Adventures of a Tofu Slut

I had lunch outside yesterday! And no, I wasn't magically transported to Mexico. It's not like it was all that warm, but it was sunny, and warm enough to hang outside for an hour, without a coat even. This has been the weirdest two months, weather-wise. I hear it's been the hottest on record, and I totally believe it. Today, I couldn't find my socks again after dance class, and my feet weren't even cold.

I've realized that I approach dance class and French class the same way - I tend to want to stick in the beginning levels, because I'm very strong at the basics. I've been practicing both, but mostly I just do basic grammar exercises or drill the basic moves, without moving onto the stuff that actually challenges me. And while it's true that a strong foundation will make the rest easier, I think I need to find a new way to practice, some way to actually move forward.

You know, in my brain there was a logical progression between those two thoughts, but now I have no idea what it was. Sorry!

And it's December, which apparently came a surprise to me, as I left my December transit pass sitting on the kitchen table. Imagine my irritation when I couldn't get through the turnstile! Imagine my indignation as I squeezed past the people buying tokens and flashed my pass at the man in the box! Imagine my embarrassment when I realized that it was me, and not the TTC, who was the idiot, and that the transit man was probably cursing me for attempting to scam him! Imagine my annoyance when I realized that I would now have to pay actual cash to get home again!

In other news, I had no time for breakfast this morning, due to an extended bout of not-getting-out-of-beditis, so I have succumbed to the lure of toasted bagel and peanut butter. Expect whining about stomach pain and heartburn in approximately 2 hours.

These last two weeks have been full of theatre for me, which makes me all *glee* and *bliss*. Last week I went to Wicked with starfishchick, which was great. On their own, I find the songs fun, if nothing special, but the production made them come alive, even if it did leave out a lot of the politics found in the book. Still, great choreography and costumes, excellent singing for the most part, and damn, did they all sound scarily like the people who originated the roles on Broadway. I don't think I've ever seen a touring production before where the intent was so clearly to copy the original, down to speaking inflections.

Then on Tuesday I took myself to Chicago, which I've never seen a professional production of. And yes, there was a Backstreet Boy on stage. He was actually pretty good - his voice was a lot sweeter and somewhat less powerful than I would have picked for Billy Flynn, but it's a good voice and he's got the stage presence. The women beside me were very excited, despite having been all mocking before the show started. And the rest of the cast was great. The woman playing Roxie looked just like Miranda from Sex and the City (from where I was sitting in the gods). It was eerie. Most importantly, the dancing was awesome, and I loved how they used the stage, putting the band on stage on riser-like things, and having the cast use the same setpiece, and interact with the bandleader. It really played up the vaudeville angle.

Last night I went with dancer friends from Kitchener to see Arabesque Dance Company's new bellydance show, Asala. Fantastic. One of the best all around shows that I've seen. The live band was amazing, and there was a drum interlude that nearly killed me, and the dancing was great - group choreographies that mostly ran through various folkloric and contemporary styles. With many, many costumes, including at least 4 for each dancer during one big number. I love that. Seriously, if you like bellydance, or you're curious about bellydance, go see this show. So much better than Bellydance Superstars.

And now that it's December, I promised myself that I would stop getting annoyed every time Christmas music is played, or I see decorations, or people talk about it. Because there's only so long you can carry around that kind of irritation without exploding, and December 1st is when Christmas is allowed to begin (or so says I).

An hour and a half of intense, non-stop ab work is a VERY LONG TIME.

Ouch. Fuck.

I'm going to be having belly roll nightmares all night, I can tell.

Helloooooo! What's going on? How were your weekends? Don't you just love life right now?

I don't, particularly. But that's neither here nor there.

I had a pretty good weekend, though. Thursday night featured spontaneous sushi with sarcasma, mystery_diva and sanity_clause. Tasty and fun!

Friday night featured spontaneous Mexican with starfishchick, sarcasma and sanity_clause. Also tasty and fun, with bonus NaNo talk. However, after careful research it would appear that all Mexican restaurants in Toronto are veeeeery slow.

Dinner was followed by a spontaneous viewing of Mirrormask, which was visually stunning. And thus I used up all my alloted spontaneity for the year.

( Bellydance excursion to Kitchener )

( Money Money Money )

Wait! You've made it this far, don't run away yet!

Two things:

1. We're not allowed to wear perfume or any kind of scent at work anymore. My BPAL collection is weeping.

2. If you're taking part in the tea exchange, remember to send your tea! I'm sure your recipient will be very grateful, what with fall giving way to winter here in the northern hemisphere.

Oh, wait, one more:

3. It is less than 10 hours until November, and my summer's accumulation of sunburns (the ones I received DESPITE my careful application of sunscreen every day) have not gone away. WTF?

