Random Irregular Ramblings

I bought a Hoop!

Nienna — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:10:15 GMT

lol! I kind of learned to hula hoop over the weekend... sorta but I had fun doing it and it felt really good on my abs so I bought a hoop tonight to practice a bit. It's just a cheapo one so it probably wont be as good as the ones I used, and it doesn't seem to go quite as fast but it still works :) I found some youtube tutorials too so once I get the basic timing down I'll try out some of those :) At least it will get me up off the couch!

Snaaaakkkessssss

Nienna — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:04:44 GMT

I found myself a bona fide Snake lady not too far from me, she is part of my local herp society and offered to show me her collection so I accepted! I had never held a snake before so I'm sure I seemed pretty silly and childlike with giddiness but I just thought it was so amazing! I got to hold a Ball Python, Eastern chain kingsnake, Russian Rat snake, Black rat snake, multiple corn snakes, and a teeny tiny zippy little Rufous beaked snake that kept poking me in the eye with her tail and sticking her head in my ear. I liked the Black rat snake the best, his name was Sid, he was around 12 years old and he hung out with me on the deck for like an hour. He only tried to really get away from me when I would sit down cause there was lots to see on the deck. He layed cosy and still in my lap for awhile, but mostly wrapped himself through my tshirt and bandana lol He also made lots of cute huffing noises in my ear and gave me kisses on the nose. I didn't get any pics of him though cause I forgot my camera up in the snake room. But yea, it was amazing :D The best part is that Sid and his girlfriend Mouse had babies in June so I think I'm going to get one :D Being able to handle all the snakes really helped me to understand their sizes, most of them were a lot bigger than I expected, as with the Black rat snake. Although, perhaps I'm just smaller and weaker than I thought lol She had some boas there, but they had just eaten so we didn't want to disturb them, but that was ok because I found the ball python to be stronger than I expected so I didn't think I could handle the boas. Over all though it was great, :) I held most of them for quite a long time, and so when I went to bed last night I could still feel the sensation in my arms and shoulders. So hopefully by september or so I'll have my first snake, I'm so excited :D

.......blub blub.....

Nienna — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:17:16 GMT

When it sprinkles it monsoons....... You know those people who consistently have places to go, people to see, things to do? I'm not one of those people. No I sit at home most of the time either working or spending time with Jason and our zoo of pets. I quite enjoy my life that way, a small taste of the life of the social butterfly was enough for me. Still, some days I wish I had somewhere to go and people to see, some days I also wish I had a job. There's some cliche out there about wishing for things, but I'll refrain from saying it. I have a non-stop weekend lined up that looks something like this: Friday- 5pm - Supper and groceries with Jason so he doesn't starve over the weekend 7pm-ish - packing the car and driving one hour to Danielle's, meet and greet with the other ladies, set up my tent on her lawn, wine, bed Saturday- -wake up, breakfast, pack lunch, carpool with other girls one more hour to workshop site -1st workshop 10-12 - lunch - 2nd workshop 1-3 - back to Danielle's to get ready for the show that night - back to workshop site for show 7ish-10ish I believe - aftershow party - sleep? Sunday- - wake up, breakfast, pack lunch, pack up tent and all my stuff, load car, drive myself the one hour to workshop site - 3rd workshop 10-12 - lunch - Drive an hourish down a road I've never been to, to a place I've never seen to visit a new friend with her jungle of snakes! - drive alllll the way back home... - sleep? Great! Lovely, sounds like a blast. But what should come up at the beginning of the week? A job offer! Great wonderful! But while working on that project, she also offers me another project..... for the weekend. OI Turned it down of course, told her there was just no way. Alls well, she understood. Sent her my first draft, was rather pleased with it. She didn't like it. :S sigh Scrambling now, 7 hours before I have to leave, to get her a better draft. I really need this job, as it's semi constant work, please oh please oh please let things work out! Somewhere, my inner hermit is screaming.

where to begin?

