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Category: Dance

  • Tonight I did not want to go to dance.  I’ve had a headache all day and feeling crummy and floaty (from the headache still being there but not being able to feel it due to 2 kinds of painkillers!  Maybe).  And totally unfocused!  But then as usual I got hom from work and immediately made my supper, got changed into my dance clothes, then ate and napped and was off to dance class.

    I walked there, and I was so pleased.  It’s been a while since I’ve had the strength and energy to both walk to the studio and then do a dance class. I wasn’t totally wiped out for class from walking there and then up all the stairs.  I was feeling strong and like I remember feeling when I was in amazing shape one-and-a-half years ago.  Or getting there at least.  Happy.

    I walked home, too, to try and tucker myself out.  Wednesday is going to be a bad day for going to sleep, I think.

    ***

    My goals for the winter are as follows:

    1. Never be cold.
    2. Learn to cook a roast beef.

     

  • I’ve spent the past few days dancing and resting and drinking and watching (spectacles). The day before yesterday the bunch of us went for a tasting at the Gonzales Byass sherry bodega. For 19 euros we got a tour of the place, four samples and tapas. Thank goodness for the tapas because the “samples” came in the form of four wine glasses of sherry right in front of us. Result: happy group. Result 2: I don’t think I like sherry- at least not four samples of it at the same time.

    I could have met up with the Alma de Espania group who are here and doing a day trip to Cadiz today but I have not gone for the following reasons: my feet are sore, and I need to get groceries.  Stores aren’t open on Sundays and I’m out of food, particularly, breakfast food.  Also last night we were up late following some native Jerez-ians to a pena* and so no one has gotten up in time.

    We are losing 3 of the 6 smart women who have been sharing the apartment here. Two are off to Ronda and Granada for the sights and shopping; one is back to Germany, where she lives.  However we have acquired a new roomie for the remainder of the time here: the new dynamic shall be 3 smart women and a guy.

    *Pena- should have a swoosh over the N, so it’s pronounced “pen-ya”.  According to our Jerez-ian guides, it’s a small, intimate show, in this case, a singer. Also in this case, a few hundred people “intimately” packed into a small venue.

  • Neat class this morning.  We had a substitute teacher as our regular teacher was in the hospital.  I didn’t catch the whole story there due to no Spanish skills but one of the other students translated.  The sub was a man, opposed to our regular lady, and he is the regular lady’s husband (I think).  He was a bit of a dream come true for some of us as we were meant to do our choro.  solo today (half the class went yesterday, the rest of us were meant to go today.)   The new guy started slowly with hands and arms and ran us through individually our marking step.  His big lesson was that flamenco is about emotion and that technique and doing the steps perfectly is Less Important than personal expression and being able to show that to your audience.  I need to work on that part. The technique too, but ths showing off part for sure. Really, this holds true for all dance,  and performance, but no one really says it.

    He also went over listening to the singer (there’s a singer and guitarist in each class) so we know when to start our choreo. I’m not sure why I can’t hear it.  Everyone else seems to. I’ll try again tomorrow with new ears.

    The apartment’s hot water (and all hot water in houses in Spain) is provided from a propane tank that is kept under the counter in the kitchen.  Usually.  Right now it’s in the middle of the kitchen, empty, sitting next to a new tank, waiting for someone who can hook it up as we are all frightened.

    EDIT: As I laze over here writing, one of the smart women has figured it out. Our original plan was to ask the guys staying upstairs to help (by which I mean hook it up for us)…  Or is it not working now?  New subject.

    EDIT 2: (1 hour later)  Nope.  Still no hot water.  Post-dance showers are cold.

  • I haven’t found any place to WiFi here yet,  so these entries are being stored on my phone until I hook up again.)  I went to my first flamenco spectacle last night. There was gunk on my left contact lens so I couldn’t see the show as well as I might have. But it was pretty amazing.  We ate at a place before the show and met up with other dancers from Victoria.  Also there was wine so I was sleepy at the show. Also there was shopping yesterday (before the eating before the show) but I haven’t bought anything yet. 

    I can get to the venue for my class on my own. This is a feat as the streets here are ancient and narrow and mazey,  but we sussed out a route.  We also sussed out a route to my next week’s venue as several people have a class there this week. Score.

