How do you solve a problem like Maria?

Last night I went with a couple of friends to Wolftrap for the Sound of Music Sing A Long. It was awesome. Loads of people were in costume; there were all kinds of Marias, items from "My Favorite Things" song (There was a row of people in front of us who were all wearing brightly colored wool mittens, and whenever that line came up, they'd raise their hands in the mittens, whoop and dance) and an entire contingent of people in drapery-based play clothes. There were also quite a few nuns, which was really impressive given that it's still in the 80s and humid. They had a costume contest before the movie started, and my favorites were a trio of kids who were "Tea, with bread and jam" the eldest being Tea (dressed all in white, with tea bags stuck all over her), holding the hands of her little siblings, one dressed all in brown and the other all in red. My other favorite was a lady who came dressed as the third place folk singer, and was constantly bowing to the audience, she was hilarious. We also got a bag of props, most of which were kind of silly, but there was a cool invite to the ball, and a string popper. You were supposed to pull your popper when the Captain and Maria kissed, making "The loudest popping kiss ever at Wolftrap" but some people popped theirs at various other times, to great comedic effect. It was a lot of fun, and seeing the Sound of Music on a huge screen was amazing. When the songs started, there were 5,000 people singing along. It was like being part of a huge wave of sound and joy.

Costco before a hurricane is a bit crazy

Today is my rotating day off, and I have nothing else planned so I was prepared to spend some quality time standing in lines at Costco.

I was a little worried when I saw the lines of people with carts full of water that I was a little late to the party, especially when I couldn't find the water. I finally tracked it down as they were restocking it in the back. Once I had my water, I was able to browse the canned goods at a more leisurely pace.

Costco is a good place to people watch. I was standing in the line to get some pizza for lunch. Behind me a girl told her Mom that she wanted a piece of cheese pizza. Her mother responded, with a cool African accent, the following:

"Cheese pizza? What have you bought with that? Nothing. All pizza comes with cheese. If you don't get pizza with something on it you are just wasting money, so if you want pizza you'll get one with pepperoni or that other stuff on it."

It really struck me because 1: she was right, and 2: I would never have thought of it that way.

Both the little girl and I got pepperoni pizza for lunch.

Corbeau gets a new ride

Its sassy.

New Years Eve - Quite Late

So for New Year's Eve I got together with a bunch of friends down in Alexandria. B got us a reservation at a Mexican restaurant we'd never heard of, because it was one of the few that still had open seats. It had a difficult Aztec name that we mispronounced until we just gave up and called it "Casa WacaWaca"

On the menu, we noticed that under appetizers was "Grasshopper Fondue," which was described as a cheese fondue with grasshoppers. B decided we had to try it as part of our New Years Adventure.

In my mind, I saw a cheddar-type fondue with big old fried grasshoppers for dippin'. The kind that always managed to show up in Seminary class. What actually came was a small, ceramic pot with what looked like salsa with shredded cheese on top.

"Where's the grasshoppers?" we all asked each other. B took a spoon, and started stirring the cheese into the sauce. As she stirred this enormous black mound of grasshopper bit rose into view, and I just blurted out "Holy Crap those things have been cuisinarted!"

This is why I shouldn't go to nice places.

Anyway, we all tried some. I had mine on a chip. It tasted like crunchy, spicy tomato salsa. But the chitlin bits of the grasshopper really stick around in your mouth. It took a bit to get them washed down, and in my brain was this reoccuring thought, "Leg or antenna? Leg or antenna? Leg or antenna?"

I only had the one chip. For dinner I had lamb tacos that were amazing.

Tonight, I bought a TV in anger

I've been thinking about getting a new tv for myself for Christmas. (Merry Christmas to me!) So I swung down to Best Buy and wandered over to the tv section. I wandered around and waited for a helpful sales associate to show up. No one did. Eventually I noticed that there was one sales dude in tv, (ONE!) and that he was helping an elderly couple. It was clearly going to take awhile. I looked around for someone else, but didn't find anybody. So I waited. And waited. Eventually I decided that since I'm going to need a new computer soon, I'd wander over to computers and knock out two birds with one stone. I walked over and browsed, looked at some models, had some questions. But once again I couldn't find any helpful sales associates. So I wandered back to tvs. Still one dude. Still helping elderly couple. And I waited. And waited some more. I wandered through the phone section thinking I might get lucky. I didn't. I wandered back to computers. I finally found a sales guy. He said that he was already helping someone and three people were waiting behind them. He suggested I talk to his coworker. He pointed at a harried looking surrounded by 5 people. I went back to tvs. Still no help. A comcast guy who had been watching this fiasco the whole time but who was not allowed to help me (he wasn't wearing a blue shirt) went with me for another round of "Let's try and find a sales associate" he then informed me that if I went to customer service they could probably help me. That's pretty much where I lost it. I'm not going to sit in some hellish holiday customer service line for the privilege of giving Best Buy a bunch of money. Screw you Best Buy! No Freaking Way! Or, I pointed out, I could just go to another store and buy a freaking tv. So I went to Target. I pointed out the tv I wanted. Same model. Cheaper price. I was helped the minute I went to the desk and 5 FREAKING MINUTES LATER they had it out of the back room and were helping me load it into my car. Oh yeah Best Buy. 5 minutes. Take that. Fortunately both of my roommates were home, since I hadn't actually planned on buying a tv today. They helped me get into my room and hooked up. Now I'm making sure it works. And I'm not so angry anymore. I'm still going somewhere else for a new computer. There's a principle involved. Take that BestBuy. Ninja Corbeau stands triumphant!

