batskeets | And so begins, begins our odyssey

I think I've spent the past week feeling like something of a shadow of myself. Being sick has really knocked me out, and aside from a flurry of productivity on Thursday, I've been largely useless for any pursuit that involves thinking on my part, which includes doing chainwhip form with any level of competence, and being fun/interesting at parties.

With the former of those two points in mind, I skipped the frustration of wushu and went to derby instead on Friday. There's a different coach on Friday nights, so there was a much different feel to the practice overall, but it was nice to just be there, be challenged physically, and not have to pull my brain out of its fog and overthink the whole thing.

And, I also picked up a very caffeinated

dakania from the airport later that night! We went out with another friend of hers for drinks (well, they drank, I stuck to water so as not to anger the diet or sickness gods), and I arrived home after 2am with her and two giant suitcases. She's already been making good use of my kitchen, and seems to be settling in pretty nicely, so that? Is awesome.

Saturday morning had me rolling out to a pre-wedding ladies' brunch at Muddy's for Alyson, and Alicia crowned her with a unicorn horn for the day. They all went for manicures afterwards, which I had to miss out on, but it was still good to see my ladies.

Then, of course, MOAR DERBY. I'd had the thought of trying to scrimmage for the first time, but we wound up not scrimmaging, and instead doing an awesome drill that was a nice stepping stone for scrimmaging. And, having the Friday night practice in my mind as contrast, I think I adore Napoleon (our Saturday coach) even more now. If that's even possible. XD This is not to say that the Friday coaches aren't also awesome, but Napoleon is just dorky and hilarious and has an infectious energy that I can't help but love, AND she pulls really excellent drills out of her hat every week. <3

I had to run some unexpected errands after derby, and by the time I got home and showered, it was basically time to get ready for

_dilate_'s party, so I suited up for that. Having The Plague all week blew my evil plans for making my Fire Flower costume, so instead, Chun Li made another appearance! I was bummed at having to recycle an old costume, but I *did* have proper boots for it, this time, so it was much improved.

Since

marykae caught the aforementioned plague, I gave Joey a ride to and from the party, so I got there later than expected, but it was fun, the decorations and food all looked amazing, and I met a few cool new people. I was feeling very addle-brained and tired, though, and engaging in conversation with new people started feeling like too much effort, after a while. Joey also looked pretty bored, so I took that as a sign that maybe I should just head out. I wound up getting home before midnight on a Saturday, which simultaneously made me feel like an old lady, and left me feeling relieved.

Sunday had me sleeping until... 11:30am (wtf?!), working on photos, and then heading up to visit with

archmage before he departs on his next big adventure. I'd originally planned to hit up the derby Get Fit class later in the afternoon, but laughing and watching old episodes of the animated Star Trek series with a few friends sounded much better, in the end. Gaming and get-togethers will definitely not be the same around here, without

archmage, but I'm happy and excited for him and what he has to look forward to.

I went to my nutrition group meeting, and then threw together some veggie broth later in the evening, and worked on more photos, and then watched my TV girlfriend on Fringe before passing out. Spending time at home, making food, and generally chilling out has been great... probably the only Up side to getting sick, heh.

And finally, here's a shot of me during the Saturday scrimmage-like drill at derby! Yeah, still looking clumsy-ish, but I'm on my way. I am a bit concerned that I seem to be knock-kneed in all of my skating photos, though. Hooray for lack of hip mobility. :p