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A quick and confusing Pinewoods report
Jul. 15th, 2024 12:00 amI am home from Pinewoods!
I am not _remotely_ unpacked, but I have run through two loads of laundry (of an expected...mmm...six? if you count the specialty stuff?)
My pants are extremely bankrupt and probably not going to be caught up --so if there's something you were particularly keen on me seeing in the month of July, do drop me a comment? I am well aware that there has also been Some Fucking News going on, and I am not really looking forward to trying to figure that all out. Running back to the woods as soon as possible seems good.
I already miss camp dreadfully, but it's tempered by knowing I'm back in like...five days? Look, I think neither me nor SamSam have work on Saturday so it seems like a Really Keen Idea to get my ass there in time for us to overlap on a nice day together before they have to go back to Vermont and I have to take over their job.
(one of the things I spent a bunch of time doing during ScottishSessions was hanging out by the pots window and "getting trained" which was about a third legitimately asking Sam questions about potwashing and two thirds ogling my partner's forearms as they wash dishes. It was a good break when I needed something more queer than ScottishSessions!)
My MCing night went _really_ well. I haven't gotten any actual feedback yet (because that form doesn't close until at least the 31st) but I did get some informal comments that were quite nice, including an extremely explicit and nice one from Jim, who was MCing the following night. I managed to keep my entire evening to 2hr34min, which was fantastic for getting the auction started early, and felt nicely paced for getting through the dances in a fair snappy manner.
I walked two dances twice on purpose (Took Us Long Enough, because it's new to almost everyone and just a little tricksy, and Postie's Jig because it's not at all hard, but it's very symmetric and if you do two walkthroughs everyone gets to try the active role). The rest seemed to be happy with one clear walkthrough. Turns out the huge advantage of teaching the "Tonight's Easy" and "Tonight's Tricky" classes is getting to brief the fuck out of your dances over and over again before you have to do it for realsies. That definitely helped!
Anyways, I'm good at teaching and I'm good at SCD, and those are the only two things in the world I can be arrogant about. I spent the entirety of Wednesday in a pretty tight anxietyspiral regardless, but somewhere near the end of the first half, most of my tension finally relaxed and I found myself Between The Music And The Dance which genuinely remains one of my favourite places in the entire universe.
ESCape was better in a lot of ways, mostly because ESCape felt relaxed and easy in ways that Scots no longer does. It's _home_, it's queers, it's a fundamental focus on inclusivity, it's singing in abundance, it's a *lot* more people that I'm physically attracted to (and look, that's not why I dance, but it's a great perk). Also the weather was _way_ better.
But I was scared ScotsSessions were going to be _awful_ even with the culture work Magus and Keira have put in, and they *weren't*. They were really nice in a lot of really good ways. I felt a little bit on the outside for a bunch of them, but at the same time, right in the middle of everything. I had very few conversations that involved me gritting my teeth and having to be a Nice Queer.
It's not Home anymore, not in the way other parts of Pinewoods feel, but the Scots were my first family and I still really do love them a lot. I love dancing, I love laughing, I love watching all the really splendid people, I *love* that this year there was a whole cadre of youth --like, younger than me youth! Camp had a lot of joy and I was thrilled to be able to share in and spread it as well.
(Meanwhile, ESCape was not as relationship-complicated as I feared it could be, in no small part because Austin and I ended our first-night waltz quite close to Phoebe and Todd, and Bee took advantage to just be all "let's choose who's sleeping where, when, now". Having that laid out clear from the get-go made it all much easier to bear, and then we could get on with the important parts of life, like flirting with each other and singing songs.)
((And yes, you can still fit two people in the Kitty Alone single bed. Although if one of them is Austin, he might steal all the covers and then deposit them on the floor. I'll forgive him eventually!))
I sang _so many songs_. Specifically, I _led_ so many songs, and if YTS was a culmination, this was a celebration. I am good at what I do! And part of what I do is lead people in joy and humour.
I dunno, there are a million more things to write, in a more cohesive sort of manner, but that's going to be a tomorrow project like unpacking and more laundry. For now I'm just proud that this is day 693 of writing without any misses, and that means I am _two full Pinewoods_ without breaking streak. Fuck yeah!
