Well, I'm back at home, simultaneously unpacking and preparing to go on vacation to Hawaii. So far I've seen Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind at Ayudaren's behest, which was quite as good as he advertised, and met Lionell's new (well, new to me) girlfriend. I am preparing for further adventures in Phoenix Earth, wherein we will explore further the destiny of the brothers Follakir, and I am preparing for new adventures as Marina Spier, aimless English major. On Saturday the gang and I will see Episode III, and this long arduous episode in the saga of our Star Wars lives will come to a close.

In short, I am home. I realized yesterday as we were packed into Twilight's den watching Nausicaa and talking about what Ms. Spier would bring with her on a road trip around small town USA that we're really only like this when we're all together. I can't help but feel if I were to bring home one of my Stanford friends - especially one of the Stanford friends I met through dance - they'd find me virtually unrecognizable at home.

And speaking of dance, the Big Dance went off smashingly in my opinion. Congratulations to Blue Rose for that, and congratulations to Shanah Van for a highly entertaining and well-received choreography of "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." Everyone I could reasonably have expected to be there was there, with the exception of White Jade, and that was satisfying. There were also a few people who I couldn't reasonably expect to be there who were, and that was satisfying too. Of course it would have been nice if a few others had been present as well - Alanna, Chariessa, and Esther Selene, to name a few - but since they'd all have had to travel several thousand miles to get there, I think I can forgive their absences. And it was delightful to see and dance with Terina, whose company I have missed altogether too frequently this year. I also got to dance the Dawn Mazurka again (and in a set with Shanah, Rose, and the Dance Master, no less), which was highly satisfying even if I did make one rather large embarrassing mistake (among several smaller embarrassing mistakes). I think I've got it locked down in my head now, though. Many thanks to my gracious partner, for whom I have no blogname, and to the rest of my set.

Best dance of the night was probably with Anachoron to "Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy." I have to agree with him that while I would die if polkas were played much more frequently than they are, as far as individual dances go they're almost always my favorite. There's such an intense exuberance to flying through the air to a good technopolka, which is why I had to open my lungs and sing to that song. Sorry if I embarrassed anybody, but it was just so much fun (and I was quite pleased to find that I could sing and polk at the same time). We thanked the Dance Master afterwards for playing that song, and that was fun.

Oh, and one more thing. He called it air redowa.