11.02.08
it was a “Thriller”
tons of work, tons of fun, over way too fast!
10.31.08
2008
the last year has sucked so bad… i’m countin’ on a whole lotta the good stuff coming my way from this point on.
10.01.08
it stinks
life that is… sometimes it really does stink. right now, and for most of the summer, life has turned into a blah-fest. i’m not unhappy, per se, it just seems like there’s been so much turmoil over the last several months and it is taking its toll on me.
my sleep patterns are a mess, to me anyway. it’s tough getting to sleep and then i still make myself get up early to be at work by or before 7am. i haven’t been dancing as much as i’d hoped, and now that school started again, i’ve completely lost dancing on mondays.
the situation with my mom is really stressful, really, really stressful. it’s not just her either, it’s my dad. he drives me absolutely nuts; i can go from being cool and calm to being completely pissed in seconds when in his presence. mom really doesn’t handle stress very well at all (we’ve known this) but now, it’s even more noticeable. most things are overwhelming to her.
having my best friend sick too just really sucks.
some days the combination of them, and everything else going on with school and work, my family, and my car seems overwhelming.
i know things won’t always be like this… it just seems like i’ve been in a funk for months. nothing really excites me these days.
08.06.08
Why
Why are relationships so challenging? I ask this as I observe several around me in turmoil.
For me, it seems obvious… they simply won’t work if BOTH people aren’t invested and willing to do the work. But so often, it seems there’s an unequal amount of investment from the parties involved and this leads to confusion, hurt feelings, loneliness, and disillusionment, among many other emotions.
Are we destined to be in pain, if paired-up? Or choose a life of singlehood in an attempt to avoid the pain, only to find pain in that very state.
Who knows?
it was Camp Hollywood
I had a fantastic time, and I was fantastically exhausted by the end of Sunday night (well…Monday morning, really). I’d planned on going to work Monday, but the pulled muscle in my chest made staying home seem more like the right thing to do. It was. I slept a ton that day, and when I wasn’t sleeping, I wasn’t much good for much of anything else. BV said he’d never seen me so tired in all the years he’s known me, even after 2 consective trackdays. That’s because even though 2 trackdays are exhausting, there’s usually one night of decent sleep between them. This is not the case for CH though, it’s dancing all day and all night, plus there are competitions to watch between.
Overall though, I think I will have gotten more out of this year’s event versus last year’s. I had no idea what to expect last year and was quite overwhelmed with information. This time, I wanted to take classes that would provide me with more viable and usable techniques, moves, etc. I believe I did that. Time will tell.
On a side note, the camp/event in Munich in February sounds interesting…wonder if it’d be possible (read: affordable and workable into my schedule) to go. Hmmm
Memories Swing Team – Orange County Fair Performance 7-19-08
All the preparation and practice over the last couple months seemed to pay-off. I wasn’t nearly as nervous as I’d anticipated. Actually, I was way more nervous that I’d forget the order of the show than the actual routines themselves. Thankfully, the order of the routines was clearly laid-out for us by Mary and since I didn’t have to be so concerned with that, I got to have more fun than I counted on.
I think I only made a few small (hopefully unnoticeable flubs).
Jimmy and I hit the hand-to-hand Charleston part of Man with a Hex better than we ever had, IMO, and that was awesome!
SBN Annual Trackday – July 6, 2008
This year’s annual event was great! I think there was something like 40 people packed in and around the one paddock reserved for SBN’ers. Sunday was hot, but not completely unbearable, and they were running the track in counter-clockwise configuration which is uber awesome! Stompy performed great, as expected, and by the end of the day I was wiped-out, but looking forward to one more day of riding.
We (Chris, BV, Jun, and I) missed the big SBN dinner at Willow Ranch in favor of sammiches from Subway and chillin’ at the motel. We did this, not because we didn’t want to hang with the group, but because we still had another day to ride and we didn’t want to eat such a heavy meal.
After a night’s sleep which included me being bitten by a mysterious cat in my motel room (the story is best told in-person), the four of us were off to ride again.
Day 2 had BW being run in it’s more traditional clockwise configuration which is fun, but not as much fun (for me) as is CCW. I had Stompy’s new shoes put on, so in addition to the CW configuration, I was riding more conservativly than I coulda because I was scrubbing-in new tires. Yeah, I probably ride too conservatively for too long when on new tires, but oh well… better to err on the side of safety.
