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ho hum

Wasn’t that last post boring! Golly.

Well, semester is over, and I don’t need to use my brainz any more.

So I’ve put them in a jar and set them aside. Well, until tomorrow or perhaps Sunday, when I will start writing job applications and making myself a CV. Yes. A real one. I’m not entirely sure I want to do what I’ve just about become qualified to do. It’s dull. I am interested in the thinking behind and the policy, but the practical, day to day stuff? Hmm.

As that last post outlined in painful detail, I’m preparing a set for the MLX weekend. That means I’m listening my way through a 1600 song short list. This may take some time. This also means that we are off to Melbourne (again) on Thursday. Neither of us is terribly keen on that, seeing as we’ve both spent a lot of time in Melbourne this year. We’d far rather be going somewhere new. But this is the big event of the year… though we are considering not going next year.

Because I have only just had a chance to stop and think, I’ve only just realised we haven’t organised anything for christmas. We can’t afford to fly anywhere, my parents have decided they don’t want to come to Sydney. Yes, that is a passive aggressive swipe, but then it’s only the latest is a series exchanged by our two camps, with my mother pushing for our visiting them, and our digging in our heels in an effort to avoid a repeat of Last Year, Christmas in Hell. But let us move on. Because it’s just us two (all the Squeeze’s family are in Melbourne and we are TIRED of Melbourne), we are wondering what to do. So far we’ve decided:

  • Eat our favourite foods in sensible quantities (no more stupid, family-enforced over-eating)
  • Hire a car and go to a nice beach somewhere for the day
  • Sleep in
  • Watch DVDs
  • Read
  • Swim in the pool
  • Go for a nice walk where we hold hands

We think this is a pretty good plan, so far. If we had a third or a fourth, we’d be totally set for games of Give me the brains, but then we’re not exactly rushing to find a third or a fourth.

In other news, I went in a solo charleston dance comp last week and it was ok.

I was nervous in the week or two before hand, but my wonderful lady friends kicked my arse and I didn’t chicken out. I didn’t win or place or anything, but I’m considering it a victory. I got up in front a hall full of people and danced by myself to the fastest music of the night. And I didn’t die. In fact, I actually got over my nerves almost immediately and enjoyed it. Particularly when I realised I was up in front of a heap of people who had to watch me show off. And the fact that there were pockets of ladies screaming their guts out for me dotted all over the hall helped a lot. In fact, when I was up there doing my best showing off, I consciously did my very best showing off just for them.

In retrospect (and I haven’t seen any clips yet), I don’t think I was terribly awesome. I did get a bit of tunnel vision, where the world shrunk down to the area just in front of my eyes, and I’m not entirely sure I used my whole entire body like a properly functioning hooman. But then, I was aiming for eccentric vernacular dance rather than ‘wowsers amazing coordination fast and athletic charleston!’ I’m not fit enough to cut it with the young kids, I don’t dig the short-skirt, here’re-my-undies barbie look, I certainly don’t like simpering dollygirl dancing. So really, I have to work with what I’ve got. A build like a brick shit house, a fair bit of jiggly jelly, strange, backwards-looking arms and about sixty thousand variations on the boogie forward. As a friend in the audience said “when you came on, I thought ‘uh oh, here come the arms!'”

At the end of the day, I’m quite proud of myself for going in it. But if I want to actually place or win, I’m going to need some performance/competition skills, better fitness, and the sort of ruthless determination that gets you to practice every day, and then freeking BRING it on the day.
Yeah, right.

I also went in the jack and jill and got through to the finals, and went in the strictly sort of at the last minute with Tim from Canberra. The J&J was superfun, but the lindy was the BEST because Tim and I had a ball. I think I failed to take either seriously enough. I need some sort of steely competitive edge.
I know.

I think I might also need some sort of self-consciousness. But I am that aunty, the one who embarrasses you in front of your teenaged friends. I found during the competition that enjoying showing off translated to doing stupid shit to make my mates laugh. Oh well. I think I would actually like to work seriously on lindy hop to make it work properly. Tim and I had fun, but ultimately you need some practice time to get it together, and get really connected.

Meanwhile, I really want to see the new Narnia film, I have a few episodes of the wonderful Hellcats to watch, and it’s HOLIDAY TIME.