Goodnight!
~Sor
MOOP!
I am not _remotely_ unpacked, but I have run through two loads of laundry (of an expected...mmm...six? if you count the specialty stuff?)
My pants are extremely bankrupt and probably not going to be caught up --so if there's something you were particularly keen on me seeing in the month of July, do drop me a comment? I am well aware that there has also been Some Fucking News going on, and I am not really looking forward to trying to figure that all out. Running back to the woods as soon as possible seems good.
I already miss camp dreadfully, but it's tempered by knowing I'm back in like...five days? Look, I think neither me nor SamSam have work on Saturday so it seems like a Really Keen Idea to get my ass there in time for us to overlap on a nice day together before they have to go back to Vermont and I have to take over their job.
(one of the things I spent a bunch of time doing during ScottishSessions was hanging out by the pots window and "getting trained" which was about a third legitimately asking Sam questions about potwashing and two thirds ogling my partner's forearms as they wash dishes. It was a good break when I needed something more queer than ScottishSessions!)
My MCing night went _really_ well. I haven't gotten any actual feedback yet (because that form doesn't close until at least the 31st) but I did get some informal comments that were quite nice, including an extremely explicit and nice one from Jim, who was MCing the following night. I managed to keep my entire evening to 2hr34min, which was fantastic for getting the auction started early, and felt nicely paced for getting through the dances in a fair snappy manner.
I walked two dances twice on purpose (Took Us Long Enough, because it's new to almost everyone and just a little tricksy, and Postie's Jig because it's not at all hard, but it's very symmetric and if you do two walkthroughs everyone gets to try the active role). The rest seemed to be happy with one clear walkthrough. Turns out the huge advantage of teaching the "Tonight's Easy" and "Tonight's Tricky" classes is getting to brief the fuck out of your dances over and over again before you have to do it for realsies. That definitely helped!
Anyways, I'm good at teaching and I'm good at SCD, and those are the only two things in the world I can be arrogant about. I spent the entirety of Wednesday in a pretty tight anxietyspiral regardless, but somewhere near the end of the first half, most of my tension finally relaxed and I found myself Between The Music And The Dance which genuinely remains one of my favourite places in the entire universe.
ESCape was better in a lot of ways, mostly because ESCape felt relaxed and easy in ways that Scots no longer does. It's _home_, it's queers, it's a fundamental focus on inclusivity, it's singing in abundance, it's a *lot* more people that I'm physically attracted to (and look, that's not why I dance, but it's a great perk). Also the weather was _way_ better.
But I was scared ScotsSessions were going to be _awful_ even with the culture work Magus and Keira have put in, and they *weren't*. They were really nice in a lot of really good ways. I felt a little bit on the outside for a bunch of them, but at the same time, right in the middle of everything. I had very few conversations that involved me gritting my teeth and having to be a Nice Queer.
It's not Home anymore, not in the way other parts of Pinewoods feel, but the Scots were my first family and I still really do love them a lot. I love dancing, I love laughing, I love watching all the really splendid people, I *love* that this year there was a whole cadre of youth --like, younger than me youth! Camp had a lot of joy and I was thrilled to be able to share in and spread it as well.
(Meanwhile, ESCape was not as relationship-complicated as I feared it could be, in no small part because Austin and I ended our first-night waltz quite close to Phoebe and Todd, and Bee took advantage to just be all "let's choose who's sleeping where, when, now". Having that laid out clear from the get-go made it all much easier to bear, and then we could get on with the important parts of life, like flirting with each other and singing songs.)
((And yes, you can still fit two people in the Kitty Alone single bed. Although if one of them is Austin, he might steal all the covers and then deposit them on the floor. I'll forgive him eventually!))
I sang _so many songs_. Specifically, I _led_ so many songs, and if YTS was a culmination, this was a celebration. I am good at what I do! And part of what I do is lead people in joy and humour.
I dunno, there are a million more things to write, in a more cohesive sort of manner, but that's going to be a tomorrow project like unpacking and more laundry. For now I'm just proud that this is day 693 of writing without any misses, and that means I am _two full Pinewoods_ without breaking streak. Fuck yeah!
Goodnight!
~Sor
MOOP!