Friday night I attended the memorial for Drew Lippolt. It commemorated his birthday, theoretically, but I found the ceremony to lack much of the emotional power I expected... Sachi (his widow) read a nice little speech which did bring tears to my eyes at the end, but that was the greatest degree of sadness I felt. It was as though I have grieved so much for him that I didn't have any tears left, and his presence in my life was still too distant to spontaneously recreate much joy. All that was left for me were the low-level pleasures of seeing old friends, reminiscing, and enjoying the sunlight (while trying to stay in the shade, ironically).

Afterwards I flew home, did the speed-shower routine (shower, dress, and do hair and makeup in 21 minutes), ate a quick bite, and zipped to Copa for salsa class. My boss and her husband attended (with mixed results-- she picked it up pretty quickly but he needed a little more time) and the group as a whole was good. Kenny from the Valley came, so I had two good salsas with him, and one reallllly long chacha that wasn't so good... a couple of crazy dances with Roy, and one dance with Sidney which turned out pleasantly because I asked up front for a beginner's dance. Next weekend should be great fun with lots of dancers in town for Alex's event. And the following weekend I go to Wisconsin to see my best friend's new baby adopted from China!

Saturday we did errands, went to Bastrop, and relaxed. Sunday morning I actually got up and ran/walked around my neighborhood and on the riverwalk. Sunday evening I had a private lesson with Azucena at Mitch's house... I videotaped it, thank goodness, because she gave me a lot of material to work on and watching the tape will keep me busy practicing for a while. Now I finally have the breakdown for the cute little "thing" I see Magna Gopal doing all the time... so I have no excuse not to learn it. I also did the Magna spins video while waiting for Azucena to arrive, and my spinning is much better than it used to be.

Got up this morning and ran-- though I didn't feel like I did as well as last Friday, it turns out we got to the bridge about 5 min ahead of our usual time! So that was fun and very encouraging. And I'll be playing racquetball with Antonio today 4-6pm.

I have a deadline today and a brief due in 3 weeks that I haven't started yet, so I may not post again for a while.