The Curious Mind of Xta

Presents everywhere! First, a hoop cart, made from an old kiddie trailer that Heather scooped from somewhere up in Williams Lake, and then Dad took over the work of ripping off the tent-like stuff, and doing a little chopping and fabricating of crossbars to allow the hoops to be loaded in and out, and then pinned in place. Add bungee cords, and more air in the tires than I had on the first day of use (gasp!) and I'm rolling!

Second present: a new-to-me CPU from Kyle. The previous computer that Paul gave me was wonderful, super-speedy, great for processing videos and graphics and stuff... but was buggy (I knew this when I accepted it) and refused to run Word or Excel or Outlook.. not so good for work stuff. SO, after a day of mucking around (two CPUs, one keyboard, one mouse, one functional monitor) getting files transferred back and forth, I'm mostly on the new machine (might have a few iTunes that need rescuing) and VERY happy!

Third present: an email out of the blue arrived on Wednesday morning, asking if I did birthday parties and if I was available on Friday afternoon. Off I went, on the bike cart with some new smaller-person-sized hoops in tow, and had a lovely time with the girls (and their moms, and the occasional dad)... twas fun!

Fourth present, and why this feels like two days before Christmas: the article in the Vancouver Courier that I was interview for, back in March, will be coming out on Wednesday. A photographer came over on Thursday and took some shots of me INSIDE that big bundle of hoops in the cart, and from what I could see looking at his digital display, they look pretty cool.. of course, I have my fingers crossed for the cover photo, but I'll accept anything, with all this amazing publicity that is about to be generated for hooping in Vancouver, and my Hoop Play classes! Wooooo!

Oh, yeah.. and the sun has been shining :) Freckle time again, and SPF 45...

Weather: Sunny and windy today... though I didn't get outside til after 5 in the afternoon, due to new computer setup.

Chai's: one, in my mug... I think I broke my resolution by accident on Saturday morning. Went out Friday night, buses took FOREVER to get Linz and I back home, and then waterpolo had switched to mornings so I had to get up EARLY on Saturday to get there... stumbled into the cafe between bus 1 and bus 2, and got an iced chai to go... in their disposible plastic cup... realized about five minutes later what I'd done. (hang head in shame)

Water: polo in the outdoor pool all weekend... rain, fog, mist on Saturday, nicely sunny on Sunday... and no swimming today! Hope to make some time tomorrow, before bellydance class and the hooping playdate afterwards...

Wardrobe: navy yoga pants that were the most amazing find in a regular-size store.. XL, long enough to actually puddle over the tops of my feet, and $10! Woo! Only problem now is that the waist is loose and I have to hike them up all the time, grr. Also from the same store: black skinny rib T that is long enough to stay DOWN while I'm hooping, worn over the wonderfully supportive bra that has handily cross-over-able straps to hide behind all my racerback hooping shirts!

Craft in progress: actually finished knitting the Dink hat, so now have to embroider the letters onto it... the non-felted bag has been set aside, since I realized I got the proportions wrong.. and I'm playing with hemp and wool blended yarn, to make a hippie summer bag :) I'm SO into this new look, its funny.. but that brings me to the newest catagory:

Dreadlocks: Counted them the other day, while retwisting after washing, and I have at least 82... might have miscounted, but I restarted on the low side. They are badly in need of rewaxing, but while I meant to let them dry all day yesterday after polo, I forgot my wax at the pool, so I've got 1-2" untwisted roots and ends, and still decently twisted middles. Getting fuzzier, too, with the occasional hair root sticking up (hair that would normally fall out and be brushed away now stays with the dread forever... kinda yicky, but whatever :) They'll help to fatten the dreads up eventaully)