It Hasn't Been *That* Long, Has It??

[shiredancer]

Nah, not even two weeks. Not the worst I've done, by far! *Sheepish grin* Much life has been going on in the meanwhile, including lots and lots of work which leaves me tired in the evening and unable to post as often as I'd like.

So, Kidlet is all better from the tonsillectomy, but has now begun the process of getting braces. So she still can't eat (much)! Life is just one damn kitten after another, says Mehitabel the cat, and I have to agree. Today she had the spacer bands put on, and next week all the railroad tracks get glued on. Plus she has to get a palate spreader, oh joy. And she wants *me* to be the one to torture her turn the crank every night! *Quiver*

Other news: two weeks ago we saw The Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (which we enjoyed enormously -- I *loved* the make-up job for that Tia Whats'ername swamp lady!)(oooh, you can tell I'm not of the Pirate Crewe, huh?). Then two days after that I went with my siblings and a couple of nieces to Disneyland, where I rode on the pirate ride that inspired the movies (and which has just been updated to include Johnny Depp -- er, Jack Sparrow -- and other movie-ish touches, quite nicely too). This is notable because I do believe it's the first time the four of us have done *anything* together as adults, without the parents, and without spouses, ever. It was certainly my first time at Disneyland in over 20 years without Peter and/or Kidlet (who could not leave town yet due to the tonsils -- the doc was very strict about possible bleeding and being nearby), which was kind of a freeing thing. Anyway, we all got together at my brother's house the night before and had a slumber party, at which we played the infamous Liar's Dice all evening. The game of course has also been adapted from the movie, so the playing cups look just like the ones Will & Co. used. Fun! My siblings (older sister, younger sister and younger brother) are a fun-loving crew indeed, and forced -- yes, forced! -- me to join with them in buying pirate-scarved Mouse Ears at Disneyland! Now, I do *not* do the Mouse. I don't wear Mouse *anything* (unlike my older sister the Disney fanatic, who wears Mouse *everything*). But because I am gracious and a pushover amiable, I bought the ears. And wore them the whole damn day, just to show them. Even though the phrase going through my mind the whole time was "blah blah blah Mouse. Pirate!" *winks at linaelyn* The two nieces, both young twenty-somethings, had a blast together -- one is an old hand, being the daughter of the D-fanatic, and the other, being actually the great-niece of my brother's life partner and newly relocated from Kansas, was there for the first time ever. Biggest thrill of the day for them was riding the train and having Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, Piglet, and Goofy get on our car with us. The two girls just about died *rolls eyes*, and *much* picture-taking ensued. Okay, so I gave them all a tiny wave when I got off the train -- so sue me.

And more news: so now that the Pirate phase is over, I'm getting into a major belly dancing phase. I've started a new class! I can't even remember when I last had a belly dance class. It's probably been about 20 years or more. This one is in the latest hot craze, tribal-style dancing, and it's *hard*. I'm out of practice, and *sigh* a lot older and creakier, so learning new moves is... difficult. I'm keeping at it, though. And on Saturday I attended a rhythm-and-zils workshop led by my teacher Alexandra King and Michael Beach of the fabulous Brothers of the Baladi, and nearly wore my fingers off with playing my new zils (klostes: Turkish Delight in German Silver!!!). And I can't even begin to describe the thrill of being able to dance to his drumming, even for only a few a minutes *le sigh*. I can count on one hand the opportunities I've had to dance to live music in my entire 30+ year career. It was phenomenal.

That's most of the recent news, then. I have *so* much catching up to do on my friends page! I'll try, I really will.

I do know I've missed a couple of birthdays during my slacking absence, so let me wish a belated but heartfelt HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! to andeincasccade and fluterbev -- may this year be full of wonder and joy for both of you, chicas!

Comments

[linaelyn.livejournal.com]

Your Disney adventures made me laugh so hard I almost peed myself. (blah blah blah Mouse! hee hee!) Thanks for sharing.

