dancing life away
I thought I'd update everyone on what's been going on with life since whenever my last update was.
Basically, school is still a major concern. I still don't know what I'm going to do with myself, and if I'm to go through the whole nasty grad school application process again, then I need to know what I'm doing soon. Contrary to popular belief, a great deal of my time online actually IS dedicated to such a pursuit. I'm just not coming up with anything, which REALLY pisses me off, to be quite honest. I don't understand why it has to be so hard to find the right fucking school. Other people can do it so easily, so what is MY issue?
On the positive side of the whole educational issue, my summer research has started and, so far, is going way better than expected. I don't have ridiculously scheduled things, which I was afraid of. Instead, I'm just making meetings with Dr. Martin and doing some math. Fabulous. I'd honestly like some more scheduled-type things like I had in the REU in order to interact more with everyone, but I'm definitely glad that I don't have my entire summer scheduled with "must attend or you don't get paid" meetings. This gives me way more freedom than I originally expected to have, which is somewhat exciting and somewhat depressing.
On the depressing front, it looks like it will be even longer before I see an old friend. Things have been full of angst there, as usual...in case ya'll couldn't tell the obvious. Fucker knows who he is. Most of the rest of you do, as well. I really miss him, and I'd like to take an opportunity to actually get that off of my chest. Say what you will. The missing is there, and fuck anyone who has a problem with it...including him.
On the exciting part, I seriously have EVERY weekend this month planned. Now that it looks like my schedule isn't so strict, some of these weekends may be quite extended in nature now. This shall lead to many possibilities, I'm sure. The every weekend of the month lineup is as follows:
1) This weekend, Friday night, I'm going to the American Dance Festival to see the Ailey II company perform Alvin Ailey's famous "Revelations" piece. This makes me giddy beyond words. I also have tickets for Monday night (not the weekend, I know, but shh) to see the Limon Company (a lot of the modern technique that I was taught was Limon technique), but there's a scheduling conflict there...more to come on that in a bit.
2) Next weekend, I plan on heading back to Maryland to see Calvert School of Dance's annual recital. My dear, beloved car allows me to be able to do this after missing out last year, and I can't wait to go.
3) On the 20th and 22nd, I shall be watching the USA Gymnastics trials for the Olympics live from the Wachovia Center in Philly. I have never seen gymnastics live, much less elite gymnasts fighting to get a spot on the team for the Olympics, so I can't wait for this one. Omg.
4) On the 27th, it's back to the American Dance Festival to see the Martha Graham company perform. Omg.
...and then, June will be over.
All of this is in my calendar, but people probably don't read that shit...kind of like they may or may not read THIS shit.
I had my free trial of the "Adult Beginner" class at the Raleigh School of Ballet on Monday night. It was fabulous. No, really. FABULOUS. Most places seem to have their adult beginner classes come off as a sort of joke, but this class was actually REALLY good. I'm not sure I'd really consider it much of a "beginner" class compared with what I've seen total beginners do, either. This makes me happy. Although I took some classes at State this past semester, I haven't had a "good" ballet class since before the car accident over 3 years ago, so it was just great to be back in a class in general. Then, to find out that it was so enjoyable and that the teacher was pretty nice or whatever was a wonderfully unexpected surprise. The sore legs that I have had ever since then are but a small price to pay (in addition to $14/session! oy!).
So, now comes that little scheduling conflict that I mentioned earlier. Ballet class is Monday night. I purchased tickets for a Monday night performance. FUCK. On the one hand, I spent quite a pretty penny on my ticket and really want to see this company perform. On the other, I'm so sick of watching instead of doing that it's driving me CRAZY. ARGHHGHGHGHGH!!!! What to do, what to do? There's this whole "NO REFUNDS OR EXCHANGES!!!!!" thing, or else I'd just attempt to swap the ticket for either the Sunday or Tuesday performance. I could always flush the money down the toilet and not go, but that would suck. Then again, missing only my second class at a really great new place will also suck, especially since it may give the impression that I'm not coming back or that I don't want to work or something. There's always the idea of begging to switch the ticket, possibly even paying EXTRA to do so...but that whole spending even more money thing does NOT sound like fun.
What ever shall I do????
Speaking of money, I spent quite a bit of it on new tires today. I had a pretty nasty flat on one of my back tires (my dumb ass didn't notice it until I had reached my destination, which was far from my Timbuktu residence as are all signs of civilization) yesterday. I was planning on replacing the back tires at some point in the near future anyway, so when I went to the shop today, that's what I did. Oh joy. This whole driving thing is expensive. Gas prices are fucking ridiculous, by the way. Don't get me started.
I have read quite a few books already this summer and have about a million "want to read" books to go. I really miss getting to read for pleasure, rather than to learn mathematics. That's not to say that I dislike reading for the purpose of learning mathematics, but a girl needs more than just epsilon in her life. It's true. Especially when epsilon goes to zero. Heh. But seriously, I miss just having time to read, and it's great to have it again.
Now, if only I could have both time and money for everything else that I enjoy, that would be great. So would managing not to lose people every time I turn around...
And one more thing...it's only the first week of June, and North Carolina is already a fucking inferno. Add this to the nearest beach being some hours away, and you have a hot, sticky, and testy Shana running around. Not to mention, if it's this bad already, am I going to need to wear a special heat-repellant suit come August??? This place is seriously hell on Earth...and I now have the proof!
