Anaheim, Day #8, 7/2/06 - Laundry & Specialty Tips

All of us were running short of socks among other things so I ran a load each of white and dark clothes through the coin laundry at our hotel. That at least provides a bit more wardrobe flexibility for our remaining days here.

We arrived at the Marriott in time for the bear tip at noon; I didn't dance a step but I did get lots of photos so I'm declaring victory.

We attended the take-no-prisoners hour in the A2 hall but I was a little disappointed. While the calling was fine, I started in a square with one especially pushy and aggressive dancer. I don't particularly like being physically grabbed and wrenched into place, particularly if (a) I was in my correct spot originally, and (b) we actually danced to the beat of the music instead of making a mad dash from one spot in the square to another. Once would be forgivable but this guy made a clear habit of it with several others as well; it was offputting enough that I left the hall immediately following, writing off the rest of the hour.

The LJ tip at 2 PM was very well attended: otterpop58 called to three squares with a number of by-standers. The Canadian tip following was less a production: we had to scrape to get two squares up.

Cocktail hour prior to the banquet was a perfect opportunity for more photographs... my camera was starting to feel rather heavy. :-)

The banquet was fun and delicious. The four of us shared table #63 with Ett & Linda, woofy locals Mike & Wim and another elderly couple I didn't get to see much of thanks to a large table centerpiece.

Banquet announcements were mercifully brief; country dancers were brought in as entertainment but I wasn't particularly interested: for god's sake, I've been dancing for most of the past week!

The presentation of 10 year medallions --acknowledgement of convention-goers who have attended at least 10 conventions-- was relatively well handled with recipients queued up on both sides of the stage. The only problem I had was that the configuration of the stage handlers required the new recipients to walk onto the stage, stand with their backs to the audience while their medallion was pinned on, then urgently ushered off-stage again. In short, they spent the bulk of their public presentation & acknowledgement facing the back of the stage rather than their peers in the audience. A little better stage management should fix that.

The major evening event was the fantasy costume ball; I wasn't interested in any fance dress event but there were a number of very original costumes. Alas, not all original costumes are practical for square dancing: too big, too unstable, too hot, etc.. Got more good photos. If nothing else, it was nice to give the anime festival folks a run for their money in the freak-show parade through the lobby. They were still weirder than us, but it was a good effort.

Anaheim, Day #8, 7/2/06 - Laundry & Specialty Tips

All of us were running short of socks among other things so I ran a load each of white and dark clothes through the coin laundry at our hotel. That at least provides a bit more wardrobe flexibility for our remaining days here.

We arrived at the Marriott in time for the bear tip at noon; I didn't dance a step but I did get lots of photos so I'm declaring victory.

We attended the take-no-prisoners hour in the A2 hall but I was a little disappointed. While the calling was fine, I started in a square with one especially pushy and aggressive dancer. I don't particularly like being physically grabbed and wrenched into place, particularly if (a) I was in my correct spot originally, and (b) we actually danced to the beat of the music instead of making a mad dash from one spot in the square to another. Once would be forgivable but this guy made a clear habit of it with several others as well; it was offputting enough that I left the hall immediately following, writing off the rest of the hour.

The LJ tip at 2 PM was very well attended: otterpop58 called to three squares with a number of by-standers. The Canadian tip following was less a production: we had to scrape to get two squares up.

Cocktail hour prior to the banquet was a perfect opportunity for more photographs... my camera was starting to feel rather heavy. :-)

The banquet was fun and delicious. The four of us shared table #63 with Ett & Linda, woofy locals Mike & Wim and another elderly couple I didn't get to see much of thanks to a large table centerpiece.

Banquet announcements were mercifully brief; country dancers were brought in as entertainment but I wasn't particularly interested: for god's sake, I've been dancing for most of the past week!

The presentation of 10 year medallions --acknowledgement of convention-goers who have attended at least 10 conventions-- was relatively well handled with recipients queued up on both sides of the stage. The only problem I had was that the configuration of the stage handlers required the new recipients to walk onto the stage, stand with their backs to the audience while their medallion was pinned on, then urgently ushered off-stage again. In short, they spent the bulk of their public presentation & acknowledgement facing the back of the stage rather than their peers in the audience. A little better stage management should fix that.

The major evening event was the fantasy costume ball; I wasn't interested in any fance dress event but there were a number of very original costumes. Alas, not all original costumes are practical for square dancing: too big, too unstable, too hot, etc.. Got more good photos. If nothing else, it was nice to give the anime festival folks a run for their money in the freak-show parade through the lobby. They were still weirder than us, but it was a good effort.