The morning after...

...was really rough. But that's what happens when you don't get home until 2 in the morning.

But I count it worthwhile. Neffa, that is.

When I worked at Pinewoods I got into the habit of trying not to expect the coming year or session to be as good as it was last year. Because, what if it wasn't? Then I would just be disappointed. I learned that if I didn't expect things, often I was pleasantly surprised.

Not that this always works, mind you...

Neffa is like that for me too. I always have a good time, and get excited by it and hope I have great partners whenever I want them, but try and not set that bar too high. And this year, what with the house being all consuming, I didn't have time to really dwell on Neffa anyway, or at least not too far in advance. And I had a great time and very many good dances and fun partners. I even did both contra medleys.

The most difficult moment for me was Saturday evening. I get very nervous after calling and after performances. Or not always nervous, but I have all of this adrenaline that I've built up that I need to do something with. Because calling for me is just another type of performance, and I want to get up there and put my whole self into it and carry the dancers all the way through until the end. And then it's over, and I get a bit crazy.

This year my two big things were too close together. We got through the GCD performance, and I hardly had time to turn around before I had to get myself together and do my prep to call. And calling at Neffa is such a big deal for me. It feels tenuous. I don't feel that I can mess up and get accepted to call again. I haven't earned that yet, and I'd miss not being able to do it. And for that matter, calling dances at Neffa is an important calling card - people see you from all over and might hire you to call their dance. So I called, and it wasn't perfect, but it was fine. But again, afterwards I had all of this excess craziness to get rid of. So I took a walk and had a coffee and found people to talk with, and all was well. But there must be a different way for handling this. Probably dancing immediately afterwards would take care of it...

And while I didn't dance with everyone I wanted too - a few very notable gaps in that list - I was able to have the aspects of Neffa I most enjoy - connecting and re-connecting, if briefly, with people I don't see often because we don't live and dance near each other.

And did I mention the fabulously wonderful Points of Etiquette were, in fact, fabulously wonderful. I hope we can get a team together to go next year!

There's undoubtedly more to say, but it will keep while I attempt to get to bed at a reasonable hour...