Exuberant enthusiasm and concomitant excess

So often we are advised to practice moderation.  "All things in moderation," they murmur, urging us to sample pleasures in small portions.  We are assured that excess is bad; after all it is, well . . . excessive.

I've never been good at moderation.  I'm full of bubbling enthusiasm that inspires me to fling myself wholeheartedly into one activity after another.  I go from a passionate pursuit of teaching perfection to months of extreme gardening only to then throw myself into a grandiose creative project.  There is no temperate jogging for me -- I'm always running full-tilt.

I've never forgotten some words of wisdom my undergraduate class received during our college orientation.  We were urged to pursue our passions intensely.  If we enjoyed a writer's work, we should read everything we could find by that author.  If mathematics intrigued us, we should immerse ourselves in the study of mathematics.  I found this advice deeply compelling.  The idea of plunging headfirst into something, letting it take me over completely, fit my approach to life.  Moderation be damned!  If we are going to do something, let's really go for it, fully and without reservation.  I wanted to meet life with exuberant enthusiasm, not cautious reserve.  Indeed, in my first year of college one of my friends gave me a sign that reads, I Am Subject To Bursts of Enthusiasm.  I have it on my shelf today as a badge of pride. 

The power of stillness

One of the lessons I have learned from dance is the importance of stillness.  Beginning dancers often assume that one must be continuously in motion -- keep moving, keep moving, fill up the music.  But constant motion is wearying to watch and gives the viewer no time to rest.  Of course, pauses do more than just give the audience a breather.  Stillness provides a frame for motion.  When the dancer stops moving, it serves to accent the previous move -- it lets the viewer know that something important just happened.  Even the most spectacular move will not be appreciated by the audience unless they are given time to absorb it and the pause that lets them know how amazing it was (think of the "ta-da!" moment, for example).  Dance also needs stillness for structure, just as language uses punctuation to break the continuous stream of words into meaningful units.  Similarly, we use pauses and changing tempos to create phrasing in dance. 

But these moments of stillness are challenging.  As one of those people who can become uncomfortable with silence, I tend to want to fill up every moment with sound and action.  Pauses create anxiety in many dancers, because they worry that the audience will get bored.  We tend to think of stillness as an absence -- without movement, nothing is going on.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  When executed well, the pause is filled with meaning: with the memory of movement and the anticipation of movement, with the persona of the performer, with the connection between performer and audience.  The quiet moments require that we have confidence in ourselves -- confidence that we alone, without the distraction of movement, have a strong enough presence to compel the viewer's interest.  In this way, stillness requires that we make ourselves vulnerable; stripping off the cloak of our dance technique and putting aside our bag of tricks, we expose our self, the self we embody for performance, to the audience. 

This excerpt from George Balanchine's ballet, Apollo, uses moments of stillness to create tension and heighten emotion, as well as to highlight beautiful poses.
 

In this piece by the spectacular dance company Momix, stillness is essential for the illusion of defying gravity.  Tension is created as we wonder whether the dancers will be able to hold their position.  We are able to focus on the one dancer who is moving because all of the other dancers are immobile.  Notice, too, the moment at about 1:30 when the dancers hold a new position for a long moment, and the audience applauds.  This is the the "ta-da!" moment I mentioned earlier.  Later in the piece, moments of stillness highlight particular poses and shapes created by the dancers. 


In life, as in dance, I want to keep moving, striving, doing.  I don't like to just sit still and do nothing.  But I'm coming to realize that we all have (or should have) pauses in life, when we are not doing, but merely being.  While they may feel unproductive, these moments give us a chance to reflect on the past and envision the future, as well as to fully experience the present.  Of course, just as in dance, there are more and less effective uses of stillness -- we need to fill these pauses with meaning, not just hang around doing nothing.  If you find your life overfull of activity, perhaps it is time to cultivate moments of quietude.  If you find yourself in a prolonged pause, make it a meaningful one and recognize that sometimes it is all right just to be, suspended between moments of doing.  I suspect I will always enjoy action best, but I'm learning to appreciate the value of purposeful inactivity.  Perhaps someday I can learn to live as comfortably in stillness as I do in motion, even if only for a moment, when I am my only audience.

Beaded bellydance bra

I never got around to taking pictures of the dance costume bra I finished over the summer. This goes with the beaded bellydance belt I finished a while ago. I made the bra from a Kwik Sew pattern, using denim from old jeans, reinforced with stiff, fusible interfacing. The cups were then further reinforced with fusible fleece and two layers of buckram. I covered the finished bra with stretch velvet to match the belt. Then the beading began!


