What's going on with me?

12-27-06 - So yeah, last week I wrote an entry and I completely forgot to post it. It can be viewed below this entry in its appropriate place.

They always die in threes. We lost James Brown and Gerald Ford in the past couple of days. I predict carol Channing is next.

All I can say about playing four player tennis on Wii Sports is that it�s freaking awesome!

So back when we first got our NES in 1987 or 1988, we talked my dad into playing Super Mario Bros. He sat down in front of the tv, picked up the controller, and sat there waiting for us to explain it to him. �Press start. Ok, now press right to go right. Ok, now press A to jump over that guy. A. Press A.� And then he walked into the very first goomba, forever sealing his opinion of video games as the dumbest thing ever.

Needless to say, I was incredibly surprised to come home Monday night to see my dad playing bowling on Wii Sports. Nintendo�s goal was to appeal to non-gamers. Even though I think he only played a game or two, they accomplished their goal by getting my dad to play his first video game in nearly two decades...and that is awesome!

So as I was heading back home from my parents� house yesterday morning, I totally got called out on the interstate. I used that wording as a teaser to my friend Andrew when I told him I had a story to tell when our friend Rachel arrived. His response was, �Someone caught you singing, huh?� Indeed.

So there I was, minding my own business, rocking out to �Building a Mystery� by Sarah McLachlan, when I realized I had to merge. I looked into the lane to my left and no one�s there, but then I see the car in the next lane over and in the front passenger seat is a 14-16 year old boy pointing and laughing at me. I can�t say for sure, but the look I gave him was probably a mixture of surprise, �you caught me,� slight discomfort, and just flat out realizing the humor of the situation.

I looked back forward, confused, then I looked back over and I saw him still laughing and then I saw his little sister in the back seat looking at my and laughing, too. I just gave her a big smile and nodded a couple times. I then saw the brother make a mark on a dry erase board on his lap. I looked at their license plate and saw that it was an Alabama one, which made me realize that they were on a long trip and they were probably counting how many times they saw certain things on their way there. It was kinda exciting to know that I was a statistic in their little game. As they got farther away, I saw the little sister peek at me one more time from the rear window, so I smiled and gave her a big thumbs up, which she returned. Then they left me alone to laugh to myself, which I did for a couple minutes. Ah, the simple pleasures in life...

12-21-06 - Life has been an odd mix of good, bad, and indifferent these past couple of weeks, as seems to be the norm lately.

Last night was especially good. There were no usual swing dancing lessons, but just a random dance. I almost didn�t go because I don�t feel I have anywhere near the arsenal of moves that I need to keep things interesting with people I dance with. I decided to go anyway and showed up at 7:45. It was scheduled from 7 til 10. I danced a few times and a couple of the dances just weren�t good. I know that I could be better and that would fix some things, but I think that the fact that I wasn�t all crazy kinda bored a couple of the gals and they just weren�t into it, so it made for some awkwardness. There were a couple of the regulars, however, that were very encouraging and helped me to try random things and it was quite enjoyable. It was a major confidence booster.

I�m actually getting to the point where I almost know a couple people there. I officially met someone named Kate the first time I went back last August. We recognized each other from the Honors program at school and knew each other�s names, but we�d never talked. We ended up surprising each other. Well, I only went last August twice because the Katrina incident caused gas prices to go up and I decided to cut all unnecessary driving. (It worked, too. With carpooling, I didn�t have to fill up for a whole month. I�ve yet to ever pay more than $3 for a gallon of gas.)

I started going again in March and I went for about a month and a half, including a couple intermediate lessons. I think I stopped going mostly because I started playing racquetball, but a good chunk of it was probably because I didn�t know anyone. Any time I�d talk to someone I was dancing with, I�d never see them again or it would be a couple weeks later and any progress that might�ve been made was lost.

I started going again a little over a month ago and I�ve been going both Mondays and Wednesdays. I�ve started taking both the intermediate and the beginner lessons. [Pause about half an hour for phone calls and a visitor, so I lost track a bit and might repeat some stuff.] It sucks cuz I still don�t really know people there, but that�s slowly starting to change. I still talk to Kate and she�s been helping me with some basic and slightly more toward intermediate stuff. Also, I befriended an instructor named Sarah last night and she�s helped me with some of the same things. I danced with both of them a couple times and they definitely helped me out. I mentioned something about ultimate frisbee to Sarah and I believe she�s gonna start coming to that with me, and Kate might too. I�m excited about actually knowing people in this group now!

Besides the two of them, I�m kinda starting to make myself known with a couple of the regular non-instructors. Now whether they�re actually happy to see/talk to/ dance with me or just putting on a show is yet to be seen, but I don�t care. Life seems to be alright at the moment!

I�m incredibly excited about the next couple weeks, also. We�ll leave that at that o:-)