Damn, I KNEW I should have raised the height on the tripod.

Hair was duly sworn at. Shoes were abandoned after the first waltz because the floor was too slippery. Room was simultaneously too hot and too cold because they had every and window propped open AND the heat blasting.

Danced some but not as much as I would've liked. Knee held up just fine, but had to decline a polka with Alexander on basic general principle - I'm just not a high impact kind of girl anymore, should've made him come back for a waltz later. Crowd dynamic was different - lots of people there I'd never seen before plus people who normally adhere to mixer etiquette at Friday Night Waltz or Gaskells being glued to their date the entire night (hey, New Year's Eve, I'm not gonna quibble). Did "Congress of Vienna" with a very nice guy who's quite new - and a brand new dad. Got a lovely waltz in with Mark and another with the amazing Cary. Did a little swing dancing with the Sikh gentleman whose name I never caught. Had the last waltz with Aviva because Men R Dum - we linked pinkies to walk out onto the floor.

Lots of good gowns, plus a fair number of Dickens Faire escapees. Merrin looked great in dark blue chiffon, hair up in a tiara with Grecian goddess waves of curls flowing out of it. Carey - I have to hate Carey because she looks amazing in pretty much anything -  was in a thrift store confection in white satin. Lots of guys in tails, or at least spiffy waistcoats. Alexander was in zoot suit mode in a particularly obnoxious  shade of mustard, but it worked on him. Sam - who we also must hate for being young and cute and slight enough to wear vintage stuff of his own - was in a white linen suit from the early part of the 20th century.

Band appeared to be incapable of listening to each other: don't know if it was post-Dickens-Faire burnout or what, but they were not on form.

No magic. Just a bit of fun.

A Curmudgeonly Public Service Announcement

Dear Messrs. Barratt, Cahill, Carlen, Huck, Lurker and Ploskonka,

Please do not call your little exercise a "blog game" in the hopes of duping me into participating in an experiment. It's quite obviously not a game, but some sort of study in which you are collecting information on the relative affluence of blog users on this (and possibly other) journal groups.

You will forgive me if I prefer not to  "share"  information about my socio-economic status on a public internet forum.

Thank you for your attention. 

EDIT: http://wbarratt.indstate.edu/socialclass/social_class_on_campus.htm

Well, THAT'S interesting.

24 hours after being starched and ironed, the eboshi is actually doing what it's supposed to do, i.e., stand up straight on its own. I'm going to hit it again with more spray starch tonight and again in a day or so just to be sure, then stuff it with paper while it dries.