Wednesday
I took the day off to visit caller's school. It was great to see Anne and Todd. I enjoyed being a checker. And I enjoyed hearing the new (and retreaded) callers working on things. A few things that stood out:

1. I'm straight, but even I know how cute Matt is!
2. Jane asked some great questions about "difficulty" which led to good discussion. It made me think, and I learned a thing or two.
3. Some people talk too much (in my judgmental opinion)
4. Anne is excellent at keeping/regaining control (but in a loving way!!)
5. Some of these callers are pretty darn good
6. I really like and respect Bill Eyler

I had to get home earlier than I would have liked for a dr appt and some tax stuff. ( Some minor emo BS here )

Thursday
C and I got started a little later than we had hoped, but still had plenty of time. While it would have been easier to drive all the way in, it would have been more expensive. So, I decided to drive to my office and get a friend (thanks O) to drop us off at the metro (0.5 miles). While it was minor, it saved the convention about 100 bucks. I figured every little bit helped.

Once at the hotel, it took ~30 minutes to get to the front desk. No lines, just so many friends to say hello to (beginning with Anne and Mikey D in his shorts). It was wonderful, but after the train ride, I was ready to get set up in the room and get ready for the weekend. Check-in was smooth and the room location was perfect (for a number of reasons.)

More (and more and more and more) hellos on the way to our caller meeting at 5:30. We then walked to an Indian place for dinner. While the restaurant obviously knew we were coming, they were a little short-handed. I got a diet coke at 6:35, just in time to down it, run back to the room, get my calling equipment and get set-up to call the "intro" portion of the trail-in dance. (No complaints about missing dinner, just an unfortunate series of event-timings)

The teach portion of the trail-in dance went well. Folks said they enjoyed it. Then DeSisto joined me for the rest of the night. Whee-Freakin-Haw!! I always have a great time calling with Mike. Very high-energy and entertaining. We had a blast, although we both screwed-the-pooch on one of the Adv tips as we couldn't find corners to save ourselves. The floor was VERY forgiving and we all had fun regardless. Later evening events included reading 2 paragraphs of a book and sleeping. (Hey, it's a long weekend. Us old guys gotta save our energy.)

Friday
Opening ceremonies went well. Announcements were brief. It was cool to see Eleanor Holmes Norton. Although It was more fun to see EHN encounter Iona (specifically, Iona's hair.) I announced the clubs as they marched into the dance hall and got ready for progressive squares with Mike D. Progressives went fabulously (of course). Then came the memorial tip. It was an honor to be asked to call it. As an entertainer, it is a challenge to lead a group of dancers from the emotional high of progressives, to an introspective emotional place of remembrance, then back to an emotional place where they are able to dance again. The committee had discussed this tip with Ett and me. She and I worked out the details of how we would handle such a delicate process. Ultimately, her ideas and the execution were well received and I was deeply honored to have a part. Overall, the opening ceremonies were well done and extremely well organized.

Caller photos went well. Thankfully callers have no egos, so this went off smoothly, with no joking around or horseplay. (Although I did get felt up by Tommy!?!?!) Club Photos (DCLS and Chesapeake) were fun. Great to see who all came from each club. Friday afternoon's C1 went fine. Then I stayed to dance Lynette's Mirrored C1. I love puzzles and this was an awesome hour. Lynette taught mirror, then built to the point we could dance mirrored C1 nearly at speed. I had a fantastic square (with a beautiful, if married, corner!!) Later, I made lots of new friends calling in the MS hall, then on to my favorite ... Plus Hot Hash. There are several videos posted from this hour. I had a blast. The dancers had fun (which is all that matters). Although, I think a few dancers were shell-shocked after the first tip (despite my early warnings.) Plus Hot Hash is my absolute favorite thing to call. I'd do it all the time if I could. Finished the night's calling with fun A2.

Friday night was the HTQ. I will leave this for others to describe.

Saturday
Introductory Emo ( BS ) Fucking emotional roller-coaster.

( (LOL) ) Coffee and a banana, then off to make more friends in the MS hall. I wasn't sure what to expect from my Siamese A1 hour. What a pleasant surprise. I followed Lynette's pattern from the mirrored C1, and built to the point where they were able to do siamese Twosome (If you weren't there and want to know, send an email or watch the video). The dancers (all 16/square) had fun and were very receptive to the ideas. I danced a few kilted tips of Wicked Plus from John. Wicked it was, both the calling and the story-telling. ( Emo moment.  ) The banquet was well-done (read: short announcements and presentations!) My evening C2 went fine, if uninspired. The evening all-skate was great fun. I've always enjoyed calling with others. Well, having 10 other callers to work with is heaven for me. I just love to play (just not in the AllanH kind of way, though ... love you Allan!!)

Snuck away to play a game of Tongiaki, then collapsed in bed.

Sunday
My only early (9:00) calling morning. (Fun badge people, that was YOUR choice, not mine!!! Suck it up!!) I had fun at Intro to Plus. We had one enthusiastic square. I got coffee 1/2 way through (Thanks Danny!!!!) and things went even better after the coffee.

Brunch was very nice. I was ecstatic to see Bob win the Golden Boot. He's so deserving and giving (when he's Bob ;) ) John knows how to run a meeting, and even Allan was brief. (Who knew?) DBD Plus went well, (but Spin-Chain-and-Exchange-the-Gears-Only-Turn-The-Star-ONE-QUARTER!! ... really? really?????) Next hour was me and Sandie doing Christmas music during our Plus TNP tip. It was like sex without the messy clean-up. We clicked, looked inside each other's minds and just had fun. The dancers were appreciative. I got to catch up at Dinner with Tim and Mike and make a new friend, David(?) at the chinese place.

