Dancing Machine

Saturday, I went to a birthday dance party at Dema's apartment. I realized how much I miss dancing and like to dance. I just haven't done much of it lately....

My first dancing experience was a school talent show in grade 1. My best friends, Charlie, Landry, Johnny, and I, all dressed up as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (complete with brown paper bag heads), and danced around and spun on our "shells" through the Ninja Turtles television theme song. We were the most popular grade oners in school!

Another influence was the May Day festivities in elementary school and my mother teaching folk dances in our basement to the neighborhood kids. I don't remember too much of these, but I liked them.

I started going to organized dances in grade 6 when we would have dances just for the grade sixers. They were fun, even though no one actually knew how to dance. Apparently, we were the only age group that was responsible enough for these dances, since they would only be for the two grade six classes and they would be during school hours in the gym. I'm not sure how they advanced our education, but I remember them. :)

Church dances are where I really began to shine. I remember Abra taking me to my first youth dance (thanks Abra). She was 18 and was going to her last dance with her friends. I guess you could say she passed on the torch to her little brother. She and her friends taught me how to dance and I kept that style going until I left. I can honestly say that Mark Thompson, Tim Pederson, and I were the last people to dance like that and it is a style I still miss. Abra also made me promise to never miss a slow song and to dance with all the girls, not just the cute ones. I lived up to this promise and didn't miss a slow song for 3 1/2 years of Calgary dances. Consequently, I think I knew every girl in the region that went to the youth dances, much to the annoyance of my friends. The youth dances were every Saturday, they were regional, and gave me an opportunity to get out of High River (a town I never totally fit in to).

David, Mark, Logan, and I started a breakdance crew when I was 15. We weren't very good, but gave ourselves names. The crew was Breakin' Ground and my name was Flipz. We got better and were some of the top breakers in High River. Not that that is anything to brag about. It's not exactly your dancing haven. (I moved before Grade 12 and the rest of the crew became amazing - I stayed mediocre). We had a lot of fun practicing and learning new moves.

Breakdancing led to swing, and I was always partial to this (probably why I never put as much time into breakdancing as the others). We'd do stunts with the b-girls (like Sheena) and incorporate swing moves. As such, we became the top swingers at the youth dances. Of course, this was a t a time when being a good dancer was swaying in rhythm to the music and occasionally twirling a girl. Anything above and beyond that was fantastic!

Swing dancing led me to Utah to learn more moves at the youth ballroom dance camps. I was very much a beginner, but it was my passion. I suddenly found myself the ballroom guru of High River, even though I knew next to nothing. I did go back every year to improve my skills and ballroom quickly became my favorite contact sport, although hockey remains my favorite collision sport.

Moving to Utah, I quickly enveloped myself in the dancing culture, competing ballroom in grade 12 and throughout my undergrad years. I won a few competitions, was on team at BYU, and still take the odd class after 5:00. I also joined the International Folkdance ensemble at BYU and made the second highest team. Unfortunately, I joined near the end of my schooling and wasn't on the touring team because of it (although, if I had put off graduation for a year....).

The ballroom/folk opportunities, however, did have some concessions. Utah youth church dances were terrible. Sock hops at high school were fun and I went to every date dance, but I think I've been to two non-ballroom dances at BYU, a couple dance parties, and a couple institute dances, over the past seven years. The music and styles have certainly changed over that time. I do go county dancing at time, although the music is definitely not my favorite.

But Saturday night, I slipped a little into my old mold and danced just to have fun. Sure, it was mostly R&B and Latin, but that didn't matter. I just danced. It was great, and I realized how much I miss it. So, if you know of any dances going on, I'm game.

I have quirks? Oh yeah, I guess I do.

So my sisters finally got me to post. That is because Nancy tagged Kelli, who then tagged me. Wow! Apparently, I'm supposed to copy the rules, so here you go...

Rules: A - People who are tagged need to post these rules and 8 random habits, facts, quirks about themselves. B - At the end of the post you need to choose 8 people to get tagged and list their names.

I don't know if I'll fulfill rule B, since I don't know who follows my sporadic postings who hasn't already been named. Hmmmm....

Quirk 1: I would misplace my head if it weren't attached. I don't necessarily lose anything, but I do forget where I leave things in the house. I usually have certain places where I leave things, but occasionally, I will put something - wallet, keys, phone, dinner - someplace out of the ordinary and "lose" it. Most of the time, it is hiding in plain site, often in one of my usual places.

Quirk 2: I almost always text message in full sentences and it bugs me when I get e-mails with text message non-grammar.

Quirk 3: I can't remember much of my life before grade 4. Pretty much nothing, except the odd instance or stories I've been told, but those are memories of being told, not the actual occurrence.

Quirk 4: I have cracked my knuckles since grade 4. I've tried to stop countless times. It's just one of those habits that is hard to break.

Quirk 5: I'm a Broadway junkie. I sing musicals everywhere. I listen to them on my computer. I have about 15 different piano books of Broadway musicals.

Quirk 6: I read while I walk. I know, I'm coordinated! If you see someone walking towards or away from campus with his nose in a book, there's a good chance it might be me.

Quirk 7: Ballroom dance is my favorite contact sport. Hockey is my favorite collision sport.

