NEFFA Friday!
Apr. 22nd, 2023 01:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sorcyressToday was the first day of NEFFA!
It has been...well, there hasn't _been_ an in-person NEFFA since 2019. But it's been a year longer since I went to a NEFFA that was ~good~ and not ~oh fuck oh gods~. As I chipperly explained to Tuesday last night when I went back and reread all my journal entries from the 2019 NEFFA, "wow, I am a lot less crazy than I was".
And that's a really interesting thing to note. Why am I less crazy? Partly because I finally grew the hell up some and managed to actually get secure in my relationships, a thing I was not capable of until early 2020 probably. Partly because the pandemic has been so *deeply* and universally crazy-making (to say nothing of the war against trans people, the climate disaster, and the fact that I'm gonna get shot at my job sometime because that's What We Do In America) that I don't have time for run-of-the-mill boring interpersonal crazy.
But the point remains: I am more secure, I am more communicative, I am more self-aware, and I am more stable and sane and on top of my shit than I was this time four years ago, and that is trending in the right direction. And so we come to a NEFFA where I have not yet done any crying, and it would have to take a Real Damn Disaster to have more hours crying than dancing this time around.
So let's focus on the dancing!
I mean, what NEFFA is largely about is the _people_ like any good convention. So we arrive right about opening a bit after 7, and we got checked in and I spent easily an hour chatting with Avalon-Charis-Magus-Keira-Annie-Lisa-Laurie-Micah-Gumby-Clara-Donna-Danner-Persis-Mieke-Iz-Sethy-Jennyfer all in little bite sized chunks. Finally we managed to herd ourselves off to a singing thing, which...the singing was _fine_ I guess (Hi Chocofrosh!) but I spent the entire hour doodling in my sketchbook1 which was excellent and I quite enjoyed myself.
Then Charis and I went off to do the contra medly together, which was very fun! It was a pretty dang good first dance, nothing to write home about but certainly nothing _bad_. And I think I am suddenly realizing that it was called Larks-Robins and the fact that I didn't notice that until now is _so good_. It was a good warm-up, and had very nice socialization after.
There was nothing on the schedule I was particularly drawn to for another half hour or so, at which point there was Anna Rain calling advanced ECD (!) opposite Izabel Vee DJing a Fusion dance (!). Luckily, by "opposite" I quite literally mean "sides of the hall". I did two English dances, three fusion dances, had a chat with friends in the hall, another English, a few more Fusion, and the last waltz from the ECD. Oh, it was good!
The ECD included a really quirky and precise piece that I got to dance with my new nemesis2. It had figures I've not ever seen before, and might be ~fascinating~ to try and work into some dance I choreograph sometime. It was also called --at least the ones I did-- positionally/without role names, but that is slightly less surprising to me.
The Fusion was _so good_. I danced with almost no one I actually knew, and most of what I did was described by "just vibes". Oh, but it was _great_. I danced twice with an older gentleman called David who I've seen around the BIDA scene and was willing to just...fully get into the idea of "what are these words lead and follow, we're just being weird with each other". I also danced with a person called Lucas Michael who I've not met before in which we did a very similar "just get weird" and it was so _so_ good.
It felt like the kind of dancing I do when I am alone, but eyes wide open and telling a story with someone else. It was everything I didn't know I needed --not in a "this is overpowering and I'm gonna cry" sort of way, but in a "this is energizing as hell and I am READY TO DO MORE!"
I'm staying with Tuesday's family this weekend (cute little airbnb about 20 minutes from the venue) which meant I got to drive home chattering with Cameron, who I've not seen in a while (and of course Tuesday and momKaren who I've spent the last four and two days with respectively). I love that Tues's family feels like my family. It is _extremely_ homey.
(Tuesday did complain at lunchtime after one of me-or-dadErik riffed a little too flawlessly off the other's joke that we have the exact same sense of humour and it's eerie. Ah, New England intellectual sharpness at its finest, yanno?)
So it's been a good first day, and I'm quite looking forward to the next two. I perform Sunday at noon, if you are attending NEFFA and wanna see me do some highly choreographed Scottish dance. Tomorrow you'll find me at the ECD medley (!!!) and probably the SCD dance and certainly the late night Blues and I assume some other fine things. Also note to self, find a ride back to Somerville on Sunday, since it's been lovely hanging with the Tuesfam, but I should not return with them to Vermont when I've got work again on Monday.
...oh hey, I have at least one coworker who should be here somewhere. I should keep an eye out.
In the meantime, goodnight and be well.
~Sor
MOOP!
1: I drew a half-minotaur-half-centaur! Specifically, I drew the human halves of each creature! This was a _very good drawing_ and I should toss it up here sometime.
2: I informed my friend Laurie she was my nemesis, to which she said "ooo, I've never had a nemesis before!" in an intrigued and excited voice, which implies to me I chose well. My specific reasoning is that I hate her for having longer hair than me, and she hates me because she's on the ESCape committee and I haven't turned in any of my teaching paperwork yet. (Neither of these things are actually true, hate is a strong and incorrect word all around, and honestly, technically I am Connie's nemesis ESCapewise since she's the one sending me sad emails being ???)
