We watched the boats take off from our window and now we're listening to radio coverage and watching the folks row on the TV screens in the park across the street. Which is amusing me. Cambridge has a girl cox, which is awesome.

They're about to the Chiswick Eyot (Chizzik Eight). TTYL.

(Later, quotes from the radio.)
"The level of tension amongst the spectators? Well, there's not a person without a drink in hand, and those drinks are bobbing about."
(Later)
"Oxford have put in a great spurt at the end but it won't count for anything."
(Later)
"The glory boys of Cambridge, the ... nowhere boys of Oxford." My!

Last night's rowing was a mixed bag. We had three boats out; clearly, Tom's harsh criticism had cleared out a lot of the women who'd been coming quite consistently until then. (Or who knows, maybe the good weather was keeping people away. Yeah, that's right, I don't want to be on the water when the sun is shining!) Unfortunately we were still short of both coaches and coxswains, and I was on the boat that got shorted; an inexperienced cox and poor Aina driving back and forth on the support boat trying to keep up with us. We, alas, had NO idea what we were supposed to be doing, such as: which end of the lake should be paddle on? Where should we go once we got there? We wound up sitting around several times waiting for directions, once in the middle of the shipping lane on Lake Union (thankfully the fact it had clouded over had reduced the number of boats puttering about). We also kept going "bow six" and then "stern six," which meant, since I was in 5 seat, that I rowed pretty much the whole freaking night without a break. We were also going really, really fast, which seemed kind of unnecessary.

The good stuff: well, once again, my team was cranking out, when we were rowing. We were faster than the other groups again, which was pretty shocking given that we were struggling for direction. But the better stuff was that Randi, the woman in my class who knew me back in the Phoenix days, invited me and shadowdaddy over to her (very near) house afterwards. I first said, "Oh, thanks, we're going to the Comet for pints and some Indian food," but then I remembered how people are so bad about extending invitations around here at all, and how (in my theory) if you don't start seeing people socially while an activity is going on that you're doing (usually work), you usually won't see them afterwards ... and I said yes.

And, you know, it was reallyl delightful at her place; a cute Craftsman two blocks up from Lake Union. She brought out plates of incredible cheeses and rosemary lavosh (with olives, which I skipped), and happily nuked up the tandoori chicken and rice we had with us. I broke down and had a glass of white wine (it wasn't served to me by lilithmagna so somehow it all seemed wrong) as well as a quart or so of water (as class had REALLY dried me out), and her three friends from rowing class joined us on the back patio, overlooking the lake, for some natter and nosh. We got to watch the sun set, and, man ... it was just really pleasant, almost enough to take my dissatisfaction with class right out of my mouth.

Tomorrow we're supposed to do some racing. It will likely be my last class, though I'm allowed to catch up the two we missed at the end of the next section (the one that starts July 3rd). I am looking forward to it, and, you know what? I'm going to stick with it when I get back from my trip. Rowing is fun.

(Had to get a quick entry done as we're having class again tonight ...)

Weather Saturday was good, overcast with only a tiny wind. I was seat #1 in a boat of eight (we put in four of them). Aina was out so the instructor from the other class was subbing for her. Tom had recruited some more experienced women to "cox," so we got a lot of instruction from a total stranger. She was actually quite good; helped us work on turing the boat, which seemed to be a rythmn of "side A row (forward) while side B feathers the blades across the top of the water to their starting position; now side B back, side A feather ..." We made fairly good progress on the lake, although, truth be told, I think not once were we rowing all eight of us a the same time. I got a better "handle" on "setting" the boat, which is making it sit level. When it's not level, the oars will either dip too deeply in the water or just sort of splash along the top (depending on whether your side is leaning toward or away from the water); several times I found myself really having to dig just to get my oar to return to its original position.

Though I'd been eager for class to start and was impatient to wait so long to get to row, I did actually get worn out a bit before class was over. But it was not my arms that faded; instead, it was my legs, which became tired of having to push the squeaky, ill-oiled seat of the boat we were in backward. I'll try to avoid sitting in that one in the future.

I'm looking forward to class tonight. Here's hoping for calm waters! I won't row again until next Tuesday; apparently everyone is going out of town for a race.

By the way, I'd like to encourage any men on my flist to take this class (next one starts July 3) - it's 3/4 women, oddly enough.

You can see Queen Anne Hill and even the Space Needle in the background

Me, sitting at seat #1 (or about to).

