I helped out at Boo at the Zoo Friday and Sunday night. It was fun but a bit overwhelming in terms of the number of people and how snotty some kids got about what/how much candy we gave them. I'm glad I wore my renfaire outfit Friday because I was at a much quieter station than Sunday and did not need to bend and lift and carry as much to refill our treat supply. There were lots of Optimus Primes, Bumblebees, Spider- Super- Bat- mans, and Disney princesses. My favorite was an adorable blond girl wearing a Wolverine costume, complete with fake muscles. I totally made one boy's night by immediately identifying him as a hobbit. Apparently I was the first person to do so the whole night. This was somewhat disconcerting to me as I thought the green cloak with silver leaf clasp would have been a dead giveaway. Maybe the other zoo volunteers are not quite as geeky as I am. Such sad lives they must lead. Sunday night I wore this. I can't decide if I was an eccentric artiste clown or a really ironic hipster-indie-scene person. Sunday I was at a much busier treat station with only one other person even though there were supposed to be 4 people working that station. The only breaks I got were when I paused to restock our treat supply. I'm really glad the weather was fair both nights I worked. I think the Saturday crowd got rained on a good bit.

I managed to avoid the rain Saturday when visiting ell and temve as they prepared for the Marine Corps Marathon and 10K, respectively. We had delicious food with some of Ell's friends and family. There was also a rousing game of Apples to Apples which resulted in a 3 way tie for first because we had to stop playing to eat dinner. After dinner, I went to the Sahara Dance hafla. It's been a while since I've gone out dancing (Wedding receptions don't count.), so I really enjoyed myself.

Tomorrow I'm meeting up with ell and temve for dinner and DC's Drag Race. I look forward to seeing men in fantastic costumes and high heels sprinting down the street.

I uploaded the pictures from my parents' trip a couple weeks ago. They can be found here. Pictures of the belly dance show they came to see are here.

Right now I'm gearing up for my trip to Seattle in a few days. I leave Wednesday, and I still have several things to finish up at work. I also need to do laundry before I go to make sure I have enough socks. Right now I'm debating whether or not to bring something for the family we're staying with and if so, what to bring. They are friends of our family, but I haven't seen them in years. Mom and Dad have seen them more recently, but I don't even know what an appropriate gift would be. I though about food, but I don't want to fly with too much extra stuff. Maybe I'll get a tacky fridge magnet.

If anyone has suggestions of things to do and places to see in the Seattle area, let me know. We're going to be there for almost a week, so we have a good amount of time to be touristy.

I know. Two month posting hiatus. I was busy then just got really passive about internetting. Here's a brief recap of what's been going on with me.

Portland - work and fun

Portland is a really cool city to visit. I really liked working in the Oregon field office. Things went so smoothly that they let me leave early one day, so I could drive to the Pacific coast. It's crazy how different it is from the Gulf or the Atlantic coasts I've seen. I also enjoyed the waterfalls and the Japanese Garden. Once I post the pictures, you'll have more details on whatever else I did that week.

Natalie and Judith's visit

It was great to see them again. We had fun going through the American History Museum and eating at the American Indian Museum.

Uncle Don's visit

He was in town for a conference, so we met up one night to watch LSU play for the CWS title. We also went to a Nationals game, so we could see them lose to the Red Sox.

LSU CWS win

LSU once again won the CWS. It's even better to do that by beating Texas.

TN for wedding - bat

I went down to Tennessee for my cousin Matt's wedding. It was a nice trip, and I enjoyed getting to see some of my relatives. There was an unfortunate incident of one of the bridesmaids stepping on a bat in the vestibule before the ceremony. There was much screaming and worry that the bat would fly up someone's dress until they realized the bat was dead or close to it. Thankfully it was taken care of by one of the church workers, and the wedding went off beautifully.

Ell's party

Ell's friend collective skews very dorky and therefore awesome. Her 4th of July/My girlfriend's in town party was lots of fun. Delicious food and drink was had by all.

