My Blog

Historical Bellydance Workshop

Melody — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 02:40:09 GMT

For those of you not in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) here's a heads up about an upcoming workshop. I will be teaching a two hour workshop in Everett at the Aquaterra Spring Ithra, being held at the Everett Community College on Saturday April 5th at 11:00. For more info you can go to www.antir.sca.org/upcoming/ click on Aquaterra Spring Ithra in the April section and it will take you to the link. You do not have to be a member of the SCA to attend... the workshop is free but you will have to pay the SCA gate fee which is I think less than $10. So you are getting a two hour workshop with me for less than $10. I don't do this very often so you should jump on it if you can. The workshop will cover "period" Middle Eastern dance from 600-1650... basically the Medieval age. We will discuss art works, costuming, dance moves (as defined by art works and other period resources), musical comprehension, the movement of the dance form from the Middle East and up through Europe... down to how we preceive it now. Yes there will be notes and handouts. Please dress in either tribal or gypsy costuming for this workshop as it is an SCA event and the hosts wouldlike to see people in costume and such... in other words, no street clothes or workout wear please. Formore info please email me or give me a call... oh and FYI when you go to the website you will not find "Melody" there... I use the name Samira al-Waddi for SCA events. Hugs and see you all there, Melody

A favorite moment

Melody — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 03:05:16 GMT

There were so many things that happened this last weekend at ERBC... but I really wanted to tell you all about my favorite moment. I hope you will find it as touching as I did. Sunday was the Muses (troupe) category and one of the troupes had a mommy with three young daughters in attendence in the audience with their grandmother. I had been running since Thursday night and had decide that I would sit at the judges table and watch this category as we had never been able to have this category before. So after I would announce the next act I would walk forward off the stage and sit at the end of the table near the speakers where I would be able to see but be out of the judges way. As I sat down I realized there was a small girl at my elbow, trying very hard to see through me and the judge sitting next to me. I don't know why but I slid back a little and the little girl took this as an invitation to climb up in my lap. Now I didn't mind, as small children seem to be attracted to me and follow me around. As soon as she was settled into my lap she leaned into my ear and whispered, "That's my Mommy." and pointed to one of the dancers in the troupe. After that she barely took her eyes off her mom. As I watched the troupe perform, I realized I was surrounded by children... at my right elbow, squezzed in between myself and the judge next to me was the twin of the one in my lap. When she realized that I was looking down at her she looked at me and said, "Isn't Mommy beautiful?" I said confirmed to the child that I thought she was beautiful as well. At my left elbow was the slightly older sister of the twins, whose eyes were always huge and never left her mothers performance. When it was done she whispered, "I'm very proud of her." I don't know that she meant to say that out loud as she didn't seem to be saying it to me or anyone inparticular. All three children screamed and clapped when the troupe was done... you would have thought they had just seen Hannah Montana the way they were carrying on. It took me a little while to get up and introduce the next act. Not because I had to extract myself from three small girls, but becasue I had to compose myself. I was so overwhelmed by the shear joy and love these three girls had for their mom and watching her perform with the troupe. That was my favorite part of this year's Emerald Rain Bellydance Comp.

AAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!

Melody — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 17:17:41 GMT

I have to rant! I got in the shower this morning to get ready for work and by the time I had gotten out and gotten dressed they city was in front of my house digging up the street. Both ends of my block are closed. They have heavy equipment parked all around my car. Did they give us any notice that this was going to happen? NO!!!!!!!! So now it's 30 minutes before I have to go to work and I can't get out!!!!!! I'm PISSED!!!!!! Thanks for letting me rant, just needed to get that off my chest.

2008 Emerald Rain Bellydance Competition & Fete

Melody — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:01:36 GMT

It's that time of year again!!!! march 7-9 at the Hawthorn Inn in Arlington, WA. 10 categories to choose from, shopping, open dancing, door prizes and drawings, Sisterhood of the Dance and Behind the Scenes awards, laughing and good friends. Deadline for registration is February 15, 2008. Don't forget the call in for Fete Dancing is January 20 at noon. Spaces are limited! This is a great way to perform without competing. Plsease speak with an actual person... don't leave a message as we need information from you as to day and times you would like to dance. Friday night will be the Gala Fundraiser tpo benefit Kyra, (for those of you who are unaware Kyra has had serious health problems and then this last Spring lost her only child in a car accident). There will be a silent auction as well as raffels, all proceeds of Fridat night will go to Kyra and her family. Sunday morning at 10:00am will be the Gypsy Sword workshop. $25 preregister and $30 at the door. The workshop will be taught by our hostess for the weekend... Melody! For an hour... or maybe a little longer... she will teach you all the tricks of the Basque Gypsies as well as a few from Turkey and the Middle East. For more info; www.emeraldrain.org melodyrythem@yahoo.com

What's up with people?!?

