I have.....

five teens in my living room playing Rock Band. Send asprin....and earplugs.....*grin*

Long time......

I really am awuful at keeping this blog updated. Between classes, local drama lamas moving in, and a dozen other things going on it just really hadn't occured to me. Since I don't want to bore anyone with all the crap that has gone on recently I'mjust going to brag about some of the good things.
First off hubby finally bit the bullet and got a new truck. The old one was still in fantasic shape, should be it was only 4 years old, howere it was killing us in gas costs. We really don't need a truck that can all but pull my house off the foundation, just one with a nice enough sized bed to haul around the pavilon and help the occasional friend move. So now he has a 1500 Silverado that he's absolutely delighted with.
I've been playing "how long until the men with butterfly nets and jackets that tie in the back" game with several different projects.First is getting the videos of Banat not only on disks for all the girls without the soudntrack getting compressed so everythign looks like we're off, but getting some of the clips from the videos up on you-tube. I've managed to get two clips up so far that are here for those interested www.youtube.com/user/BanatTabla
I also finally got around to getting my own website up www.yumabellydance.com Its till has some tweaking to be done and a gallery to be added but its a start. Now off to go get ready for class tonight.

Doesn't take much to make me happy

Today was the offical start of crunch time for my troupe for the local ren faire. We had a fantastic rehearsal. Everyone worked really hard. I came home and flipped the TV on while I was changing clothes to go to dinner (4 hours of rehearsal? I was sooo not cooking). Well I turned it on just in time to catch a commercial break. The first ad was the the faire. Very cool becaue last year there was no tv advertising. They listed off some of the other returning entertainers then "Yuma's own Banat Tabla belly dancers" They used a photo of myself and another gal from a duet we did last year, well her front and as usual my arse....LOL! They didn't quite pronounce Banat right but close enough. What had me squeeing, jumping around and hitting the record button on the dvr was calling us "Yuma's own". As silly as it may sound those two words just were the icing on a fantastic day!

HI HO HI HO Its off to High School we go....

Or at least the kiddo did. My baby just left for her first day of high school. Needless to say it's the only reason I'd be up at this hour of the morning of my own free will. The morning was also accompnaied by plenty of "MOM! Do you have to?!?!" as I clicked off a couple of photos. And the answer to that would be yes....I had to.....LOL!

Workshops...addicted much?

Ok so I think I hit my limit on workshops I can go to this year. Three Jim Boz, Tribal Cafe, Bahaia Dance camp, yep I need to stop for the year before I bankrupt us...LOL!
All my hotels are reserved, flights booked, rental cars reserved for the year. Unless of course that one last "must go" workshop turns up before the end of the year. I swear I need to hit the lotto to afford my addiction.

News to warm a mom's heart

So last night at dinner kiddo tells me she misses dancing. I had caught sight of her dancing the choreographies during the choreo class but hadn't said anything about seeing her since she has been so off and on about dancing for the past few years. She tells me she thinks she wants to be part of my ren fair group and maybe get into the tribal fusion style of dance.
I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high. We used to dance together when she was little and I miss that. However between a few comments from a teacher that we were unaware of until after the fact and "it's not cool to do what mom does" phase she quit.
I would love to see her get back into dance and share my passion with me. I told her I would hold her to the same standards that I am holding everyone else to, including the performance contract and rehersal comittments. We talked about costuming, props, practices and a lot of the things I'd already talked with the gals about. We also talked about how I'd want her to practice with me at home since she'd been out of the dance for the past few years and that she'd need to take the next session of intermeadiate classes most likely. She seemed excited by the idea.
Tonight she asked if I wanted to play Dance Dance Revolution with her. We played for close to an hour and she kicked my arse but good. However it was fun, a good cardio workout, and we spent a lot of time giggling. Tomorrow the plan is to spend an hour or so working with a tribal tecnique video, at her suggestion. I hope she follows through on dancing with my ren troupe. It would be so much fun to see her working at the fair, take her to workshops and perform with her, see her perform on her own and just enjoy dancing again.
In other news, when I walked kiddo to her friend's house we took JarJar with us. She did really good, not at all spooked by the cars, horns, fireworks, or masses of people. The high school had graduation tonight, thus walking and not driving over, and it was chaos the entire route. If nothing else I can say I got my workout today. Cleaned carpets, DDR, and a 30 minute walk. Me thinks I'll sleep well tonight.

A Wonderful Christmas

I had been kind of bummed over Mom and Rod not being within travel distance for Christmas this year. The couple of other years when we haven't been able to travel or have family out here have always been depressing. It just never seemed like Christmas if we weren't in Tucson making the rounds of family or having a load of family here. This year, was amazing even without the loads of family.
We had kiddo's buddy Carmen over. Her family hasn't really celebrated a Christmas in many years. Usually her parents just give her some money to spend on herself. Well we went out and found a few things to tuck under the tree and in a stocking for her. It was so much fun to see the look on her face when she realised that we had taken the time to find gifts that matched her intrests.
Hubby was delighted with his World of Warcraft t-shirts. Mom bought him a gorgouse mounted knight statue to go with the knight lamp she had gotten him last year. My brother really scored this year for him too. Apparently a buddy of his asked him to help a friend move some stuff. Turns out the friend is the head physical therapist for the Miami Dolphins, Wayne's all time favorite football team. When the friend found that out, he gave Joe an offical Dolphins jacket for Wayne. Needless to say the man is tickled pink.
Kiddo also scored well on the spoil factor. A new Ipod, world of warcraft t-shirt, some cool jewelery, manga books, a dance pad and new game for the PS2 and her absolute fav, the drawing pad and manga program for the computer. She's still in the "figure out all the things she can do with it stage", but she's having a ball with it. The squeals of delight were probably heard for miles.
Wayne and the kiddo did well by me too. I have 6 new calanders (I know I have an addiction and yet I still usually have no clue what day it is :P), some fun new costume jewelery, the snuggliest robe ever made, and two new "fluffy" skirts from Fat Chance. Mom completly floored me. She had one of the photos that were taken at Ya Halla Ya All made into a 16 by 20 canvas print. It's amazing! To top it off she found out from the photographer he is using the same photo in one of his advertising slideshow/videos. The link to the ad is here www.youtube.com/watch My photo is at minute 1:31. I am flattered, floored, stunned, and totally amazed.
We spent the rest of the day after presents calling family, hanging out, playing with our new "toys", eating and generally having a relaxing, no stress type of day. The critters even had a few gifts under the tree from Santa Paws. Some new squeaky toys for the dogs and a new water and food bowl combo for the kitty. No more having to share the doggies water dish and their "cooties" for Miss Yo-yo.
I hope everyone had as wonderful and magical of a Christmas as we did!!