Quirk 8: I love to play board and card games. I own many of them - Ticket to Ride, Cranium, Munchkin, Missionary Impossible, Mousetrap, Settlers, Cranium, Imaginiff, Yspahan, Killer Bunnies, Battleship, Uno, Phase 10, Fluxx, Boggle, The Wrong Games, Quelf, Monopoly, Unexploded Cow, Life, Othello, Mexican Train Dominoes, Bang!, Chess, Connect Four, etc., etc., etc.
I don't think you actually read all of those (or at least I didn't expect you to), but you get the idea.

Ok, 8 people to select. Um....Josie, Emily, Krystal, Michelle, Jennie, Uncle Bruce, Heather, and Michelle (or Andy). Bwah-hah-hah!

The Office - Contains Spoilers

So, on Thursday, I went to Chris's birthday party slash season premier of 'The Office' party. Of course, I dressed as Jim (who else) and I must say, we look alike (or so I've been told). We watched old episodes, ate cake, and then watched the premier. It was pretty crazy. There were about 30 people crammed into Chris's living room. Of course, the vast majority were girls. This has its benefits (as you will read shortly) but also has its drawbacks. For example, the scene where Jim finally proposed to Pam merited a covering of the ears due to all the screaming. "Why?" I asked. "This is a daily occurrence at BYU."

Before I left, I asked Anthony if a cute girl in the room was dating anyone. Anthony promptly told me she was single, stole her phone, and called me from it so that I would have her phone number. Just before I left, I said, "So, Erica, if you get a call from a random guy from this party asking you out, it's because Anthony gave him your phone number." Erica replied, "Ok....wait....that's what he was doing when he stole my phone?!?" It was pretty funny. So now I have a phone number and a date for next week.

Ballroom Blues

I'm taking ballroom dance every Monday night. It's fun and it's free, so I figure, why not? I'm starting to get back in form and I love it. Today, my friend Ashley (new friend...I didn't know her name until today) asked if I wanted to compete novice open with her. Craig and Brittany (Harper) Wakefield teach lessons for cheap ($25/hour) and could choreograph routines for us. I just have to decide if I have time to practice. I've got a week to decide. I really want to do it. But at the same time I've got institute and my masters degree to work on. Decisions. I'll keep y'all posted on what I decide.

Blind Date

I went on a date on Saturday. Yeah, I know, it's been awhile. It was also the last day of World of Dance, which of course I couldn't miss. So at dance class on Monday, my teacher had asked who had already purchased tickets. I scanned the crowd to see who hadn't and saw a girl that hadn't that I wanted to ask out. So I did.

Saturday rolls around and I go to her house to pick her up. No answer when I knock. I call her. It goes straight to voicemail. I knock. I call. I knock harder. I call. I go to the laundry place and double check that that is, indeed, the right building. I call. I knock. No answer.

So, now I am there with Kyle and his date, and I have an extra date, half an hour before the show. Oh....did I mention that it was also a BYU home football game? That means, most every girl I know is at the game. We call around until Kyle finds a friend at home and we rush to her apartment to pick her up. Kyle goes up there and takes his time, leaving me and his date to talk in the car. Finally, he comes down with Chrysta and we leave for the date. Crazy, eh?

We made it just before they closed the doors and went and sat down. The performance was incredible. The Cougarettes were definitely the most polished, the folkdancers brought back Last Night (a clogging routine I love) and did another dance I performed two years ago, the ballroom dancers were great but didn't hit all their lines, and the ballet dancers surprisingly had a lot of falls and trouble. Oh, and the modern dancers did their hilarious mini-mattress routine. It was a good show.

We went to Red Robin after the dance show and had dinner. It was there that I discovered the truth about my sudden blind date. Kyle's friend had decided she didn't want to go and had left for the football game. Kyle was up at her house calling all his friends until a random girl walked up with her groceries. I had said earlier that we should just knock on a door or stop by a girl walking down the street and ask someone at random, so he asked her. She said yes. Yes, crazy.

It was actually a really fun blind date, even if it was with an 18-year-old who had moved here from California only 3 week ago.

So, that's my story.

Disclaimer: I was not stood up for the date. Tikla had slept in til 1:08 (I was picking her up at 1:15). So she was getting ready and all her roommates left. I came and knocked on her door because they don't have a doorbell. She couldn't hear it from her room and her phone hasn't been working properly. It didn't ring and wouldn't even show she had missed four calls. We left at 1:30 and she had remained in her room, oblivious that I was outside waiting. Sad. I'm going to take her out again some other time.

Tired

I'm tired today and finding it hard to concentrate, so I figured I'd tell you about it. You see, working full-time and taking classes for my masters degree, a dance class at BYU, and institute, it doesn't leave much time for reading. And I'm reading such a good book right now (Well of Ascension from Brandon Sanderson). It's just long....and I'm slow. Consequently, I've been reading until 1 am for the last several days and I'm starting to feel it.

So if you run into me and I'm a little aloof, there is a reason. This time.

Random

So I was going to post pictures of my new house, but I can't because I left the cable at my parents. I can, however, post some of the pictures from my mission. I served in Brazil from Sept. 2002 - Aug. 2004. It was amazing.




More to come....I'm going to a party.