Optimism and Joy

[tesla]

It must be spring: my optimism and joy are back in force!

Who's up for a trip to the Minnesota History Center on Saturday? Their current exhibit is "The Enemy Within: Terror in America 1776 to Today." I've been wanting to experience it since I heard of it, and it only runs through May 4.


Unrelated thoughts:

I'm taking community education yoga classes two nights a week. Both of them are labeled "fitness yoga," but one is very meditative and eastern whereas the other is more dynamic and athletic. It's neat to see the two instructors' different styles of teaching as well as their different takes on yoga. I've never done yoga before and so far I'm enjoying it very, very much. (One friend asked why I wanted to be a short old green guy with big ears, but I think he must've misheard me.)

I'm also taking ballroom dancing. I found a class that didn't require signing up as a couple. Even so, I'm the only "single" taking it. It turns out that this works to my advantage; I get to dance with the instructor, which appears to be incredibly easy compared with dancing with someone who's just learning. So far we've had just the one class and by the end of it I actually felt as though I was dancing rather than just rhythmically putting my feet where they were supposed to go.

Yesterday morning I went to put my boot on and found that my foot wouldn't go all the way in due to something soft but firm in the toe. I pulled out first my foot and then a purple fuzzy sparkly ball. (I found this greatly preferable to a mouse, which is what Marble used to leave in my slippers.)

My house is completely infested with its multicolored fuzzy sparkly relatives. Some of them have migrated upstairs. One very persistent red one leaped on to my bed (possibly with help of a symbiotic kitten) no fewer than three times during the course of the night. For some reason the kittens seem to feel that it's very important that these F.S. balls are well taken care of, and even go so far as to pick them up like tiny kittens and carry them around.

Work is odd: If you ever want somebody to cook the books, I'm not the right person to ask. If you pressure me enough I'll make up the numbers that you want out of thin air, but then I'll remind you of it every time we speak until the project has died a violent death. Also, the phrase "business justification" is NOT synonymous with, "Here's our arbitrary decision. Now, come up with something with which we can rationalize it."

I do, however, cook a mean rack of ribs. I've never tried doing barbequed ribs in the oven before tonight. It worked remarkably well. Just rub the things with a nice spice mixture, keep the heat down low and keep draining the fat off, and you end up with tender, delicious, fall-to-pieces "dry" spareribs. Nom, nom, nom!

Now I'm off to play my guitar - something which I've been doing again just recently, much to my delight.


Good night, my friends! (Or, in Shadow's words, "Rrrrrrr-meow!")

Comments

[daedala.livejournal.com]

Ooh, what kind of ballroom dancing? I do swing, and tend to go alone.

I love the little fuzzy sparkly balls.

[tesla-aldrich.livejournal.com]

In the two hour class we learned the most basic bits of two-step, foxtrot, waltz, and swing. I'd love to find someplace to go out and dance (in a perfect world I'd also find someone with whom to dance).

[daedala.livejournal.com]

Tapestry (38th & Minnehaha) has swing dance lessons that do not require a partner in reality, as well as on paper -- the leads make a bigcircle and the follows all rotate, so you dance with lots of people and don't get set into mutual bad habits with one partner. If you like the swing (East Coast, I assume, if you're learning it in that little time...), the Tapestry lessons on Thursdays are fun. The first Thursday of every month is basics night, and then the rest of the month they do non-basic steps. There's an East Coast lesson, a Lindy Hop lesson, and then a social dance.

I like Tapestry swing. :) I dunno how other lessons there work; the ballroom might be good, too. If you want someone you know to be there (even if someone you can't dance with; I'm assuming you follow, as I do) I can be talked into going very easily.