Friday Night!

Friday night in the big city! Or something like that anyway.

I was off today for all but two hours where I and my fellow drivers were educated on how to safely and effectively handle the following situations: emergency evacuations, Noro virus presentation (vomiting on the bus), and spill response (some sort of fluid leaking from the coach). Very useful. Very informative. There were limited times in which I felt I was being parroted to, which is progress, I think, from the last Hazard Training Class.

Came home and worked on some paintings. They still need a lot of work, and the more I do this stuff, the more I think I should take a basic drawing class or something. Since most of my pieces have to do with body parts, maybe life drawing is more appropriate? Or maybe just more practice. I'm going to go with practice for now.

I went out to dinner with one of my roommates, Paul (the pilot), as he came home and was just gushing to tell someone the crazy day he had. There was an ambulance involved, a passenger with what seemed to be an exploding hernia, and a race to the landing strip in which he barely beat an Alaska Airlines jet. Pretty good for a little prop plane! So we went to the hanger and ate. I love halibut. Dinner tonight just reiterated that. Halibut = Win.

Then tonight, the dispatcher from Allen Marine, which is the company we partner with to sell and transport cruise ship passengers to whale watching tours, was playing bluegrass music with his band down at the Alaskan Bar. The guys are great! Violin (or is it a fiddle if it's this genre?), mandolin, standing bass, banjo, and guitar. Sorry Dan, no jug or tub players. But great still. I met some of the drivers out, as well as some of the other tour industry folks. Throw in a couple bosses and a few beers, and it was a great time had by all. And dancing! I still thank Ms. Luhn for casting me in her play as the stand in (for my brother) and made me learn how to swing dance. I love swing dancing! There were a few people there that had an idea of how to lead, and were happy to find a partner who could, at least, follow along. It was great!

Most of the time, I was leading my friend, Erin, along the floor, as she was too nervous to dance with strangers (what?) but even then she and I were laughing over our clumsiness and confusion about who was supposed to do what. The down side to all this - I may have hurt myself even worse. I didn't really feel anything, as I was under the influence of the delicious Alaskan IPA, but now, sitting here, I'm sure I'll need to nurse my heel in the morning. Oh well! It was so fun! I love dancing!

The band plays again tomorrow night, so at least I'll have a fun time tapping my foot along, if I'm too injured to partake in the galloping. Hearing really good bluegrass live - there is really nothing like it.