Italian Ball

Last night Travalon and I went to the Italian ball that was part of the Early Music Festival. Some people wore costumes, and a few even wore their masks from last year, so I should have brought mine. (I came across it recently in the process of moving.) Travalon is a big fan of the dance instructor, an energetic woman with an extravagant British accent. She is forever saying “Tiddly hop,” whatever that means. It seems to mean “End the dance step here.” Travalon said he was just going to watch, but he did actually dance all but the last dance, which was the Virginia Reel so it wasn’t Renaissance Italian for sure. We did one dance in a group of couples, and a woman dressed like a female Henry the Eighth kept elaborating on the dance instructor’s perfectly clear instructions. I believe she is probably in the instructor’s dance class (which I considered taking myself, had I taken classes) and figured she was already an expert on this particular dance. None of the dances were too difficult, but the instructor and a man who was also in costume demonstrated some complicated ones for us. (Perhaps I should say “performed” because there was no expectation we would learn those dances.) A good time seems to have been had by all, and for sure by Travalon and me.

I am participating in a wellness plan through my health insurance that requires a checkup and then entering the numbers from there (cholesterol, blood pressure, etc.) into a website that then formulates a wellness plan for you. I made the appointment for tomorrow morning but then filled in the questionnaire with information from last year’s checkup – oops! Not that there’s probably a big difference now… The website said my major goal should be to lose weight (no kidding), with secondary goals of eating more vegetables (that one blew my coworkers’ minds because I eat tons of vegetables) and getting more exercise. The website makes me track how much exercise I’m getting, but interestingly enough it does not list lovemaking as a type of exercise, though I understand that particular activity burns plenty of calories. Anyway, I entered in the information for today (swimming for 45 minutes), not realizing it was actually being entered for yesterday, and then I couldn’t edit it. Oh well, maybe an hour and a half of dancing is the same as 45 minutes of swimming, so it all equals out.

Famous Hat