Next up for me: NaNo! It's going to be awfulawesome.

Oy.

I didn't do any packing this weekend. I'm such a slacker. Or possibly I've just decided that things that happen in the confines of my mind also happen in reality, because I thought about packing, figured out how everything would fit into boxes, and sat back, satisfied, as if I'd actually done the work.

Instead, I watched hours of 21 Jump Street. And mourned the lack of LJ. And didn't buy groceries. And wore my pajamas all day Sunday until I had to take a shower and get dressed at 7, because I was going out, which was so hard.

I mean, leaving the house when it's already dark out? Painful. Leaving the house when it's already dark out and -10? Very painful. Leaving the house when it's already dark, -10, and you've been in your pajamas all day? Exceedingly painful. I would never have made it if I weren't meeting someone who doesn't have a cell phone, and therefore I couldn't call and cancel. I'm glad I went, though - it was an Arabic cabaret night, which is apparently happening weekly, with a live band and a different dancer each week, and in between the dancer's sets everyone else can get up and dance. The dancer, Maya, is one of my favourite local dancers (and a former teacher of mine), and she was wonderful. Plus now I'm excited to start classes again tomorrow.

And this afternoon I'm making my semi-annual exchange of blood for cookies. They better have good cookies left by the time my appointment comes around.

I had a mostly very lazy weekend, during which I ignored my to-do list in favour of re-connecting with the internet and spontaneous purchasing of new sheets. Dark green! Pretty.

On Sunday I went to Kitchener to help a friend organize a recital of her dance students (adults, so at least it didn't involve herding little children). Through a variety of circumstances, it had turned into a huge event that was being held at an actual theatre, complete with fancy lighting and sound, and actual front-of-house and tech people. I spent the afternoon running around putting up signs and directing people through the maze back stage while D. did the tech run with the dancers. Oh, and every 10 minutes or so I had to check all three doors - they had to be kept locked, but there were people arriving all afternoon, and there had been a bit of mix-up about which door they were supposed to use. So I ran up and down a lot of stairs.

During the show I got to stage manage, which was actually really fun, since I had a headset on, and could listen to the tech guys. They were hilarious. One comment about "inhuman hips" devolved into an entire riff on vampire dancers. Oh! And the best moment of the show was the guy who got up and walked across the stage (right across, mind you, not along the edges) while someone was dancing! It turns out he was the husband of one of the other dancers(!), and he saw her sitting on the side after she danced, so he went over to talk to her. Right across the stage. I hope she's well and truly embarrassed by him.

Then after the show we drove around Waterloo for ages trying to find a restaurant that was still open and looked like somewhere that we could get some edible food. Did you know that at Eastside Mario's they give you neverending salad with your pasta? I have never eaten so much salad in my life.

And now start the weeks of I Am Never Going To Get Enough Sleep Again, which were heralded by the 5:30 alarm clock this morning, so that I could get to the train in Kitchener that would bring me to work on time. Oof. Tonight vestra comes home, so I'll probably stay up (if I can) to hear all the Victoria news, and then it's Fringe! Yay Fringe! We've plotted out our schedule, and it's 15 shows in 5 days, and there are 11pm shows (or later) every night. So no sleeping for me. And then it's the arrival of the parents and the mini-vacation, which will also, I'm sure, result in less sleep than usual. But it's all for a good cause, right?

Meanwhile, though, I need lunch. Fooooood. Also, I walked by a book sale, so there are books waiting to be purchased by me. Fun.

So it would seem that my part in the show last night did not go as well as I thought. My teacher watched the video last night, and said that I was totally dyslexic all the way through and kept turning in the wrong direction. Worse, you apparently couldn't see me *except* when I turned (the wrong way). I mean, she said it in a much nicer way, but that was the general idea.

And she asked the other two new dancers to come back for the next Feast, but not me. Well, it was fun while it lasted.

I'm a little freaked about the show tonight. Not the actual dancing, because it's easy and I'm totally confident after our last rehearsal, but about the rest of it. Apparently we have to try to get people up to dance with us, and I don't wear my glasses when I dance, so I'm not going to be able to tell if anyone is completely avoiding eye contact and will therefore hate me forever if I approach them.

Plus I have the two most pathetic nerve-wrackers ever: that I won't be able to get into the club when I get there (what if there's a special secret door for before hours access?), and that I have to try to do some sort of dramatic make-up job around people who do this sort of thing for a living. People, I can barely manage to put on mascara without poking myself in the eye.

Oh, man, I am so lame. Still, people are coming, which is fantastic!* I have wonderful friends. ::hearts::

*Including possibly people from work. I don't know if they're really going to show up, but there was definite conversation taking place at the front when I walked by. Do you think it'll change the work atmosphere after co-workers have seen my fishy white stomach in all its lumpy glory?