Glad to hear that Kidlet is all better. I've been thinking of you guys. And YAY for taking a new tribal dance class! GO YOU.

I'm going to go collapse into sleep, now.

[shiredancer.livejournal.com]

Hee. Glad you enjoyed the Disney silliness! And the four of us (all over 50) in those ears were silly indeed. Many a ride operator backed away in mock fear of the "pirates" invading (they're rather nice about playing along there!). Thank *you* for the inspired phrase ringing through my mind!

I've been thinking about you, too -- have some catching up to do, and I did stroll through your recent entries. I was worried about Rev. Rach -- is she doing okay? Is it just morning sickness etc. that you've been talking about? Keeping my fingers crossed that all is basically fine.

*Hugs*

[nonniemous.livejournal.com]

Somehow, I have no trouble seeing you in the pirate mouse ears, though I agree with you on not wearing Disney-Anything! ;-) Blah, blah, blah Mouse. Pirate! of course.

Zils! Those are lovely. Did you order them or find a local vendor before you bought them? I need mufflers for mine, but I don't crochet well. I want to see you do a drum solo. Totally!

I'm curious as to what's different about the tribal compared to what you've done before this? A couple of my troupe members went to Tribal Quest NW two weeks ago and took a few classes from FCBD's Caroleena Nericcio and a couple of her cohorts. We were finally forced to admit that we do not dance ATS, we dance Tribal-Fusion. But we're also trying to incorporate some of the ATS cues and ideas into our routines. Me, I need to practise more!

[shiredancer.livejournal.com]

The zils *are* lovely. The Saroyan site was down when I went looking, so I ordered them online from a vendor I found just by googling zils. She was very prompt -- I can recommend her (as soon as I recall who it is -- somebody's Tent, I think). Later the Saroyan site was back up, with a note that there is illness in the family and they're not able to fill orders at this time -- hope things aren't too bad for them, and it's a good thing I went elsewhere for my order. Anyway, I was going to get some like yours, the Afghani ones, but they sounded just a little heavy and frankly, I wasn't sure if my aging *cough* hands could handle them. So I got the Turkish Delight, which the vendor swore everybody loves and she uses for her troupe work -- and then when I was finally able to get on the Saroyan site to compare (because they list weight and have the tones online) it turns out the Turkish are slightly heavier but smaller. But I love them. For the first time I took the trouble to *sew* the elastic (I've always just tied knots, which probably dulls the sound) and then tried them out at the workshop -- yay! They sure rang out over everyone else. But there were only four of us, too. Oh, why do you need mufflers? Are you just joking? Cuz if you're not, I've never heard of that...

The tribal differences from what I learned long ago are quite subtle. A slightly different tilt and angle of the arms, but hard for an old-timer to get used to (and my current bursitis does *not* help), and more of a flamenco style with the hands -- leading with the middle finger, etc. Also there's *lots* of stomach work, which I've pretty much ignored all my years -- belly rolls and flutters just aren't my forte. There are new terms for old steps, too -- what I always called a camel is now a body wave. My teacher learned her stuff from Caroleena, who she described as someone who learned dancing in the 70s and just stayed there -- she apparently never *knew* that things like New Egyptian were happening! Or so she (Alex) says. My friend (who is also taking the class) and I both realized that what is being called Tribal is what we first saw at the original Novato Renaissance Pleasure Faire in the 70s -- a troupe moving in perfect synchronization, with a very ethnic flavor to it. My teacher says that a key element of Tribal style is that each movement must come back to a "home" position -- that cues the entire troupe into the start and finish of each step, so that they stay in synch. Some of the steps used are what I learned as Ghawazee dancing, and Alex agrees. Also there are new rhythms being used now -- back in the day we didn't know for 2/4 time! It was just beledi, ciftitelli, maybe a little masmoudi or karsilimah, and then drum solo and finale, whatever that meant. Mahfouff? Ayyoub? Never heard of them back then. (But I learned all about them this weekend!)

