Prepoceros

By which I mean November. Do you remember what November is? I almost didn’t. It’s National Blog Posting Month! Yes, again.

Not that I need a National Blog Posting Month. Somebody should make a National Fix Your Ugly Blog Template Month—then maybe we’d see some progress around here. BUT! If I do manage to post every day in November, I’ll be in the running for the NaBloPoMo prizes, one of which could be (though no one’s offered one yet this year) a free custom template. How amazing would that be? A new bloggy look with none of the tedious, frustrating work. Maybe I’ll put that on my Christmas list if I don’t win it—I hate coding more than I hate overzealous air-conditioning, which is saying a lot.

So be prepared to see posting volume shoot up in inverse proportion to quality. It’s too bad I don’t have CivPro seven days a week, or this’d be a cinch to keep up with. I imagine you’ll learn more than you ever wanted to know about the thrills of studying for law school exams, as that’s pretty much what my November will have to be dedicated to, or so I’ve heard.

Go NaBlo! Go PoMo! Na! Blo! Po! Mo! *spirit sparkles*

The trip? The trip was fabulous. We met with a few misadventures on the way to Tupelo. You can watch the story unfold in hastily-edited-on-the-bus detail here. The good news: we made it to the venue before showtime with all of our members and most of the bus intact.

Depending on how you count them, we played either three or six shows, most of them with different set lists. It was a good deal less organized and polished than TaikoFest, but I got to play a bunch more, so I’m not complaining. I messed up twice in ways that were totally obvious to the audience and at least a dozen times in less obvious ways. My crowning achievement, I think, was when I miscounted one section of a song, transitioned four measures too early, and brought two other people down with me. Believe it or not, I think we looked good enough doing it that almost no one noticed.

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We have two more big shows coming up, hot on the heels of TaikoFest. This time, though, you probably can’t see them, unless you happen to live in or around Tupelo or New Orleans. Traveling with the band! Yup, still feel like a rock star.

Thursday night in Tupelo we’re doing an event put on by the Japan-America Society of Mississippi. The show is open to the public, so here’s the info if you’re interested. I’ve never heard from any Mississippi-based readers, as far as I can remember, but I might as well offer. My brother, who goes to school in Nashville, said he might make the four-hour drive, which would be neat.

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When I woke up this morning, the combined effect of an overcast sky and the sun’s just barely having risen combined to make it dark enough in my apartment that I had to turn a light on to avoid tripping over my dog. I know that many of you who have real jobs and things have to get up in the dark every day, but I still find it totally depressing.

Winter? DO NOT WANT.

It’s here, huzzah!

My definition of sweater weather is different from most people’s, I suspect. The temperature has dropped out of the 90’s since Ike, so last week at Target I felt compelled to buy two new sweaters in preparation. Yesterday the high was 88, and I wore my first sweater of the season. Today it got up to 90—sweater with a skirt!

The thing is, you see, that even though a sweater might not be ideal at 90 degrees, most of the day it’s not that hot. In the mornings and evenings it gets down into the low 70’s, which I find pretty uncomfortable without long sleeves or pants or both. I HATE being cold, even a little bit. It’s an awful, miserable feeling. There would have to be some SERIOUSLY ENTICING extenuating circumstances to get me to live someplace that has real winters. We’re talking daily massages, cookies that don’t make me fat, and Tim Gunn as my personal shopper.

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The Taiko Festival was every bit as awesome as I’d hoped. The performance went well, the crowd was great, and I had a blast. I love performing, but I don’t have many performable talents (I imagine I could command an audience no larger than a dozen from the entire city of Houston to watch me proofread), so this was a rare opportunity for me. Definitely the highlight of my whole year so far.

After the show on Friday, three or four little girls came up to me separately and asked me to sign their programs*. Seriously? Since when does anyone want *my* autograph? I totally didn’t see that coming. They came up to me, I’m sure, not because they liked me in particular, but because I was halfway out into the audience talking to my parents and friends after the show, and I was wearing the same costume as all the people who are actually *good* at this taiko stuff. At any rate, I still felt like a very, very small-time rock star, so that was fun.

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Okay, so I don’t think I’ve mentioned this here before*, but I’ve been playing with a (the) local taiko group since April-ish. What is taiko, you ask? Taiko is a Japanese flavor of awesomeness revolving around big loud drums. You get a lot of people, you give them all drums, and you blow audiences away.

I was a total taiko fangirl for a couple years before I actually started taking lessons with Kaminari. Why? Because taiko is super-awesome, y’all. It’s harder to explain why than to just show you this video.

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Having been at school three hours and attended class, I have just now discovered that I managed to walk out the door this morning with my skirt completely unzipped. Oh yes.

It’s a side zip from low waist to hip, and the front flap was hanging open, so we’re talking a good six horizontal inches of exposed underwear PLUS skin above and below. At least I chose particularly unobtrusive undies today since the skirt itself is white, but still, gah.

The fact that no one has said anything all morning surely means that almost no one noticed, right?

Six days after Ike, Houston is still pretty torn up. It’s strange to go about my normal business, more or less, and be surrounded by wreckage.

Tonight I came home after curfew (is that still on?) and man, it was dark out there. It’s like being out in the country, except you’re passing strip centers instead of cow pastures, and the tall buildings block out the stars.

I thought the curfew was just to cut down on looting, but it can be tough driving after dark. With many of the streetlights and traffic lights still out, trying to get through an unfamiliar area is dicey. The traffic-lights-turned-stop-signs aren’t flashing red*, they’re dark. On an unlit street. Sometimes they’re lying on the sidewalk.

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In my house! Internet in my house! Somewhat sluggish internet, to be sure, but still. Internet!