Once again, I am way too old for the fun life. Last night I went to see the Bellydance Superstars, who are touring around North America. Incidentally, that "superstar" thing is a huge misnomer - most of the dance community here in Toronto had only heard of one or two of the dancers. It was really just a tour put together by a promoter who found young dancers who were willing to cross the country on a gruelling schedule. They had showing in different cities nearly every night, which must have been exhausting.

The show was being held in a club downtown, which I figured meant there'd be some tables and chairs, and then the rest of the people would have to stand. So we got there right when the doors opened, putting us about 4th in line. When they finally let us inside, we found a room with a makeshift stage, and two couches, one behind the other. That was it for seating. That early, and we still had to stand. So we staked out a spot, fully aware that someone else would probably arrive at the last minute and squeeze in front of us, and proceeded to whine for the next hour until the show started. Because we're old, and want to see shows in concert halls with comfortable seats, or at least in clubs with tables and chairs. Pathetic, aren't we?

The show was pretty good, though, and once it got started it was easier to ignore the fact that we were standing in a smoky club. They pulled out all the trick moves - cane dancing, dancing with candles on the head, double veil, and one crazy number with double swords that also involved bagpipes and a highland dancer. Much better than it sounds. Some of the dancers were really not that good (better than me, of course, but not what I would expect from a professional tour), but there were a few excellent numbers. Way shorter than they'd advertised, though. Still, fun nonetheless, whininess notwithstanding.

I'm so tired! Wait, didn't I just say that? Um, I'm so tired, but in a completely different way!

I went to Guelph this weekend for a two day bellydance workshop with the fabulous Hadia from Calgary. Excellent fun. I got up very early (aka the time that I have to get up during the week to get to work, which should never be seen on the weekend) in order to get to the bus, but luckily I checked my email before heading out, because there was an email from someone offering me a ride. Bonus.

There's nothing like being in a room full of bellydancers to give you energy. I was standing around talking to the few people that I knew (only 4 of us made it out from Toronto, and I knew some of the Kitchener crowd as well), and I realized that all of us were shimmying without even realizing it. And there were a lot of people at the workshop, which is great for the organizer, but did make it a little hard to see. Plus, there were at least four bellydancing librarians. We're taking over the world!

The first day of the workshop was both good and bad. Hadia worked for a long time on warmups and flexibility, plus breaking down some movements, and I'd love to have her warmup on tape, because I felt great afterward. Then she started teaching us an Oriental choreography, which got frustrating, because there were a lot of beginning students at the workshop and we moved very slowly (and that was when I realized that I can no longer think of myself as a beginner). I understand that it's hard to learn something that quickly - I was totally stymied my first choreography workshop - but you just do the best you can, and go home with the notes and go over it again. As it was, we barely even made it through a third of the choreography.

After the workshop I went to Kitchener with my lovely friend Dhar, and we hung out and ate pizza and played with her kitties, and then we went back to Guelph to see the show with Hadia and some of the local dance companies. It was a good show, too, although they really could have used a tech run, because there were crazy problems with the lighting - lights going off while people were dancing, lights not going on while the orchestra was trying to set up.

And then, because there obviously wasn't enough dancing happening on the weekend, Dhar and her hubby and another friend and I went to a club in Kitchener (Abstract, for cagewench) where I was quite possibly the only person there not wearing black, and we danced for two hours straight to music that I had never heard before, other than one Pearl Jam song that I think I have on a CD somewhere. So much fun, at least until we realized, at 2 in the morning, that we had to be in Guelph by 9 the next day, ready to dance all day.

Remember when I said that we'd only made it through part of the choreography? The three of us that were staying in Kitchener arranged to have a private lesson with Hadia before the workshop the next morning so that we could learn the rest of the choreography, and that was very useful, although still annoying that we had to pay extra just to get a complete choreography out of the deal.

Then there was more workshop - this time we did a drum solo, plus some work with zills, and a little Turkish Rom. The Turkish Rom was seriously fun and I'd love to do more some time. Two annoying things: at our lunch break on Sunday I tried to go buy a bottle of water, which was unbelievably complicated. Why are there no corner stores in Guelph? And then, at the end of the workshop Hadia asked those of us that had taken the private with her to dance for the rest of the participants, so that they could see what the rest of the dance looked like. After we danced, this one woman got very huffy and asked why we were chosen to dance, and we explained to her that we'd paid for an extra lesson, and she got all irritated that she hadn't been told that extra lessons were available, but hello, no one told us, we just asked. Gah.

And then we got a little lost trying to get out of Guelph, and ended up on some backroads county highway that went very slowly.

Anyway, upshot is I had a fantastic weekend, but now I'm sleep-deprived and have a seriously sore neck and shoulders. gmajor, how do you feel about very last minute massage appointments? :)