Superstars in Tucson

So last night Guin and I went to the Belly Dance Superstars in Tucson. I drove down early Friday although not as early as I wanted to. Apparently in my brillance Thursday night I washed a load of clothes and tossed them in the dryer. However I neglected to oh say...turn the dryer on? So I had to wait for the dryer to do it's thing so I had my jeans before I left. I had planned on going to Tucson Mall and wander around, do a little birthday/Christmas shopping while waiting for Guin to get off work. Since I left later than I planned, I ended up at Borders instead. I was doing really well until I hit the watercolor books. Three new books later I made it out the door to go meet up with Guin.
We met up, changed, and headed out for dinner. The tickets were general seating so we ended up at the theater about an hour before the doors opened. Needless to say we had really good seats, front row...LOL!
Of all the people to run into at the show, one of my newer students had also driven out to see the show! She and her cousin ended up sitting with us. She was so fun. During the intermission she was excited not only by what she was seeing but that she could recognise moves from what she's been learning in class.
The show, what to say? Amazing, fun, energetic, elegant.....the list goes on. I couldn't keep from smiling, or drumming on my leg and wiggling in my seat...oh surprise there. I've seen plenty of videos of Jillina and they don't come close to capturing the energy she has when you see her perform live. I would kill for ten minutes in her costume closet, and a body that would fit into her costumes...LOL! She wore a green and later a burgandy/purply costume that I am still drooling over. I'm still trying to figure out how Colleen and Sonia managed to dance for that long and never have a hair look out of place or loose a curl. The two of the tribal solos, Sharon and Kami, had me torn between watching them and watching their shadows on the staging behind them. It was a faboo visual effect. I would have loved to have photos of that for painting references later. Issam was his usual charming self and I still am amazed at how his hands blur as he drums. I took a workshop with him at Ya Halla this year, and absolutely could not help but to try and follow the rhythms along on my leg, quietly of course. At one point he was right in front of us, and did a double take in my direction then smiled. I think he saw what my hands were doing and was amused by it. Then again it could have been my overactive imagination...LOL. I doubt he recognised me from the workshp but again it seemed like everyone who talked to me that weekend identified me as the gal with the red and black hair so who knows.
I know the show takes a lot of flack at times for the non-traditional belly dance bits, like the hula, belly-ballet, stilts and such. I thought those bits were well done, and a nice change of pace. Out of all those bits the stilts didn't thrill me too much. While the wings were faboo looking with as large as they were, I felt bad for the gal because the movement required to stay on the stilts really hindered her dancing and made her look awkward in comparision to how she danced for the rest of the show.
The only thing I didn't like about the show, it was over wayyyyyy too soon...LOL!! I was bad at the "goodies" booth. I absolutely can not pass up a t-shirt that has anything to do with belly dance. We didn't stick around for the "meet and greet" with the dancers in the loby afterward. The crowd while not really all that big was getting a little overwhelming for us so we took off and headed out for some totally bad for us munchies. (Deep fried green beans and potato skinny dippers...yummmmy!!) Because bad for you munchies is just the thing we needed while oohing and ahhing over the show. LOL!

The ARGGG heard round the world

Otherwise known as how much of a complete idiot I am.
I just got a nifty new program for editing the videos. It works like a dream. However it's user works not so well.
With the old program I used to have to play beat the program and race to save between each and every single thing I did before it could shut down. Now, not so much. In fact it works so well I spent 3 hours editing, titleing, and sound boosting a practice tape for our routines only to close the program without EVER saving the project. I am such a twit!!!!
I have however managed to make progress on the costumes for myself and two others for the workshop show in November this weekend. We've also had our "other kiddo" for the past couple of nights. She the kiddo's best friend and her mom is in the hospital again. Her mom has a lot of medical problems, and is in and out every time you turn around. She hates to leave her daughter alone and the dad is not in the picture all that much. If he's not at work he's out drinking with his buddies or in Mexico visiting friends and family. We offered to bring her here to stay while her mom is in the hospital. We are lucky enough to have a ton of family and friends to jump in if something were to happen to us. They pretty much only have each other. She and my kiddo are close as sisters of the heart can be. Just makes sense to bring her here, we consider her our "other kiddo".

Some days......

I love my video software. Honestly. I'd really love it if it would work! I have spent five hours today trying to edit show videos together into some sort of master disk sets that I can copy off for the rest of the troupe. I finally broke down and did the edit a small part, save, close the program, restart the computer, re-open the program and file, edit....over and over again. At least tht kept the bloody program from crashing every ten minutes. I have all the system requirements and then some, there is no reason this shouldn't work. Argggggggg!!!
Ok rant over and now back to bashing my head against the keyboard....LOL!