Notes from a flyer

I friggin flew through the air today!  I convinced Rich (mind you, he’s 6′5) to take a 3 1/2 hour aerials workshop with me.  SO much fun!

We did Judo throws, Judo throws with a bump, shoulder throws, backflips, lindy throws and Rich even did a backflip!  Our spotter had a good time laughing at how low Rich had to bend down to scoop me up to throw me.  And because of the foot and a half height difference, I sailed through the air without fear of him dropping me (mainly because I had enough time to think about my landing before it actually happened).

Can’t wait to bust those moves out in a bar!   Pictures coming soon

I came, I lindy-ed, I passed out

Whew! Washington DC was the place to be last weekend (if you’re into lindy hopping. If not…you’re boring.) It was amazing, I was in lindy hop heaven. There were SO many great dancers there and I was lucky enough to dance with many of them.

The entire weekend was so organized, it was amazingly fun. I took the bus in Friday and met with my aunt who was in DC for the weekend. Saturday morning, I attending the Fast Dancing class with Todd and Kelly (two world class lindy hoppers who have many awards to their names). Great workshop! For once, there were so many leaders that they had to rotate instead of the followers.  I also went to the ladies jazz routine with Naomi, another amazing swing teacher.  The workshops were so much fun, I learned quite a bit and even ran into my friend Lisa!

I left in the afternoon to meet up with my aunt to tour around DC (I forgot we were in the nation’s capital…I just wanted to dance.)  The coolest thing there (besides the lindy hop event) was the International Spy Museum…and of course, the numerous national monuments scattered about DC. That evening, they held an open dance with competitions interspersed. The most amazing to watch – the Lindy Hop Showcase.  Couples’ routines can have as many aerials as they want, meaning people were flying left and right! I taught my aunt the basics, but after one dance, she decided to stand in the back row and watch.  I think I received a late birthday present – dancing with leads who actually knew how to lead properly.

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Today (9/13) I’m attending an aerials class!  I convinced Rich, THE tallest guy around (he’s 6′5), to come with me and throw me around for 3 hours.  Hopefully, I’ll get some good pictures!

Nerd Love

While browsing the internet, I came across an article about a NYU student who grew tired of “coming home to an empty bed.” His solution? He created a virtual girlfriend. She’s a two dimensional image that lays next to him in bed. When he rolls onto his side, she ’spoons’ him. When he kisses her on the cheek, she turns onto her stomach. Cool? Yes. A little bit sad? I’d have to say yes to that as well.

This time and effort he put into creating this virtual girlfriend (who does not remove any of her clothes while in bed) could have been used to get a real girlfriend (who may actually remove her clothes). Not only that, but this kid goes to NYU. New York University has about a 40:60 boy to girl ratio, with 25% of the male population being gay. This gives NYU guys an advantage, 30 straight men to 60 girls. The numbers work in his favor! Factor into this that many of the NYU girls will lower their standards to be with somebody – I’ve had to sit one or two of my girlfriends down and ask them what the hell they were doing. Some, not all, girls are desperate to be in a relationship…ANY relationship. So why didn’t this kid go out and interact with real people, not just the SIMS characters on his Mac?

It all comes down to confidence. For the male population of nerds, many of them don’t have confidence. They have the intelligence but lack the social skills. And rather than go out there and socialize with people, they stick with what they know…at least, until they are forced to be social and develop those skills.

Yet there ARE girl nerds out there – I should know, I’m one of them. Girls who like to play video games (guilty…GTA IV, Guitar Hero, Super Smash Bros, Zelda, LOTR The Two Towers), spend weekends studying at the library, read comic books, write computer programs, wore braces in high school, plays Dungeons & Dragons, has watched Star Wars over 300 times…THEY DO EXSIST! While boy nerds deal with their unsociable characteristics in their own manner, girl nerds are different. Speaking from past experience as a girl nerd, I was happy being who I was with my small group of nerdy friends. I was content – I never thought about pursuing a boy to be in a relationship with. Part of that contentment came from the fact that I knew I was a nerd – what boy would want to date that? From the very start of high school, I was sure of three things; 1) I was a nerd. 2) No one would date me. 3) High school was just a necessary step towards something so much better – college.