Nienna — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:26:39 GMT

I've been away from here for..... too long! lol But omg..... I don't even know where to start. Jason and I are all caught up in this house buying business, and I hope hope hope that it all goes through and we get the place!!! *fingers crossed* Also I have still be trying desperately to find ways to provide myself with an income, have had some interesting prospects, but nothing solid so far. This is especially frustrating in the face of having to scramble to come up with a down payment for this house. We *think* we can get it together by the 15-days-before-closing-date that the mortage broker asked us for, but it's going to be close. We've basically been trying to sell off anything that's not tied down, including a couple extra computers. I've been spending a lot of time just feeling overwhelmed, as is normal for me, by what has to be done, what we have to wait to happen, and what is looming in the distance once things start to get seriously moving. Dancing? I feel like I've lost it. I'm still going to the big weekend workshop with Nana Candelaria at the end of this month, but I had to cancel my solo. I just don't have much time to practice lately, plus I find it extremely difficult to be 'outputting creativity' in two fields ie: design and dance. I find I can either spend my days obsessing about one or the other, but not both. I hope I can still attend classes in the fall, but it will honestly depend on our financial situation. Am I still in love with Belly Dance? Of course! And I know once I step into that workshop I'll really 'feel it' again, but I think my inner self has purposefully tempered that passionate desire to dance all the time just so that I can focus on other things for a while. It's a little sad to see my lovely costume go unfinished, but I know I will pick it back up again, eventually. As for now, I just need to keep plowing ahead with this graphic design venture, and not let my lack of confidence get the better of me. I was very close to getting on with a website developer to do logo's for his clients who wanted logo's with their website packages, but alas, it fell through :( To quote a certain Pixar movie...... "just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming, swimming, swimming...."

Woot! :P

Nienna — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:42:36 GMT

So I got this in the mail today :D Yay! I'm officially a Graphic Designer. Now if only I could start making some money off it :P lol I took down my previous website post because I decided to redesign it.................. again to the power of 10........and though it is currently on the server, I have discovered that my web hosting sucks so I need to get a new one. So if you happen to visit my site, you'll probably find that it loads p a i n f u l l y s l o w which sucks because it means you have to wait a looooooong time to see my pretty pages :( Hopefully I can get it fixed soon though :) I found a good Canadian hosting company that has 100% green energy to power it's servers so WOOT again, I'm switching to them :)

Video Aid

Nienna — Tue, 27 May 2008 20:04:17 GMT

Three blog posts in one day?? What's the world coming to? Ok so now that I have figured out this video thing, I have discovered a new use for it. Help me with a costuming issue! Below is a video of my new dready things that I made. They are going with my new white costume that I'm in the process of making. You can see how they are being attached to my head, on that little headband and my hair is pulled into a bun. The problem is, as you will see, they falls... fall off the bun lol Even when I tried just wrapping the elastic headband around the bun it didn't stay, and the falls were almost a foot longer of course because I made them to fit over my entire head.......... any suggestions? ok here's the link, complete with hand gestures of frustration :P http://s161.photobucket.com/albums/t240/jibs18/?action=view&current=DSCF1061.flv

Deep Breath [Insert Contented Sigh here]

