just dance!
First things first. I had the saddest dream last night that like broke my heart. So like a week ago I discovered that Ty Clive was actually on facebook. I friended him, but he hasn't responded yet. So in my dream, I saw him in like a cafeteria, and I went up and was like, "Ty! I friended you on facebook!" and I was all excited and going to give him a hug and stuff. He was like purposely ignoring me, and then his little brother - I think it was Jordan - told me we couldn't be friends anymore. I don't know, but for some reason it was very obvious that it was because I wasn't Mormon? And I was just there pleading and pleading, and then Jordan decided to let me record and audio tape of my last goodbye, and I started just rambling and pouring my heart out... It was really very sad, as the person dreaming and listening to myself, even I was moved by it. Right when my voice was trembling to hold back tears and I said, "And I always wanted to say..." Jordan shut off the recorder and said, "Time's up." For some reason Mike Daugherty was there, and he said something like, "Can't you see her heart is breaking?" or something. Man, that was like such a sad dream. I was glad to find out it was just a dream, because even though I haven't seen Ty in like six years, it would be sad to think that would happen.
About Russell
Anyway, so since Thursday there's been a lot of dance-related news. Thursday we had a lesson with Christine, Saturday standard and smooth classes, and then the social on Saturday evening. Classes were fine, but we got the most devastating news after class on Saturday: the MIT ballroom team decided to drop Russell in favor of Christine. So Fil came up to us individually (called some people like Andriy) to tell us this, which was extremely strange because it felt very underhanded, like some gossip or something, because why not just announce it? I'm leaving, so I'm not directly affected by it, but I still felt somewhat affected, and also sad for Russell, whom I really like and who I feel is misunderstood.
They didn't give us any solid reasons other than he wasn't supportive of the team and they don't want to discuss the details and they went to the dean and presented the case "objectively" to ask for advice. I still feel the right thing to do is to come up with a list of complaints and present them to Russell to see if he will change them first, because I think he was rather shocked as well. I also think they should have asked the people taking his class, almost all of whom agreed that they didn't want Russell to go. Another thing is that probably some of the weird behavior that Russell exhibited was the way that he kind of picked on the MIT team for disqualification at the Brown comp, which is probably why Fil asked me like twenty times the details of our dq, but I just think that it's no big deal, and you learn to not do those steps. Additionally, the members of the MIT team that went to Columbia and did the same steps also got called out. I don't think most of us will feel right about this decision made by the execs unless they tell us the specifics, and even then I get the feeling we will still feel wronged. Russell can be a jerk sometimes, but he's still the best teacher, and MIT is making a awful mistake. Christine's great, but we should still keep Russell.
About the social
About the social Saturday evening. Andriy DJ'ed the first shift, and I was his assistant. I ok'ed a lot of his music, so for the most part I enjoyed it, though there were one or two songs he stuck in there that I hadn't heard which were quite boring (since he made the playlist last minute). Still, we were able to impart "I Will Survive" hustle on the dancefloor, so it was still pretty good. So I don't know when was the last time I was there for the whole entire social, but I was there for like five hours and exhausted by the end. But I also think part of the problem was Esya's DJ'ing. No offense to Esya, especially because I think she did a decent job in the past, but the DJ'ing during the second shift was really lackluster. Mostly because she kept getting up to dance, so the songs would last for like 4 minutes, and then there would be a pause of like 20 seconds before the next one came on. I think also because we had some trouble switching between the two computers that caused a delay, and also because Esya changed some of her music because it overlapped with ours, she also seemed a little bit flustered. But yeah, the problem is that when you have time in between dances to stop and think for a second, suddenly you realize you actually are kind of tired. Also, when the music isn't awesome pumping you-can't-resist-dancing-to-it-because-it's-so-catchy-or-you-love-the-song music, then at least for me I get bored. So, it was kind of tough. But I still had fun. I would love to come back to visit sometime during a social and DJ again, that was so fun the last time I did it.
Also, I danced with Ryan Kenner for the first time at the social, which was really very nice. He's been doing pro-am with Larinda for I don't know how long, so dancing smooth with him was kind of like a nice breath of fresh air - it was very, well, smooth. Even though I didn't know a lot of the steps, I could kind of guess what was going on (at least for waltz, the foxtrot wasn't as good). I really liked doing some new stuff, since Larinda always teaches the same old routines in class all the time. He also has a nice feeling for all of the details in the movement, the flow of everything. Jeff is a great leader, but the moves don't flow through his whole body in one cohesive unit, rather it tends to be more push and pull at times.
Anyway, another thing was that it was really sad for me when, during one song, I realized it was my last social. I really feel like I've come to feel at home on the team. The MIT team is really probably the best collegiate team in the US, and that's speaking objectively. I looked at the Berkeley website, and it looks like they don't even have professional coaches, which kind of makes it pointless for me to be on the team. I hope I can find something good out there, but as Yan said yesterday, "Once MITBDT, always MITBDT." I looked at the MIT competition results again and realized that, even though Vitaly and Polina are all the way in Cali and Ada is all the way in NY, their affiliate status still said MIT.