Video Games Live

Brooke and I went with my coworker and her husband. The National Symphony Orchestra was amazing as were all the soloists. They had an audience member (picked from a pre-show contest) come on stage to play Guitar Hero backed by the NSO. The deal was he would get a sweet laptop if he scored over 200k points on hard. Dude scored over 300k on expert. It was pretty awesome to watch.

Water damage and repair in apartment

Thanks to leaky a/c pipes, I had water damage in my bedroom. Parts of one wall, the ceiling, and my carpet had water damage. Thankfully, Brooke was out of town on vacation while all the work was being done to fix my bedroom, so I got to sleep in her room for a week. Everything's fixed now, but it was pretty stressful not really having a functioning bedroom for over a week.

Work is crazy busy

I've just had something going on with almost every project I'm assigned to. It's not too bad this week because I have training instead of work. Next week will probably be hectic again.

Belly dance show

For my Hula Belly Fusion performance class, we danced to "Rock a Hula" and "Can't Help Fallin' in Love" by Elvis. It went really well. I'll post pictures later of my awesome stage makeup and leis.

Parents' visit

Mom and Dad were here for a week to visit and see me dance. I didn't get to see them much because I had training all last week and this week at work, but we got together for dinner every night. Sunday we spent the day in Baltimore with Brooke. The National Aquarium is really freaking cool.

I had my first hula fusion belly dance class. So much fun! For the August show, we are dancing to "Rock a Hula" and "Can't Help Falling in Love With You" by Elvis. I'm sure I will be very sick of both songs by August, but "Can't Help" is one of my favorite Elvis songs.

Zoo work is going well. They ordered me an official name tag, so I can get discounts at the gift shops and concession stands. Yay, perks! I also get free parking, but driving up there isn't worth the hassle with the metro so close.

Last night, Brooke and I watched Twilight with the RiffTrax (guys who did MST3K), and it was hilarious. I was near tears a couple times from laughing so hard. Now I'm tempted to go through the website and buy RiffTrax for any movie I own. I am also tempted to watch the movie again with Robert Pattinson's commentary because I know how completely off track he can get in interviews.

In upcoming travels, I'll be in Seattle around Labor Day for the LSU-Washington game. Mom, Dad, and I (and maybe my sister, too) are going to meet up there and stay with friends of the family. I haven't seen them in years, but Mom and Dad have visited more recently. This will mark my 2nd ever trip to the Pacific Northwest after my trip to Portland in June.

While my birthday is many months away, I already know what I'm getting from my parents - tickets to see A Streetcar Named Desire at the Kennedy Center with Cate Blanchett playing Blanche DuBois. EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! It's running end of October through November, and tickets go on sale in August. I'm currently debating between trying to get tickets as close to opening night as I can or getting them on my birthday. Mom and Dad are going to fly up for the occasion, whenever it is, so they are going to the show as well.

I have a Dreamwidth account now. Thanks, marcelle42! I'll still keep cross-posting here and there. I think I'm going to abandon the IJ though; nothing's really going on over there.

Yesterday the women's bathroom at work smelled like baked beans, and the floor was sticky. I don't want to know how the two are related. Today it didn't smell like beans, but the floor was still a bit sticky. Ewww.

In awesome money news, all the math stats at my work were supposed to get a pay adjustment upwards effective March 15. Since they didn't really tell anyone about it, none of us knew we were supposed to be getting more money until today. Boss's Boss didn't even know. Now that he does, he has spent the morning contacting the appropriate people to get all of our pay scales changed. I don't know how long it will take the payroll people to make the changes for the ~20 employees affected, but we will be getting a lump sum for the money that should have been added to our last 3 (so far) paychecks. Hurray for finding money I didn't even know was missing!

This weekend was the spring show for the Sahara Dance where I take belly dance classes. Since I wasn't performing, I volunteered to help out for 3 of the four shows (one Saturday and two Sunday) since I wanted to watch the show at least once. It was way more draining that I expected, but the shows were amazing. I actually got to watch all 4 shows because I ran the merchandise booth before, during intermission, and after the late Saturday show, and I took pictures during both Sunday shows. It's been a while since I've been co-opted for my photography skills. I got a chance to delete the obviously blurred pictures before I passed the camera back to the stage manager, but I worry that the rest of the pictures won't be very clear either. The combination of low lighting, shiny costumes, and lots of movement really killed my chances of getting very many decent shots. I'm not sure why they had me do it anyway since they hired a professional photographer to take pictures as well. If the decent pictures get posted online anywhere, I'll link to the ones I'm not embarrassed of later.