Closing Ceremonies were well-done by the convention and all the callers worked well together (Yes, it can be done!!) to make the finish a big hit for everyone. Dinner with a few old(er) caller friends and a new Chi-Town friend was a great "night-cap" to the weekend. The Guiness was tasty too.

Monday
Brunch with a good friend, P(who now lives 3,000 miles away.) Awful service, but great conversation. Then back to the room for check-out and the inescapable return to daily life. {Sigh}

Overall
Absolutely Excellent and Brilliant!!! All the DCDC Organizers and Volunteers deserve a medal. Outstanding job, led by John and Cissie. Superb!!

LowLights

• John Steckman's loss
• Steve Jacques' loss
• Insufficient sleep
• Not seeing Michael Spayd (Last year's co-chair)

HighLights

• E, C and E's GF there. Such an emotional lift.
• Singing Happy Birthday to E.
• Getting singing call requests by text.
• Getting Easter Eggs delivered. (Thanks D, J and J)
• Great Caller staff to work with
• C2: All as centers: ZIP Code 3, and NO ONE moved, ever.
• Me cuing on Chip's green hat, then he took it off.
• Hot Hash
• Siamese
• DBD with Sandie
• Freeman's advice
• Steve H won the ~$2,300 raffle and immediately donated 1/2 of it to All-Join-Hands.
• Making new friends (Rick)
• Seeing Online Friends (Gary, Steven, Bill, Danny, Bob, etc.)
• Seeing Old friends (Everyone else)

Thanks for such a great weekend everyone!!  See you in Chi-town

I took (most of) the day off work and stopped in at caller's school.  What a blast.  Anne and Todd worked with each of the callers on hard vs easy material.  There was wonderful, healthy discussion of what makes a sequence hard.  (Bad flow?  Bad delivery?  Unexpected positions?)  It was also wonderful to see Bill E in person.  I really admire him and getting to share some time was very nice.

This weekend holds the added twist of the possibility of being very interesting for personal reasons.  I hope everyone ends up feeling comfortable and has a good time.  I promise to make no jokes of any kind directed at certain folks.

Hugs to you all.  You'll get them in person within the next 24 hours.

-- D

I saw Beauty and the Beast at LRHS (with C in the chorus!!) last night.  For a HS production, it is awesome!!  If you're local, I recommend seeing it tonight at 7:00 or tomorrow at 3:00.  I think it's worth it.  (Yes, I'm a proud papa, but really ... no really.  It's good.)

Right now, I'm cleaning (or rather, I did clean).  I still need to go to T's to get the vacuum, but that's all that's left.  Even the 

Today is the first time I'll be seeing my mom and sister since T's departure.  I don't know how my mom will react.  We'll all be at C's show tonight.  Ought to be very interesting.

Tomorrow, 7 hours of gaming.  Whee-freaking-Haw!!!  I can't wait.

Apparently alot.

( Mindless emotional ramblings under this cut ... you've been warned!! )

Who knew?

Odd ... Very Odd.

I was hopeful that this mediation appointment would be our last (@ $200/hr and 200 emotional-grief-tokens/hr, I really really wanted it to be over!!)  {Sigh}

The mediator reviewed what we had agreed to previously and listed al the topics we had left.  We settled on cashflow, and that was the extent of what we accomplished over the next 1:40.  Alas, we did not finish taxes nor assets.  So, an additional $400 will be required for his services.

Considering that the topic was as factual as it was, there was a great deal of emotion in the room.  I was mostly staid and attempted to just focus on the facts, but we still went rather slowly.

The full emotional force of the meeting hit me afterwards.  I sat in the car composing myself (head in hands) for :30 minutes.  I called a friend with whom I had arranged lunch, and canceled.  Then I sat some more.  I think the emotional hit for me was the (near) finality of the divorce agreement.  It felt like another small death on the way to the larger death of divorce (or more specifically the death of a 22 year commitment.)  I've been feeling melancholy and lethargic since.  Today was a totally wasted day, and, while I occasionally experience wasted days (planned or otherwise) they do not sit well with me.  I like to DO.

I'm hoping this week rejuvenates me (and my soul.)

BTW: Eventually, I called my friend back (I hadn't seen her in 24 years) and we did meet for lunch.  Glad I did that.

I would like to let you all know that Tammy and I are beginning the process of separation. Please include our family in your thoughts.

Las Vegas is such a total fantasy town.  Wonderful while you're there (and winning), a great memory, but nothing like real life (bills, work, other problems).  Anyway ... I'm back and here's a recap of my trip:

( Very Long Description of my weekend ... )

Some days you're the dog
Some days you're the hydrant

Today, I'm the hydrant.  And I can't see it getting better for quite some time. 

My mom and sister live in the middle of PA.  In January every year, we meet at a restaurant 1/2 way between our homes and exchange gifts.  Here are a few pics from Saturday's wildly successful exchange:

Well ... T spent the day taking down all the decorations.  When I got home, #2 and I just put away all the Christmas decorations in the garage attic for another year.  I felt a slight bit of sadness, but not as  much as I expected.  Somehow, I'm more glad that the job of putting them away went so smoothly, rather than the sad feeling of Christmas being over.  Perhaps age, senility, maturity brings that on.  Dunno.  

Now, on to:

1. Teaching another memory class
2. Working on the mentalism show (Working title: The Professor and Maryanne)
3. Poker trip to Vegas
4. MS Class
5. Christmas with my Mom in York PA
6. Gaming day
7. then ... February

I love my life.

Happy 2009 Everyone.