I had an interesting start to ballet class last night, since as I arrived at the ballet school (a little early because I ran an errand on the way and allocated too much extra time for it), they were in the process of evacuating the building. A police officer was trying to herd a gaggle of teenaged ballerinas across the street, just as the fire engines came screaming up. Apparently, there was a smell like an electrical fire, so they called the fire department to check it out. But because the police had all the students standing across the street away from the building, it seems like the fire department got confused, and they pulled up in front of the building where we were all waiting, only to then have to back out, miss the drive and almost get mired in the grass. It was all highly entertaining, though a bit cold. I was very glad I'd worn warmer-than-usual clothes over my ballet gear. It turned out to be nothing, just maybe something wrong with the heater. It took a while to thaw out once we got into the building. Trying to dance when your toes are numb is a challenge.
You know you're in a reasonably small town when four fire trucks respond to check out a funny smell in a ballet studio. I think the entire city fire department was there. They were all in cold-weather gear, so I couldn't tell if any of them were cute. (I don't really think of this town as all that "small" since it's ten times the size my hometown was when I lived there, but in the context of the metro area, it's considered a small town, and it still feels kind of small town-ish.)
I'll be emerging from my cave this weekend for ConDFW, so in case you're coming, here's my schedule, so far:
On Friday at 6 I'll be on a Media and Writing panel -- about whether Internet fame can propel a writer to stardom.
On Saturday at noon I'm moderating a panel on trends in humor.
Then at 1 I'm moderating a panel on urban fantasy.
My autograph session at the con is at 4 on Saturday, and my partner in autographing is A. Lee Martinez, so even if you don't want something signed, it's likely to be a good comedy show between the two of us.
Sunday morning at 10 I've got a reading session. I think I'll be reading a short story set in the Enchanted, Inc. universe, but I haven't really decided yet.
Then I have a panel on dealing with the Internet at noon.
So, there you have it. And that will be how I spend my Valentine's Day. According to the television, I should be getting diamonds. Or if I'm not, I should immediately sign up for an online dating service. I'd actually planned to do a whole estrogen vs. testosterone themed month here, with some analysis of romantic comedy movies alternating with views from my re-reads of action-adventure novels, but I got kind of sidetracked and have only re-read one action-adventure novel. I don't know that this sort of thing has to happen around Valentine's Day because it's such an arbitrary holiday, anyway. Maybe I'll just start posting on the romantic comedy stuff, since a lot of it is already written.
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