Navy vs. SMU

Last weekend I went with a big group from church to the Navy game in Annapolis. Because of our group we got awesome tickets. I was on the front row on the 20 yard line, on SMUs side. It was awesome. Some people asked if we were a sorority.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day for a game, and the midshipmen had a cannon, their goats, and the cutest bulldog sporting the Marine colors. It was really cool to see all the Midshipmen march on. They had a couple of random Air Force and West Point cadets with them too.

The first half they were behind 0-14. But then they came from behind to tie the game 21-21 with two minutes left, then intercepted to win. Everyone was going crazy and it was such an intense nail biter.

Afterwards we went down into historic Annapolis, which I will really have to visit again sometime during the day. I mean, I saw a fudge shop down there.

We got some Italian and found this amazing hat shop that was still open. It made me want to go the Kentucky Derby just so I could buy a huge fru fru hat.

I did end up with a fedora with this great cherry blossom band because it was on sale. I love hats.

Cave of Doom

Last weekend, during one of the hottest days on record, with a heat index of 120 and actual extreme heat warnings being broadcast over the emergency networks, I moved to a new house that's closer to work.

I've cut my commute in half. Totally worth it.

So my new room is in the basement. The lovely, cool, dark basement. And since I've been in it for all of 5 days I feel I know it pretty well, so I don't always flip on the lights before walking around.

And that is how I ended up lost in a storage space around 3 am last night.

Chim Chim Cheree

We went and saw the musical Mary Poppins Thursday night at the Kennedy Center. It was a lot of fun, and we had great seats. In fact, we were right in the flight path of Mary Poppins, which filled me with wonder and a desperate hope that she wouldn't lose her grip on that carpet bag.

They used elements from both the movie and the book, but I think they used more from the book, because so it was much different than I expected. The children were actually naughty, unlike the movie, where they just run away to fly a kite. In fact, Jane was a real little snot, and even fights with Mary Poppins.

The story was more dark and far more dramatic, and there was one scene where Mary Poppins straight up sends an evil nanny to hell.


The numbers were really good, especially Step In Time with the chimney sweeps, and I loved the Mary Poppins struck a pose everytime she went up or down the stairs.

Blergh

My neighbors were out on their deck until 3 am. They weren't noisy or anything, just having a conversation. Which is fine except that their deck is right next to my window and the wall is apparently made out of paper and wishful thinking.

So I pretty much heard this all night. "Murmur murmur murmur Then I said murmur murmur murmur HA HA HA murmur murmur murmur Yabba Dabba Dooo!"

I kid you not about the Yabba Dabba Doo. That is a direct quote that occurred at 1:55 am. If I had known in advance, I would have just joined my roommates at the midnight showing of Sparkly Vampire 3.

Team T-shirts

Every year my unit has a picnic where the work teams compete against each other. Every year my team loses horribly, but takes refuge in the fact that at least we look really good because we have the best team t-shirt.

This year we're going with roller derby, and everyone on the team is coming up with a roller derby name and number.

Mine is "The Spanish Inquisition."

Beautiful Day

I've told myself that I need to start writing again. I've been slacking off these past few months.

I love cool, rainy days in Spring. The tulip trees are blooming, the cherry blossoms are about to start, and its been in the 70s.

It would've been a perfect day except that I took an elbow to the nose in Krav. What makes this even more exciting is that I have my work physical tomorrow, so let's all hope it doesn't swell or bruise.

Pull Up Update

Tonight, during fit class, sometime during the 4th set of pull ups, I made a jump for a bar, got it with my fingers, swung forward in an attempt to pull myself up, slipped off the bar, and ended up crashing down on my butt.

Luckily, everyone else's workouts were so intense they didn't notice. The instructor did give me a "good effort" pep speech though.

On Pull Ups

Krav has a new pull up bar installed in the gym. It hangs from the ceiling, can support about 8 people at once, and is high enough for tall guys to find challenging.

If I do a running jump I can usually grab it.

But I cannot do a pull up. I've never been able to do a pull up. When I was at my peak in the Navy the best I could manage was chin ups, but never a pull up.

Like the mighty T-Rex, I have weak and useless forearms. So I've decided that should be my Krav name. T-Rex.

Anyway, since I can't do a pull up they either get the box out so I can stand on it and do chin ups or, like today, I just have to grab the bar and hang as long as possible. My arms are killing me.

