So last night, I went to see the Ron Hawkins Acoustic Revue with Jen and Rachel.

I hadn’t eaten much yesterday…I started off the day with chocolate ovaltine, then a South Beach Diet cereal bar (with protein!), later, I wasn’t all that hungry, so I had an apple and a bowl of cereal at the college. I left class with $3 in my wallet, so I stopped at McD’s for McNuggets and fries.

Met Jen and Rach at Gramma Mora’s for drinks (I had a margarita and a vodka cran).

Went next door to the show, which was fine. The Sidebar seems like a really nice place, but not optimum viewing conditions for a show like this. It was very, very full and very, very warm. All was well. I was enjoying myself, and had a little bit of a buzz going from the drinks. (I’m a total lightweight.)

About halfway through the set, I started to feel REALLY warm, and a little lightheaded. I thought maybe I should go outside for some air, but it was too hard to get through the crowd to the door. Next thing I know, I’m on the ground. Jen and Rachel helped me up, got me outside, and got me a glass of water.

Some people saw me out there and mistook me for the girl who was puking in the bathroom.

We sat outside for a bit, then headed back in. We decided to not try and get back up near the stage, but took a spot toward the back, by the sound board. Couldn’t really see, but it was much less crowded. I was doing fine, completely fine, until almost the end of the set when it happened again. I had that split second “maybe I should go outside” thought, then I leaned on the table. Jen saw me, and kind of put her arm around me, and I thought “If I can just keep myself up till this passes, I’ll be fine.”

My body had other ideas. I ended up on the floor again.

The worst part, I think, was being mistaken for an extremely drunk person.

Some woman brought me a cool cloth and put it on my neck, and then got me a glass of water. Rachel sat with me while Jen went outside and called Rand. We left during the encore, and Jen drove me home.

Today, I seem to be doing fine.

I’m chalking it up to lack of nutrition combined with alcohol. But it was pretty unpleasant and scary. 🙁

What’s the worst/strangest/most annoying job you’ve held as an adult? (Yeah, annoying summer jobs during high school and college don’t count.)

This is research. 🙂

Why, my brand new laptop!

Yaaaaaaaaaay!

🙂

Listening to:
Crash Test Dummies, Ghosts That Haunt Me

For crying out loud, why didn’t someone TELL me that the Crash Test Dummies were FUN? Because when all I had to go on was “Mmmm mmmm mmmm mmmm”, uh, that wasn’t really screaming “fun” to me.

Reading:
Good Omens

Tee hee. 🙂

Watching:
(on DVD) Northern Exposure

Only the first two episodes so far. Hurrah for Netflix!

(on television) The West Wing

I think I’m in a minority, but I thoroughly enjoyed the “live debate” format of Sunday’s episode.

Writing:
Ummm…I’m not doing so great on my NaNo project. I’m only just over 5000 words. I’m feeling discouraged about the direction of my story. Or rather, the fact that it has none.

In positive writing news, though, I finished the rewrite of a story that I want to submit to WW. Anyone interested in reading it can contact me. 🙂

Stolen from Jennifer.

Find the fifth sentence of your 23rd post.

Here’s mine:

I called him again today.

(or if you don’t skip the song lyrics, it’s: i don’t want to be your glass of single malt whiskey hidden in the bottom drawer)

Post in the comments (with a link!) if you want to play. 🙂

I learned the electric slide sometime in the early 90s, when I was in high school. It was all the rage. There was this “dance club” that had teen nights about 45 minutes from where I lived, and my friends and I used to pile into a car, drive down there, and dance the night away. We all wanted to learn the “cool new line dance” that everyone was doing.

Kim, Jill and I were the dancers in the group, so we learned it fairly easily. Soon, we’d taught it to the whole cheerleading squad, and even incorporated it into our routine senior year. (Wow! We were so cutting edge!)

When I was a freshman in college, I took a phys ed class called social dance. We learned to waltz, cha cha, and jitterbug, and as we neared the end of the semester, our teacher (one of my favorite professors, Jan Hyatt) talked about the trend of line dancing, and how she wished she knew the electric slide.

“Um, I know the electric slide,” I quietly volunteered.

Next class, I brought in a tape with the music and proceeded to teach my whole class, and my teacher, the electric slide. I became known as “the girl who taught Jan Hyatt the electric slide.”