It has been...well, there hasn't _been_ an in-person NEFFA since 2019. But it's been a year longer since I went to a NEFFA that was ~good~ and not ~oh fuck oh gods~. As I chipperly explained to Tuesday last night when I went back and reread all my journal entries from the 2019 NEFFA, "wow, I am a lot less crazy than I was".
And that's a really interesting thing to note. Why am I less crazy? Partly because I finally grew the hell up some and managed to actually get secure in my relationships, a thing I was not capable of until early 2020 probably. Partly because the pandemic has been so *deeply* and universally crazy-making (to say nothing of the war against trans people, the climate disaster, and the fact that I'm gonna get shot at my job sometime because that's What We Do In America) that I don't have time for run-of-the-mill boring interpersonal crazy.
But the point remains: I am more secure, I am more communicative, I am more self-aware, and I am more stable and sane and on top of my shit than I was this time four years ago, and that is trending in the right direction. And so we come to a NEFFA where I have not yet done any crying, and it would have to take a Real Damn Disaster to have more hours crying than dancing this time around.
So let's focus on the dancing!
I mean, what NEFFA is largely about is the _people_ like any good convention. So we arrive right about opening a bit after 7, and we got checked in and I spent easily an hour chatting with Avalon-Charis-Magus-Keira-Annie-Lisa-Laurie-Micah-Gumby-Clara-Donna-Danner-Persis-Mieke-Iz-Sethy-Jennyfer all in little bite sized chunks. Finally we managed to herd ourselves off to a singing thing, which...the singing was _fine_ I guess (Hi Chocofrosh!) but I spent the entire hour doodling in my sketchbook1 which was excellent and I quite enjoyed myself.
Then Charis and I went off to do the contra medly together, which was very fun! It was a pretty dang good first dance, nothing to write home about but certainly nothing _bad_. And I think I am suddenly realizing that it was called Larks-Robins and the fact that I didn't notice that until now is _so good_. It was a good warm-up, and had very nice socialization after.
There was nothing on the schedule I was particularly drawn to for another half hour or so, at which point there was Anna Rain calling advanced ECD (!) opposite Izabel Vee DJing a Fusion dance (!). Luckily, by "opposite" I quite literally mean "sides of the hall". I did two English dances, three fusion dances, had a chat with friends in the hall, another English, a few more Fusion, and the last waltz from the ECD. Oh, it was good!
The ECD included a really quirky and precise piece that I got to dance with my new nemesis2. It had figures I've not ever seen before, and might be ~fascinating~ to try and work into some dance I choreograph sometime. It was also called --at least the ones I did-- positionally/without role names, but that is slightly less surprising to me.
The Fusion was _so good_. I danced with almost no one I actually knew, and most of what I did was described by "just vibes". Oh, but it was _great_. I danced twice with an older gentleman called David who I've seen around the BIDA scene and was willing to just...fully get into the idea of "what are these words lead and follow, we're just being weird with each other". I also danced with a person called Lucas Michael who I've not met before in which we did a very similar "just get weird" and it was so _so_ good.
It felt like the kind of dancing I do when I am alone, but eyes wide open and telling a story with someone else. It was everything I didn't know I needed --not in a "this is overpowering and I'm gonna cry" sort of way, but in a "this is energizing as hell and I am READY TO DO MORE!"
I'm staying with Tuesday's family this weekend (cute little airbnb about 20 minutes from the venue) which meant I got to drive home chattering with Cameron, who I've not seen in a while (and of course Tuesday and momKaren who I've spent the last four and two days with respectively). I love that Tues's family feels like my family. It is _extremely_ homey.
(Tuesday did complain at lunchtime after one of me-or-dadErik riffed a little too flawlessly off the other's joke that we have the exact same sense of humour and it's eerie. Ah, New England intellectual sharpness at its finest, yanno?)
So it's been a good first day, and I'm quite looking forward to the next two. I perform Sunday at noon, if you are attending NEFFA and wanna see me do some highly choreographed Scottish dance. Tomorrow you'll find me at the ECD medley (!!!) and probably the SCD dance and certainly the late night Blues and I assume some other fine things. Also note to self, find a ride back to Somerville on Sunday, since it's been lovely hanging with the Tuesfam, but I should not return with them to Vermont when I've got work again on Monday.
...oh hey, I have at least one coworker who should be here somewhere. I should keep an eye out.
In the meantime, goodnight and be well.
~Sor
MOOP!
1: I drew a half-minotaur-half-centaur! Specifically, I drew the human halves of each creature! This was a _very good drawing_ and I should toss it up here sometime.
2: I informed my friend Laurie she was my nemesis, to which she said "ooo, I've never had a nemesis before!" in an intrigued and excited voice, which implies to me I chose well. My specific reasoning is that I hate her for having longer hair than me, and she hates me because she's on the ESCape committee and I haven't turned in any of my teaching paperwork yet. (Neither of these things are actually true, hate is a strong and incorrect word all around, and honestly, technically I am Connie's nemesis ESCapewise since she's the one sending me sad emails being ???)
no subject
on 2023-04-25 06:38 pm (UTC)