  • I’m going to miss a few places in Victoria while I’m out of the country.  The Thrifty foods by my house.  The dance studio. The library.  I don’t go to the library very often (I go to the downtown branch)  but I was there the other day returning a book before I left so I didn’t have to pay a fine and I appreciated how nice it is to be in a familiar place.

    I was at my neighbourhood Thrifty foods this morning to pick up some candied ginger and again, I looked around, and noted that I wouldn’t be visiting for a few weeks and I was pleased to be breaking my routine for a little while.  But I’ll get back to it soon,  and then I’ll be pleased to get back to it.

    I’ve spent the late afternoon today at the Vancouver airport.  We arrived 4.5 hours early for our flight.  This is entirely due to us taking the ferry over: always take an earlier ferry,  just in case.

    I’m traveling with 3 other smart women, so that’s why my pronoun might occasionally switch.

    I’m about to board my first plane: one to London, then the second to Madrid. I’m going to nest in and have a cozy overnight flight. I have a Chatelaine magazine to read and Melatonin. Good night.

  • 2011 by Lindsie

    January.
    Nothing. I don’t remember. No wait. I started a new job. Did I report on this last year? I started a new position with Liquor Licensing (BC Gov) on Jan 4, 2011, the same date I started with them in 2008. It was a pleasant reunion with everyone (there was hugs!) and I’ve had a good year working there. It’s nice to have a permanant job*.

    *For now**

    **Mum doesn’t like it when I add that part. Hehehe.

    February.
    Nothing. February sucks.

    March.
    My birthday. Everyone celebrate!

    April.
    Nothing. Oh! Except I moved at the end of the month, so I spent most of April worrying about that and packing. Fun story: on April 29 I decided that I Would Watch The Royal Wedding (as this is something that Lindsie is meant to do, having memories of the other royal wedding that happened in 1981). In order to stay up that late- the thing started at 2 in the morning or something,-I needed to keep myself occupied. As I was about to move, the kitchen needed that end-of-occupancy clean out, so I watched the wedding coverage while scrubbing out my fridge and pulling out the stove. I made it all shiney. My landlord was super impressed, and also amused with my Royal Wedding Story.

    May.

    Dance recitals. I was in two this year, since I was doing classes with two studios. Fun and all but I’m only at one studio this year so hopefully only one recital. This year I did tap with the teacher I had in Duncan (Nanna!) at a new school. We danced to Michael Jackson. That show was at Victoria Event Centre, where they serve alcohol. Note: performing at a place where they serve booze the whole time makes for a fun show, especially if you are late in the line-up. The other show was at the Royal, which isn’t as intimate as the other place, but has a really nice backstage area. Mum and dad came and watched, and my friend Susan, as I did some flamenco and ballet. Good show. We went for dinner afterwards.

    June.

    Nothing. Actually I think in June I went to Vancouver to see Wicked. That was with my friend Julie, who is my musical theatre friend. We both bought t-shirts even though neither of us meant to. P.S. I love musicals. They make me cry and want to sing along and I love them.

    July.
    I watched the whole of West Wing and Knitted. Summer! Also, my friends Amber and Mia visited. In our second annual summer fun time, we did fancy dinner, and took double decker busses, and went Craigdarrough castle. We also ate cupcakes.

    Aug.
    Some summer dance workshops. Some moping around. Went to work. Benefitted amply from the wealth of my dad’s garden. (Speaking of which, did you know you can buy green beans at the grocery store? Both fresh AND in cans. *Why Would Anyone Do This*? Doesn’t your dad grow way too many and make you take them?)

    September.
    Whined a lot.

    October.
    This wasn’t that long ago. I should remember. I got sick around Thanksgiving, which was also exactly when I took my vacation time. I didn’t have any big plans or anything, but I was Quite Annoyed. All year my health has been really good. My doctor suggested, though, that I’m now just catching everything I hadn’t caught yet. I’ve also figured out my asthma so that it’s under contol. I puff a puffer twice a day, with an “emergency” inhaler for when I need it, most importantly, just before my dance classes. Breathing Lindsie is happy Lindsie.

