In Which I Meet A Friend, And Go Dancing

Hey... is anyone still there? Wow, you're really patient. I know it's been a while. I was in Calgary last weekend, which was wonderful... but that's not what I'm going to write about today. I brought my camera with me to Calgary, but I didn't remember to use it even once. Perhaps I will soon be able to show you some photos taken by other people, but for now I'll show you some photos that were taken since I got back.

When I got home Tuesday night, I had a few hours with Zak before I went out again to meet up with Stephannie! It was fantastic, dinner and dessert and coffee went by in a blink. Suddenly it's 3 hours later and that's that until who knows when. Steph is funny, smart, interesting, sweet; all the things you would know from reading her blog, but better. I have one more reason to go to Toronto than I did a week ago, I have to figure out how to make that work...

Here's the shot of her I like best:



Here's the one I like best of me:



..and here's another one, for good measure.



Last night, I went dancing with my friend Raistlin. We have been talking about this for a while... he used to swing dance with an ex, and I used to do many other kinds of dancing, but I've never really done swing dancing (expect for whatever I got in the Social Dance unit of Gym class in Junior High... you know). I used to be quite a good dancer, and Raistlin said he wasn't, but it's been a while for both of us so we thought we'd just go dance somewhere outside where no one would be watching.

It was raining last night, so I didn't dress up. He did.



Yikes! I can't wear a t-shirt and jeans to dance with a man dressed in a freaking tie! I hastily put on a skirt, though I was still under-dressed. Here are some goofy photos we took beforehand in my messy, messy kitchen. These photos hurt my vanity, so just look at him, not me.





Here's where we danced, at night, in the dark, in the rain:





It was really great. We have a long way to go before we could dance together in public, but who cares? After all the time I spent dancing in clubs when I was in college (I'm talking 2-3 times/week), I had no idea how excellent it could be to dance in a picnic shelter at night.

I know I've waxed poetic before about how wonderful the friends are that Zak and I have made in Vancouver, probably enough times that you, dear reader, will barf if I do it again. Um... cover your keyboard with something, I promise I'll make it short.

Raistlin is another friend who makes me glad that we moved here. He and his partner Lj have become very good friends of Zak's and mine, although we've only known them a few months. I miss my friends and family in Calgary very much, and it was both wonderful and a little heartbreaking to see them all last weekend. The fantastic friends we're making here make the difference for me between wallowing in homesickness, and being excited about the future.

I can't wait to go dancing again, though I'm making a dress first.