Basically, school is still a major concern. I still don't know what I'm going to do with myself, and if I'm to go through the whole nasty grad school application process again, then I need to know what I'm doing soon. Contrary to popular belief, a great deal of my time online actually IS dedicated to such a pursuit. I'm just not coming up with anything, which REALLY pisses me off, to be quite honest. I don't understand why it has to be so hard to find the right fucking school. Other people can do it so easily, so what is MY issue?
On the positive side of the whole educational issue, my summer research has started and, so far, is going way better than expected. I don't have ridiculously scheduled things, which I was afraid of. Instead, I'm just making meetings with Dr. Martin and doing some math. Fabulous. I'd honestly like some more scheduled-type things like I had in the REU in order to interact more with everyone, but I'm definitely glad that I don't have my entire summer scheduled with "must attend or you don't get paid" meetings. This gives me way more freedom than I originally expected to have, which is somewhat exciting and somewhat depressing.
On the depressing front, it looks like it will be even longer before I see an old friend. Things have been full of angst there, as usual...in case ya'll couldn't tell the obvious. Fucker knows who he is. Most of the rest of you do, as well. I really miss him, and I'd like to take an opportunity to actually get that off of my chest. Say what you will. The missing is there, and fuck anyone who has a problem with it...including him.
On the exciting part, I seriously have EVERY weekend this month planned. Now that it looks like my schedule isn't so strict, some of these weekends may be quite extended in nature now. This shall lead to many possibilities, I'm sure. The every weekend of the month lineup is as follows:
1) This weekend, Friday night, I'm going to the American Dance Festival to see the Ailey II company perform Alvin Ailey's famous "Revelations" piece. This makes me giddy beyond words. I also have tickets for Monday night (not the weekend, I know, but shh) to see the Limon Company (a lot of the modern technique that I was taught was Limon technique), but there's a scheduling conflict there...more to come on that in a bit.
2) Next weekend, I plan on heading back to Maryland to see Calvert School of Dance's annual recital. My dear, beloved car allows me to be able to do this after missing out last year, and I can't wait to go.
3) On the 20th and 22nd, I shall be watching the USA Gymnastics trials for the Olympics live from the Wachovia Center in Philly. I have never seen gymnastics live, much less elite gymnasts fighting to get a spot on the team for the Olympics, so I can't wait for this one. Omg.
4) On the 27th, it's back to the American Dance Festival to see the Martha Graham company perform. Omg.
...and then, June will be over.
All of this is in my calendar, but people probably don't read that shit...kind of like they may or may not read THIS shit.
I had my free trial of the "Adult Beginner" class at the Raleigh School of Ballet on Monday night. It was fabulous. No, really. FABULOUS. Most places seem to have their adult beginner classes come off as a sort of joke, but this class was actually REALLY good. I'm not sure I'd really consider it much of a "beginner" class compared with what I've seen total beginners do, either. This makes me happy. Although I took some classes at State this past semester, I haven't had a "good" ballet class since before the car accident over 3 years ago, so it was just great to be back in a class in general. Then, to find out that it was so enjoyable and that the teacher was pretty nice or whatever was a wonderfully unexpected surprise. The sore legs that I have had ever since then are but a small price to pay (in addition to $14/session! oy!).
So, now comes that little scheduling conflict that I mentioned earlier. Ballet class is Monday night. I purchased tickets for a Monday night performance. FUCK. On the one hand, I spent quite a pretty penny on my ticket and really want to see this company perform. On the other, I'm so sick of watching instead of doing that it's driving me CRAZY. ARGHHGHGHGHGH!!!! What to do, what to do? There's this whole "NO REFUNDS OR EXCHANGES!!!!!" thing, or else I'd just attempt to swap the ticket for either the Sunday or Tuesday performance. I could always flush the money down the toilet and not go, but that would suck. Then again, missing only my second class at a really great new place will also suck, especially since it may give the impression that I'm not coming back or that I don't want to work or something. There's always the idea of begging to switch the ticket, possibly even paying EXTRA to do so...but that whole spending even more money thing does NOT sound like fun.
What ever shall I do????
Speaking of money, I spent quite a bit of it on new tires today. I had a pretty nasty flat on one of my back tires (my dumb ass didn't notice it until I had reached my destination, which was far from my Timbuktu residence as are all signs of civilization) yesterday. I was planning on replacing the back tires at some point in the near future anyway, so when I went to the shop today, that's what I did. Oh joy. This whole driving thing is expensive. Gas prices are fucking ridiculous, by the way. Don't get me started.
I have read quite a few books already this summer and have about a million "want to read" books to go. I really miss getting to read for pleasure, rather than to learn mathematics. That's not to say that I dislike reading for the purpose of learning mathematics, but a girl needs more than just epsilon in her life. It's true. Especially when epsilon goes to zero. Heh. But seriously, I miss just having time to read, and it's great to have it again.
Now, if only I could have both time and money for everything else that I enjoy, that would be great. So would managing not to lose people every time I turn around...
And one more thing...it's only the first week of June, and North Carolina is already a fucking inferno. Add this to the nearest beach being some hours away, and you have a hot, sticky, and testy Shana running around. Not to mention, if it's this bad already, am I going to need to wear a special heat-repellant suit come August??? This place is seriously hell on Earth...and I now have the proof!