Alrightie! Despite the wind (nearly 12 miles an hour, which is apparently the cut-off point), we went out on the water today, three boats of eight, three coxswains, and three people riding on the support boats. I was with an all-woman crew (3/4 of our class is female, not sure why), and I found getting the boat off of the rack (and, later, out of the water) HAAAAAAAAAAARD! It was heavy and I am weak.

Seemingly seconds after we got in the water, the boat bleeeeewwwww away into the middle of the lake. Behold, houseboats! Behold, barge towing sand! Behold the sea plane! All of them seemed aimed toward us and we did worry about the possibility of a collision.

The next hour and a half (we were out there over the normal end of class), we tried to paddle a little, turn, paddle, split the paddling with left "rowing" and right "pulling" (or something like that), just have the front paddle, etc., etc. I was able to do a good job of getting "right" and "left" correct (it's reversed for crew, and it's "port" and "starboard" just to be extra special), but when I was supposed to row backwards I kept, um, going the right way, which actually is backwards, but it was supposed to be the other direction. Behold, I am dyslexic.

At any rate, it seemed that whenever the teacher wanted some muscle, she asked me to pull (but maybe it was just because of my position in the boat), which I found flattering ... so even though I was working hard, mentally and physically, I was having a really good time.

Afterwards, it was off to Piecora's for a refreshing bout of slices and salad. I'm looking forward to Saturday morning's class, and I'm feeling very enthused about the possibility of keeping this up after this class is done!

Bah, we did not get on the water today! The wind was too high (though it seemed low to me!), and instead we stayed inside in the training room and did "ergs" (ergonomic exercises). In this case we were divided into nine teams and pretended to be rowing a race of 5000 meters, each of us pulling, er, I don't know, I thought 1000 each but the math doesn't work out (guess I wasn't paying attention). I was aggravated by needing to "race" when I still didn't feel I had my form down, and was rather too slow the first round while I tried to get my arms and knees to be in the right place, but on the second round Aina came by to coach me and I picked up my speed quite a bit ("Use those leg muscles and kick!"). My team still was 7th out of 9, but it was hard for me to give a rat's ass.

Hmm. The competetive element of crew. I don't know if I'm really excited about that. I'm much more interested in getting my position correct and moving effectively and seamlessly with others. I actually think that the article katyha posted on "what makes women happy" (absolutely fantastic, I'll try to write more about it later, but obviously not so late as now) gets what I want out of crew perfectly: flow, the "complete absorption in a task so that there's no awareness of passing time." It goes on to say, "High-flow activities (which might include playing an instrument, gardening, singing in a choir, or writing) are distinguished by being difficult enough to prevent boredom, but not so impossible as to make you want to give up." This is what I love about Pilates and it's what I think I'll like about crew, and when I was feeling worn out today at work it was the hope of getting lost in flow (rather than getting crunched in the meat grinder at the office) that I was looking forward to.

By the way, I know that flow makes me happy. I also think that people's ability to get ridiculously absorbed in their own problems is a lot of what makes them miserable. Mental illness is, I think, a bit of the luxury of our times; people who are absorbed in trying to feed themselves have less time for depression. Anyway, though this is all a bit flip for the many very down people I know, I do seriously advise concentrated exercise, INTERESTING exercise, as a way to help break the bad chatter in your head. Maybe you won't agree with Lesley Garner's statement that "the key to happiness was to take up Scottish dancing," but if you read that article you may find contra dancing sounds like a very good way for you to pass the time.

SOOOO ... no problems getting up "early" today, then it was off to the Lake Union Crew for the day we actually got in the water. Well, as it turns out, this was not SUCH an exciting day, as there is a lot of build-up to getting in the water, because first we have to get the BOAT in the water (see this shot as we make the attempt). This is suprisingly difficult because 1) the boat is approximately the length of an Imperial Star Destroyer and 2) it weighs about as much as an old-growth redwood and 3) everyone is retarded - I mean, newbs - and can't figure it out. Also, any movement is restrained by stress over the threat of "damaging the equipment," which does NOT mean hurting your boy bits because these couldn't possibly be worth as much as one of these boats ($20K).

So our lesson today was 1) how to remove the oars from the racks 2) how to not kill each other with eight foot long paddles as we walked around with them 3) how to lift a boat 4) how to dance around under a boat 5) how to lift a boat over your head (illustrated here) 6) how to roll the boat off of your head and into the water and not break the boat or your foot 7) how to get the oars in the boat without falling in the water (hereby abbreviated wfitw) 8) how to get in the boat wfitw 9) how to "level" the boat (kind of rocking it back and forth) 10) how to get out of the boat wfitw )or breaking your foot) 11) how to put the paddles away (first you dip the handles in bleach, then you actually go in a parade with one person having their paddle facing forward, then the one behind them having their paddle facing behind, then you stack them) 12) how to get the boat out of the water 13) how to get the boat back on the rack without wrenching your back, breaking the boat, or sticking the oarlock through another boat.

