Ice wine baby.

I had wine class again tonight, and the topic was rieslings. German, not Californian, because apparently California wines have too much sugar. ("Blasphemy!" I say.) So there were lots with names even I, second-grade spelling bee champion, couldn't spell, so I won't try. But they were good, smelling mostly fruity (some had a touch of chlorine, and the teacher said he smelled diesel fuel) with tastes of pineapple. And the ice wine (made from apples!) was especially delicious, and tasted like apricots. Unfortunately, it was also the most expensive, at about $30 for 375 mL. But that's why tastings are fun ... you get to try all the stuff you wouldn't want to blindly shell out all the cash for.

The class was small tonight, nine instead of 15 people, so the teacher started calling on people because no one was volunteering. He had a sign-in sheet because he hadn't learned everyone's names.
"Cynthia?" he called out.
No answer.
We all looked at each other, because none of us knew anyone's names either.
"She's signed in," he said.
Still no answer.
Whatever, someone signed in for their friend who never showed. Fine.
So we move on through three more wines. Finally we get to the ice wine, and the teacher asks for a volunteer. An older girl near the front raises her hand, and talks about her impressions.
"Good," teacher says. "And what's your name?"
"Cynthia," she says. "I didn't want to say before."
Um, what? The entire class is sitting there for a whole minute waiting for you to raise your hand and speak, and instead of saying "I'd rather not," you don't say anything? And then, why not just be silent the whole class? She got away with it, and then blew it! It just doesn't make sense.
People confound me.