On Thursday we went to the Corb Lund concert at the Westman, and it was fantastic. The opening acts were quirky and alt-country, so they meshed well with Lund and his band. The headliners played a lot of my favourites, which made me happy. All in all, there was near enough not to matter to three hours of live music. We sat 7th-row, stage right, which were fine seats.
Friday we got invited out to a “black tie” martini party at Lady of the Lake. I got gussied up in a suit, K put on her new Little Black Dress, and we ventured forth with X and X (no, I’m not kidding, I know two people whose initials are X, and they were both in the back seat of my car on Friday night). Live music by Poor Boy Roger, a local blues/swing band, dancing, martinis of all descriptions (including one with a chocolate-covered espresso bean at the bottom like a prize), and delicious appetizers. It was a hoot.
Saturday we ran into The City so I could take part in the U of M’s weekend judo class. An hour of warmup left me sweating profusely — I thought I was going to die during the handball game — and then I was shown the first two sets of ju-no-kata, along with some help finding the kata’s narrative, which helps. I also had one of the senseis drop a pearl of wisdom in my ear that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since: “All throws in judo come from sumi-otoshi or uki-otoshi.”
Sunday: off to MacG for family fun times with T, A, and their new boy B. Having a cold, I felt it was unwise to hold the baby, so K ended up with my turn. Not that she complained one whit.
Tonight: Watched a cow-orker’s copy of The Fall, which was a fantastic movie, in all senses of the word. It was visually stunning, well-shot, it captivated my attention, and it provided an interesting look at the process of creating a story. It was also a moving drama, and brimful of fine actors in fine roles.
And then, tonight as well, I submitted two more stories to magazines: “After the Missile Rain”, a <1k “flash” piece, to Flash Fiction Online, and “Neither Bang nor Whimper”, 2700 words that I wrote in under 24 hours for a contest, to Fantasy Magazine. Wish me luck!
And with that: good night.