So I've taken another of my month-long breaks from posting. I think I should just accept that I'm going to do that sometimes and not feel bad about it anymore.

Back in March, I had a conference for work at the National Harbor, a more inconveniently located and cheesily pretentious conference center I've yet to see. (Pics here.) The opening speaker was Dave Barry who was just as funny in person as you would expect from his columns and from watching Dave's World with Harry Anderson. The conference was interesting, and I got some good programming ideas the talks I went to.

Earlier this month, our friends, Natalie and Judith, visited us for the Cherry Blossom Festival. We had a great time going around the Tidal Basin and seeing the special events for the festival. The Asian Art Museum had a really cool exhibit on the Shuten-doji with incredible comic style drawings and stories. The American Indian Museum also had a comic exhibit focusing on representation of American Indians in comics and the works of American Indian artists. (Pics here.)

A couple weeks ago, I made another trip out to Mount Vernon to see the new blacksmith shed. They have also added a new blacksmith. (Pics here starting with the blacksmith's shed.) He has a red beard, and his name is Eric. I refrained from making any Viking jokes as he was working with hot metal objects. He is going to be the estate's full-time blacksmith. Apparently they've always contracted the work out to either Williamsburg or other free lance blacksmiths. I think it won't be so pleasant to visit the area in August as it was on the 50F day in April. They have also added short wagon rides by the river.

Belly dancing continues to be fun. I have taken a couple of the weekend workshop classes to check out other teachers. For the summer session, I have decided to take two classes, one for technique and one for performance. The performance class is Hula Belly Fusion, so I will be in a dance during the school's August show. Anyone who's in the area August 15 should come. (I'll remind you again closer to time.) I volunteered to help out backstage for the spring semester show this weekend which should be fun. I've missed being involved in theatrical things.

I started doing volunteer work again. I'm doing clerical work at the National Zoo one or two Saturdays a month to help the volunteer organizers (paid workers) keep up with all their filing and data entry stuff. They don't usually have people request to do office work, so the organizer I interviewed with kept asking me if I really wanted to do it, especially after she found out I've done theater and improv. I reassured her that I really didn't want to deal with kids I wasn't allowed to be mean to. Also, I'd rather do something isn't getting done for lack of volunteers than something that people are scrambling to help with.

Work's been going well. New Boss has finally arrived. It's taking me some time to get used to being supervised again. We went almost 6 months without a direct supervisor, so it's hard for me to view her as anything other than an interruption right now. Probably I'll be used to it again within a month since she has the same laid-back management style as Old Boss. I'll find out in a couple of weeks if I get to go home for work in the beginning of June. It's mostly definite, but I need to call the office down there to make sure they request me.

As some of you already know (because Brooke's been better about posting than I have), we're going to Disney World May 7-10!!! Brooke's dad will be there with MathCounts and invited us to share his hotel room free of charge. We are looking forward to all the rides and the swimming pool with water slide at the hotel.

The Arlington County libraries had their semi-annual sale this past weekend, and I racked up. My best find that would have made the trip worthwhile all on its own: Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula, or The Adventures of the Sanguinary Count. My copy has a way more hilarious cover, a blurry image of which can be found here. I want to put off reading it for a while, so I can savor the possibilities that exist for this book. I also got a Debbie Gibson cd and a book on the 1928 coast-to-coast foot race along Route 66 (main prize $25,000).

Life is pretty good these days.

I have my car back in excellent condition! It was ready yesterday, but I didn't get the message until too late to pick it up due to belly dancing class. I'm really enjoying the class, and it hasn't been a problem for my knees so far. Yay!

As some of you already know, I finally caved to peer pressure and made a facebook. I'm screening the comments if you would like to leave an email I can use to friend you.

