Dancing alot alot alot, and having an absolute blast, I might add. Only nine days in, and I’m already optimistic that 2005 is going to be my favorite year yet. I’m sitting on a high that seems unquenchable and comes from no particular source other than my own contentment with myself and the world. And isn’t that what we all strive for? Of course, I can’t imagine that the year will have no low notes. Particularly, I’m still nervous about the graduate school thing, and where I will end up and how that will go; nervous but it’s not ruined my mood nor will it.
Aside from posting pictures, I haven’t really made any comment on what’s been going on around here since ringing in the New Year. So I’ll start at the beginning.
New Year’s Eve was a blast, but with some sour notes. Most notably (on the blast end, not the sour end), Theo and Kandace hooked up (you may have seen the picture), and they are, to be blunt, an inspiring pair. Seeing the two of them together is kind of like watching two stars click in a romantic film, the chemistry (even transferred through wires and lights) is undeniable, and from the moment they meet you think, “These people need to get married, right now, and live happily ever after. For real.” At first, I was a little jealous, but now I just enjoy hanging out with them, and it’s renewed my faith that there is someone out there with whom I will connect so … perfectly. In any case, I got no lovin’ on New Years (though I was secretly hoping for a New Year’s kiss, to be sure), but I refused to let that put a damper on the beginning of what I was resolved would be a great year. Tim and I walked home from the Eagle’s Bar around 1:30 in the morning. I drank more that night than I think I ever have before, and perhaps ever will again, though I felt okay for the most part, and woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Go me.
Tuesday and Wednesday nights I went dancing, as per usual. I’ve been working on my musicality a lot, trying to dance to the music, match the mood and tempo to my style, play around with pauses, and connect with my partner. I’ve also been managing to teach myself at least one new move every night I go dancing, from watching other people. Nothing fancy, and it’s kind of a frustratingly slow pace to improve at, but I’ll get there in the end. Dancing up in Tacoma on Wednesdays, they like to really slow down the pace a lot near the end of the night, and it’s really made me want to learn some blues dancing. I’d also like to work on some salsa, classic ballroom, tango, and even club-style dancing. Basically, I’ve been a dancing fool and I’m inspired to become ever more of one. In a way, it’s been odd, because I didn’t think I was all that excited about dancing. I think a lot of my new-found interest comes in part from being able to share it with a friend. Having Theo start dancing has made the experience feel more connected to the rest of my life, whereas before it was always something I did that was, for the most part, seperate from everything else in which I was involved. I’ve also been hanging out with the other swing dancers in Olympia quite a bit, and they’re a fun crowd. Aside from dancing, we tend to play a lot of cribbage, and Theo and I have started to get some of them into Pinochle; so in that sense too I feel that dance has become a solid part of my life and relationships, instead of just a strange hobby I have.
Tonight I’m meeting with Emily and Nick, who are running the Swing Club out at Evergreen, to talk about what we want to do this quarter. I helped start the original Evergreen Swing Club back in ’98, so I have some perspective on what works and what doesn’t, and what in particular Evergreen students are looking for in a club. Of course, it may have all changed since then, since that was the height of the swing craze. I think we should still be able to pull in a good crowd, though, even if we don’t get the peak 60-or-so people we got back in the day. Also, they may have me teach every other week, which would be a blast, because I miss teaching swing, and I’ve learned a lot since I was dancing back then. On top of all that, I’ve been vigorously adding to my music collection, including a lot of western swing and rockabilly (among other things) and hope to start DJing brief spots at the dance on Tuesday nights. If it goes well, and I’m into it, I might look into getting my own DJ set-up. I used to DJ a little bit with Lee back in the day, now and again, and always had a great time doing it. If nothing else, I just think it would be fun to mix up the music that people dance to every week.
I worked a lot this week, including three days that went from 9:00 to 6:30. I’d forgotten how exhausting it can be to work a full day, especially when most of it is spent moving around and on your feet. The job at Tumwater is decent, if uninteresting, though I wish so much I could just work full-time at St. Martin’s, which is to date my favorite job ever. But I’m bordering on whining, which isn’t my intention, so I’ll move on.
Last night was a guest-list only party at the Eagle’s Bar, featuring the fabulous DJ talent of a man named Rob. Rob lives in Paris, but he came over here to marry (as in preside over the ceremony) Christine and Damon. When he tried to go back home, he was told that he couldn’t because he didn’t have the proper papers (or something really asinine, along those lines). So he was stuck back in the ‘States, trying to make some money to get the documention and ticket he needed to get back to Paris. Last night’s party was partially a farewell party to Rob, and a collection for him to get back home. He’s flying back on the 20th. Bon Voyage, Rob! Anyway, he’s a kick-awesome DJ, with an awesome collection of swing, blues, jazz, techno, dance, disco, and everything else, including some really great music from France he’s picked up. I’d kill for the man’s music collection. The crowd was a lot smaller than it was on New Year’s, and mostly composed of the swing dance crowd. We had solid swing music from 8-10:30, then slowly moved over to disco, with some swing and salsa thrown in on occassion. Kandace drank a little too much, so I took them home around 12:30, and then drove myself back to the party. It wrapped up shortly after I got back, so a few of us went searching for other venues to dance in. Unfortunately, Olympia closes down pretty early (which has always been a beef of mine with this city), so after 1:00 we were pretty much shit out of luck unless we wanted to pay a cover to get into a club packed full of drunk and horny grinders swaying obnoxiously to too-loud techno and hip-hop. After walking around for a bit, we went back to Jan’s house, had some beers, and played cribbage until about 4:30 in the morning. This morning we woke up early (almost), around 10, and went down to get some good, greasy breakfast at The Place.