Nienna — Tue, 27 May 2008 15:37:40 GMT

*ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh* I feel so much better today. After days of feeling in a funk in more ways than one I *finally* feel better. Not only has the confidence issue in previous blog posts still been nagging at me, but since my last dance class last Tuesday I haven't danced or even exercised once. Until today. I put some music on and just started doing moves. At first it didn't seem to be going well, and then I tried some belly rolls in time to a song I hadn't danced to before and I was happily surprised at how good they looked! It's hard to like your own belly rolls when there are so many big names out there who do them so much better lol But I am trying to take Nicole's advice from a few weeks ago and stop comparing myself to others, and *tryyy* not to 'pre-apologise' for things. That said, I may work up the courage to post a little video of how my belly rolls are coming along. Anyway that was the boost I needed today. I then decided to run though a routine I'm working on, and for the first time in I'd say at least 10 or so run-throughs I really 'felt' it again. If I can just remember how to put all that energy and emotion into it when I go to perform then I'll be set :) AND on top of that, I did a 6 minute non-stop shimmy drill which made me feel really great. I don't know why but I have the hardest time finding the right 'position' to really get into a shimmy. I made sure I memorized where my feet were and how my legs felt so hopefully I'll be able to duplicate it again. And on a different but equally positive note, my website is finally starting to take serious shape. I gave up on pressuring myself to learn everything about Dreamweaver and CSS so quickly, and instead opted to modify a template, and so far it's looking pretty good :) I mostly just have to decide how I want to upload my work samples and tweak a few things and it'll be ready to host. It's kind of funny because I just realised that Sunday night as I lay in bed trying to sleep I inwardly asked my spirit guides to share some of their wisdom and courage with me in my dreams. I don't really 'practice' shamanism persay, but I have had many moving experiences with certain animals in both the conscious and unconscious world, so I do believe in their healing energy (whether it is an actual animal 'spirit' or just a deeper power of my own subconscious I haven't decided). I didn't remember any specific dreams yesterday morning, and in truth I had forgotten all about it until now, but yesterday was when things started to 'brighten up' and I got a lot of work done on my website. :) Now I think I'm going to make myself a nice pasta/veggie salad and go eat it in the sunshine :)

What are you eating right now?

Nienna — Mon, 26 May 2008 17:32:52 GMT

This is a must read/see article. I was in the middle of lunch when my boyfriend showed it to me. Made me eat my apple a little slower. http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/26/102458/137/70/522670

Life and Money

Nienna — Wed, 21 May 2008 19:44:04 GMT

I'm a new breed of Hippie, I have my roots in the Earth, my hands in Technology, and I view the world half through the window beside me and half through this 17" LCD monitor. I'm constantly conflicted between wanting the world to 'go back to the way it was' when there was LESS technology (and humans) to harm the earth, and desperately wanting both humans and technology to progress to the point where we can save our poor little planet, and I believe it can be done. However, the one thing I hate the most about today is Money. If it weren't for my love of techy things (my inability to actually travel through time not withstanding) I WOULD have the world back to the old bartering days. I don't know if it's the weather, the stars, or just me putting too much pressure on myself or what but I can feel the downward slope into a very deep funk. Housing prices are starting to rise here and that is scary, because if we want to get a house it means we need to get one NOW but we can only *just* afford it without me making any money. I am going to try as hard as I can to get design projects, but there's no guarantee of me making any money at all every month. It's got me thinking about the ways that people bring in money these days. I remember when I started highschool they were telling us about picking a career and sticking to it. Then half way through it's like they were suddenly updated on the current world situation and they changed to 'diversify'. What? I didn't even know what that meant then. But now I think I understand. It may not have been exactly what they were talking about, but I keep getting this feeling that my future income is going to be made up of a bunch of tiny amounts coming in from different sources. I plan for Graphic Design to be the brunt of it, but the more I've been thinking the more I wonder. I've been considering Etsy style things of course, but then there's also belly dance itself. I think one day (one faaaaar off day..... lol) I would like to teach, even if it's just a 'hobbyist' class, because there are so few teachers in the area, and I love dancing so much. So maybe in a few years that could be some small source of income for me. And then there are ways to cut costs as well which is just as important I think. For example, if we had our own house we have already decided that we would have a vegetable garden so that we wouldn't need to buy our produce (holy expensive in my area, yeesh). And then my train of thought just dies........ Ever have that happen? You start to write a blog and then you realise you've been staring out the window for 10 minutes and you can no longer think of a suitable way to end your thought? erg I guess I just want to say how much I HATE MONEY............. but without it where would I get my spingly belly dance stuff? 0:-) blah

Shimmy for Life

Nienna — Sat, 17 May 2008 17:04:14 GMT

Well the Shimmy for Life show is tonight, that's where I'll be dancing with my class. The show starts at 7:30pm atlantic time but I need to be there before 6 so that I have plenty of time to do make-up and get dressed. It's also about an hour away so I think I'll be leaving here around 4:30. I don't know what I'm feeling really, I should be excited, or nervous, but I don't really feel either. I think it's the weather. It's cold and pouring down rain which isn't making me very enthusiastic about driving and hour or more. Also I think I will have to leave right after we go up on stage because I really don't want to have to drive back an hour in the dark and rain on roads I'm not familiar with. I'm not that confident a night driver to begin with. I'm sure I will enjoy the moment when I'm up there, but for now I'm just kind of 'meh'...

