Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Oh, that's right, I'm supposed to update this from time to time!

Well, I've got good reason. (I always do!) I've been spending the last two weeks doing some intense learning-curve activities, trying to remember how to fuse glass after that class we took back in February, trying to save up money to buy fusing equipment and glass, and then actually trying to find the time to do it! I wound up buying a glass grinder after I swore I was never going to need one, and sure enough, as I was walking down Mary Jane's driveway with one big box of jewelry boxes in one hand and a small box of glass cabs in another, I tripped spectacularly and dropped the small box, chipping two or three of the larger cabs. No worries, though - when I got home yesterday, I set up the grinder and ground down the cabs that were chipped and then fire polished them while I was making dinner. When I looked in the kiln this morning, they were PERFECT! I ground two of them into some unusual shapes, so they may not be for everybody's taste, but they're definately sell-able! Yay!

No pictures to post yet, but I'll have those sometime tomorrow or the day after...

In the meantime, I've started taking Middle Eastern dance classes on Wednesday evenings. Wow! I never thought it would be so hard and so addicting! I absolutely love it! Chapin is in the same class, although I started almost a month ago, and I have yet to have a class with her in it! Hehehe... But I bought a leopard-print hip scarf covered in coins to practice in, and I just love it, I love it! It's so much harder than I thought it would be - I get the beat, and I can move on the beat, but it's really all about isolating different muscle groups. When your hips are moving, your shoulders have to be still. Not as easy as it sounds! There's a woman in the class who is REALLY good, and I watch her and the teacher doing hip movements and then I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror, and I realize that I'm not as flexible as they are. They can really move deep into a particular dance move, but I can barely move my hips past my shoulders! I've been living for Wednesday evenings, and tonight is no exception. Now, if only gas would drop below $3.15 per gallon up here...

And speaking of high gas prices, what the heck is going on with that?! You all know that someone is getting fat and rich off of those high prices, and it's certainly no one that I know! Oil companies are posting record quarterly profits, and the little guy is suffering. And I'm not just talking about having to pay for gas, but the people that buy the gas for their vehicles can't spend money on other things, and pretty soon it feels like you work just so you can have enough money to fill up your gas tank and get to work! It makes owning a hybrid seem more and more attractive. You just have to balance the cons of owning a hybrid with paying through the nose for gas. Yikes.

Anyway, I went down to the NJ Folk Festival last weekend with Min Ping and Min Yee. Wow. I haven't been down there in YEARS for that event! It was so much fun! It was just like an excuse to sit on the grass and eat for an hour and a half. We had Korean food, and I had a fake Philly Cheese steak sandwich, and then on Sunday, Min Ping and I went to this killer Indian all-you-can-eat buffet before I went home. Wow. I really miss having a good Indian restaurant nearby. Oh, well, there are other things I love about the Adirondacks...

So, I'll post more photos in the next couple of days. Maybe I'll have something else interesting to write about!