1:52 p.m. - 2006-10-29
Ninjaween
All,

Welcome to Hangover. Population: me.

Last night was the big ninja Halloween extravaganza and it was held at my very small loft apartment - precisely WHY I forget. I think there were Decisions Behind My Back on the part of The Boy and Lway. In any case the majority of my apartment is already excessively gothic themed to begin with due to beams and candles and whatnot so was very suitable for the purpose, and with very few exceptions most of those who turned up live comparatively close in much more cramped places with much more ornery neighbours. As a result at time of writing I have a floor full of ninja in sleeping bags who are all either passed out drunk or quite possibly dead. I've not yet got the feeling back in my brain so I'm not going to try checking for pulses.

I'm only able to write thanks to the not-terribly-subtle pointing out that I'm the only girl (and our computer is in the bedroom incidentally) so I should sleep alone. I would have been happy to snooze in the lounge and let whoever wanted have the bed, but there were more Decisions Behind My Back and I wound up in here. It almost annoys me as I'm perfectly comfortable on a hardwood floor and have camped out with no problem whatsoever nestling alongside these guys (occasionally using them as pillows) - I've even taken shifts sleeping in trees or on beaches with one or another in my arms. Just sometimes though there'll be an outbreak of chivalry and as I'm (experience-wise) the baby of the bunch AND the token girl I'll find myself being coddled by everyone else. Ah well, at least a couple of them are up in the loft space with it's cushions and there's always the sofa, so I don't feel TOO bad.

...okay, I do, but that's more to do with the rum than guilt at taking the bed.

It surprised me to learn that Halloween has only been celebrated in this country for the past few years, hence my difficulty in finding sufficient bits n pieces to decorate the apartment with and winding up making a lot of them myself. In my former location I would have been spoilt for choice with parties and clubs and bars to attend. I would also have been spoilt for choice regarding costumes, not least because back where I used to be I had more clothes than most minds could deal with, and a "dress up" box to rival the best costume shops. Over here I had to take advantage of what I had, and made myself into a witch, arguably the easiest thing to accomplish with a lack of proper Halloween attire and/or cash. The Boy stole my paints and turned into Invader Zim, Lway spent much of the night stumbling around as a zombie (somewhat destroying his reputation as the third deadliest ninja in our city by falling over a glow-in-the-dark axe), and answering a polite knock on the door revealed TSensei in full Star-Wars sith regalia, complete with lightsabre, in menacing pose. Unsurprisingly although there was the prerequisite pirate, ghost and cat, nobody actually came as a ninja...although ironically that's precisely what I was dressed as last year before I knew a damn thing about it.

The party went well. Games were played, pumpkins were lit, toy bats fluttered hither and yon, and water balloons were flung out the window. As the evening turned to night and subsequently to five in the morning, we took to talking - naturally about techniques and such. I was mumbling about how sorry I was that I couldn't have done a better demonstration of what I'd learned in a recent seminar, and in a display of uncharacteristic honesty TSensei told me I should have more self-esteem when it came to what I was capable of, and this was echoed by others in the room. He pointed out that the use of ninjutsu seminars was to teach us all things we would never have known from our usual training sessions, and that even when we don't feel as though we've picked things up, our bodys have, and will remember for the future, for example my being able to do things a year ago I never could have, such as swordwork and silent walking. Getting a comment other than, "No, it's like this *fling*" from anyone in my group is rare, but to get it from my teacher is delicious. Sometimes, just sometimes, I feel really happy to be here and doing what I do.

Anyway, I have ninja to wake and probably a lot of cleaning to do.

It's a party-tastic ninja life,

Me

previous - next