Day 8: Kablooie

Thursday came the crash. It all caught up with me: the lack of sleep, the irregular eating, the social stress. Most of our group went to Cape Hatteras for the day, and I stayed behind to make pizzas for Red Drum; rather than taking this as an opportunity to unwind alone, I stewed all afternoon.

The pizzas were very well-received, but by the time dinner came I was too grumpy to enjoy them. The chief evening activity was creed_of_hubris's LARP, which I wasn't up for; I briefly inserted myself into the plot, as an evil cowboy leprechaun that only Mark Twain could see ("I hate your books! Hardy hardy hardy!"), but spent most of the evening wandering between the houses and glowering.

And yes, perceptive reader, there was something else going on, and that came to a head as well, a drama in Red Drum to rival the LARP. There were accusations and recriminations, misunderstandings and reconciliations, surprise entrances and dramatic exits. OFIH observed it all (without being involved) from the couch, and I was very glad of her; she took me out onto the deck, listened sympathetically, said the right things. But it was a nasty evening, and a long semi-sleepless night afterward.

Things worked out fine in the end—shockingly fine, in fact, which makes me suspect someone of having made some sort of pact with the devil. And I expect the drama, in the end, will have served a useful purpose, by exposing some things and underlining others. I said some things I regret, and probably should've just gone off and LARPed after the fudge run, but what's done is done, and now all is quite good indeed. Apologies to anyone I yelled and/or glowered at; it wasn't you, unless we've talked about it since.

( Sorry to be cryptic, everyone. Have a picture! )

Day 9: That's a paddlin'

I woke up around 6AM to see sinsofthedove off, then wandered around in a bit of a daze until I bumped into the fact that I was organizing a kayaking trip that afternoon. I failed to take my camera, since I feared I would fall into the water and destroy it. As it happened, my fear was unjustified, since I am not showergrrl, who fell in twice so we didn't have to.

I wished for my camera, not so much for the wildlife or the splendors of nature but because our perky guide (Megan) had truly fabulous boobs. Okay, yes, sorry—but I'd had a rough night, and she and her clingy vee-neck cheered me right up. Anyway, there was indeed wildlife, though the tour was paced too quickly to take advantage of it; by lingering and hanging back from time to time, I was able to see a tiny water snake, some sort of frog that said "MREEEP!" and streaked away from me, a large black water spider, and a few sorts of birds. This was my first time in a kayak, but Megan's instructions were to the point, and I found it to be very much like a more-maneuverable canoe; I had no trouble getting around. Strangely, my legs were sore when we got back, though I hadn't used them at all.

ccommack made fabulous Cincinnati chili for Red Drum's dinner, and gave us all a tutorial in its nomenclature. A bunch of people went off to see Revenge of the Sith, but I spent a low-key evening in Above It All, playing video games (Anguiras rules Osaka!), chatting with people, getting my footing back. showergrrl was very helpful and sweet on that front, paying attention to me when I needed it, for which I thank her.

( Despite my kayaking lameness, there are a few nice Friday pictures. )