Fun, eh? Anyway, it all wrapped up around 11, and we took the opportunity to go to the market and 1) have crumpets and tea (at the crumpet shop, of course) 2) buy some fresh, hot mini-donuts 3) refresh my tea supply 4) wonder at the mystery of gorgeous boots ruined by bad colors (it says "black and charcoal," but it's actually black and GREEN!) and 6) buy super cheap shoes for wearing on the dock at Payless.

Right, that's it for now. On with cleaning the yard! But first... a nap!

So ... last weekend I was totally blue and I saw a poster for rowing classes on the walls at Cupcake Royale (it's sitting right in front of me at this very moment). It sounded like something I might enjoy; learning how to synchronize myself with other people's movements is a challenge I find very engaging, and I love how the paddling I do for kayaking helps work the stress knots out of my back. So I looked at theLake Union Crew schedule, and was first very excited because they had not one, but two classes starting this very week! But then I was frustrated because the Monday/Wednesday crew class was full and Tuesday/Thursday would interfere with Pilates - and I couldn't go the very first day.

BUT ... I thought about it, and came up with this idea: what if I went to the very first class on the MONDAY, then joined in with the regular class on Thursday and just said foo to Pilates for the month of June, because, hey, wouldn't I rather be on the water than inside the gym, and wouldn't I be getting more exercise doing this (as it's three times a week) anyway?

So I proposed this to the people who run it, and they thought it was just fine! And we walk in, and who greets us but this gorgeous tall man who says, "Huh, your name is [Puddint]ane? I know a [Puddint]ane." And I looked at him and said, "No you didn't, you knew me! There ain't no other [Puddint]ane!" And we looked at each other, and behold, it was Tom, a guy who used to live up the street and threw this fabulous "Wig Party" some five years back that I very rudely crashed (because I saw all of these crazy dressed people running up the street and said, "I want to go where they're going!") and then made a celebrity out of myself by drinking tequila out of the bottle, though since I was wearing a wig it was all good. It was a great party.

And shadowdaddy and I sat on the couch in the big room there and we were told to introduce ourselves to the person next to us, who was Randi, who said to me, "Didn't you used to go to Asylum?" which was of course the moldie oldie Industrial club from Phoenix way back in the early 90s, and she even used to go to "Out of Water," which was my big hangout from the late 80's. She said I had a familiar face! We were very excited, and I was sorry that we weren't going to be seeing her because we weren't actually in the Monday class - but it turns out she's not, either, she's in the Tuesday class and Tom is going to be our teacher!

So all is good and I'm psyched about spending the month of June primarily rowing a boat around Lake Union. I know it's going to be hard for me to get that coordination thing down but I firmly believe I can do it and I know for a fact I (and shadowdaddy) am (are) going to be ripped by the time July 1 rolls around. I'll try to do a picture post regularly but will keep the rest of my entries behind a cut.

Afterwards we went grocery shopping at Trader Joe's and had a late supper of goat-cheese decorated salad with English cucumber and hot house tomatoes, dressed with a pomegranate vinaigrette and some olive oil. And I talked to Mandy about the pretty dress she's making me. And then I made a banana daquiri. Yum. And then I wrote work email for half an hour because I'm behind. Boo, but whatever, when my work stress level gets high because I'm backlogged it makes me feel better, and this is critical to get ready for the London thing, which must be a success. The whole reason I took this class on this day is so I could have enough time to get my work done, as it's heading into review time and I need to have my little ducks in a row.

Finally: my fortune from a few days ago: your love life will change for the better. Wow, no need to even add "in bed" to that!

I am signing up for the Lake Union Crew class, the one that is T/Th/Sat AM. I'll go tonight for the first class (since I can't go tomorrow - conflicts with Black Orpheus), then start on the regular schedule on Thursday. The class will go through July 1st and will have me up and out the door early on Saturdays. Admittedly, it will conflict with Pilates, but I think I'd rather be outside this time of the year anyway, and since it's at 6:30 shadowdaddy can go with me.

So can you if you're interested. I know it's short notice, but I can't do the early July class and I don't want to hate until the end of July, and I'm pretty much stuck in town for all of this month so I want to make the best of us. Come row with us! I'll treat you to beer afterwards if you'd like.

Otherwise: day pure chaos, much like grad school, in which it was not how well you did it, it was how fast you could get it done.