Confidence

Nienna — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:25:37 GMT

Or lack there of...... It's always been an issue for me, but I'm getting better. This time however, I'm not talking about dance, or even my physical self, but lack of confidence in my work. I'm 3 weeks away from the end date for my Graphic Design course, but I have finished everything already, so really, it's over. I haven't passed in my final assignment yet because I'm supposed to wait. Anyway, I've been trying desperately to build myself a website to use as a portfolio and it's just not working. I love doing Graphic Design, but I'm starting to think that the web development aspect of it is not for me. Part of the problem is that through my course, I learned on MS FrontPage which is a piece of crap and I hate Micro$oft! grr. So I decided I'm never using that program again, and am trying to teach myself Dreamweaver. Well it's not going so well, I get so overwhelmed just looking at it. I found a tut that is supposed to go over the 'basics' but about two pages in it tells me 'oh and this tut assumes you know how to do --this--' which I don't, so I follow the link and OMG this 'simple' thing that I'm suppose to know how to do has about 10 pages of it's own. :| SIGH I think my heart is just not in the website building. I can design it in Illustrator, which I have done, but when it comes to actually making it into a website........ I just don't know if I'm cut out for it. I'm getting really nervous though because I HAVE to start making money soon, because I have to pay back my student loan 6 months after my course ends. I know that's a long time but I don't want to wait until the last minute to realise I don't have the money. I've done two projects so far, since I started this course, one was for a lady in Toronto, a logo and a brochure for her new chairty, and one for Stacy aka Tribal Kitty, her logo and t-shirts :) I don't know how I managed to do those two so calmly because I'm all a mess now just thinking about approaching people to do work for them. I'm going to be doing my freelancing through a site called Guru.com, it's basically like ebay for jobs, employers post up listings of jobs they need done such as logos or brochures or whatnot, and people like me labeled 'professionals', look through the listings and bid on them with our info, experience level, and how much we would be willing to do the project for. I can't think of doing it any other way because this allows me to work from home, and it's a really great system. The only problem is that it's like going into a first job interview every single time :| Nerve-racking. Plus I have to keep aside my tax portion myself, which to be safe is a fairly large percentage, and I'm worried that without web development under my belt, I wont be able to pick up jobs that will pay enough to actually give me income after the tax and fee money is taken off. :( ahhh bollocks...... I think I need a stiff drink or something........

This cracks me up....

Nienna — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:49:42 GMT

WARNING: Geeky post ahead ;) So my boyfriend played, and beat the game in this picture 'Portal'. I'll spare you all of the amazing details of the graphics and physics engine in this game though, but believe me, it's amazing. Anyway it's like a puzzle game, you have to use two portals that you can shoot from a gun to get from place to place in a room and achieve the goal, usually to get out of the room. The entire time there is this little ai computer that's 'helping' you out, but also trying to kill you. But it keeps saying things like 'oh hahaha just joking, I wasn't trying to kill you or anything.' At the end of the game the last level is to escape from the testing facility and the computer keeps trying to convince you that you should go back because 'it was just a test, we weren't really going to murder you, you won! congrats! now come back to the test room, we have cake for you!' That in itself is funny to listen to, but after the game is over and the credits roll, you've destroyed the computer, and yet... it starts to sing you this little song.... http://youtube.com/watch?v=RthZgszykLs Note, I've always been fond of dry sarcastic humor, so unless you are too, you may not appreciate this much ;) haha

Ok.... my period really hates dancing...

Nienna — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:40:50 GMT

ugh! It's not even the back pain or the cramping that's the problem, it's the fact that when I try to drill or even just freestyle dance there's no..... oomph! no strength and power, feels like I'm just going through the motions, and everything is kind of limp and blah Thank god it only lasts a few days. I guess I'll take this time to sit down and do computer work. Since my body doesn't want to do what I want it to do I'll work with my mind instead! A big *thwwwwwwwwp* to stupid periods.

