spring dance works

went to lafayette, Again
this time for the dance company's spring concert
got up there around 8 on friday, grabbed some dinner with john at arby's, nick came after work, grabbed some supplies at walmart, made brownies ate ice cream and watched futurama, went to windows for a couple, saw joe on the patron side of the bar, and then back for sleeping
got up saturday because john was inconsiderate enough to think i wanted to be awake at 12:30 for 'breakfast', ate at triple X, went to border's and bought some books, sat around, read, watched tv, went to the dance concert
i especially liked joe's 'rush', mary beth's 'through the window', and shanna's 'time won't wait' (*shocked look on face* Shanna!)
it probably has a lot to do with my attending these things regularly for the past couple years, but i have really begun to understand the pieces a lot better, i can recognize some of the meanings in the movements and begin to stitch together the theme
so that makes it kinda frustrating when i 'get' Every piece in the concert except one, especially when it's the one i knew i was going to be asked about later, so apparently i was thinking too hard on it or something
after the concert i grabbed some loveshack, ate, waited for nick to get back from work, strolled the bars in downtown lafayette, and ended up back at the cactus before heading back to bed (my futon mattress on the floor of nick's tv room)
sunday i got some route 66 with nick and john on nick's way in to work, took a nap, watched tv, hung out with zak, grabbed some jimmy john's and went home

alexander's spring open

so with all these weekend jobs and things being weird at work etc. i have gotten behind on my math hw
now this wouldn't be a problem if i had 32 weeks like they said online before i signed up instead of the 16 that they sprung on me after i turned in the first assignment
they said that if i finished the first test then i could get an extension, but that means i have to finish 2 assignments by the end of this week plus the one i was finishing up this weekend
really annoying considering how long the stupid things take to do
so i was thinking about going to the alexander's spring open tournament in indy on sunday but the hw was weighing on me a bit so i ended up working on the hw until 1am, slept till 3:30 when i was awakened by a very strange drunk-dial, slept till 5:45 and was awake so i decided to go ahead and get up and ready
i got up to the complex at 8 (an hour early :(...)
fenced epee and did pretty well in the pools so i ended up seeded 6th
after my bye i faced a C-rated guy with a really good sweeping 6th, but i was patient and waited for my openings and did really well
then a B-rated woman (louise) who i beat in the pools (she said she was having an awful pool) beat aron liaw (guy from australia who is really good) came against me again
it was terrible, i jsut couldn't seem to get a touch, she got up 13-3 on me before i realized i wasn't keeping my distance right and was able to get 2 touches before she got one putting it 14-5, then i got 4 touches in a row (because i figured her out, jsut too late) before she finished me off *sigh*
so i could have ended up tied for third, but i found out later (i hadn't realized at the time) that it was a B1 tournament, making my 6th place good enough for a D, which pretty much rocks
then i went into sabre
i had mary and gradeless in my pool (both of whom have beaten me in past tournaments) and a few other random people
i ended up winning all my pools (including a shutout against gradeless which shocked me because his really good epee skills usually mess me up) and went on to the DEs seeded first
after my bye i fenced one of the guys from my pool and beat him pretty easily, he was a pretty new fencer, and went on to face brian from IU (another epeeist doing sabre for fun) and was able to keep the right mentality and fence against him well enough to end up 15-4 (he was also tired from having Just finished the epee final so that didn't help him) putting me up against gradeless again (after he beat the other D there)
it wasn't a pretty bout, my form was probably disgusting, but i was able to keep right-of-way thinking to my advantage and won 15-9, so i got first place and a little trophy which also pretty much rocks
so it was a pretty exciting tournament for me (which is good because if i consider the total transportation cost(vehicle+maint+gas+insurance) with entry fee and the panara i grabbed on the way back i spent about $104 doing the tournament)
after i got back i worked on hw until 1am Again and hit the hay

45 to go

and a small side note, doesn't it SUCK when someone tells you you can't have something you want?, it basically guarantees that you will have an incredibly hard time thinking about anything other than the thing you can't have

subaru and bob saget

went to lafayette this weekend because john got tickets to see bob saget and nick and i pitched in for it
and how convenient, my boss arranged for us to have another job at the subaru plant up there
i left early to pick up the harnesses in bloomington on the way up and then met up with nick at the aerial image lab to hang out for a bit and then watch them do a test-flight which was kinda cool
saturday morning i got up at 6, got to subaru by 7, and started building a canopy over a conveyor
i spent most of the time on a ladder with my hands over my head securing the guy wires and the like, but it wasn't to uncomfortable because i was secured with a harness for most of the work
i worked 12 hours and then had to run out to make it to the concert (they ended up leaving about an hour later so it wasn't too bad)
i mad dash showered changed and shoved down the love shack that nick got me when i was getting ready and we got to the show just in time (phew)
ryan stout was the opening act and he was HILARIOUS
then bob saget came out... he really milked the whole full house thing, but he was mostly jsut INSANE, entertaining, but nuts
then nick, steve (a guy from his work), and i went out and hit windows and ran into hattery and a few of her friends, stopped by nine irish brothers to hear the band (nice), back up to jake's and taco bell and then back to nick's for sleeping
sunday nick john and i went to ihop (mmmmm) and then i sat around for a bit before heading home

