It's almost July! Yay for July! Not yay for halfway through summer...
Summer means FOOD! Or being home means food... which is kind of the same thing. I like being home and rummaging in the spice cabinet and pulling out allspice and coriander. I don't have coriander in Hawaii. Well, Hawaii does, but I don't... anyway.
A side effect of only coming home for the summer (aside from 2 weeks or so at Christmas), is that it's hot. I don't mind when it's hot. 100 degrees is a little much, but I no have little to no tolerance for cold.
It was 106 a little while ago (and windy, which gave it a sandstorm-in-the-Sahara feel), and then went down to 70s... and freezing. It gets cold in Hilo too (usually when it's 60 degrees and raining...), but I figured it was because it's humid and sort of like swimming in 60 degree water at night. Cold.
And speaking of water, 100+ degree days are the ones when you 'accidentally' spray yourself with the hose or 'trip on' the sprinkler.
But when it's 50 degrees at night, I get cold. I don't have a problem with this in December. I just don't like wearing a sweatshirt in June. (Although wearing shorts kind of defeats the purpose of the sweatshirt... that's another Hawaii thing.)
I'm just hoping it's warmer for Independence Day next week.
Happy summer!
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Friday, June 1, 2012
Dancing!
I realized something last weekend...
Well, a few things. One of which is that coffee and stolen donut is not a good breakfast, and also that yukata are not made for walking.
The other is that I'm addicted to dancing.
Partner dancing, that is. I love hip hop and especially hula, but I don't really fit into them as well as I do swing. I'm not too big on performance. And since I learned that I actually fractured my wrist during that one flash mob practice in March, I'm a little wary of hip hop...
My friends and I went to an anime convention in San Jose last weekend. I actually stayed for the entire thing this year, which meant I was able to attend the very formal, very hyped Black and White Ball the first time! In honor of the ball, the convention offered ballroom dance lessons... and swing. With pretty fabulous instructors.
The night before they had a 'decompression dance' where we could all be casual and dance with instructors and each other for practice. It was super fun! I got impromptu lessons on all the stuff I missed, and so ended up dancing East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing, Waltz, Foxtrot, American Tango, Salsa, Merengue, Hustle, and Cha Cha with varying degrees of success. Instructors are very patient people.
Since Swing is much different from Ballroom, I wasn't expecting to be very good, but Swing does actually teach you about connection, frame, not relying too much on your partner, and expecting the unexpected, which is very good on a crowded dance floor when your lead has to avoid heavy traffic. West Coast Swing has always been described as much more difficult than East Coast (what I'm used to), and it's different, even down to the music. But it's way fun. For East Coast I actually got some surprised 'good jobs' from the various instructors who danced with me.
I made a new friend (out of an old acquaintance) who loved the dancing as much as I did, so we went to the ball together. The entire ball. It was well over 5 1/2 hours, and we barely sat down. It pays to get to know instructors, and I think they liked us - we got asked to dance quite a bit!
And being an anime convention, half the people who dressed up were in costume. I think a high point of the evening was doing the Cha Cha with Abraham Lincoln.
I feel motivated to look up social dancing now, even if all of the schools are getting out for the summer. Gotta keep practicing!
Well, a few things. One of which is that coffee and stolen donut is not a good breakfast, and also that yukata are not made for walking.
The other is that I'm addicted to dancing.
Partner dancing, that is. I love hip hop and especially hula, but I don't really fit into them as well as I do swing. I'm not too big on performance. And since I learned that I actually fractured my wrist during that one flash mob practice in March, I'm a little wary of hip hop...
My friends and I went to an anime convention in San Jose last weekend. I actually stayed for the entire thing this year, which meant I was able to attend the very formal, very hyped Black and White Ball the first time! In honor of the ball, the convention offered ballroom dance lessons... and swing. With pretty fabulous instructors.
The night before they had a 'decompression dance' where we could all be casual and dance with instructors and each other for practice. It was super fun! I got impromptu lessons on all the stuff I missed, and so ended up dancing East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing, Waltz, Foxtrot, American Tango, Salsa, Merengue, Hustle, and Cha Cha with varying degrees of success. Instructors are very patient people.
Since Swing is much different from Ballroom, I wasn't expecting to be very good, but Swing does actually teach you about connection, frame, not relying too much on your partner, and expecting the unexpected, which is very good on a crowded dance floor when your lead has to avoid heavy traffic. West Coast Swing has always been described as much more difficult than East Coast (what I'm used to), and it's different, even down to the music. But it's way fun. For East Coast I actually got some surprised 'good jobs' from the various instructors who danced with me.
I made a new friend (out of an old acquaintance) who loved the dancing as much as I did, so we went to the ball together. The entire ball. It was well over 5 1/2 hours, and we barely sat down. It pays to get to know instructors, and I think they liked us - we got asked to dance quite a bit!
And being an anime convention, half the people who dressed up were in costume. I think a high point of the evening was doing the Cha Cha with Abraham Lincoln.
I feel motivated to look up social dancing now, even if all of the schools are getting out for the summer. Gotta keep practicing!
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