Update :)

Nienna — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:49:34 GMT

I haven't posted here forever because I've been soooooo busy! Seems a couple times every year I get myself into a position where I'm just overwhelmed with things that need to be done. And I just sit here and think of them all and go :| ahhhhhhhhhh lol I'm not sure where to start. Thankgod I like to write lists, or I'd be lost. Anyway, I just wanted to update on the class situation, I LOVE it! :D I felt a bit edgy at first as I always do in new situations but that has completely passed now and I feel really comfortable :) Last class we started putting some moves into little combinations so that we would all have something in our back pocket when it comes our turn to lead, which is good because we're going to be performing May 17th! :D There's a little show for the Shimmy for Life fundraiser here and I *think* my instructor's other classes (cabaret) are doing routines as well, and we're of course doing Tribal Improv :D We practiced group improv a bunch last class and I really like it! Can't say I'm that good at leading yet but I do like it :) There are some things that I really need to drill more though, like the 3/4 shimmy, because I find I'm concentrating so hard on getting that up-down-up right on each hip that I lose my count/place in the music and everything gets messed up lol drill drill drill :)

class tonight!

Nienna — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:06:25 GMT

I'm going to my first Tribal class in exactly two hours :D Can you tell I'm excited? haha! I can't wait to meet all the girls and learn real ATS :D Yay!

I'm In! :)

Nienna — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 16:38:37 GMT

I got accepted into a new Tribal class that starts on Tuesday :D yay! My first actual Tribal class ever! The unique thing about this is that it's actually 6 weeks of 'extra' sessions for the Instructor's Beginner Tribal class that just finished last week. I wasn't able to make it to those classes (because I didn't know about them) but the Instructor made a special exception to allow me to to jump in and learn what they learned in the next six weeks (which is why I worded it as being 'accepted'). I'm so excited not only to be learning proper ATS *finally* but because the instructor is super nice (Hi Danielle! :D), we get along and relate SO much better than previous instructors of mine, AND I feel like I have a better chance at being involved with my local Belly Dance community this way :) :D

dances

Nienna — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 23:24:05 GMT

I've started work on a new choreography, I'm hoping this will get to be my very first solo performance! :D I started it a few days ago and I was getting worried because the timing is a little odd, but I think I have found a way to make it work, and I've got the first tiny section done. It's only a small section, the first 45 seconds of a 5:30 song LOL but I don't care, I'm still excited. I've made a few choreographies so far, but just for practise and class, and I always get excited when it starts to come together :) I really enjoy doing it! Also I have started my first triangle bra, yay! The base is all made, I just have to attach the top and side straps, but I'm missing a few components so I have to wait a bit. (Can you believe that Walmart had no D-rings? grr) This bra is for a white-ish costume design, and it's going to be more 'sparse' aka coin-free lol I want to try a more streamlined effect if I can. Happy times :)

Jet funk

Nienna — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 14:54:57 GMT

I can't really call it jet lag because there is only an hour difference between here and Atlanta, but MAN, I am so zonked after that vacation. I am only just starting to feel almost normal again after 3 days of being home. I hope I can get myself back to my routine soon! I'll be uploading some pics of the wedding/vacation soon :)

House is quiet....

