With everything all caught up yesterday (I'll tell you about my stupidity later), I can now tell you all about my weekend.
CRAZY!
Saturday was, at least. It was an epic day. Epic.
It started fairly early in the morning (for a weekend day) for me. I left the house at 9:oo am and walked to Chinatown for Lion Dance rehearsal at 10:00 am. There I learnt that our Lion Dance troupe has been invited to perform at the New Year festivities at the city's only T&T (huge, massive, giant Chinese grocery superstore). This is a enormous performance, extremely high profile, with a number of dignitaries present.
Eek!
After the hour and a half practice, we all went out to lunch, as usual. At lunch, I learnt that I could not be in the lion for the performance because I was a girl.
Say WHAT?!
Apparently, tradition dictates that a guy and a girl cannot be in the same lion. It's either two guys or two girls, but not one of each.
You can't see me, but I'm making an angry feminist face right now.
Here's the thing, right - I'm not much of a performer. I get the worst stage fright ever imaginable. I shake and tear up and forget everything. I HATE being in front of people. Only now, I want to be in that lion, dammit! I want in because I was told I can't be in.
I might have a problem with authority...
In any case, the client for whom we are dancing is Chinese, and while he might not be traditional, dignitaries from the Chinese Embassy probably will be.
So, despite this being Canada, and the 21st century, I'm out of the lion. On any other auspice, I'd be thanking my lucky stars. As of now, I'm just mad!
Not mad enough to quit. I like my Lion Dance troupe.
Saturday afternoon, immediately following lunch, I took off to teach Kung Fu for an hour. That was largely uneventful. I walked home (roughly an hour), stopping off to buy groceries for dinner that evening.
I got home at roughly 4:00pm. I had enough time to unpack the groceries, have a shower, dress and have a quick nap before the first guests for the WINE PARTY! arrived. Sorry. I get excited about seeing the two words "wine" and "party" together like that.
Can I just say, it was a brilliant evening, reserved only for my closest Kung Fu brother's and sisters (well, also my flatmate and my Kung Fu brother's most excellent girlfriend, S.D. who are welcome just by Wutan association). There was more wine than I knew what to do with - six bottles, all of which were new to us.
We took great care to hide the type and origin of the wine, and then we tried them all. We had a guide as to the colour, aromas and flavours and we wrote them all down, as well as giving the wines a score based on appeal. I have to say, P.B. is quite the expert when it comes to wines. I was duly impressed.
Later on, we played Balderdash. I won. By a long shot. I'm still rather chuffed about it.
Sunday was spent doing absolutely nothing at all. A little tidying after the party, then lounging around trying to find the will to keep my eyes open. CBC's Republic of Doyle helped with that a little. It's a great show about a Private Detective in Newfoundland. I'm now caught up with them all.
On that note, my lucky flatmate is off to see the star of Republic of Doyle on Thursday. He's having a sit down with his fans here in Ottawa. My friend entered the competition to attend, but didn't win. However, a friend's friend did win, and scored two tickets out of the deal. So no, J. M-B. is off to see Alan Hawko. I'm fully expecting a tonne of photos and the best stories ever.
I was so relaxed and happy all weekend that I totally forgot that I had something due no later than Sunday. I came into work Monday morning to find a reminder email waiting for me. Really, it was asking if I was going to hand in the damned thing or not. The "damned thing," by the by, were scores for a short story competition I was one of the judges for. Yeah. I'm a tool.
I am such an idiot.
I really hate being late with anything. It drives me up the wall, mostly because other people are depending upon things like this. Also, I'm almost never late. I have been known to show up half an hour early just to avoid being five minutes late.
This thing really bugged me.
I apologised profusely before spending yesterday morning judging. I handed it in that morning. I have to say, there were some high calibre stories this month!
Last night, I found out some pretty stressful news.
Cyclone Yasi.
As if Queensland didn't have enough natural disaster to deal with.
My family lives in the area expected to take the full brunt of the angry storm. The papers say that the coastal towns are being evacuated. I'm not sure if this is so. I haven't heard any plans from my family as to what they're going to do. I'm a little stressed. You can read this to find out why.
It's moments like these I hate being so far from my family.
And now we're at the end of my extremely long post. All that remains is today's Forgotten English word/phrase. Thus:
Mistresspiece:
A feminine masterpiece; after masterpiece. Compare French mâtresse pièce, the principal piece of a work; [1640s to early 1900s].
- Fir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1908
Rosamund... being the mistress-piece of beauty in that Age.
- Thomas Fuller's History of the Worthies of England, 1662
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