The motifs are all hand-beaded, one bead and sequin at a time. The motifs are a mix of glass seed beads of various clear and silvery tones, Swarovski crystals, and Czech glass beads, edged in sequins and more glass beads. The oval cabochons and the big triangular crystal on the top part are made of sew-on Swarovski crystals that were then caged with glass seed beads. The fringe is made with glass seed beads and three kinds of Swarovski crystals to make a pattern.


Under the fringe, I beaded a swirly design to match the design on the belt. It's hard to see in the picture, but this is a raised design. The fringe moves while I dance, of course, so this design peeks out under the swaying fringe.
The straps are too plain, and I'll probably do more beading there at some point. But the costume is wearable at this point -- in fact, I wore it for a performance in August, and it fit well and held up to the rigors of dancing. I also got a number of compliments from other dancers, so I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Momix Dance Company

What was I doing on Halloween? I was out with a zombie (Q), my father, and his wife. We all went to dinner at a new-ish restaurant in Clifton that serves nouvelle cuisine. The restaurant has been remodeled and looks spacious and elegant (although quite different from the previous establishment), and the food was very good. Plus, several of the wait staff complimented Q's zombie costume, so that was a good sign. (He did a great job with the makeup -- it was very creepy.) Then we went to see the Momix Dance Company perform the Best of Momix. I hadn't ever seen them perform, and it was truly magical. I've only seen a few dance performances that got me to say "wow" more than once during the show. They used props inventively, including what looked like a rolling jungle gym that the dancers climbed upon and spun around, a set of big bouncy balls for an adorable faerie-like dance number, and two dancers who performed in full skis. Even the traditional ribbon prop used in Chinese dance got new life, as it appeared almost as a neon tube, flowing in cursive shapes and spirals around the dancer. The whole show was mesmerizing -- the lighting, the costumes, and of course, the performers were just flawless. As with much of modern dance, I'm not sure if the music was as tightly integral to the dance performances -- in some cases, the choreography clearly coordinated with the music, and in most cases, the music cast a reasonably appropriate mood, but the dances weren't so uniquely tied to the music as in folk dance. The dancers were really amazing, though -- strong, flexible, and completely spot-on for each number. The performers got two standing ovations, and completely deserved them. You can see clips from another version of the touring show here. If you have a chance, go see Momix perform.

Beaded bellydance belt

I finished beading this belt last year, but never got around to taking pictures. I'm working on the matching bra at the moment. Click on the pictures if you want to see them full-size (the details are clearer in the larger versions of the pictures).

The front of the belt

Detail of the central motif on the front of the belt. I sewed on every bead and sequin individually -- these are not appliques. The motifs are a mix of glass seed beads of various clear and silvery tones, Swarovski crystals, and Czech glass beads, edged in sequins and more glass beads. The top edge of the belt is edged in bugle beads and sequins.


Detail of the fringe. I designed the fringe and sewed all the beads on individually; it's a mix of silver-lined, glass seed beads and three types of Swarovski crystals.


The back of the belt.

The back of the belt; the angled shot gives a sense of the dimensionality of the beading.

Detail of the central motif on the back of the belt.

This beading takes an amazingly long time to complete and I can't even estimate the number of hours or the number of beads in the project. But I love the way it came out.

Various projects

Summer projects have begun! I have been working in the garden a lot (weather permitting). There are a number of lovely new pathways, thanks to Q (yay!), so I've been trying to design within the new structure. For all my effort, the front garden needs another weeding, a few more plants, and some mulch, but for now it houses a baby bunny most days, so I am content. The back garden has some vegetables and a few flowers, but I still need to work some beds and put some more vegetables and flowers in. I put in some new shade plants in the beds along the house, which were looking a bit unkempt. The deck strawberries have been producing a bit of fruit (yum!), and the Alpine strawberries have been fairly prolific. The first crop of raspberries is just starting to ripen, and I put in two new blueberry bushes. So I'm running a bit late in the garden, but it is slowly getting done.

