Welcome to the tilt-a-whirl......

You know its going to be an odd compliment when

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:21:43 GMT

said compliment is prefaced with "Please don't take offence at this". Yep that would be the compliment I got this morning. One of the seniors is apparently reading Sarah Palin's book and told me I "remind her of Palin" Yes the brain monkeys started flailing, howling and generally wreaking havoc while I smiled and said thanks. She them added that its because I'm so passionate about the things I do, completely outspoken about what I think without appologising to anyone and driven to be the best at what I do. Ok, that I can live with, but really Palin? ***shudder*** It also proves my ability to hide what I'm really thinking when the subjects of politics, healthcare and religion come is wayyyy over developed.

So much to be thankful for

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 07:02:21 GMT

It's been a crazy year so far and I'm having a very hard time coming to terms that the calander will turn the year again very soon. I have so very much to be thankful for, nice man and kiddo, my parents (step included), dear friends, the amazing ladies in my troupe, my students who continue to inspire me to keep working to be the best damn teacher I can for them, the fans of Banat Tabla who are helping to put out name on the map locally, all the people who have hired myself and the troupe lately for gigs, and the fur babies, JarJar and Yoyo. We have a new edition to add to the furbaby list.

Last Monday an orange and white kitty turned up on our doorstep. We tried ignoring her thinking she was just a local outdoor or stray. When she turned up at the back window, meowing, we went out to try and convince her to go away before she figured out how Jarjar's doggie door worked and came in on her own. What we discovered was she is totally a love bug of a kitty, declawed on her front claws and most definately had been someone's pet recently. Not wanting to leave her for the local ferals/toms or to get run over we locked her in kiddo's bathroom overnight in hopes we could track down her owner.

Calls to the pound, local vets, door to door and flyers in the neighborhood and checking the paper, no one was looking for her. Nor as it turned out was she microchipped. Amazingly enough Yoyo has pretty much ignored her unless she gets in Yoyo's face or trys to cuddle with me. It's ok if I go pick her up and cuddle her, however Yoyo makes sure she knows I am HER person if she tries to approach me. Luckily she seems to have bonded to kiddo, probably in part to those first couple of days being locked in kiddo's bathroom.

So without further ado, the littlest furbaby to our home...Trinket the Turbo Kitty (Turbo Kitty was my addition to her name after several mornings of kitty romps through the house while I was trying to sleep :P)

Note to self

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:39:21 GMT

Green tea body scrub and eyes with contacts in do not mix well. Side note, need to order more lenses soon :P

The tilt-a-whirl scores!

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:47:13 GMT

I don't know if men run into this problem at all but for women finding a good pair of jeans is like finding the Holy Grail. And of course its one of those you know its coming things, finally find the perfect jeans and the company will stop making them, thus starting the great jeans crusade over again.

I managed to find the perfect brand and style about 10 years ago. Over the next three years after the discovery of the perfect jeans, once a month I would go back and buy a pair or two of these jeans so I could have a stash for when the brand did away with the style.

My last pair of the stash turned in their final notice this spring. There was the appropriate wailing, moaning and weeping over this departure and after the assigned number of days of grieving, the great jean hunt began again. Today I was once again searching through the abyss that is Wal-mart's jean selection in vain hope of finding anything, the less than perfect but will do for now, would have been fine at this point. Winter season starts in less than two weeks and I can't wear my dance pants for things like oil painting and silver smithing.

I hit a clearance rack that had not been there a week or so ago when I last went on the hunt. I wasn't expecting much but never say I leave any stone unturned. I saw the brand and had a little stirring of hope. These were by the same manufacturer that my much lamented perfect jeans had been made by. Could I get so lucky? Probably not, I know Wal-mart and Targets jean sections like the back of my hand and I had never seen these before. No way am I going to get that lucky.

I rummaged through the stacks finding not the size I wore before, but sizes one up and one down from that. They were the tall length I prefer, I know I'm not all that tall but I like the extra long jean legs, and a mix of mid and low rise. My old jeans had been low rise which I prefer since they sit at the hip line instead of the waist, a much more natural feeling for me, but hey beggers can't be choosers and at this point I'm desperate.

I grab a few pairs in either size thinking I would probably need the larger size, isn't that always the way of it, and head off to the horror of the dressing room. There you stuff yourself into a box the size of a phone booth with dim lighting so you don't have to face the true horror of florecent lights. I'm sure there's a marketing stratagey on the changing room size invovled there too, that or they are designed by the same people who design airplane bathrooms.

Tenitively I tried on the smaller pair figuring I might as well get it over since no way in hell.......Holy crap they fit! Not only do they fit, they fit well! No chopping me in half in places when I bend or sit, the length is good, in fact they are if anything a tiny bit looser than the old ones had been. I'm sure the size in reality is probably the same but the tag says its a size smaller and my ego is going with what the tag says.

