandwich: Ciabatta bread, sliced tomatoes and onion, goat cheese and pesto (I didn't find any at the store, so I made the poor woman's pesto: pre-grated parmesan cheese and olive oil))

Of course, my beverage of choice played an integral part in my dinner:

     Since I am a hypochondriac, I had my potassium checked because the two medications I am taking can increase potassium when taken together.  It turns out that my potassium is high, but still within the "normal" range (their range for "normal" is 3.5-4.9; my level is 4.7... whatever that means.)

     Tonight, I'm going to watch a movie about an Israeli soldier (?).  I hope to know more about the plot after having watched the movie!

It finally happened....

I fell down while ice skating today.  This hasn't happened in years, but I'm taking it to mean that I'm learning something.  Let me relate the events that led up to this incident:  I'd been skating around normally during today's public skating session, when I passed this older gentleman with an obvious figure skater physique with Russian-looking facial bone structure consulting a man and his son who didn't know much about skating, insisting that, "You learn from doing!"  Now, of course this statement is fairly obvious and the very thought has occurred to me that if I want to get better at skating, I have to practice the moves that are giving me difficulty or that I am not performing as smoothly as I would like.  However, I'd been self-conscious skating alone and seeing people practice their jumps and spins while I don't even know how to do the bunny hop successfully.  

     Nevertheless, I started off slowly by practicing my forward crossovers every once in a while as I skated around the rink, and then occasionally took corners of the ice (people do this during the lunchtime skating sessions because there aren't as many people at the rink then as there are on weekend days.) to practice my t-stops.  I can do these successfully most of the time, but only when I am looking down at my feet; for some reason I need to be looking down to make sure my back foot is turned out enough.  I know that I should just pay attention to (a) feeling my hip being adequately turned out and (b) assuring that my back blade hits the ice properly, but, at this point, I haven't mastered this stop without looking down.  This is how I fell.  After several points of accidentally sticking my toepick in the ice and successfully renavigating myself, I finally fell on my knee.  I just realized I could have put the Hello Kitty icepack my mom bought for me on it!  Shoot!

In other news, I just went to the music library and picked up 8 books on the baroque period, which is something I hope to study for my project for my course on French Culture until 1789.  We'll see how that works.

Who knew Wal-mart sells food?!

Well, I certainly didn't, since I don't frequent it often.  I did buy some food there this evening, however, since Jessica and her roommate were going to go there and I needed groceries.  Most of their produce section is kind of questionable, so the only fresh fruit I bought was a bunch of Chiquita bananas.  I just made some apple dip so I could add more variety while going through my sack 'o apples.  I also bought ingredients for granola and cornbread (I'm going to try to make the latter with applesauce instead of eggs).  How domesticated of me.

I went ice skating this afternoon and followed this by a trip to Espresso Royale, where I bought a peanut butter brownie and a bottle of apple juice--Is there anything better after a trip to the ice arena?!--and ran into Dan B. pouring over some Balzac.

I am loving this weather, and it makes me feel all optimistic in general.

I'm also trying to walk with "my head held high" literally these days, as I normally tend to slouch and look at the ground, thus avoiding the frightening prospect of Eyecontact With A Stranger.  Speaking of characteristic walking postures, I randomly came across a genealogy page on my great-grandfather recently which included the following story:  

He walked to Dayton and started in a general direction toward his uncle's farm.  He was plodding along the dirt road when he met a road wagon, upon the seat of which a man was sitting.  The man shouted:  "Whoa!  Are you a Mayne?  You walk like a Mayne."  

Although my parents claim they don't quite understand what this means, I busted out laughing in total understanding.  Apparently, like myself, my great-grandfather was a walker, and walked great distances for the fun of it.  All these years, I have been consciously taking after my maternal grandmother in my tendency to walk long distances, but I had no idea that I had an ancestor on the other side of my family who had similar such habits.  It turns out my great-grandfather was pretty hardcore:

Columbus Sunday Dispatch, Sunday, April 7, 1935 p. 1 with photo.  Westerville Minister Walks 13 Miles in 'Record Time'"--Reverend Mayne Firmly Refuses Offers of Obliging Motorists.  By Hugh Fullerton The Rev. Joseph Hanson Mayne, Saturday morning established a new all-time, All-American record for retired ministers, 86 years old and upward, by walking 13 miles from Westerville to the Dispatch office, in the remarkable time of four hours and 30 minutes.  Dr. Mayne set out to establish the record for which Dr. George Scott, professor emeritus of Otterbein college, essayed to make at the same age.  Dr. Scott failed in his attempt because before he reached Alum creek a large and ferocious dog ripped the seat from his pants and stopped the adventure.  The Rev. Mr. Mayne escaped such a fate, and by firmly refusing the offers of a dozen or more motorists who mistook him for a hitch-hiker, reached his destination and delivered this account to the city editor of the Dispatch without mishap.

Awesome.