Apparently one of those observations included a Honda Civic hatchback, with a gunrack in the hatchback. Not an empty gunrack, either, a gunrack with two shotguns and a rifle (or maybe the other way around) in it.

According to their latest Tweet, said students are busily studying in preparation for tomorrow’s contest. Not that I am going to check up on them, because they are at a different hotel. That is partly economics and partly an attempt to save my sanity and allow me to get some sleep tonight.

Truth be told, though they may make me want to bang my head against a wall on some occasions, and make me long for a large, potent Adult Beverage on other occasions, it is actually nice to have some enthusiasm and humor among my students for once…

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Insanity is Hereditary…

• Even after rush hour ends, Atlanta traffic, even in the off-direction, is no fun.
• There’s a Carhartt outlet at Commerce. I wonder if they carry women’s stuff.
• Bulldogs are loveably slobbery fun to pet.
• Playing tug-of-war with a 40 pound bulldog is a good workout for your deltoids & such.
• The guys at Mountain Glass Arts don’t see me very often, but they do seem to like it when I (and my credit card) stop by.
• Burger King’s food hasn’t improved in recent years.
• What goes up, up, up on I-26 must eventually come down, down, down into Tri-Cities.
• Andes Mint ice cream sandwiches are rather tasty.
• It gets dark early in east Tennessee.
• I-81 still has its share of crazy drivers after dark.
• Sometimes it’s just as well to have snacks in the room instead of going back out hunting down a real dinner.
• Three-Buck-Chuck Merlot is just fine when that’s all you got handy.
• CSI trilogies are intensely creepily good at revealing that some people in the world are real sickos.
• Some people out there are even worse procrastinators than I am.
• My husband is still good at putting one over on me, though I’m still good at finding out prematurely that he’s done so.

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On the Road to Roanoke

Then there’s the what to pack to wear on what day (knowing that whatever I pack I’ll probably wish I’d packed something else), and what to bring to keep my hands occupied.

At least there’s no indecision on our travel route — going up is via Asheville to visit Mountain Glass Arts, coming back is at least part way along the Blue Ridge Parkway. If I don’t care for traveling, especially work-related traveling, at least I can have some fun on the way up and back.

I just hope that deciding what we want for breakfast, lunch, and dinner tomorrow isn’t such an endeavor!

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Indecision

Technique I is the class I needed. Sure, it means I have to make a mad dash to get there once I finish teaching — I get out of teaching at 6:45 p.m. and Technique I starts at 7:30 p.m. fifteen miles away through Atlanta evening traffic. Luckily, unless there’s a disastrous accident blocking the Top-End Perimeter, I can just make it, do a quick clothing-change, and be ready to SWEAT.

You wouldn’t think that just pulling in and releasing specific abdominal muscles for 45 minutes would be much of a workout. Ha! First, you have to FIND the specific abdominal muscles you’re trying to isolate. Unfortunately, most of my excess weight is in my abdomen, and those muscles are trying to stay hidden behind it so they won’t have to work. At least Sabeeya has some tricks up her sleeve to help you find them.

Then you have to tighten specific ones, and only those ones. I can suck in the lowest ab muscles by themselves, but when I try to suck in the pair right underneath “the girls,” everything else in the region wants to suck in also. You’re supposed to do this, though, without clenching up EVERYTHING, especially without clenching up your butt like you have been constipated for a week.

The whole name of the game is isolation — move what you want to move and don’t move anything else (though it can come along for the ride). If you can’t do that you can’t layer moves atop moves, you can’t move your top half one way and your bottom half another way. After fifty years of slacking, those muscles of mine are having to learn a whole new way of working, and they aren’t that happy about it. But damnit, I’m going to dance at least sort of passably so they better GET happy about it.

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Taking Technique I

One reason is that our styles of work are complimentary but not copy-cat; she works mostly in soft glass and I work mostly in boro, and we both exploit the characteristics of our chosen glass as much as possible.

Having a second person there to “share the load,” so to speak, makes doing shows when both of you have a full-time Sort-of-Day Job possible. At our last show, Andrea’s job actually got seriously in the way to the point that on both Friday and Saturday she couldn’t get to the show until mid-afternoon. Without the partnership she would have had to cancel, but with two of us I could handle things (with help, of course, from Gary) until she got there. In return, I got to sleep in a bit on Sunday, which I muchly needed! It also makes it possible to make a bathroom run without worrying, or to take a walk around to peruse and schmooze the other vendors.

We also have complimentary strengths and weaknesses. She’s better than I am at the schmoozing; I’m better with the numbers. So Andrea does the bulk of the meet-and-greet and I handle the accounting, and we’re both happy.

Of course, we get along very well! If we didn’t, none of the above would matter at all because we wouldn’t be able to work together!

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I Don’t Do It Alone, Part II