Snowpacolypse

We're supposed to get two feet tomorrow. People are going insane, and the grocery stores have been cleaned out. You'd think it was the end of the world. On the upside, work might get cancelled, or end early tomorrow.

Bleh.

I've been sick for 3 weeks, so I finally broke down and saw a doctor.

I have a sinus infection. I feel like my nose weighs 20 pounds.

Odd Cold Remedy

I'm still sick, even though it feels like I've been sick forever. Tomorrow we're having our team Christmas party, so I had to go shopping to get the stuff for funeral potatoes (they're a work favorite). Since I was there, I ended up buying a little tub of 6 layer dip, because it looked good and I was sick and grumpy that I had to be at the store instead of at home. Anyway, I was eating the dip and hit a jalapeno. Through the pain in my mouth I realized that I could feel the heat in my sinus and my congestion actually started feeling better. Weird huh?

Shaolin Monks

Last night I went with my friend Yoosh to see the Shaolin Monks perform at George Mason. It was awesome. There were about 20 monks, including two little boys who couldn't have been more than 9. They performed their martial art to a soundtrack of chanting and drums, hitting, kicking, and spinning incredibly fast. The two little boys each did a series of front flips, like 6 in a row, without using their hands. They also had a part which in my mind I call the Frogger Dance. The entire thing was done while the monks where on their hands and feet, and then they'd crawl, run, and jump amazing heights from that awkward crouched position. Those guys have to have thigh muscles the size of cannonballs. At one point, they went out into the audience and brought up about 30 kids, ranging from college age to a 5 year old boy that was adorable. They put them in rows, smallest to tallest, and tried to teach them a series of Shaolin moves. Hilarity ensued. My favorite were some of the little kids, who were trying so hard to kick their hands that they fell over. UPDATE: I mean, look at these dudes!

Deep Fried Oreos and Crunches

On Sat I went to the Maryland Ren Faire, an enormous affair of shops, shows and food on a stick. They offer Chicken on stick, Beef on a stick, sausage on a stick, Mac n' cheese on a stick (its deep fried in triangles, then put on a stick) and cheesecake on a stick. I had ribs, fried potatoes, mac n' cheese on a stick, part of a turkey leg, deep fried oreos, and cheesecake on a stick. (The cheesecake isn't fried, its frozen and then dipped in chocolate. It was delicious) I felt everyone of those delactible items tonight in Krav. Especially when we did ab exercises. I chanted "Bye bye Oreos" in my head once the flutterkicks started getting really painful. We also did shopping, saw some shows, and the joust. They also had a booth where you could throw 7 chinese stars for 2 bucks. If you got four in the heart you got a free drink. It was more difficult than I thought. Its a weird cross between throwing a baseball and skipping a rock. By the time I managed to get the knack of it, I had a nice little cluster going. One board over from the painted heart. Never could get them to curve left. However, of all the people up there, I was the only one who managed to throw all 7 stars to the target wall. My friends told me someone in the audience said, "That girl's got a good arm!"

Monday AMV

I tried to watch Blue Gender last week, but couldn't make it through the first episode. I'm just not in the mood for giant scary robots.



So instead we grilled on the community grills, nestled in a copse of dead pines, adding the thrill of forest fire to the traditional back yard grill experience.

This is the first time I stood by a grill with a fire extinguisher. Just in case.

Skydiving

Corbeau in her Ronald McDonald Skydiving Suit of Awesomeness

Saturday we drove out to the middle of nowhere, east of Richmond, and went skydiving. Unfortunately, they only had three tandem instructors, and were running behind, so we spent some quality time hanging out in the hanger on a hot August day.

But at last, it was our turn to go up. Since there were four of us, they split us into two flights. My roommate, The Starving Artist and I went on the first flight, and I jumped with Instructor Dave. The rest of the plane was filled with a group of formation jumpers.

Dave and I were the last to jump out of the plane, and after being hooked up to him, I would say the most difficult part was walking up to the door. I had to drop my weight and then we sort of waddled.

There was a bar, but I was worried I'd forget to cross my arms over my chest so I just started that way. Dave said "1..2.." and then we were out. He said I gave an impressive scream. Between the adrenaline and trying to remember all the things I was supposed to do with my body, I don't even remember screaming.

He flipped us so we were free falling backwards, and we could watch the plane flying away from us. That was cool.

Then we were free falling, which was a lot of fun. Dave took us through some spins, and then he had me watch the altimeter so I could pull the cord at 5,500 ft. I was trying to be exact though, and I must have waited too long and Dave pulled the cord.

Going from 120 mph to the slow glide of the parachute is quite the sensation. This morning, I can feel where every harness was around my body.

As we glided, Dave showed me how to control the chute, and we did some turns and spins, and he took me through a cloud, which was really cool.
See the speck below the blue canopy? That's me.

It was a beautiful day and we jumped over some really pretty country. The other cool thing was feeling the temperature change, growing warmer and more humid the closer you came to the ground.

We landed and made a perfect landing.

It was a lot of fun.