I managed not to start screaming triumphant war cries and doing the Happy Snoopy Dance, barely, got dressed and rumaged through the display to find more of these magical jeans. Five pairs later I was a deleriously happy hunter having found the object of my summer long quest. Not only had I finally found perfect jeans but five pairs for 11.00 each. SCORE!

I'm sure people thought I was nuts wandering through Wal-mart to pick up the other few things on my list with an ear to ear grin. No one is ever that happy to be in Wal-mart unless they are a few screws shy of something.

18 years....my how time flies!

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:35:37 GMT

Yes that is the nice man and I 18 years ago today. And yes, the picture still makes ma all teary-eyed. It was my favorite photo from the entire day, me and my knight in shining armor (ok dress blues, close enough).

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 23:47:16 GMT

Off to a day of workshops tomorrow with a bunch of my gals from the troupe. It ought to be a lot of fun.

Today has been phone call after phone call, mainly inquiries about preformances by the troupe. YAY!!!! I love answering my phone when its people who want to have us perform calling. Now to see if these leads all work out. If so, its going to be a busy winter!!

Origins...the start of something good

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 06:45:27 GMT

There is so much to say about the show. I don't have words to say how proud I am of the students and my troupe. We had some hiccups and learned a few things for next year. Yes there will be a next year. We cleared out costs and were able to sell enough tickets to make sure we can do this again next year. I'm still in shock.

Monday Night Beginner Students

Tuesday Night Students

Wednesday Night Students

Banat Tabla

Angie, me and Lisa, the instructors

Everyone who performed!!

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 09:19:34 GMT

It's two in the morning, I am still pinging off the walls and totally exhausted. We had an audience of just shy of 400 people for the show. I am so freaking proud of my students, Angie and Lisa's students, the troupe, everyone really came through. We had tons of great feed back from people who enjoyed the show!

It's hard to believe its over. At least until next year!!

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:10:02 GMT

According to the MSN weather website it's only blowing about 10 to 11 mph here. According to the whistling of the wind through the dog door and the way the trees are waving out the window its more like, "We're not in Kansas anymore" kind of wind. Why do I have a feeling it's going to be one of those days???

Random Halo ODST quote

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:24:59 GMT

As said by the nice man in the other room. "Okkkk, learned something new. Don't go past the buoy. Gunny don't float"

The tilt-a-whirl is random.....

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 07:07:03 GMT

and taking a cue from a few others, just a random list of things to let people know I'm still alive. Not sane, but still on the planet.

Got the ad proof for the show today. It looks good. Not as nice as the posters Ike did but definately well worth the time invested int he bellygram the other week. The magazine is getting handed out at PLAY Days so who knows if it will bring more people into the show.

My students are doing really good with their pieces. Still some rough edges but then again many of them have only been in my classes for 16 weeks or so. I'm so proud of all they have accomplished in such a short time. I'm also thrilled with how much effort most of them are putting into costuming. I gave them ideas and suggestions to start with and some of the really have done some nifty things.

Nice man is playing Halo ODST. Nathon Fillon and Adam Baldwin both are voices in this one. There was just a great little video clip. Apparently warthogs (ground vehicles for non Halo players) were not meant to fly.

Still so much to do for the show and now so little time. I still haven't nailed down what my solo will be.

Two possible gigs have come up for us for November and December, and another vauge "I'll get a hold of you" one may still come through for the same time frame. I've been asked to do a bit,. 30 second or so part in a local play for two weeks in November and daytime classes start the first Monday of November. Faire rehearsals also get rolling around then, and of course any winter time shows/bellygram gigs. Somehow I must find time to get out and get some training for myself too. I know don't complain. Better to have too many oportunities than none at all. Some days though, feels like I'm drowning.

Nice man brought me a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie from the place he had dinner at tonight. It's a good day *GRIN*

This is it....

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 07:30:48 GMT

Our show poster....

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:01:18 GMT

Both bellygrams went fantstic, however my new to me blue and gold needs work. First time it slipped down so the top edge of my bodystocking briefs showed and the belly band unsnapped the first set of snaps from the bra. It was orginially designed to go around the belly but I didn't like how that cut on me so I fixed it up to make a long "V" down from the bra. It looks much better on me but requires some fiddling to get it right.

Today the belt stayed put, skirt didn't slide and snaps stayed in place. However one of the big rhinstones popped out all of three seconds in. ARGGGG!! If it's not one thing it's another.