Brooke posted her video of the President walking past us at the Inaugural parade. It looks much better if you click to watch in high quality.

Tomorrow we will have king cake, courtesy of Brooke's parents. Yay! We made sure to talk to our parents ahead of time to stagger the king cake deliveries, so they don't both come at the same time like they did last year. My parents are sending one in two weeks. A regular and easily attainable supply of king cake is the main thing I miss about Mardi Gras.

Sunday, Brooke and I saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which we both enjoyed. I want to be as awesome as Cate Blanchett some day.

Monday, I got pointed in the right direction on a problem I was having with a program at work. It's going to take me a while to make all the changes I need, but I at least know how to start on them now.

Tuesday, I got yet another pair of free underpants from Victoria's Secret. I get at least one coupon for them every 6 weeks. This particular coupon was for a special limited edition underpant not described on the coupon. As it turns out, the special underpant is a pink thong. So now I have a pair of delicate pink buttfloss (seriously, it's a string thong) underpants. Nothing I would have ever bought for myself, but an interesting thing to get for free.

Wednesday, I had my first belly dancing class at Sahara Studios which has a location conveniently on my way home from work. The class went well, and the teacher seems nice. She suggested that everyone have hip scarves for class and let us borrow some extra scarves for the first class. I used a coin scarf which was not as much fun as I had hoped. The hip shimmies really make the coins swing back and forth, and my butt got sore from getting constantly hit by all the coins on my scarf. I told the teacher that after class, and she laughed and said at least I know what kind not to get now. I'm thinking I'll try one with beads or maybe just fringe for class.

Thursday, I went to bed at 7.30 and slept until my alarm went off this morning. Really good night's sleep.

Please take a moment to note how well my week has been going.

Today, I feel like Alexander, he of the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day. I telecommuted on a computer that decided today was the day to be slow as molasses. It's freezing cold outside. When I left my apartment for an eye doctor appointment, I found that someone had hit my car, knocking off a hubcap and the driver-side mirror, and didn't leave a note. I froze my hands taking pictures of the damage. I was late to my eye doctor appointment (which actually went pretty well). I called the insurance company after I got back and listened to crappy hold music. Then I found out my car is technically "undrivable" because it's illegal to drive without a driver-side mirror (I did not know this). I do get a rental car while repairs are done on the Jetta though. However work will not start on the Jetta until tomorrow or maybe Monday because they have to tow it to the shop a mile down the street from my apartment what with it being undrivable and all. I was given a Nissan Altima for a rental car, with a keyless ignition, that no one told me how to use. I had to go back in the rental car place to get the woman to show me how to start the car. The car started to make strange noises after I drove off. I realized the engine wasn't shifting gears because Altimas can be switched from automatic to manual, and this car is set on manual. I had no idea how to change it back, and I could exactly read the instruction manual while I was driving. I'm going to look up how to do it tomorrow. I did figure out how to shift gears, but it's awkward. For dinner we got Lebanese take out. They had run out of my favorite dish (stromboli), so I had to settle for lamb gyro which isn't nearly as good.

So that was my Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day. And there's not even a new Stargate: Atlantis tonight to cheer me up because the very last episode aired last week.

While home for Christmas, I spent one afternoon wandering around downtown Baton Rouge with some friends from high school. Pictures here.

Way back in October, Brooke and I went to the Crime and Punishment Museum for Halloween. There is one section where it films you in a faux "America's Most Wanted" bit. We taped ourselves being silly. Mine and Brooke's.

Pictures from our fun Thanksgiving trip to New York to see Natalie and Judith are here. Yes we did all climb on the lion statues outside the New York Public Library because that's how we roll.

Starting next week I am taking a belly dancing class in DC. It's once a week from 5.30 to 6.30 not too far from work, so I will work late those days and bring dance clothes with me. The class runs through the end of April though they do offer classes year-round. If I like this one, I'll probably sign up for another class during the summer session.


ETA: Sebastian just managed to flip the image on my laptop screen upside down by wandering across the keyboard. Am slightly disappointed about not turning into Freakazoid.