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Too Busy Doing Things
Jan. 28th, 2013 06:53 pmI keep meaning to write blog posts, but then I end up being too busy actually doing things.
This week included the yarn bomb get-together on Wednesday night, at which I completely failed to remember how to make hairpin lace. I looked at a tutorial when I got home and, of course, it is amazingly easy as long as you remember the hook goes in the loop from the bottom. This week for sure.
On Thursday night, I went to see The National Ballet of Canada's production of Alice in Wonderland at The Kennedy Center. It was an interesting evening, but I'd describe it as a triumph of special effects and puppetry, rather than dance. Not that the dance was bad, but the choreography was nothing particularly memorable, while some of the effects were (e.g. the Cheshire cat being done as several puppets animated by black-clad dancers). I also thought it was a bit longer than it needed to be. And I was puzzled by the transformation into a love story between Alice and the Knave of Hearts, which seems to be done largely to allow for a lot of pas de deux.
Saturday night was storytelling. The theme this month at Better Said Than Done was "15 Minutes of Fame." There was an interesting mix of stories, ranging from attempts at stardom to bad encounters with famous people. I told my Jeopardy! story. That got lots of laughs, so I'd say it went well.
And then I did a mileage run, hitting 3 more airports for that United challenge. I flew IAD to CLE (Cleveland) to TPA (Tampa) and back via JAX (Jacksonville). I remembered that my Star Gold card gets me into Lufthansa's lounge at IAD, which was handy since I was actually there during a time it was open. (It closes from noon to 5, so is usually of little use.) I was upgraded on all three of the flights I could have been on, also. (TPA to JAX was on a SAAB 340, so has no first class to be upgraded to.) The catch came on the last leg, when the incoming flight was delayed due to a mechanical problem, leading us to be 2 1/2 hours late. Then we had a long wait for someone to come to ramp and pull us into the gate. I'd taken the whole day off but had actually intended to get caught up on some stuff at home, so I was peeved. Still, I do want them to repair the planes I'm going to be on, so I can't really complain.
I can, however, complain about the shuttle to the Hampton Inn - Tampa. Hotel shuttles don't circulate at TPA, so you need to call. Which would be fine if the front desk clerk had not put me on hold, for 27 minutes. I need to figure out who at Hilton Honors to complain to about that.
Despite such joys of travel, I actually made some future travel plans. The near term one (well, April) involves going to Portland, Maine for Sharing the Fire. This is a storytelling conference I've wanted to go to forever and, for a change, it didn't conflict with anything else. The longer term and bigger plan is a trip to Turkey. Let's just say there are very very good fares to Istanbul right now. It will be on Delta, who I don't normally fly, but I can credit the miles to Alaska Air, which is even more of a win. Oh, I also finally bought my train ticket for the Indian Pacific for my post-OzFest excursion.
So that's the basic catch-up. Now to quietly collapse with exhaustion.
This week included the yarn bomb get-together on Wednesday night, at which I completely failed to remember how to make hairpin lace. I looked at a tutorial when I got home and, of course, it is amazingly easy as long as you remember the hook goes in the loop from the bottom. This week for sure.
On Thursday night, I went to see The National Ballet of Canada's production of Alice in Wonderland at The Kennedy Center. It was an interesting evening, but I'd describe it as a triumph of special effects and puppetry, rather than dance. Not that the dance was bad, but the choreography was nothing particularly memorable, while some of the effects were (e.g. the Cheshire cat being done as several puppets animated by black-clad dancers). I also thought it was a bit longer than it needed to be. And I was puzzled by the transformation into a love story between Alice and the Knave of Hearts, which seems to be done largely to allow for a lot of pas de deux.
Saturday night was storytelling. The theme this month at Better Said Than Done was "15 Minutes of Fame." There was an interesting mix of stories, ranging from attempts at stardom to bad encounters with famous people. I told my Jeopardy! story. That got lots of laughs, so I'd say it went well.
And then I did a mileage run, hitting 3 more airports for that United challenge. I flew IAD to CLE (Cleveland) to TPA (Tampa) and back via JAX (Jacksonville). I remembered that my Star Gold card gets me into Lufthansa's lounge at IAD, which was handy since I was actually there during a time it was open. (It closes from noon to 5, so is usually of little use.) I was upgraded on all three of the flights I could have been on, also. (TPA to JAX was on a SAAB 340, so has no first class to be upgraded to.) The catch came on the last leg, when the incoming flight was delayed due to a mechanical problem, leading us to be 2 1/2 hours late. Then we had a long wait for someone to come to ramp and pull us into the gate. I'd taken the whole day off but had actually intended to get caught up on some stuff at home, so I was peeved. Still, I do want them to repair the planes I'm going to be on, so I can't really complain.
I can, however, complain about the shuttle to the Hampton Inn - Tampa. Hotel shuttles don't circulate at TPA, so you need to call. Which would be fine if the front desk clerk had not put me on hold, for 27 minutes. I need to figure out who at Hilton Honors to complain to about that.
Despite such joys of travel, I actually made some future travel plans. The near term one (well, April) involves going to Portland, Maine for Sharing the Fire. This is a storytelling conference I've wanted to go to forever and, for a change, it didn't conflict with anything else. The longer term and bigger plan is a trip to Turkey. Let's just say there are very very good fares to Istanbul right now. It will be on Delta, who I don't normally fly, but I can credit the miles to Alaska Air, which is even more of a win. Oh, I also finally bought my train ticket for the Indian Pacific for my post-OzFest excursion.
So that's the basic catch-up. Now to quietly collapse with exhaustion.