I made my first bellydance costume bra from scratch this week. I ended up making muslins of three different sizes of a Kwik Sew underwire bra, none of which fit perfectly. There was some gapping in the cup under the arm, so I just put in a dart there, and I cut down the center connecting piece a bit. I think the sizes run a bit big, because the cup is bigger than I am used to. For the final version, I wanted it to be sturdy enough to take a lot of beading without collapsing. So I made the main bra out of reinforced denim (from old jeans) with some stiff interfacing, and then I created the front cup section out of two layers of buckram and fusible fleece and basted that into the denim bra. It is super sturdy! Then I made another version of the bra in the velvet I am using for the costume and covered the bra with the velvet (with hand basting). Now I'm beading it, which will take a bit of time, but is the part I like the best. I'm repeating motifs from the belt, but changing them around a bit. I finished beading the belt a while ago; it just needs to be lined and sized for me (have the hooks sewn in). It's been quite a while since I've had a new dance costume, so I am eager to finish this one.

There are a couple of home repair/renovation projects that need to be finished, too, so I've been calling contractors and trying to get those underway. Hopefully soon! Then there will be some painting to do when they are done.

It's amazing how busy I feel, given that I'm on summer break. There is always so much to do!

Highlights of 2008

So what did I do in 2008? In no particular order (and I'm sure I'm forgetting things):

• In addition to my regular teaching schedule at Montgomery College, I taught a section of General Psychology at Georgetown (Spring & Fall semesters) and in the Winter 2008 session at Montgomery College (with a wicked flu the entire time -- blech!)
• Continued to refine my teaching and try out new assignments and classroom activities
• Became a faculty contact for the Writing in the Disciplines program at MC
• Organized a conference panel about writing at AFACCT, and gave two presentations about writing at MC
• Coached the Vagina Monologues at MC (was this my fourth time?!?)
• Continued to organize the Psychology Brown Bag series at MC, and gave two talks as part of the series: Lusting in Your Heart: What do your feelings say about you? and Viagra: The Solution, or Part of the Problem?
• Wrote an Ask the Sexpert column for the student paper on whether homosexuality is natural
• Had a panel presentation accepted to the Mid-Atlantic Women's Studies Association conference
• Continued to be the faculty advisor for the People's Alliance club, which met fairly regularly and put together a display for the Health Fair at MC -- they did a great job
• Organized the annual silent auction to raise funds for the Women's Studies Student Scholarship Fund at MC -- put up advance pictures online for the first time
• Went to Boston to visit a friend who showed us around the city and was a wonderful hostess
• Got to see my father sing the Major General song on stage at George Mason University (with full orchestra and chorus backup, including a verse he wrote himself about academia)
• Went to my father's talk at GMU about writing over 100 books (wow!)
• Became a regular at the local farmer's market (during the growing season)
• Gardened extensively: Put in my vegetable garden and various annuals, did my regular maintenance, and began putting in new paths in the garden (well, Q did most of it, really, but I helped)
• Watched the bunnies and birds in our yard -- ooh, and I saw deer, and a fox, and a woodpecker while at my father's house
• Cooked and baked with the wonderful summer produce and helped Q make our usual summer pesto; discovered some new recipes, including delicious blueberry muffins and and raspberry coffeecake
• Made pizza from scratch for the first time -- and it was yummy!
• Finished painting the basement, including the finishing touches on the peach pit (the stairs) and the bathroom (with its violently orange faux finish and a lovely sump pump cover that Q built)
• Started painting the bedroom (still in process, but it looks fabulous so far)
• Researched and purchased a new washer and dryer and a new refrigerator (more energy efficient -- yay!)
• Went to Quebec for a wonderful vacation, which included climbing a mountain (with only moderate whining and gasping), seeing whales, eating sugar pie, and going to some cool museums, including a terrific exhibit of Inuit art and an exploration of the historical layers of Montreal buildings
• Continued my dance education with regular classes with Yasmin, Turkish workshops with Artemis, workshops with Leila from Egypt, and going to Folktours Dance camp and the Herdeljezi Festival
• Put on three Starlight Shimmy shows at the New Deal Cafe
• Created some new dance performances, including some new comic fusion pieces, but also stretched myself to create more emotional depth and explore some new aspects of dance
• Continued to dance at local gigs, including restaurants and private parties, and did some substitute-teaching that has led to an ongoing teaching opportunity
• Went to a number of dance shows (too many to keep track of!)
• Went to Wisconsin to visit my grandparents, and put on a dance performance for their community
• Sewed: Finished a jacket, finished beading a costume belt, and made progress on a couple of other projects
• Saw Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead with stellar performance by
• Saw Kooza, my first experience with Cirque de Soleil -- amazing!
• Saw a performance of the Song/Dance Ensemble of West Africa
• Saw a local performance of the Pirates of Penzance that included a very effective use of trampolines
• Went to a couple of Batala performances, and they were fabulous
• Did a lot of walking and increased my use of public transportation to get to work
• Read a lot of books (and articles), including both fiction and non-fiction
• Saw some good movies (and some not so good movies, too); I was also a discussant for two film presentations at MC (Secretary and Chak De! India)
• Began a Facebook account
• Had semi-weekly brunches with my father
• Got to see my brother and his family a number of times -- my nephew and niece are great kids
• Spent lots of time with my sweetie and with good friends -- many thanks to all of you for being such good friends

It was a busy year!