Nienna — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 23:01:58 GMT

Everyone is sleeping, getting rested so we can be on the road to the airport by 2am. Our flight is at 6:20, to Atlanta Georgia for a week to see my sister married. I'm excited, but at the same time it doesn't really feel like it's happening yet. I can't sleep, personally, my body wont let me. I don't know what kind of survival mechanism it must have come from, but when I know I need to be up early, my body just adjusts, and usually doesn't sleep at all. I can lay here and feel rested, but no sleep. And I probably wont sleep on the plane either. In fact it feels a lot like when I took my trip abroad. Our bodies are strange things really, I managed to survive 39 hours on fumes, without sleep, and 14 hours of no bathroom on that trip, and I swear if I just tried to do that without a 'reason' there would be no way. But when pressed our bodies are capable of some amazing things! At least I'm not going to be alone this time, and I'm not doing any of the driving so I suppose I don't really need to be worried about being tired later on. I have a feeling though, like last time, I wont get tired until I hit my bed at my sister's house. I'll be missing my next dance class, but the good news is that a couple of girls and I managed to get the whole class organized. We were on fairly shaky ground there for a while with our choreography, but our plan of hammering out all the details and getting it down to the beats actually worked! We've been working on this for I think 4 weeks now? I only ONCE tried it with the music, and it was VERY scary lol But we went over it 4 times last class to the music, and by the 4th time we pretty much had it down pat! I guess our cues worked :D I felt pretty proud I have to say, and I was very grateful to my two friends who helped me out because without them, without us, I don't know if the class would have been able to pull it together. I know that sounds kind of egotistical but you have no idea how disorganized we were :| And it's not that any one in the class is a bad dancer, they are all wonderful! It's just that no one really knew what we were doing and when. That said though, my boyfriend asked me why one of my 4 or 5 year goals isn't to teach dance because I did so well, and I told him flat out, it's because I want to be selfish for awhile LOL Organizing people is hard! Especially where I'm only 22 and most of the dancers were far older and more experienced than me. At this point in my dancing life I just want to focus on me, my technique, my choreography. My interest in belly dancing started as something for 'me' and 'me time' and although it's grown past that now, I still don't want to have to deal with other people and choreography unless someone else is teaching it and I just have to follow along and do my part lol :)

Belly rolls of doooooooooooooooooom

Nienna — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:08:00 GMT

I'm lucky, I know, that I can even make progress on belly rolls at this early part of my studies in belly dancing, but I'm getting frustrated! I can do them fabulously sitting down, but when I stand up....... not so much. I have read all kinds of things about how to do them, and I'm fairly certain that I'm doing them right, as I can feel the top and bottom moving independently, can pull AND push them, can even keep a pen rolling on my belly now. I think it has something to do with being pear shaped or something, I don't know, but when I do them standing up they look like nothing, unless I let my chest drop a little or if I lean forward just a tad, but neither of those look nice and graceful. Maybe I'll take a video or something, though I'm kind of scared of posting on youtube, people are so mean lol

Dance Journal - Day ... 7?

Nienna — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 15:49:41 GMT

Ok so I knew this would happen ... I've never been good at keeping diaries/journals so I figured keeping a blog wouldn't be much different lol Oh well, the important part is that I've still be practising! I've developed a bit of a routine, nothing fancy. I start off by just freestyle warmup to music. The last few days I have been warming up to the choreography that my class is doing because it's very mild and fluid. Then I go down through the list of moves that I've written down/the ones Danielle gave me, and practise each of them in turn until I feel like I've 'got it' then move on. No I'm not saying that I've perfected any of these moves, but I find that I make more progress if I just do each move a little bit than if I do it over and over. Plus I find it keeps me moving longer because I don't get frustrated and give up, and thus I get a better workout too. I read something about muscle memory liking smaller sessions too on one tribes awhile ago too, so I'm hoping that will work in my favor :) On Tuesday two of the three girls who are doing the little mini 'solo' with me during our class routine came over and we hammered out all of the details of the whole first part of the routine itself. The class is really disorganized and thus so it the routine and I thought I was the only one bothered by it, but I wasn't alone, yay! I'm just a little nervous about presenting the whole thing in front of the class and teacher because so far I've been much more vocal than I am used to being (I'm usually pretty shy in person) and I don't want anyone to think I'm trying to take over the class lol Truth is, I just want to get stuff done, and it's hard for everyone to 'learn' a dance routine when we hadn't even been told the timing that we were supposed to step to or anything. There was a whole 2 minutes at the beginning where no one knew how fast/slow/how many times we were supposed to be doing what and which cues in the music to listen for. And yet, even though we were all disorganized it was decided to 'move on' to the next bit in the routine ahhhhhhhh lol I just can't personally function like that. But now all of that is taken care of, it took the three of us about two hours to play and pause, play and pause, play and pause until we set everything to the beats. Keeping my fingers crossed that it goes over well **** Also! (in other news lol) My mum, Jason (bf), and I leave for Georgia eeeeeearly thursday morning (2am) to see my sister married, and I'm kind of nervous about that too! We're going to be flying and staying in the same house as my dad for a whole week as well and it's the first time my mum and him have been in within earshot of each other in..... oh..... 8 years? ha yea, fun. It will be nice to see my sistern and her fiance again though so I think I'm just going to ignore my parents the whole time :P AND I'm getting taken on a shopping spree of craft stores for my late christmas/birthday present from lots of different people lol so yaaaaaaaay I'm excited :D ok ending the rambling, just finished my dancing session for today and I'm HUNGRY! lol