Oh sweetie, we *need* to get together to discuss this properly and compare notes and steps! And for a myriad of other reasons, too. If you could ever get yourself to San Jose (to meet in the middle at Lin's), I would *so* drive up for a weekend. **Hugs**

[bodhifox.livejournal.com]

No, not buying it... but I have JOB1 and JOB2 working on a computer so it has to be much easier for me. I have to say when you don't post your absence is palpable.

Disney??? *shudder* I have a pact with myself for the Princelings; no Disney Cruise, Land, World, Store *ever*... Thinking about those 8 year old girls in Thailand sewing toys for 8 year olds here while Eisner et al profit... we'll go to Ireland or something before that. I understand the attraction for some people but I've never bought it myself.

Very good to hear about the dancing. Your classes don't usually have live music? That's awful! I'm drumming over labor day weekend at Camp (if we go) and I'm sure there will be plenty of others. You could stop by if it weren't hundreds of miles away from where you live. But yeah for new zils!

[shiredancer.livejournal.com]

Ohhhh, I can see you're going to be *very* good for my consciousness-raising! I didn't realize that about the Disney enterprise. I prolly *should* have, but I didn't. More reason not to purchase any of the merchandise. In my 20s and 30s I avoided D-land (it was a place I'd gone all my life, as we lived in SoCal in 1956, just after it first opened -- I can remember driving through miles of orange groves to get there) because it was so phony and bogus to me. As a parent with a young child, though, I saw it through new eyes -- kind of tuned in to the magic they try to convey for the guests. Squint a little, and you could be in a kingdom long ago and far away (although I must say I loved the parody in "Shrek"). I much prefer to support fair trade establishments when I know about them, but... I suspect I'll not be giving up Disneyland anytime soon. Their products, though, I can live without, at least. I can only try. Oh, and I would take Ireland over D-land *any* old day!

Yeah, in all my dancing, it's mostly been to recorded music. Long ago, on that mountainside I described in your post, a group of us used to get together and then there would be musicians -- but that only lasted a brief while. (The homeowner almost got busted for drugs and *poof* there it went...) Here at UCSB we have a very famous Middle East Ensemble (http://www.music.ucsb.edu/mee/) and I've danced to their music (well, a small portion of them -- not the whole Ensemble) a couple of times, but that's it. I'm (sadly) considered too old to be in their performing troupe now -- but oh well! I need to convince my teacher to start an "over-50" troupe, seeing as all the best dancers in town are in that age bracket anyway, LOL!

And yay for the drumming -- I hope you make it to Camp and have a *wonderful* time. I would surely drop by... if it weren't for the small matter of those hundreds of miles...

[andeincascade.livejournal.com]

I am *such* a sucker for puppy dog eyes! Thanks for the birthday wishes, Shire. What I always say is, I'm not late, I'm fashionable! *g*

Your dance class sounds like fun, wish I could find one like that here!

[shiredancer.livejournal.com]

Oh, yayyy! I'm *so* glad the puppy eyes worked on somebody! *snicker*

Wish you could find a class, huh? Well, check here, honey! (http://www.orientaldancer.net/belly-dance-instructors/in_minnesota.html)

I'll expect regular updates!

[andeincascade.livejournal.com]

Uh-oh. I'm in trouble now! *g*

[dimity-blue.livejournal.com]

Braces? Yuck! I was lucky; I had the plastic and wire braces that were removable. My aunt wasn't lucky - she had the full works. However, at the end of it, the Kidlet will have beautifully spaced and even teeth. I hope the time goes well for her though (and you, seeing as you're The Cranker).

And yay for a new belly dancing class! I bet you'll have a ball. :oD

[shiredancer.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your good thoughts for Kidlet, Sarah! She very definitely *wants* these braces -- after all, since she's going to be a famous Broadway star, she'll have to have perfect teeth. *Sighs over Kidlet's values -- where have I gone wrong???*

Heh, I *am* having fun with the class -- although it makes my creaks and aches more palpable!