Fragments of my life

• I finally finished painting the basement bathroom. It is a VERY BRIGHT orange color with yellow glaze ragged on over it (actually, ragged off). This room glows in the morning -- it looks like a light is on even when it is not. Q did a great job building a much nicer sump pump cover and moving the pvc pipe to give us room for shelves. I even painted the pvc pipe to match the walls, so it isn't so glaring. I got a little orange and yellow rag rug that matches the color scheme from Etsy. I even replaced the shower head, although we still need to find a suitable shower curtain. So that room is mostly done, and I keep going by to look at it -- it makes me smile.
• The house is remarkably clean at the moment -- we had an out-of-town guest last weekend and I did a major housecleaning. I wonder how long it will last.
• I am two weeks into teaching my five-week summer class. My second class got canceled, due to low enrollment, so I have more free time than I expected. This is a wonderful treat, and I am enjoying it.
• I am beading the fringe on the black and silver bellydance belt that I have been hand beading for years. I enjoy this process, but it is very very SLOW. And when the belt is done, I still have to work on the bra and accessories.
• Our summer pesto factory officially opened today. I did a major harvest of our basil plants, and Q made 9 batches of pesto. We haven't even finished last year's pesto, yet -- our freezer is full of pesto!
• The garden is a jungle, as always -- the tomato plants are huge and entangled with the berry canes, and the front garden is in desperate need of weeding. I find it hard to work in the garden when I am constantly being attacked by hordes of mosquitoes. I have never found an insect repellent that really works, and I am unwilling to use insecticides in the garden. What I really want is a Rent-An-Insectivore service, where handlers bring in critters to eat the bugs. For mosquitoes, it would be trained bats, for ants it would be anteaters, for crickets you could have hedgehogs. The handlers would bring in as many insectivores as you need for as long as it takes to reduce the population to a reasonable level (keeping them in your yard in whatever way is cruelty-free and appropriate), and then they would go on to the next patron. Wouldn't that be an eco-friendly solution? And then I could venture out to pull the weeds and pick the tomatoes in relative peace.
• I've been working on building some "greener" habits. I think I am a bit more mindful and aware of my choices, but I find that these habits often require a lot more time, and I'm not sure whether that is something I can reliably maintain when my workload is high. I'm figuring that anything I manage to do is better than nothing, so I just try to be cognizant of my choices.
• Movies I have seen recently: Wall-E, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Notorious Bettie Page, Provoked
• I taught a bellyrobics class (subbing for a friend), and it was more fun than I remembered. It made me think about trying for a regular dance teaching gig again, but I probably don't have enough space in my schedule.
• I made a batch of orange muffins today from a new recipe, and I didn't care for them -- too much oil, I think. What do you do with something you cooked that came out badly (or at least, not to your taste)? Do I feed them to the birds, or anonymously fob them off on coworkers?

I now return you to your regularly scheduled activities.

Music video of the week

My new favorite song -- Bollywood rocks!

One man's YMCA

Get ready to dance . . .

Hamster dance RULES!

Ok, this is a fabulous video of the Hamster Dance . . . go check it out!

Spending too much time on YouTube

Beaker from the Muppets sings "Feelings"
I loved the Carol Burnett show when I was a kid, and it's so much fun to see them make each other laugh.

Other things I learned today: 6 peanut-butter and jelly crackers and an apple does not a dinner make when I have to dance two shows afterwards. And dancing for a lukewarm audience is not much fun . . . but it's more bearable when you have your best friend with you. Thanks Q.

Why am I tired today?

Why am I tired today? Hmmm . . . let's review yesterday.