    November.
    Seriously. I bought flamenco shoes. I don’t have a couch yet, but I do have flamenco shoes. Priorities. I realize that this letter is rather dance-centric, but I think about it a lot. That and how I’m going to feed myself around all my dance classes. Two of my favorite things are dance and eating. Another favorite thing is watching TV but that’s not really something one writes about in their Christmas letter. However, I’m only writing this right now because there’s nothing on to watch.

    December.
    Hasn’t really happened yet. So far so good. I just vacuumed a bit. I’m trying to make my house clean and tidy before putting up Xmas decorations.

    January, 2012.
    This hasn’t happened yet, either, but I want to keep going….

    February 2012.
    I’m going to Spain to take some flamenco workshops. I’m also going to drink sherry, and do other Spain things. Spain has never been on my radar of somewhere to visit so I don’t know what to expect!

    And here is a bonus story .

  • There was poo at the bus stop this morning. Right where I usually stand. It was definately poo, a big smear of it, as there was a whiff of poo smell on the breeze. Good start to my Monday.

    I’m counting down the weeks until I get holiday time. It’s at the beginning of October; or three four-day weeks, a five day week, and then another four day weeks, the a two-week break. Holiday time is important to think about on a Monday morning, especially when there was poo at the bus stop.

    This has been my summer: work, laze, sleep, repeat. With a little bit of sunshine here and there. Good summer. Lethargy is addictive, though, so I’m glad I’ll be able to go back to dance soon. I shall force my self to go move. My body will say “blaaaarg!” But my mind is stubborn and will make me go anyway.

    I meant to use my holiday time to visit SE Asia on a grand trip along the lines of my England trip last year. In the research I did in January, however, I decided I would rather go to China, for which I need more money, so then was planning for a CHINA 2012 trip. But now I will probably be going to Spain in February instead, and China will have to wait. In the meantime, I have two blank weeks of holiday coming up very shortly and I am looking forward to them.

  • Nov. 1. I juat wandered past Buckingham Palace. Only it was dark so I might go back. The queen is “in” though- her flag was up. Now waiting for Billy Elliot to start. Once again I’m really high up. Add this to the Royal Opera venue and the London eye this afternoon and this has been one horrifying trip.

    Intermission. I’ve already cried twice- because it’s sad, of course. But also some tears of wonder at the incredible kids they have to find to play Billy. He has to carry a lot. So great.

  • For someone who has sub-titled their blog “grandeur of summer” I sure haven’t written very much during described season.  The reason is thus: lazy and hot.  Today I have ballet class and then I’m going to get a Big Mac.  It is the last ballet class of this summer session and it has been well worth the time and money put in.  A good teacher and I am remembering how to position my body to do ballet.  Also, by ballet musles are reminding me that they don’t like to be used in this way, at least not after a year of atrophe.  It seems modern dance just doesn’t use them in the same way.

    Next week I have five whole days of work, whereas this week I had only three (holiday on Monday and flex day today.)  Grrr.

  • End of dance year.  I had something poignant to say about this but I’ve forgotten it now.  Instead:  my knees hurt and I strained a muscle on the inside part of my thigh.  Ow.  But I can rest these things now, to the exent that I’m not in another dance class for just about a month.  I have three weeks of summer classes lined up and paid for, so I’ll get a mid-summer workout instead of being lazy for two months.

    I actually should be moving my files from my old computer to my new computer, but I don’t want to do that right now.

    I had the sorest of throats this morning when I woke up (at ten-to six for some reason?)  I think it may have been caused by the excess of sugary things I ate last night (cake!) but annoying since it wasn’t very much and why should I get sick whenever I have a little bit of cake?  No more cake for now (I have one other piece in the freezer I will save for another time.  I was celebrating the survival of dance recital with the first piece.  Nothing more to celebrate!)

    My apartment is hot except for where I am sitting, as I have the fan directed right at me.  Last night I lay with my knees in the sun– trying to “heat” them, right?  After icing them, to heal them up.  Also useful in the healing process is not taking the stairs at work.  Up or down, as they hurt either way.  Stupid knees.  (Not really stupid.  Get well soon, knees.)

    I got a new credit card.  It’s pretty!  I know what’s what when it comes to financial decisions.  Did I need a new credit card?  No.  But is it pretty?  Yes!  Financial decision made.  Don’t worry, however, as both of my other credit cards (both tasteful in design but in no way pretty) are both sitting at zero dollars owing on them.  Lindsie wins.