My first wedding performance

I danced at a North African (Eritrean) wedding last night. For my non-dancer friends, I should say that in many Arabic cultures it is highly traditional to have a belly dancer as part of the wedding festivities. I did not know this until I started dancing. In fact, one of the main reasons why belly dancing is still even allowed in public in ever-more religiously conservative Egypt is because people insist on having them at their weddings.

Anyway, the Eritrean wedding last night was awesome. Many ladies wore traditional dress - white caftans bordered with colored fabric and shawls over their heads. Others wore evening dress. Quite a few of the older ladies also had elaborate henna designs on their hands and feet. When the couple stepped out of their stretch Hummer, the drums broke out and there was tribal dancing with sparklers and high-pitched ululating. This YouTube video shows what the procession and dancing was like (starts at about half-way through the video - this is a different event but shares some characteristics with the one I attended): www.youtube.com/watch . Outside under the stars, with drums pounding, I couldn't help comparing in some ways to the neo-tribal celebrations at Burning Man. (The video continues here with the couple's Coptic Christian ceremony. www.youtube.com/watch . I heard lots of this music last night.)

The food was homemade (of the Ethiopian type which is one of my faves), but the event was totally upscale, with an enormous beautiful ballroom decorated in whites & ice blues. People got up and danced with me throughout my show...from a little 2-year-old boy to the entire crew of groomsmen! Afterwards, all the little girls that had sat in the front row during my show came up and gave me hugs and wanted me to sign autographs for each of them. :-)

I felt very honored to be part of this celebration.

My tofu votes for Obama

Isn't this little guy cute? This is one cube of bean curd that knows how he's voting come November!

My first purchase on etsy.com - cool site for handmade art, jewelry & odd crafty items.

Magical Appearances

First, a book appeared on my doorstep: "Water for Elephants", a story that takes place in a circus. It was really good. I can't remember who told me about this book lately, someone mentioned it & they must have left it for me, but I have no idea who.

Then, as I was working at my computer this morning, a crash and scurrying noise inside my office closet. I opened the door and there was a grey PIDGEON poking around on top of my papers. How it got inside my house AND inside my closet I will never know. It flew out and vomited nervously on my windowsill for awhile, then flew up and settled on my bookcase. I opened all my windows but it didn't leave for a couple of hours, just sat there and watched me work. finally I got on top of a chair, grabbed it and threw it out the window.

Since these things come in threes, I wonder what my next magical appearance is going to me? *Grins in anticipation*

Mini Road Trip

Today my beautiful friend Tammy and I got in my car and took the backroads into the Texas countryside for awhile, following the old highway that used to connect Dallas and Austin. We stopped at this old building (pictured) which houses the coolest vintage clothing store ever run by two retired jazz musicians. I tried on a white leather jacket and pant suit with gold studs going down the arms and down the pant legs with the label "Caesar's Palace - Las Vegas" on the inside. It fit like a dream. Bought a pair of vintage gold sandals. Drove home looking at cows and goats and telling T. about my upcoming visit with E-Vol. It was such a great afternoon.

Atheist Sees Big Bang in Piece of Toast

"Miracle Toast"?

(ACPA-London) Excitement is growing in the Northern England town of Huddlesfield following the news that a local man saw an image of the Big-Bang in a piece of toast. Atheist Donald Chapman, 36, told local newspaper, "The Huddlesfield Express" that he was sitting down to eat breakfast when an unusual toast pattern caught his eye.

"I was just about to spread the butter when I noticed a fairly typical small hole in the bread surrounded by a burnt black ring. However the direction and splatter patterns of the crumbs as well as the changing shades emanating outwards from this black hole were very clearly similar to the chaotic-dynamic non-linear patterns that one would expect following the Big Bang". "It's the beginning of the world" he added excitedly.

Ever since news of the discovery made national headlines, local hoteliers have been overwhelmed by an influx of atheists from all over the country who have flocked to Huddlesfield to catch a glimpse of the scientific relic. "I have always been an atheist and to see my life choices validated on a piece of toast is truly astounding" said one guest at the Huddlesfield Arms Hotel.