Alarm goes off at 5:30am
After some snooze-buttoning, I get up at 6:00am (after less than 6 hours of sleep)
I leave at 7:00am, walk to the Metro (15 minutes)
Take the Metro to Dupont Circle Walk from Dupont Circle to Georgetown University (30 minutes)
Teach my General Psychology class at GU Walk from Georgetown to Dupont Circle (30 minutes)
Take the Metro to Rockville Walk from the Metro to Montgomery College (30 minutes)
Do various teaching-related tasks while eating lunch (yay for lunch, I'm starving by now)
Teach my Psychology of Women class at MC (great discussion of gender stereotypes)
Walk from MC to the Metro (30 minutes)
Take the Metro to Medical Center Walk from the Metro to my house (15 minutes)
Hug Q and chat with him a bit
Eat dinner
Prepare for the restaurant gig
Drive to restaurant, stretch and finish getting ready to perform.
They make me wait an extra 15 minutes before I perform. Ordinarily not a problem, but by now I am painfully tired.
Dance for 27 minutes (decent show, but not my best)
Drive home
Change clothes and scrape the makeup off my face
Stare at computer for an hour
Q comes home from meeting, we watch some TV (yay for classic Trek), and collapse into bed.

I think I walked 8-10 miles yesterday, which will be typical for every Monday and Wednesday this semester, because I have no patience to wait for the bus. I also find that buses are more erratic with regard to time of arrival, so I can't plan my day as effectively, while my walking times are quite consistent, making me confident of my ETA. Plus, I'm getting good exercise.

But I'm tired today. I hope this gets easier.

Evolution of dance

Ok, I may be the last person to have seen The Evolution of Dance video on YouTube, but if you haven't seen it, you should check it out. I don't know whether to be impressed or appalled, but it certainly made me laugh!

It was a good day

I kicked off this semester's Psychology Brown Bag series today with a talk entitled Gay, Bi, Lesbian, or Straight? Sexual Orientation is Not Categorical. The brown bag series was my idea, and I organize it each semester. This is our second semester of the series, and they have been really well-received and well-attended. I buy the food (usually way more than we need -- I can't help it!), set up the space, organize the speakers, do the advertising, and so far, I've also been a speaker both semesters. Today's talk went really well -- lots of students and faculty came, and the larger conference room was a good choice, as it was full but not too overcrowded. I kicked off the talk with the data from some of the major sex surveys -- Kinsey, NHSLS, NSFG, etc., along with some cross-cultural and historical data, about the ways in which identity, behavior, desire, fantasy, and love can diverge. Example: A recent study of more than 4000 men in NYC found that 1 in 10 men who identify as straight had sex with a man in the last year. There were loads of questions and comments, and I only wish we could have stayed longer to discuss the issues. I was pleased that there wasn't any hostility, as the topic can evoke prejudice (e.g., many of the flyers were torn down).

And, as always, everyone loved the Seven Layer Cookies I made (nod to my friend B who gave me the recipe in high school -- thanks!). Plenty left over for Q to give them to a colleague -- yippee!

Taught my Human Sexuality class, which went pretty well. This class hasn't been particularly strong in discussion, but we had a vibrant discussion of the pros and cons of circumcision today, as well as the cultural equation of penis size and masculinity (and the role of pornography in perpetuating that myth), which was great.

I came home and visited with Q for a bit -- always wonderful.

Then off to my dance gig. Pretty big crowd there for a Monday night, and they were very receptive and enthusiastic (gosh, there were even a few tips, which is really rare there). I had a lot of fun and I was pleased with my dancing. I even got out a bit early, since the manager let me start 15 minutes early.

Came home and visited more with Q. Yay! Various web browsings later, I am off to bed. Future plans involve getting up early to get into work early to get some grading done before my first class.

Dance class and fingerprinting

Well, I started teaching another session of belly dance classes at the JCC tonight. I generally enjoy teaching there, but I find it hard to get energy with such small classes. I have five students signed up, but only two of them came tonight. They were very nice and seemed to enjoy the class, but it always feels low energy to me with such a small group.

Tonight was another chapter in the endless fingerprint saga, as well.

In order to get hired to teach at the JCC, one must submit fingerprints to have a criminal check performed. Fine. So, initially, they had a security guard who had been a police officer and did the fingerprints. But he worked mornings, and I taught in the evening. So I had to come in during a totally different day to get that done, which meant there was a delay until I could find a free day. Ok, fine, he does my fingerprints, and I figure we're done. Nope -- the ones he did were too blurry. And apparently this is a chronic problem, so they give me the fingerprint card and tell me to get it done at the police station.

But the police stations have limited hours in which they do fingerprinting. So I need to find a day in which I can get to the station during their fingerprinting hours. I finally get to the Rockville station on a Friday to get this done. But you're supposed to call before you go to the station, because they don't guarantee that they will be doing fingerprints during their posted fingerprinting hours. You guessed it -- the station isn't doing them that day. Neither is the other Rockville station, or the Bethesda station, and I don't have time to get to Germantown. *Sigh* So I put this off to some other day in my far-too-tightly-scheduled life. And the next day I'm free, none of the stations near me are doing fingerprinting *again*. And, need I say that I'm not all that motivated to get it done? It's not the most exciting task on my list.

