Tales from the Steppes

2006-07-20

11:21 a.m.
Thursday, July 20

Yesterday was a busy day. I had an appointment for a massage in the afternoon but I was an hour late for that because I had an engineer yell at me for 1/2 an hour. He disagrees with me on a technical point but has a bit more of an emotional attachment to this issue than I. Whatever. Yell away. Does not change my mind at all. I think it made him madder that he could not upset me. But then I had to give my supervisor a heads up about the disagreement, in case the engineer went up the ladder.

So I was late. Steve still did a great job of working through the knots in my legs and I am ready to run again. But I was then late to my next stop - the last regular swim meet of the season. So I missed seeing the YM get third place in boys 6 & under freestyle. He totally rocks! I love watching him play sports because he is the only mongol that really "gets" sports. He is not like one of those kids that always is playing with a baseball - his life does not revolve around sports. Thank god. I could not deal with a sports nut. But when he does compete, he actually tries to win and do better than last time. He practices his diving and swimming without any prompting. When I kick a soccer ball with him and give him tips on on techniques, he not only listens but actually tries to do as I show him. Not a typical mongol thing to do.

I did get to watch the EM and MM swim freestyle and do quite respectfully and stayed long enough to watch the YM swim backstroke, so I did not completely suck as a parent. The mongols all knew I had ben there and I gave them encouragement,as well as left money for dinner. The SU had shown up by that time, so I could leave and not feel particularly guilty.

But then I was late for my next stop. I was meeting a friend back at my house and then heading to Wolftrap to see the Indigo Girls. This was an intersection of two of my favorite pastimes, so I was really excited. Not only was I getting to go see and hear a group I really like, but I was going to get to do some heavy duty people watching while I was at it. (Definitely gross generalizations.)

The vast majority of the audience at this concert were women. Most of them were lesbians. Don't ask me how I know this. It just isn't that tough an issue. I thought it was cool to see women holding hands and kissing without having to deal with homophobia. It is the way it should be.

But I am not a lesbian, even though I was a bit incognito - there with another woman. This gave me the perfect opportunity to watch people walking past and observe interactions. There were a lot of butch haircuts with cargo shorts and tank tops. And funky braids with piercings and patchwork skirts - the Ani DiFranco look.

And then there were a few women that had watched "The L Word" perhaps a few too many times. I really like the show whenever I have had time to watch it. There may be no connection here whatsoever. But it was interesting to see these women in similar stylish clothes and hairstyles, making elaborate gestures - very self-aware of their drama. This probably makes no sense if you haven't seen the show.

Ooops, out of time. Maybe more later.