Dinner with MPD
I also had dinner with Mike at Ole last night. I liked the food I got this time, the skirt steak, better than what I got last time. Mike's sea bass was also delicious. Also, we ordered guacamole, which comes as a gigantic bowl, made right in front of you by a waiter with a cart. Then we went to Andriy's house where we drank tea and discussed the differences between towns and villages, and then those guys talked about something to do with politics in the Middle East. Mike is thinking of moving to China for a few years, which sounds really cool, but I realized that I've lost the whole "go live in a different country" desire. I think I've started to spread my roots here, and for some reason I've grown an immense desire for stability. That adventurous side has been reduced to vacation somewhere new every year status. I think I've already had the whole German immersion, French immersion, and partial-Russian immersion thing, and I'm getting a little bit tired of the awkward I-don't speak-the-language-well-enough thing. That's why vacations are good - you get it in small doses. I must really be getting old.
About Russell
Anyway, so since Thursday there's been a lot of dance-related news. Thursday we had a lesson with Christine, Saturday standard and smooth classes, and then the social on Saturday evening. Classes were fine, but we got the most devastating news after class on Saturday: the MIT ballroom team decided to drop Russell in favor of Christine. So Fil came up to us individually (called some people like Andriy) to tell us this, which was extremely strange because it felt very underhanded, like some gossip or something, because why not just announce it? I'm leaving, so I'm not directly affected by it, but I still felt somewhat affected, and also sad for Russell, whom I really like and who I feel is misunderstood.
They didn't give us any solid reasons other than he wasn't supportive of the team and they don't want to discuss the details and they went to the dean and presented the case "objectively" to ask for advice. I still feel the right thing to do is to come up with a list of complaints and present them to Russell to see if he will change them first, because I think he was rather shocked as well. I also think they should have asked the people taking his class, almost all of whom agreed that they didn't want Russell to go. Another thing is that probably some of the weird behavior that Russell exhibited was the way that he kind of picked on the MIT team for disqualification at the Brown comp, which is probably why Fil asked me like twenty times the details of our dq, but I just think that it's no big deal, and you learn to not do those steps. Additionally, the members of the MIT team that went to Columbia and did the same steps also got called out. I don't think most of us will feel right about this decision made by the execs unless they tell us the specifics, and even then I get the feeling we will still feel wronged. Russell can be a jerk sometimes, but he's still the best teacher, and MIT is making a awful mistake. Christine's great, but we should still keep Russell.
About the social
About the social Saturday evening. Andriy DJ'ed the first shift, and I was his assistant. I ok'ed a lot of his music, so for the most part I enjoyed it, though there were one or two songs he stuck in there that I hadn't heard which were quite boring (since he made the playlist last minute). Still, we were able to impart "I Will Survive" hustle on the dancefloor, so it was still pretty good. So I don't know when was the last time I was there for the whole entire social, but I was there for like five hours and exhausted by the end. But I also think part of the problem was Esya's DJ'ing. No offense to Esya, especially because I think she did a decent job in the past, but the DJ'ing during the second shift was really lackluster. Mostly because she kept getting up to dance, so the songs would last for like 4 minutes, and then there would be a pause of like 20 seconds before the next one came on. I think also because we had some trouble switching between the two computers that caused a delay, and also because Esya changed some of her music because it overlapped with ours, she also seemed a little bit flustered. But yeah, the problem is that when you have time in between dances to stop and think for a second, suddenly you realize you actually are kind of tired. Also, when the music isn't awesome pumping you-can't-resist-dancing-to-it-because-it's-so-catchy-or-you-love-the-song music, then at least for me I get bored. So, it was kind of tough. But I still had fun. I would love to come back to visit sometime during a social and DJ again, that was so fun the last time I did it.
Also, I danced with Ryan Kenner for the first time at the social, which was really very nice. He's been doing pro-am with Larinda for I don't know how long, so dancing smooth with him was kind of like a nice breath of fresh air - it was very, well, smooth. Even though I didn't know a lot of the steps, I could kind of guess what was going on (at least for waltz, the foxtrot wasn't as good). I really liked doing some new stuff, since Larinda always teaches the same old routines in class all the time. He also has a nice feeling for all of the details in the movement, the flow of everything. Jeff is a great leader, but the moves don't flow through his whole body in one cohesive unit, rather it tends to be more push and pull at times.
Anyway, another thing was that it was really sad for me when, during one song, I realized it was my last social. I really feel like I've come to feel at home on the team. The MIT team is really probably the best collegiate team in the US, and that's speaking objectively. I looked at the Berkeley website, and it looks like they don't even have professional coaches, which kind of makes it pointless for me to be on the team. I hope I can find something good out there, but as Yan said yesterday, "Once MITBDT, always MITBDT." I looked at the MIT competition results again and realized that, even though Vitaly and Polina are all the way in Cali and Ada is all the way in NY, their affiliate status still said MIT.
Dinner with MPD
I also had dinner with Mike at Ole last night. I liked the food I got this time, the skirt steak, better than what I got last time. Mike's sea bass was also delicious. Also, we ordered guacamole, which comes as a gigantic bowl, made right in front of you by a waiter with a cart. Then we went to Andriy's house where we drank tea and discussed the differences between towns and villages, and then those guys talked about something to do with politics in the Middle East. Mike is thinking of moving to China for a few years, which sounds really cool, but I realized that I've lost the whole "go live in a different country" desire. I think I've started to spread my roots here, and for some reason I've grown an immense desire for stability. That adventurous side has been reduced to vacation somewhere new every year status. I think I've already had the whole German immersion, French immersion, and partial-Russian immersion thing, and I'm getting a little bit tired of the awkward I-don't speak-the-language-well-enough thing. That's why vacations are good - you get it in small doses. I must really be getting old.