easter and lcf spring beginner tournament

candy weekend
gave the last saturday practice for this group to help prep them for the tournament
sunday i went downstairs and got candy, to grandma's and got candy, and then to the farm for some socializing and the easter egg hunt
i ended up finding 16 eggs, so i didn't get the most for my age group, but i did find the silver and got a half dollar for it so that was exciting
we ate dinner and dessert and played around a bit
then we had the pinatas but they used the 'big kids' pinata for the 'little kids' and vice versa, so the stuffings seemed a little off.. but i whacked off one of the legs and felt quite manly about it while i chewed on it (pinata leg is not tasty...)
tuesday night was the lcf spring beginner tournament because of scheduling (getting everyone there) issues, but it went pretty well
we had a few spectators and i got quite a few pictures to post on the website at some point
the guys really enjoyed it and i think at least a couple of them are interested in starting to compete regularly
the guy who showed up all the time ended up winning, but it was really close
i'm trying to figure out how to set things up so i can keep the class going this summer

people subaru x-works

hokay
so all kinds of assorted things
i went up to lafayette this weekend but stopped in indy on the way so i could visit polly
we only knew each other for a couple months 5 YEARS ago, but through the wonders of social networking sites (facebook) we reconnected
we had a small adventure trying to find smoothies and then sat around chatting a bit which was nice
then i went the rest of the way up and talked to nick and michelle (girl visiting him from dayton) and then got to bed early (so i could work the next morning boo hiss)
i should probably also mention that i was Incredibly loopy most of friday afternoon/evening, it was crazy
the next morning i got to the subaru plant in lafayette at 7 in the morning and worked trying to get a very large framework installed
as we were working, it was decided that the best way to get above the bathroom (on the other side of the wall) to attach the backing plates was to use a boom lift that they had in the factory
no i have NO experience on boom lifts and very limited experience on other lifts, but i was picked to go get it and run it for us
after a great trial i finally got it started and moving to the work site
in narrow aisles surrounded by stuff it would be VERY bad to hit is not the ideal place to learn to drive a boom lift... but i got it woven around in the factory Almost where it needed to go, and then i hit our trailer with it
it only hit the wheel fender of the trailer with the tire of the lift so there wasn't any damage, but it was still very disconcerting
but i was able to get it over by the bathroom and then lift myself up over the bathroom and fully extended out to where i could put the plates on the other side of the wall and soon became very comfortable with the thing so i was pretty happy about that
it took until 2:30 to get our main mounting rail installed (it was big and a mess to install) and we had 18 legs(80lbs each) plus cross pieces plus a cover to put up ideally by 4... (the thing was 19' x 65' x 16.5') so i helped a little while and then had to leave at 3 so i could get changed and get to ed's concert
they ended up staying until 10pm to get it all up so i'm kinda glad i wasn't there (but i do feel a little bad for bailing out)
i got showered and changed into my new suit (which looks AmAZing) and got to ed's concert about a minute before they closed the doors
it was really good and i enjoyed seeing the ones i had seen before and liked the ones i hadn't especially 'a dog and his boy' which was wonderfully done (it wasn't terribly subtle like most 'modern' pieces which was some of the appeal, but the dancers did a really great job with it)
then i grabbed some love shack with a few people, hung out with zak for a few min and then went to the xworks show
i was a little worried at the beginning, but it ended up being a good show, i really liked laura's piece (it used exercise balls), the spice girls piece and ed's piece were hilarious, and i'm pretty sure there was at least one other one but the sheet is in the car so i don't remember
then i went to window's with nick and michelle and had the sangria (very good), flying grasshopper (very good), and mochatini (still my favorite) and split some of the appetizers with them and also tried the tiramasu (which was decent, but i probably won't get it again)
then i ran back to nick's changed out of the suit and ran to jake's to meet up with the dancers
we had a grand ole time there, then ran over to where else for dancing and then i went back to nick's for some sleepsleep
when i got up nick and i went to ihop and i got an omlette (mmmmmmm) and a strawberry waffle (mmmmmmm) and watched the hostess when she would walk by
we got in there and saw her at first and she wasn't Unattractive but she wasn't anything spectacular either but when we got called for seating she grabbed the menus and then smiled........ i think nick and i both got caught in our steps there for a moment, i had been pretty tired and a little sore that morning, but she smiled and all the sudden everything seemed great, it was insane and took up a significant bit of our breakfast conversation
after that we hung out a bit and then i drove back, met my parents and kent and travis in bloomington because kent was there and the rest were coming back from my cousin katie's wedding in new jersey so we ate at texas roadhouse, i swung by misty's for a bit and then it was home for bed