Marking Time

[bironic]

It's been one year since I graduated with my Masters. Two years since I waded neck-deep in the first semester. A little less than three years since I dragged myself together enough from Hell Job to apply.

Five years ago this month that I started posting on LiveJournal.

Time passes strange.

*

Dance class is awesome. Turns out there are a few levels of experience even within the intermediate level that get broken out into groups with teaching assistants, and I'm not the least experienced or out of practice of the bunch. We've learned three steps in two weeks. Clack-clack-clack stomp stomp go the hard shoes, and I am happy.

Less awesome was how my legs freaked out a couple of days after the first class so that I limped until Sunday. Some comfort in that the other newbies were in pain for a while, too, but still. The tenderness and limited range of motion were enough to have me worried about muscle tears and soft tissue injuries, but apparently I just have "very tight" calves and Achilles tendons. Surprise! A physical manifestation of an uptight personality. See also: my dental hygienist's comment a couple of years ago: "She clenches."

Long story medium, I have obtained stretching advice and a handful of potential friends.

One thing that will never stop being hilarious about joining Irish dance schools is the introductions. "Hi, I'm Kate." "Kate." "Kate." "Caitlin." "Kathleen." "Kathy." "Cassie." "Casey." And a couple of Megans.

*

Now that I'm dancing again, maybe I'll finish that story about the SGA team having to dance offworld.

Now that I've scheduled a routine follow-up scan, maybe I'll finish that other story about House and Wilson being kinky in the MRI room.

Now that Halloween is coming up for the fourth time since the first draft, maybe I'll finish that other story about the creepy stuff going on in the PPTH morgue.

Or maybe the tentacle meme fill, or the alien abduction fantasy, or the John-likes-femdom vid.

Or maybe none of those. I've misplaced my finishing power.

*

I signed up for intoabar because I like crossovers and rare pairings. Only instead of my pending assignment, it's making me want to write a story where Woolsey (SGA), Foreman (House), Barney (How I Met Your Mother), Arthur (Inception) and Garak (DS9) meet at Quark's and bond over tailoring.

The phenomenon that is Inception fandom, and my thoughts on same: A post for another day.

Comments

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

"Hi, I'm Kate." "Kate." "Kate." "Caitlin." "Kathleen." "Kathy." "Cassie." "Casey." And a couple of Megans.

I'm pretty sure I should not have lol'd at this. But I did. Yay for dance classes! I keep meaning to try this Zumba that everyone is speaking of, although obviously that's more of an 'exercise' thing than actual dance.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

They keep posting fliers about Zumba in my apartment building. So far I have not been tempted, but I am all elbows when I try to dance, so.

I'm pretty sure I should not have lol'd at this. But I did.

:) That was the point, so you should not feel bad.

[zulu.livejournal.com]

Wow, happy ljversary! It's September, so I'm pretty sure I just missed my own eight-year mark. We must've known each other for at least four of those five years, 'cause I remember you thinking about going back to school. THAT WAS SO AWESOME THAT YOU DID THAT.

And yay for dance class! New steps and friends and clacky shoes! :D!

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

Yikes! Time does pass quickly, doesn't it? It seems like only yesterday that I met you at the start of your time in grad school. (I'm really sorry I was such a disappointment in real life.)

The Irish dance class sounds great. I miss dancing.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Who said anything about disappointments? I'm only sorry we didn't have more chances to play Scrabble etc.

[recrudescence.livejournal.com]

Inception is like my fandom BFF right now. I just want to cuddle up with it and gossip and drink cocoa.

That dance class sounds pretty nifty. Irish dance is one of those things that I really like watching (I got myself a Riverdance DVD once and am still convinced I'm one of maybe ten people under forty who's done that), but always sort of assumed classes were geared towards kids.

...also, what are you up to this weekend? =)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Nothing at the moment!

I was a Lord of the Dance convert. :) Had never seen anything like it when it aired on PBS, and was enthralled. Took many years before it occurred to me that I could go try it out. The bulk of classes are for kids, and they get pretty competitive, from what I understand. But I haven't had trouble finding adult classes in the three major East coast cities I've lived in over the past few years, and those have been competition-optional.

[recrudescence.livejournal.com]

Messaging you...

I actually learned about Riverdance in middle school, since my Spanish teacher used to do Irish dancing professionally and auditioned for a lead role at one time. I think this tied in with Spanish because it happened to be St. Patrick's Day and there was a flamenco dancer in the movie she showed us.

Some of the kids I've seen have been incredible--I think the best performance I ever watched was done by this little girl with dreadlocks and braces who couldn't have been more than six. How long have you been taking classes?

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Three years, spread over six years. That's cool about your teacher! I remember the flamenco number, and in the Broadway show they had a tap-versus-step routine to continue the tradition of comparative techniques. My first teacher made an impression on me when she said that tap is about up and Irish dance is about down. Er, unless I have that backwards. Anyway, it's really cool to see the similarities and differences of tap-like dances and to see the rich variation in Celtic dance from Ireland and Scotland to Brittany and Spain and Nova Scotia and the Appalachians.