Dance class was a BLAST tonight! First, we were drilled on some techniques. The instructor really worked us hard — which was great. And tiring. For some reason, it is easier for me to learn more complicated dance moves than it is very simple ons. We were layering dance moves one on top of the other (2-3 this time). I really enjoyed it.

We started working on a new choreography, too. Also fun. The music is called Isdes by Modura. It’s kinda a Middle Eastern meets electronica. Neat stuff. The instructor has been asking the students for ideas about what we could do at different points. It’s really fun.

I hadn’t realized how much I’ve missed doing dance until I started taking this class.

A good friend of mine died on Saturday. The second death since Thanksgiving. His funeral is today. The farrier is coming tonight as well. I tried to reschedule — the earliest appointment would be at the end of December. The horses can’t afford to go that long, not with Isis back in work. She needs her Easy Walkers and aluminum back shoes back on instead of the steel front shoes she has on now.

So tonight I go to meet the farrier and send flowers. The funeral is in Asheville, about a 2 hour drive away. (sigh) It’s just been one of those weeks.

According to an article in the Union Leader, Newt Gingrich stated that ‘a “different set of rules” may be needed to reduce terrorists’ ability to use the Internet and free speech to recruit and get out their message.’

Ironically, this statement was made at the t the annual Nackey S. Loeb First Amendment award dinner.

I’m not even going to go into how irate this man and his opinions make me. I don’t have time during lunch. If you want a mouthful, check out the comments on this article on Slashdot.

Rajiyyah was full of herself yesterday. When I lunged her, she kicked up her heels, pranced around, and was a holy terror on the lunge line. After a few minutes she settled down adn we were able to get some productive work done. What a silly girl. Poor thing has rain rot on her hips and her face. I put furacin on it, so now the green goop has turned black with dust. She looked like she has smudges on her face and ears and hips.

She was awesome today. Some of the other girls were at the barn working their horses in the ring. Rajiyyah enjoys being worked when other horses are around. We worked in side reins and with the saddle. She was so good under saddle, too. I was tickled with her. She was happy to have a bath at first. Once the sun went down she started shaking. Her face was so nice and white, except where the black padding on the halter had left a smudge. She looks like she stuck half of her nose up a chimney. Only part of it washed off. Poor kid.

The big news from this weekend? I worked Isis twice. She is doing great! We’re just free lunging right now to help build up her stamina. She’s getting muscles again on her back and hips from being out in the pasture. She and Rajiyyah romp around during the day and play. She is such a delight to work with. I think something and she does it. I’ve really missed her.

I updated the photography album with pictures of Isis (under Horses) and Kiesha (under cats). I’ll try to be better about posting more recent pictures.

One of my kitties, Kiesha, is a long-haired calico. For some time, I’ve thought that she is a Maine Coone cross. However, a friend asked me if she is a Norweigian Forest Cat (a breed I had never heard of). I did some research, and sure enough she looks like a Norwiegian Forest Cat and not a Maine Coone.

Kiesha was a foundling, so I have no idea what her actual breed might be. She is a loving long hair who is a definitely character. She is very loveable. In the old house with wall-to-wall carpeting, she used to pee on the carpet. She had been confined in the second bathroom most of the time because of her bad habit. I had tried everything to break her of it (including trying kitty prozac and taking her to a behavioral pshchologist for cats — you guessed it, a cat shrink).

In the new house, Kiesha uses the litter box most of the time or pees on the linoleum floor next to it. I’d much rather have her use the floor than carpet any day.

So what do you think? Norwiegian Forest Cat or Maine Coone?

So today I’m heading out to another friend’s house for an ‘orphans’ Thanksgiving’ meal. While I’m enjoying spending the time with my friends, part of me keeps looking outside at the beautiful weather and wishing I was riding…

The food and meal yesterday was excellent. Great company and good conversation. I can’t get over how much my friend’s Mom looks like my Mom. I sent a picture to my Mom. She replied: “Eerie!” My friend’s Mom said “What a pretty lady!” when she saw Mom’s picture.

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope everyone has time with friends and family and not with the nasty flu that is going around.

I’m going over to a friend’s house for dinner with her family. I was going to try to head to my Mom’s house. Unfortunately, between air fare prices and lodging for a diabetic cat… it makes travel a little more difficult.

Wednesday night is my regular dance class. However, Thanksgiving is taking the place of dance class tomorrow. Just for fun, I emailed my instructor to see if she would like to come over for a lesson. She agreed. Whenever she comes over, we have something like a cross between a girls’ night out and a dance class.

We went through my costumes looking at different things and how they might be adapted. I had ordered two velvet coin bras that had built-in underwires. I had (foolishly) hoped that they would fit properly when I ordered them. Wishful thinking. Once I have sewn those coin tops onto a frame (i.e., another bra) I’ll have two additional tops: a backup burghundy one and a purple one. I have a complete purple outfit with top (needs work), purple chiffon petal skirt with matching veil, and velvet pantaloons. It’s nice because with the layers it is a pretty warm set.

I also have a black choli top that I got from Wal-Mart. The lingerie department has black velvet tie tops for $8.82. The tops are perfect choli tops. Nice and warm for dancing in a studio in winter.

While my instructor was here, we reviewed a choreography. We went through it step-by-step. It’s a fun one. More challenging than the original choreography we performed last week. (Was it really a week ago?)

The troope’s next engagement is this coming Monday. We’re supposed to appear in the Kingston Christmas Parade, which starts at 5:30. I don’t know that I will be able to get there after work to participate. Most likely not. I hope everyone has fun with it.

Some interesting definitions from The Jargon Lexicon:

bletcherous: /blech’@�r@s/, adj. Disgusting in design or function; esthetically unappealing. This word is seldom used of people. “This keyboard is bletcherous!” (Perhaps the keys don’t work very well, or are misplaced.) See losing, cretinous, bagbiting, bogus, and random. The term bletcherous applies to the esthetics of the thing so described; similarly for cretinous. By contrast, something that is losing or bagbiting may be failing to meet objective criteria. See also bogus and random, which have richer and wider shades of meaning than any of the above.

creationism: n. The (false) belief that large, innovative software designs can be completely specified in advance and then painlessly magicked out of the void by the normal efforts of a team of normally talented programmers. In fact, experience has shown repeatedly that good designs arise only from evolutionary, exploratory interaction between one (or at most a small handful of) exceptionally able designer(s) and an active user population and that the first try at a big new idea is always wrong. Unfortunately, because these truths don’t fit the planning models beloved of management, they are generally ignored.

scary devil monastery: n. Anagram frequently used to refer to the newsgroup alt.sysadmin.recovery, which is populated with characters that rather justify the reference.