Thank goodness time has gone by. I still am a nerd, but I quit being so anti-social. I gained confidence and have stopped telling myself that I would die alone, surrounded by my cats. While I’m one of the lucky nerds to have gained social skills, there are still so many boy and girl nerds out there. If they aren’t willing to take the steps towards being social, is there a solution to bring the two together? A social method of bringing the anti-social together? In the words of John Lennon – All you need is love. And a player two controller.

*Here’s the link!

Article – NYU Student Creates ‘Virtual Girlfriend’

Celebrity Sitings

After traveling all the way back to the West Coast, my body is completely out of whack. And so, since I am up at 7:30am with only crap on t.v., here’s something interesting to read. Living in New York City has exposed me to a few celebrities, so here’s who I’ve seen and where.

Billy Crudup - While I was waiting for the bus on Broadway in the Village, he walked right by me. Thankfully, I just watched Almost Famous and it took me a second to realize why I recognized his cute face.

Brendan Fraser – In the audience of the Broadway show November, starring Nathan Lane. I kept doing double takes until he looked up and gave me the charming Brendan Fraser smile – niiiiiiiiiiiiice.

Brad Pitt - While I was working at a resort in CA last summer. He was having a private breakfast near the back corner of the pool with his own waiter, an omelette station AND an acoustic guitarist. Damn straight he’s going to have his own guitarist – why should Brad Pitt have to share with the regular people?

Steven Spielberg – Walked past me on Broadway in SoHo. He was wearing a hat and glasses, looking scruffy. I had to do a double take and actually stopped in my tracks after it clicked in my brain that that was ‘The Steve’.

Sean Austin - Stood next to me in the Dallas/Fort Worth airport SkyLink train. I was racking my brain as to why I recognized this guy – did he go to NYU? Was he a guest speaker in one of my classes? Did I watch his kids at camp in CA? When he lifted his head and looked out the window, I heard a voice in my head say “I may not be able to carry the ring Mr. Frodo…but I can carry you!” I was standing next to Sam! And then my stop arrived before I could tell Rudy I was going to turn in my jersey for him to play. (Watch “Rudy” if you don’t get that.)

Mo Rocca - He stopped me in an East Village park in the afternoon to ask me about the Jonathan Meyers version of King Henry VIII. Mo asked, “What do you think of King Henry VIII if he looked like this?”, to which I replied, “Oh yeah, I’d do him.”

Conan O’Brien – Walking outside of Rockerfeller Center after one of his shows. My jaw just dropped and my heart stopped, everything seemed to move in slow motion…ok, maybe it wasn’t that dramatic, but I was taken aback. He’s soooooo tall (or maybe I’m just that short).

Darrell Hammond – Almost crashed into him on Lexington in the Upper East Side. I looked up and apologized, he said don’t worry about it and got into a taxi before I could tell him the I too “love the ladies” (YouTube his performance as Bill Clinton and all will make sense).

Now, if I could only run into Hugh Laurie…

Working hard?

This lady was begging for change on the corner of Mercer and Waverly, near my school. I say if you’re gonna beg for change, may as well be comfortable while you do it.

Rock on

This is Dan, the drummer for my rock band Trenchant.  He’s no Ringo, but he works just as well.

The Onion – NY’s Classiest News Source

While going through publishing companies and sorting which ones I should start inquiring about internships, the thought hit me to look at The Onion. Now for those of you who don’t know, The Onion is a satirical newspaper that twists actual news into hilarious articles. This particular article, appropriately titled “Fuck Everything, We’re Doing Five Blades” made me laugh so hard, coffee nearly squirted out of my nose. As sophisticated as that sounds, I had to share on here so that you too can shoot your morning cup of joe out of your nostrils. While I clean myself up, enjoy the article.

To give you a taste, one of my favorite moments was, “…I’m telling them to stick two more blades in there. I don’t care how. Make the blades so thin they’re invisible. Put some on the handle. I don’t care if they have to cram the fifth blade in perpendicular to the other four, just do it!”

Fuck Everything, We’re Doing Five Blade, By James M. Kilts