Melody — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 23:51:53 GMT

OK I have this little irritation that I have to get off my chest... and as my chest is large, so will this rant be. I am not always a public person! I don't tell everyone every thing that goes on in my life... that's why they call it a "PERSONAL LIFE". I'm an up person and tend to only talk about up things in my life EVEN TO MY CLOSEST FRIENDS! So why is it if I step away from my computer for a few days to take care of "personal business" people think that I'm avoiding them, mad at them, being bitchy... you name it. This is especially true where email is concerned. If you can't get ahold of someone in the time you expected to, why don't you pick up a damn phone and call them?!? Stop sending a million emails, each one getting snottier than the one before it and call and find out what's going on. Stop emailing everyone that person knows and filling up their email boxes when they don't know any more than you do. The clue phone is ringing answer it and then use it to dial out!!!!!! Contrary to popular oppinion, sometimes people step away from their computers for a while to take care of real life. I'm recovering from Breast Cancer treatments, my grandfather is dieing and my aunt died over a week ago in another state so I had to go there. See where I might have steped away from my computer for a few days?!? For the love of god people... connect and talk to each other once in a while with your REAL voice!!!! Have we become so impersonal now that we only want to leave messages for people, not talk to them like real human beings? Have you forgotten how to use real emotion and can only use those stupid emoti-cons now? In short if you have sent someone two emails and they haven't gotten back to you... pick up the farking phone and see if they are alright. Show that you care!!!!!!

Harley Davidson Dealerships SUCK!!!!!!

Melody — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 18:02:06 GMT

In 2005 I bought a brand new 2005 Harley Davidson Soft Tail for my husband. He had always wanted one and I really wanted to give him something nice. By the way it was blue, his favorite color. And we paid a lot of extra money for some extra stuff that we had them put on the bike before we picked it up. When we picked up the bike as we were looking at it I noticed there was a little rust on it and said something to the sales person. She and the Service Manager at the time said it was late (it was 7:30pm and they had closed at 7:00) and that if we brought the bike back up the following week they would take care of it. OK no big deal. Well right away we had trouble with the transmission on the bike, the timing chain and of course the rust. Come on this was a brand new bike! And it isn't like my husband was new to riding Harleys, just new to owning his own. We took the bike back to the dealership (Skagit Harley) which is about 35 miles from my home. At 500 miles they adjusted the timing chain, again at 1,000 and again at 1,500. That's way more than it should be. Through all of this they wouldn't do anything about the rust issue, even when we pointed out that the rust was there before we bought it and that the Sales Person and Service Manager said that it would be... both of which were convinently absent whenever we were there, even when we arranged for them to be. Eventually both of them moved on to other Harley dealerships and are no where to be found now. Oh and we won't even go into the fact that they wouldn't even talk to us about the transmission... they were convivnced that there was nothing wrong and wouldn't even listen to us. We fought this for two years, until the day that we were out on the bike and nearly got run over by a big rig because the bike went into nuetral all on it's own. I told my husband I had had enough and the next day I filed with the Attourney General of Washington state's Lemon Law Policy. It took three or four months to get an arbitration date (march 7th 2007)... and that was three hours long... and then the arbitrator told us that it would take him 30 - 90 days for him to make a decission. It took him two weeks to find in our favor. Harley Davidson Co. was told to replace the bike with a new one with all the stuff that we had originally bought. Just as if we had come in for the first time to buy a bike. And they had to comply with this by May 15th 2007. May 15th came, the dealership called us up and told us the bike was ready for us to pick up. So we trailered the old one up and made the drive up there to swap bikes. When we got there we looked at the new bike... they had found a 2005 in a back room of Millwakee somewhere.... it was purple, not blue... and it didn't have any of the excessories we had bought put on it yet!!!!!!!!!!!! They wanted us to do the paper work, swap bikes and bring it back later so they could put the stuff on it. I DON"T THINK SO!!!!! The way these people have opperated for the last two years, I would have signed that paper work, took the new bike and when I brought it back the would have told me I had to re-buy all new parts and pay for them to be put on and I would have been out even more money!!!! So we told them that when they had gotten all of the parts on we would be back. Thus started a whole new HELL for us. They called us a total of three more times to tell us the bike was ready and each time we drove up there either the paper work or the bike wasn't ready. So now I've driven my car, with the trailer attached a total of 280 miles for absolutley nothing!!! I've had to call the Attorney General's office so many times that I now have it on speed dial!!! Even he has been scratching his head saying, why don't they just comply? So last night was the final straw, I finally got my new bike, with all the new parts and the correct paper work. Oh and add another 70 miles to my travels which brings the total milage up to 350... and at todays grass prices!!!!! I really suggest that if you ever want to buy a Harley, don't buy a new one. Buy it from a private owner. You may be buying someone elses problems but at least you aren't paying for a service you will never recieve. I do enjoy riding the Harley don't get me wrong. I just have felt used and abused by not only the Harley Davidson company but also by the Skagit Harley dealership. I will never go back there again. This whole thing could have been avoided if someone had just stood behind their product and said that they were sorry that we were going through this. But through this whole thing they have acted as if it were our fault and that they were the victoms. What ever happened to customer service?!?

2007 Emerald Rain Bellydance Competition and Fete!!!

Melody — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 00:00:19 GMT

Melody and Emerald Rain Bellydance Co. present the 2007 Emerald Rain Bellydance Competition and Fete. Taking place March 2 - 4, 2007 at the beautiful Hawthorn Inn & Suites (167010 Smokey Point Blvd. Arlington, WA. 98223) Join us for another year of beautiful dancers, competition, shopping, socializing and support for the love of the dance. For more information please see out website at www.emeraldrain.org Hope to see you there!