DLand - How African Dancing is like Onions

I've been feeling like a slug lately. So Friday, I psyched myself up to stop by and visit my old dance teacher,

Mr. Watson. He is an amazing dancer and I was spoiled to learn from him years

ago. But like I said that was years ago.

So Mr. Watson says every day from 6:30 to 8 is adult dance. Monday is modern,

Tuesday/Thursday is ballet and Wedensday/Friday is African. I agree to see him on

Monday and leave with high hopes. I head off to the dance store and spend a small

fortune on tools for my hobbie. Dance clothes are not cheap. But it was fun and

the owner gave me a 15% discount when she heard I was taking up dance again with

Mr. Watson. I think my $250 tab didn't hurt either.

so Monday, if you recall, I felt like hell. I thought about mustering the

strength to go but couldn't do much but hold my head and watch 8 episodes of

Who's Line Is It Anyways on the Tivo. And then Tuesday was the Charlottesville

adventure. So yesterday was the first visit.

I was all kinds of nervous about it. All the other kids were gonna laugh at me.

It was gonna be awful. But I sucked it up and put on a happy face. This beautiful

petite black woman comes to the door and unlocks it. I sneak in behind her and

explain my situation and ask if I could "sit in" on her class for the day to see

if it's for me. She whole-heatedly agrees. She asks my name and tells me hers is

Sunshine. Yes, Sunshine. At first I was taken aback, but in truth it's a pretty

name. And she was very pretty too, so that didn't hurt.

So she explains how the class is arranged and that there are 9-10 ladies in the

class. I take all this in. And then she starts the class.

I won't get into the details, but it was amazing! I've been a ballet trained girl

and this was no pas-de-chat or arabesque routine. This was feet curled up and

wide open palms and bobbing heads and pelvic twists and lots of ass wiggling. I

must admit, I am a little rusty when it comes to African ass wiggling. But it was

really a blast. I must pat myself on the back for keeping up and catching on. I

still looked like an out of shape ballerina auditioning for Soul Train, but

overall it was a great experience. The truly impressive thing is that I didn't

strain any muscles and feel really good today. The balls of my feet are a little

tender from all the barefoot stuff, but they'll callous soon.

And Sunshine was a joy to learn from. She was happy and supportive and spunky. It

was really amazing. So much so, I'm having a hard time putting it into words. So,

today is ballet with Mr. Watson. I'm gonna give that a go and see how much I've

forgotten. In fact, I better hustle, or I'll be late. More on this soon!

Cutest thing Sunshine said yesterday: You want an onion.

She was talking about toning your ass (for all that wiggling later). Tee hee hee.

DLand - Punting on One Entry and Rambling in Another

Well, I had started this whole "window into Genie's life" entry but it sucked ass. I was just running out of interesting things to say about some rather insignificant and needlessly embarrassing memories that have no relation on my current life. It was more like a story retold by a small child. And then we went here and nothing really happened. And then I tried this childish scheme but to no avail. And then there was this other minor detail of my early teenage life that was just like everyone elses. And then Randy Beaman's mom had this dream she was eating a marshmallow and when she woke up, her pillow was gone ...

So, sorry, that story will wait til someone gives a damn (mainly me). The Cliff Notes version is I heard a song in the car the other day that reminded me of when I was in high school and how icky it was, specifically the fact that I never had any boyfriends but plenty of obsessions. The morale is I'm married now and all the boys I obsessed over as a teen were really dorky and by all accounts continue to be so now.

*whew* enough of that.

So today was a totally sucky day at work. It was the day of clueless callers. Somehow during all of this I managed to be fairly polite and happy. So on a positive note I'll tell you about some cute things SweetPea has said lately.

Scene opens: we're walking the dogs around the block and pass our neighbor who has a little girl and a little Barbie Jeep which the little girl drives around in the street.

Jeremy: She's got a Jeep just like mine.

Genie: That's true. I wonder what kind of engine she has in it?

Jeremy: That's a CJ5 instead of CJ7 like mine because there's not much storage room behind the seats and she's got that shorter wheel base.

Genie: Yeah, and she's got the after market decals on it and light bars. She probably never takes it off-roading.

Jeremy: It's probably her boyfriend's Jeep.

Then in Farm Fresh yesterday evening ...

Jeremy (spying another small child in a Jeep Cherokee stroller): Did you see what I just saw?

Genie: Yes, just keep walking.

Jeremy: Can we have a baby so we can get one of those? VROOM! VROOM! (as the shopping cart starts 4-wheeling over the Caution - Wet Floor sign).

Genie: I can't talk to you. Do I know you?

DLand - My Pink Thumb

So I could rant all about how I have driven like 900 miles since Friday morning and covered three states. But I'm not. Because I'm home now and everything is so much better. Let's just say I went to Columbia, SC for work then Richmond for not long enough time and back home Sunday. There's something really serene about coming out of the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel. I drive through icky Hampton (no offense to its fine residents) and then this tunnel of paranoid idiots and emerge into the waiting room for Heaven. The water is gorgeous, the sky is blue, the sailboats are out and you can smell the salt in the air. I roll down all the windows and stick my head out to get a good lung-full. Then I know I'm home. Why would anyone live anywhere else? I suppose if you had a fear of the water, hated seafood and didn't like a town with a decent economy it would be a sucky place to live. But anybody else has no excuse.

It's spring too and the best time to be around here. Everyone I know is planting things or has bright things sprouting in their yard. I've never had much of a green thumb. I was feeling all sad about this in the car and then looked at my nails. Some of you may remember that I was getting acrylic nails for a while. They looked FABULOUS, but they were high maintenance and I lacked the time to devote to them. But now, after much devotion, I have my own genuine finger nails. I painted them pink last night while watching TV. So these enviable pink buds are sprouting out of my fingers like ten little tulips. I have one bouquet on the stick shift and one draped over 12 o'clock on the steering wheel. Suddenly I feel like I've got a little bit of spring with me everywhere I go. Whee!