This was a very hectic week, both at work and play. I didn't get everything done at work that I'd hoped to, but I did score two minor victories (one at a meeting on Wednesday and the other via a phone call on Friday that moved something forward which has been stuck for nine months.) And I finished and submitted a proposal for a working group at a conference, which I'm hoping to use as a pathway to a paper for another conference.
I also had a lot of storytelling things going on this week. Tuesday night was Speakeasy at HR-57. Had I expected to go, I would have tried to get on the open mike roster, but I decided to go at the last minute and the roster was full. Bill was one of the featured tellers, which was one of the reasons I went and he did a very nice job, telling "No News" in tandem with his wife. Most of the open mike tellers were good, with only one who was truly dreadful. The main thing to note is that the place was completely packed - beyond standing room only, with people waiting outside to get in. Pretty amazing for a storytelling event. The only real downside was that it makes for a late night, especially as I missed an orange line train by maybe a minute at Metro Center.
Last night was the Tellebration swap at Jane's, which was very enjoyable. I used it to run through a story I was telling today. There was a reasonably wide mix of material and the usual even wider ranging conversation.
As for today, that was the Jewish Folk Arts Festival. I was worried that nobody would show up for my session, but I had a peak of about a dozen, which is decent for this sort of event. I told a couple of Chelm stories, my father's version of the crossing of the Red Sea, and Prince Rooster (which is the story I'd run through last night). After telling, I went over to the Israeli dancing for a little while, did a couple of dances, and said hello to Herb, who I know from MIT and hadn't seen in over 25 years. So it was a reasonably fun afternoon. I particularly enjoyed one dance (which I don't even know the name of, though I think I used to) and I really wish there were somewhere more convenient to where I live to go dancing as I miss doing it. Maybe I'll look into some of the international folk dance groups in Arlington. That will probably wait until the spring, though, since I'm so busy with other stuff now.
Noticeably absent during this week was any particular effort at housework. Which is what the rest of this day is for.
Copyright 2006 Miriam H. Nadel