Dance Journal - Day 5

Nienna — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:06:12 GMT

ugh Yesterday's practise session failed miserably lol I started to feel like I was coming down with whatever it is that my boyfriend has, so I spent the day on the couch with orange juice. The good thing is that I started feeling better last night, but our power was out for 12 hours and all my music was on my laptop that has about 5% battery lol So my practising is being moved to today, I have a lot of work to do to be ready for for the Tribal class that I want to join. I'm going to work on the basic Tribal moves and try to do it with a basket on my head. I tried the other day and it seemed to work rather well. Not only did it help with my balance but it helps me isolate the moves and keep everything smooth and fluid.

Dance Journal - Day 4

Nienna — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 13:10:17 GMT

Today I have some girls from my class coming over so we can practice our little 'solo' section of a routine our instructor is trying to put together, so I need to make sure I get myself together and dance a bunch today to get out of my sickish funk I found myself in yesterday. I've been watching some videos on youtube to help 'get me in the mood' lol I always want to dance, some days I just need a bit of extra energy to do it. I've discovered Unmata, they are wonderful! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2W5r5QaKCA&feature=related I wish I could spin like they do lol It's so energetic! I love the fringe belts as well, I'd like to make some of those soon. This woman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZyjIoXyJXQ makes me realize that I know nothing about the 'style' of dancing that I'm most drawn to. I tend to naturally move towards Tribal on a 'tribal vs cabaret' scale, but I don't know where Turkish fits in there, and not all of it I like, but she is great! :) And this is possibly one of my favorite videos ever http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlaSKpatlQw siiiigh, everything about it is looooooovely. Ok I think that's enough to get me motivated :) I think I will do 'a bit of everything' again today, it seemed to work well on sunday, and I have a lot of time today. :)

Happy Birthday to Me

Nienna — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:10:48 GMT

My present today is a trip to the doctor..... joy :( I asked my doctor to book me in with a specialist last July, and last week the called me and told me they had 'only just' heard from them with the appointment, and that it was for today........ lovely. And I really doubt they had just heard from them. I saw my doctor in July and then didn't have any contact with them at all until two weeks ago when I booked an appointment for my yearly physical, and then, coincidentally they call me a day before my visit with this appointment for the specialist. Riiiiiight. I think what happened was someone was preparing my file for the next day and suddenly realized 'oh shit, we were supposed to ask for an appointment with the specialist.' But anyway, at least it's just a consultation, I really wasn't willing to have a scope done on my birthday thank you :P The rest of the day should consist of being taken out for supper by my boyfriend and best friend, and then movie watching and wine drinking :) mmm

Dance Journal - Day 3

Nienna — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 19:46:04 GMT

Opps, I forgot to post here before I practiced lol Oh well I basically did an 'everything' session today. I have a big list of the moves I know and I tried to practice all of them for a few minutes in a mirror and critiqued them as I went. I also practiced belly rolls on the floor today, that was fun. I discovered that I can roll a pen up and down my belly! Yay lol Ok it may not be flicking pennies into a cup but hey it's a start. I noticed that the tiny bit of 'pudge' just under my belly button was being a nuisance again. It's so tiny, just like half an inch to an inch of tiny flab, but it was enough to create a tiny mound below my belly button even when I pull my lower abs in alllll the way. It made the pen get stuck between there and my pj pants, but I found that if I flicked my lower abs out really quickly I could pop it loose lol My boyfriend laughed at me the whole time :P But I made him take a video because I couldn't lift my head to watch what was going on haha. It might be silly, but I'm proud of my accomplishment :)