neonleonb

I'm as happy as I can remember being lately, as happy as I've been since the last time I began dating. On the one hand, it's a momentary thing brought on by a good meal and some mango nectar, but on the other hand it's been a good weekend.

Sure, there were some people who were annoying--I was amazed to rediscover my ability to really be irked by a person's tone of voice. But still, the lessons were good, and last night's astounding dances were worth the entire cost of the workshop. I've only ever been quite so on once before. I was on fire! I was amazing! The people who walked away from me unimpressed were the easily-dismissed exceptions.

My favorite quote was from an instructor named Ogden. He and Amanda were teaching us about leading from non-traditional body parts, like by touching our partner's shoulders or wrists. But he cautioned us about not getting too focused on using wrists: "Wrists are good as friends. But hands...!" It was the funniest moment of the weekend, which was hard after Topher and Mike's class.

I've been helping "mentor" at SwingCal, Berkeley's student-run swing-dancing class. That means I don't teach, but I dance with students and give them tips.

After the class, there's some social dancing, and then too I mostly dance with students. One student was amused by my style and said, "You remind me of Will Ferrell." The question is, is that a compliment or an insult?

Yesterday I was mostly not in a good mood. I was full of that anxious feeling in which I want reassurance, and I was unable to quell it.

But at Shades of Blues, it all went away, and I felt quite confident. I got "dance-drunk," where I didn't have to think too much about the movements and just felt good. I'm glad I went.

Well, they were green, but it was strange anyway.

I was on campus for Lindy on Sproul early on Saturday afternoon, when all of a sudden there was a loud propeller noise. I looked up and saw two giant green military transport helicopters, the two-rotor (one front, one rear) sort. I stopped dancing and pointed them out to my partner. They circled above us, more or less around Sproul Plaza, once, then circled elsewhere over campus, and then left. The whole event lasted less than a minute, but at some points they were really loud. Everyone stopped dancing to watch, and I think someone even turned off the music.

I don't know why they were there, but I was pretty excited about it.

I'm surprised by how much I'm looking forward to swing class tomorrow. I think I'm not too bad at swing, and I'm getting better even without lessons, and I'm eager to learn more. Tomorrow we'll learn Lindy Hop (I kind of know the basic step, but not well), and I'll bring my new suede-soled dance shoes, so I'll be spinning around with ease. It'll be fun!

By the end of the semester, I aim to be quite good. I really like the idea of being a capable, confident dancer. Those skills won't carry over into any other aspect of my life, but it'll be nice to go out and dance. And I find that the more confident I feel about my dancing skill, the more fun I have doing it, so things will only get better.

Two recent failings:

1. I ran the 5k on Sunday doing better than 8-minute miles, as I'd hoped. Unfortunately, I was also lazy enough to walk for part of it. I can make excuses of several sorts, but basically I just didn't push hard enough. I'll have to see if I can fix that--for starters, by stopping the walk at the top of the hill on my daily run.
2. I bought fancy dance shoes. I'm ashamed to say how much I spent on them, but they're the most comfortable dress shoes I've ever felt, and they'll have suede on the soles. It'll be nice to have them, I suppose, but I may be the only one in the class who has them. Even some of the teachers don't wear the fancy dancing shoes. Now I feel kind of foolish for splurging like that.