Meanwhile, I've been teaching at the JCC for almost a year, but because of the lack of the criminal check, they start holding my paychecks until the fingerprints come in. Ok, so I finally find a day that the Silver Spring station is actually doing fingerprinting and I have a couple of hours to rush over there in the morning, so I get it done (one of them had to be redone -- apparently, I have a strangely curved thumb). I even manage to find time to drop it off at the JCC later that day, which is truly a miracle.

Hosannah! I am done!

Nope. Apparently, there is some time limit on the fingerprint cards. The head of the dance department told me tonight that since I didn't submit the fingerprint card within the time frame, I may have to do them again. None of this makes sense to either of us -- I mean, my fingerprints haven't changed in the last months, as far as I know, so what is the problem? So she decided to wait and see if they really do pester her for me to do them again (and pay another fee to the police station out of my own pocket, thank you very much), or whether they will just let it slide.

Who knew that fingerprints were such a complicated process?

Happiness

Things that make me happy:

• Rabbits in the back yard, including a baby bunny!
  
• Watching the third season of News Radio -- that show cracks me up. Speaking of funny, the seagulls in Finding Nemo -- Mine, mine, mine -- had me ROtFLMAO.
  
• New music set for my restaurant gig -- yay for new sets!
  
• Spending oodles of time with my sweetie.
  
• Being able to eat fresh vegetables from my garden -- yummy fresh peas and lettuce, and the most delicious strawberries I have ever eaten. And soon there will be tomatoes and zucchini, and blackberries and raspberries -- but I think the birds and rabbits will eat all the blueberries.
  
• Pretty painted walls -- the master bathroom is now an intense teal with lavender trim, and the basement bathroom will soon be orange. Other paint colors soon to come: Peach for the basement stairwell and green for the solarium. Whee!
  
• Carrot cake muffins -- new recipe, came out well, brought them to Habiba's Ghawazee workshop where the dancers ate them with glee. But there are still some left for me and Q -- yay!

There are many more, but that will do for today. I am listening to the rain, which is very cool, and I should go practice my new set some more. But shhhhh...Q is napping.

Today's fortune

You are imbued with extraordinary vitality.

I also have a bunch of new music to inspire my dancing -- yippee!

So Tired

I. Am. So. Tired.
Too many hours of coaching and stage managing for the campus performance of The Vagina Monologues. Both shows were great -- the cast and crew did a terrific job and both shows were well-attended and we raised several thousand dollars for organizations working to end violence against women. They also gave me some beautiful roses as a thank-you. But now I'm in post-production ennui (augmented, I'm sure by staying out too late last night chatting with students from the cast). Now I have to get caught up on everything else that didn't get done while I was at rehearsals.

My to-do list includes:

• Write exams for two different classes by Monday
  
• Finish organizing a silent auction to raise money for the Women's Studies Scholarship Fund at the Women's Studies Breakfast on Wednesday -- some very cool items so far, including jewelry, molas, tickets to local events, pillows, scarves, Brazilian crafts, etc.
  
• Grade grade grade student papers and journals
  
• Write my yearly evaluation packet
  
• Dance!
  
• Prep for the Zar workshop on Tuesday (I'm TA-ing for Yasmin, need to format the warm-up and make sure the tech is ready)
  
• Work on various unfinished projects as time permits (too many to list!)

Gosh, that just makes me feel even more exhausted!

Dance musings

I had my every-other-Monday restaurant dance gig tonight, which was fun but exhausting. I find it really hard to shift gears from my day job to dancer so rapidly, and it was an unusually long day at work without any really substantial meals, so I am just feeling "off." However, I did manage to thoroughly embarrass a young girl by getting her up to dance...or rather, I got her up to stand in front of me, completely immobile. I joshed her a bit and moved her hips for her, and then I let her go back to her seat. Her sister, meantime, had pulled her head completely inside her coat (like a turtle) so as to avoid being called to dance. What makes people so intimidated about getting up to dance with the belly dancer? Anyway, everyone seemed to have fun, which is the point. And I like my new music set -- it has a very peppy Hakim song which makes me happy everytime I hear it.

Now I think I need to go to bed, since I am not getting any real work done. After all, tomorrow is another day.