Home by about 9pm, we got Chris and Jun to help us unload the bikes, which is great for me because I hate it when it’s just me n BV by ourselves unloading 2 bikes that weigh over 350lbs. each.
Recovery wasn’t as bad as it usually is, I wasn’t nearly as sore as I usually am after 2 days of riding. Either it’s because I wasn’t riding very hard, or, my body is becoming adjusted to the abuse, or, it had something to do with the Perfect water Jay gave me. I dunno what it was, but I was both pleased and dismayed to not be uber sore for 3 days after riding 2 days.
Looking forward to my next trackday.
Dirty Girls take it to the mud!
A few weeks ago, I went to Glen Ivy in Corona with two other Dirty Girls. Despite the incredibly hot conditions, we had a great time. It was my first time there so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect; I’d heard the place had numerous pools, some with different purposes, plus, there was the mud.
After breakfasting at Tom’s Farm, by the way it was WAY hot; we drove over to Glen Ivy. Once we got checked-in, we stowed our stuff in lockers, doused ourselves in sunscreen, and headed out to experience the mud. I must admit it was a lot of fun covering myself in mud (the skin not covered with bathing suit, got covered with mud). Then we sat in a “dry” room for about 30 minutes while the mud dried enough so that we could start rubbing it off. This effort is what exfoliates the skin… and oh my gosh, my skin definitely felt noticeably softer after getting the dried mud off and taking a quick shower. (there may be a picture of the three of is, in all our muddy glory, in my gallery)
Our next stop was The Grotto where (for an additional fee) we each got painted with a warm green aloe and sea kelp substance which is supposed to moisturize the skin. This stuff is like a thick lotion; we were instructed to let it soak-in for about fifteen minutes and then rinse it off. Another shower, to wash off said green moisturizing substance, and it was time to head back outside and find a chaise lounge to…well, lounge on, of course.
I once again doused myself in sunscreen. Jeebus, it was HOT!!! Lucky for us, we scored and found three chaises right next to each other. There we toasted ourselves nicely until I couldn’t take it anymore and had to start moving around. Okay, so yeah, I can get a little antsy from time to time. Anyway, when we figured out that the singular waitress serving the area we were in wasn’t going to be able to take our lunch orders anytime within the foreseeable future, we walked over to the café, where we waited in line for probably 30-40 minutes to get lunch. And yeah, it was HOT waiting in line. Having procured lunch, we find a nice table in the shade where we eat and then sit for probably an hour and a half.
After lunch we head back out to our lounge chairs in the sun, hang there for another hour or so and then decide to check out some of the other pools. The stinky sulfur pools were the ones I wanted to check out since I’d heard the sulfur, while stinky, was good for muscle aches, and I was feeling somewhat sore from dance practice the night before. But, no luck all the sulfur tubs were occupied. Instead, we found a warm-tub (not quite a hot-tub) but it did have jets. There we sat until a spa employee kicked us out saying that pool was being shut down for some sort of maintenance. Well, it was nice while it lasted. Next, we to the Roman Bath; this was supposedly filled with salt water, but neither of us thought it actually was as we could smell chlorine. This pool/tub was quite hot and I didn’t last too long. Actually, I didn’t last because my face started burning; I think the sunscreen I put on my face was reacting to the chlorine and/or my skin. Whatever it was, it was uncomfortable and I was ready to hit the showers for real and get back into regular clothing.
As we were headed back to the lockers, we noticed that a spot had opened in the sulfur pools so, okay, we got in. And YES, it was kinda stinky, but not as bad as I’d expected and you soon get over it. We stayed in maybe 10-15 minutes.
Leaving the sulfur pools, we all headed back to the locker room to take real showers; Irene and I would be leaving afterwards while Genie was going to have a massage and hang out until the spa closed.
I had a really nice time spending the day with them, although it would have been nice if the other Dirty Girls were there too. I’d like to go back again, but I think I’d prefer to go back on a weekday when it, hopefully, won’t be as crowded. That was the biggest downside, there were a lot more people than I was expecting, and it made for usage of some of the amenities rather difficult, if not impossible.
All in all, I’d go back again, and hope to one day soon.