Recently, I overheard my brother and his fiancee talking about their upcoming wedding, trying to decide what music they wanted played at the reception.

“Oh, but your sister likes the electric slide,” I heard.

“Your sister is kind of over the electric slide,” I said.

Really. I don’t mind it. I don’t care if they play it at their wedding, and if they do, I’m sure I’ll get up and dance

It’s been well over ten years that I’ve been doing this dance…at high school dances, sorority functions, weddings…I don’t particularly like it anymore, but I still feel oddly compelled to do it. Mostly because when I see people line up to do it at a wedding, it is usually sorely in need of leadership. My point was proven over the weekend, at the wedding I went to with Rand.

The music came on, and I hesitated.

“Go on,” Rand said.

I sighed.

I took a position on the end, did the most basic version that exists. No fancy steps or turns. When it was over, I came off the floor.

“You were right,” he said. “Everyone was following you.”

It’s my curse.

NaNoWriMo starts today. As previously stated, I am going to participate, in an attempt to finish what I started last year. (Posted at my writing blog…I think I’m going to be making some stylistic changes…check there for details) So go ahead, nag me!

Ummm…scratch that part about it being at the writing blog…I’m sticking with the same story, but doing something slightly different with it, so I decided to start a new, anonymous place for it. It was going to be more work to try and change what I’ve already got written. I want to try to write the story in blog/journal form. If you want the link, email me and I’ll send it to you.

In order to help with my writing goals, I ordered a laptop today. Thanks to Thomas (and his, ahem, anonymous friends) I decided to go with the iBook. Woohoo!

Something funny overheard by Rand while working on the reference desk yesterday:

“Well, it’s not plagiarization if you citate it.”

Sadly, I’m not making that up.

Hrm…I should get some writing done. 🙂

Hey everyone! The annual Toasted Cheese Dead of Winter contest opens today…judged by me and Eden. Here’s the info, for anyone who’s interested. (feel free to pass it on!)

The contest runs Nov. 1 through Dec. 21. Winners will be announced January 31, 2006.

Stories submitted to the 5th Annual Dead of Winter contest (December 2005) should follow the theme: “The souvenirs/trophies of a returned soldier”

Word limit is 3900 words.

Remember: “Dead of Winter” (or DOW) is a supernatural fiction contest. You may use elements of horror, fantasy etc. but above all your story must have that touch of the “otherworldy” about it. For examples of what we mean, please read winning entries from previous DOW contests in our archived March issues.

Entries are blind-judged by Baker and Billiard. Decisions are final.

Winning stories are published in the March issue of Toasted Cheese.

Entries must adhere to Toasted Cheese’s regular fiction submission guidelines and to the chosen theme.

ETA: Please note that this contest is blind-judged, and I am one of the judges. If you read this blog and you enter, please do not tell me!

I made a very exciting purchase on Friday.

See, I’ve been wanting a pair of boots much like the ones pictured above for quite a while now. I haven’t been able to find any, because every pair I have ever tried on would not zip over my calves.

I understand that I am not, nor will I ever be, thin. However, I find it hard to believe that my calves are extraordinarily large. Muscular, sure, but nicely toned, and I would think normal. Apparently, I am wrong.

But on Friday, I went into a shoe store and found a pair in black that FIT! Yay! 🙂

Rand and I attended a Halloween-themed wedding on Saturday night, which was a lot of fun. A lot of people (including the bride, groom, and wedding party) were in costume. I kind of wish we’d brought the camera! We had a lazy, lazy day on Sunday.

I worked today, which was fun, because I got to see the kids all dressed up. I love to see high school students still in the spirit of this sort of thing. There were lots of witches and fairies, but still plenty of clever, original ideas. 🙂

Well, that’s it for me today. Happy Halloween, everyone!

Featured photo at Tony Fabris’ website, from the late, late Saturday night/Sunday morning filk circle at OVFF:

That’s me, to the right of Rand, in my jammies singing something. (My guess is that I was singing along to Rand’s performance of Subversives, by Lowest of the Low…)

Tony is just one of the many cool people I met over the weekend.

You can check out the rest of Tony’s photos here, should you be so inclined. 🙂