To the surprise of many, the UK National Atheist Association has asked its members not to pay attention to the story despite its potential to inspire less Faith. "Given what the religious believe already, this is an easy sell" said one disgruntled activist who said he was going to Huddlesfield anyway noting that "Seeing is not believing".

copyright www..satireandcomment.com

Garden of Silence

CANCELLED - Dancing Tongue's Circus Show

I don't know what it is about this month, but this is the 3rd or 4th major event I've been involved with that has been cancelled. So... no circus fun at the Undermain Theatre on the 17th. Regrets to all my friends who were planning to attend.

(Do Not) Come to Sloppy World on Jan. 30!

CANCELLED!!! ***Band had gear stolen and the event is not taking place***
The Tracers, the performance art group I am a member of, will be performing a new show in Dallas on Wednesday, Jan. 30 at Sloppy World, corner of Parry and 2nd Ave across from State Fair Park. We're sharing headlines with dark puppet rock band The Spores from L.A. More details to come. BYOB.

It waz the best o' times; it wuz the wurst of times...

But mostly it was the best!!! Here are some highlights from PirateSockCat's recent visits to Dallas. He recently shipped out to the eastern seaboard where we hope's to meet him again someday. (Hint - don't view as slideshow, just click to next picture to see with captions included).

www.flickr.com/photos/868...0884105210/

Adventure on the High Seas

or, Why You Don't Want To Accept My Invitation To Go Sailing
A kind friend lent me a small, 2-person sailboat for the summer and this beautiful Sunday afternoon my friend B. and I decided to take it out for the first time. I haven't sailed since I was maybe 14 years old at summer camp, but I still felt that I remembered a lot and would have no problem piloting the craft. My friend B. once had the dynamics of sailing explained to him in detail by his girlfriend while they were both on acid. Therefore we felt that we were qualified to "figure out" how to sail this boat using our instincts and general brain power. Because we are both brainy people. We named our new sport "Intuitive Sailing."

I won't belabor all the details, but basically the minute we got the sail hoisted, our ship bolted out of the dock like a bat out of hell. B. was flung flat on his stomach across the prow, desperately trying to pull the boom back in as White Rock Lake zoomed just inches beneath his nose. His "intuition" failed to tell him that he was lying on the sheet (the rope controlling the boom) so I couldn't do anything to control it myself. I can't remember if I was laughing my ass off or petrified with fear or just generally exhilarated by the truly amazing speed. Within 15 seconds we were right in the middle of the lake and quickly decided to take the main sail down and figure out where all the ropes were before doing anything else. OK, done. So we hoist again in a more organized fashion, but we're not heading into the wind (mistake) so immediately the wind grabs the sail and topples the whole boat over. We are capsized into White Rock Lake. Our mast goes straight into the mud and lodges there. We spend the next 30 minutes treading water and taking turns getting on the keel of the boat and using the centerboard as a lever to try to bring it back upright. Meanwhile the Corinthian Yacht Club's motorized rescue boat is circling around us shouting non-helpful things like, "Keep trying!!!" I am totally exhausted from the effort of swimming and seriously wonder whether White Rock wouldn't look better with a permanent art installation called "Boat - Upended" in the middle of it. B. is being totally gracious considering that I invited him out for a pleasant afternoon of sailing and am now yelling at him to "HEAVE!!!" while he's just trying to keep his head above water. We finally get it up and the sail swings wildly around and capsizes on the other side. We pull it up again, quickly drop sail, and are towed back by the rescue motorboat, past the other boats and docks, our misfortune on display for all to see, in a return that was immediately dubbed our Cruise of Shame.

But ya know, we had fun. We battled the turbulent high seas and did not perish, nor did we even lose our sunglasses. (And the post-adventure margaritas were very tasty.) I learned a lot and am ready to do it again next weekend. But I think I'm going to bring someone along who can bring some more experience to the illustrious sport of Intuitive Sailing.