Desert Revel December 17, 2008

Tonight was a good night in spite of getting out of work late, coming home to find there was a misunderstanding with one of my creditors, and not having time to get ready for the revel.

Since I was going to be wearing a gown and dancing and most likely flashing a bit of ankle, I knew I really ought to shave my legs.  Sadly I ran out of time, so I figured I’d wear boots so my ankles wouldn’t show.  The only problem was that I couldn’t actually locate my boots. (In retrospect, I think I know where they are now.)  I instead opted for a pair of knee-high blue and white striped “crazy socks.”  Heck, striped hose was period.

Because of my sewing fiasco last week, I wore the Italian Renaissance gown I’d purchased at Pennsic this year with a dark green satin skirt, and I received so many complements on it that I’m glad  I wore it.  I have some extra green fabric that may match fairly closely, so perhaps I’ll make a pair of sleeves to add on to it.  I tried out a bit of gravity-defying lacing of the bodice, and was pleased with the results.  Bonus that I never fell out.

The dance challenge went well and I even got to dance the ladies’ part for the majority of dances.  I am now the proud owner of a neat little pewter Norse dancing man for completing the 10-dance challenge.  Yay Dance Guild!

I opted to join the group at their regular pub after meeting, which was also a good time.  I’ll definitely be going again on occasion.

This update has been brought to you by coming home at 12:30 AM and still needing a Holidailies post.

Dance Season 2008 September 21, 2008

It’s done. There may be a few more odd shows here and there, but the art festival performance yesterday signaled the end of the official season. And this year, I’m glad of it.

The performance went well. We had a beautiful day, temperatures near 80F and sunny and bright. We started the show with a decent crowd and ended it with a fantastic crowd. The students danced well, the sister troupe danced well, we looked good and my teacher/troupe director rocked her last solo. We had our photo taken for the local newspaper. And I’m so relieved it’s over.

The last few months, bellydance just hasn’t been fun. I’m still in the early phases of a class session, and I’ll finish that out, but after that, I’ve decided I need to take a break for a bit. I have three too-small costumes to sell, which may be enough to fund one nice new one and one cheaper (new or used). I have to start thinking about next year’s solo. But I’ll be taking a break from non-performance bellydance until after sometime after the first of the year.

After four and a half years, I’m feeling burnt out. I think it’s wiser to take a break now than keep going out of some misguided sense of obligation (or something) and end up hating what I’ve enjoyed for so long.

Spazmatic September 18, 2008

I live in a very ethnic city. It isn’t every day that one can go for food at a Chinese restaurant and be sandwiched between one table of folks speaking Spanish and another of people speaking Romanian. I think it’s actually pretty neat.

Last night was Euro dance night again, and I have to get my act together so I can teach and call the dance I learned at Pennsic this year. I realized that I don’t have the music, but I was lucky to find several good versions available on iTunes, which I will be purchasing shortly. Once I get paid I’ll buy the actual CDs.

Speaking of Apple products, I think I am seriously scouting out an iTouch. I’ve been needing a PDA-type products for a while now since my ancient Palm M100 is really and truly on its last legs. My cell phone contract is up in November so I was thinking of getting a smartphone or Blackberry device, but I’ve found I don’t care for any of the smartphones, and I would have to upgrade my cell plan to the tune of an additional $30 a month to be able to use the Blackberry. Since I have no intention of using the theoretical device for email, that extra cash would add up in a hurry. I’ve also been wistfully lusting after a full-fledged iPod (I have a 1st-generation Shuffle) because more and more I’ve had instances where it would be really helpful to 1) have music and 2) be able to locate it by name.

I’m thinking the iTouch may be the best of all worlds.

It is a much more expensive option, at least up front, but I think it will do everything I want it for, plus it will satisfy my inner geek with its gadget-y goodness.

I was terribly excited when I came downstairs this morning and found Hector perched on the little rock decoration thingy I put in the Disco. Finally, someone’s climbing! Ajax appears to be content in the isolation tank –he’s dug down to the bottom so I can lift the tank and peek at him– and he’s made a nice little cave for himself so I’m not quite as worried that I may have suffocated him. Still no sign of Ulysses in the main tank.