30 Aug 2009

On Friday night Stesha and I went swing dancing! It was a forty minute bus and train trip to Newtown, in the Inner West near the University of Sydney (I live in the Eastern Suburbs). We stayed for a great Charleston lesson and then social dancing, met some really nice people, and had fun. I was a little humbled to see just how out of practice I am, and at the same time, completely invigorated. I mniss dancing so much! I asked around, but alas, Denver and Seattle remain the only cities where I have enjoyed swing cafes. The Universities don’t even have swing clubs. I don’t know how these people stay in such good practice. Anyway, Stesha and I went for nachos afterward and I caught the last bus home, at 1256 a.m. with about a minute and a half to spare.

Thank goodness it’s a gray sort of Saturday, so I will be able to catch up on some work, etc. I have been researching a good deal into the Project, and enjoying what I have found, and feeling a little more balanced, so that this week I really will be able to concentrate just on some school work. Yasmeen, I bought new shoes that made me think of you, because although they are not something I would normally get (pink and sort of beige and brown, with little straps across the top), the saleslady smiled at me and said they were “different” and I always admire your taste in shoes (it’s “different”) so there you go.

Cooking is going well. I made brownies last week and for three days in a row, took a plate of them to my neighbor’s apartment and knocked on her door, but she was never in. After three days I had already downsized the plate enough that I figured I’d better just eat the last few. I have finally admitted that I just can’t cook sausages: in the last two months, I got cheek from some “gourmet” sausage salesman when I tried to buy a $2 sausage with a $50 bill; another sausage actually exploded in the pan and all over my walls; and two nights ago, I melted a plastic spatula to the frying pan (no, I did not attempt to eat the sausage and yes, I know this can cause cancer, thank you). So no more sausage for me. I did try grilling a steak in the oven, which came out just mediocre but improved vastly with the addition of blue cheese/cream sauce and red wine-sauteed mushrooms. Mmm.