Alls well that ends well thought. The birthday boy this weekend had a ball and was totally surprised. He's one of my "employers" for faire so it made that one tons of fun since none of them had seen me to do the glitz bit, only the faire dancing. Today's client was a student of mine and it was for her Red Hat club. Sweet ladies and we all had a ball! I will hopefully pick up some gigs from it for either me and or the troupe.

Now to go run by the dance studio to drop off rent for rehersal space, to class to teach, then hang around afterwards to let one of my gals tape a couple of the routines for the upcoming show since she will miss a rehersal, then home to pass out before going back in to work tomorrow morning. I know the busy season starts in November but we're ramping up to it nicely....whimper

The tilt-a-whirl toots its own horn

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 01:06:45 GMT

Just a little...lol! My troupe is the featured dancers for September on the Joy of Bellydance website. I'm so proud of my gals!
http://www.joyofbellydancing.com/spotlight2.htm

Sleep blessed sleep

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 01:00:54 GMT

It's not big secret I've spent most of my married life sleeping on various couches because nice man snores. Not just snores but snores so loudly my brother once asked how I could sleep in the same zip code with him. The answer is I don't.

I am typically an uber light sleeper unless I've taken meds in which case a thundering heard of wildabeasts couldn't wake me up. Of course in those cases I'm groggy and woosey all the next day so its not really a win situation. Not only am I a light sleeper but I don't sleep much when I do sleep. My mother took my then newborn brother to our Dr because he was sleeping so much. The Dr's response was "That's normal for a newborn, its your daughter who isn't normal"

So for some unknown reason I have hit the pillow the last two nights and become dead. Nice man says I'm still breathing even if he has to actually touch me to make sure of it, I snuggled over when he came to bed, but for all purposes I am sleeping like the dead. I have no idea why I'm actually sleeping without drugs but it's lovely. Of course waking up ten minutes before he's supposed to leave for work and having to wake him up and get him to comprehend that not only did I sleep in the bed all night but that I way over slept and if he doesn't move NOW he'll be late to work isn't fun, but hey I got to sleep all night two nights in a row in my bed. WHOOT!

The tilt-a-whirl needs sleep......

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 09:57:16 GMT

After a rough day, I was only supposed to be down one dancer for rehearsal today (I guess it would tecnically be yesterday now :P) and I ended up down half the troupe due to life, the universe and everything. We only have three, maybe four rehearsals left before the show so I was completly freaked out.

So since I was already having issues it seemd the perfect time to pull down and delete all the files from off the website server and try to get it all updated. I started around 9 Sunday night and its now.....almost 3 in the morning. However Banat's website is back up and running, not as many pictures, but a new look, new front page, new class info....yep I'm happy. Now to figure out why my design program is still not uploading to the site. I definately don't want to hand load and figure out which pages need what re-nameing and so on ever again.

stop the roller coaster

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:43:50 GMT

I need a nap ....

So far today I have woken up with a small pimple on my eyeline so no contacts this morning. I had to wear my glasses which are way out of whack script wise so I was headachy and sea sick feeling at work this morning. Luckily a nap seems to have settled down the spot and cold compresses seem to be finishing off the rest of it.

I had a panic attack this morning trying to figure out how I was 400+ short on bills due out of today's paycheck. After I got home and napped I figured out that since I don't write down which month I'm paying the mortgage for in the checkbook I had gotten ahead of myself. It's usually every other paycheck which menas at the end of the month I'm paying for next months payment. Nice man had a three paycheck month a bit ago I'm head by a full month. I don't have to pay for October's until next month. While it would be nice to get in an extra full payment on the principal, it's even better to figure out that I didn't totally bugger up the budget somehow.

Then there was my nap. I got home a little after 11 so I took some asprin and laid down on the couch, rather than try and move the nice lump that had spread itself across the entire bed, in an effort to get rid of the headache from my glasses. I thought I set my cell phone alarm to go off at 12:30 in case I really went down hard, I don't ever sleep well on Wednesday nights, so I could wake up the nice lump and get him off to work. Well either I'm an idiot that can't work her phone or my phone really is giving up the ghost because I woke up a little after 1, the alarm never went off, and nice lump was still snoring up a storm in the other room. Luckily his boss is very easy going and workplace is pretty laid back so a quick phone call to say he'd be about 30 minutes late, no big deal. I still feel stupid.

It's not been a total wash today. I got a call from a studnet who had done a local tv thing for her job. She had beent alking to them abouth the show coming up so now they want to do a piece on my classes/troupe and the show. YAY!

The tilt-a-whirl is domestic?

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 22:01:07 GMT

Laundry started....Check
Nice man sent to the store for groceries....Check
Dishwasher running....Check
Kitchen cleaned.....Check (at least until nice man starts cooking)
Livingroom cleaning....I don't want to....WHINE!!!!
10 pounds of chicken is being processed through the pressure cooker in batches so nice man can shred it all for future meals, I'm using enough water at the moment between laundry, dishes and general cleaning to bathe a small country, it's an oven outside, and I still have four choreographies and handouts for a costuming class to finish this afternoon. Oh and a birthday party to at least stop by and put in an appearance at, its for the son of one of my dancers, tonight. So much for a relaxing weekend......

Another day in hell....

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:55:12 GMT

Also known as a typical summer day in the desert southwest. Really, it's normal to have 115 degree days in the summer here. I love all the "OMG Exessive heat" warnings. Honestly it's getting to be a bit like "the sky is falling, the sky is falling".

So you run from air conditioned place to air conditioned place, camp out in front of fans, drink some water, and don't forget the sunscreen if you go out in the daylight. It's been that way since I moved to Arizona as a kid. Honestly folks, the world is not ending tomorrow because it's hot. Please, get a grip.

Now what?

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:45:08 GMT

I had FINALLY decided on the music to use for three of the class choreographies for the show in October. I start the beginners on their choreographies next week but I wanted to let the intermediates hear their music and give a couple of ideas that I wasn't sure would work to it a try last night. Since all but three are in my troupe its easy to get them to play with me while I see if what worked in my head with my imaginary dancers will work with real live people.

Of course things can't be that easy. One of the gals who knows the other local troupe told me they have been apparently using the same piece I picked out for my intermediates as an entrance number. I had already dumped two other songs out of contention for just that reason No matter what I do with it, there's going to be some "she's just copying us" crap floating around after the show if I use a piece they do.

My first thought was "bloody hell now I have to pick a new piece". When sanity beat down gut reaction I switched over to the "the hell with it" side. I heard the piece a good three years or more ago on U-pop off the XM radio, and tracked down the song/cd a couple of months later. I love this song. When I did the show last year there was a claim that all the students "belonged" to another instructor, made by that self same instructor of course. I just laughed when I heard about it after the fact since all but maybe six of the students in question would even know who the bloody hell she was if she walked up and bit them...lol. No matter what I do there is going to be some outrageous claim to ignore. I might as well steel myself for that now and use the music I really like. Especially since I'll be listening to it over and over for hours on end over the next few weeks.

Now that I picked the music to get rolling on I started mapping it out. Apparently I loves me that saiidi rhythm. All three have or are entirely, saiidi. Ummmm....oops? Oh well. I was looking for upbeat fun pieces in order to balance out some of the ATS stuff that the other instructors' gals will be doing. They are going very beladi heavy for the most part. I think I managed that. My troupe will balance out the rest with a little of everything from American/ Egyptian bellydance to ATS to fusion. I think we're headed towards a well paced and well rounded show. Course talk to me in another 10 weeks.........if I'm still sane that is.

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:17:14 GMT

Just got back from a midnight screening of the new Transformers movie. Ummmm, when can I go again?

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 23:25:22 GMT

I just got all the info I needed about renting the local theater for a student recital. Costs were no where near as scarey as I thought they would be. It looks like this might just be a go. The contact gal had to check with the tec guy about the dates and we may have to have a theater rehersal two weeks before the show due to date conflicts but hopefully it is all good news when she calls back tomorrow. If so, the show looks like it will be a go. I'm excited!! Now to go find that straight jacket.....I know it's around here somewhere...........LOL!

God is what???

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 03:20:31 GMT

Nice man and I went to dinner tonight. On the way home we passed one of the local churches. This one ususally has some little saying or another on their sign out by the road that they change weekly. This week's sign.....and I kid you not,

"God is not just a lubricant"

I don't think I even want to know........

Some grump with a touch of YAY!

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:19:32 GMT

Sinuses still have me in pain and grouchy. Got to work and had all of two gals there for the art class. One gal is blind as a bat and working on a pre-printed scratch art project. She sweet but I end up doing so much of her work for her because she can't see the pattern. Another gal showed up for a short while but had to leave early due to an appointment. In other words, the morning reallllllly dragged.

Then it was off to the college to meet up with a couple of the gals in my troupe. We had been tossing around the idea of doing a joint student recital type of show with a combination of their classes and mine. The first ground work is done, we came up with some really good ideas and ways to work the different classes so it would be fair to everyone. The whole goal is to give our students an approprite place to perform for their family and friends, plus promote our various classes. Now the hard works starts.......

It's going to be a day

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:15:42 GMT

Sinuses are still rampaging and I have to teach class tonight. What I really want to do is crawl in a hole and sleep until the pollen quits it's assault. To borrow Hecubus's term, I feel feral.