My chums are pretty familiar with the 80's, "Molly Ringwald" dance that I do... Breakfast Club is what started it all for me. Pay particular attention at 0:22-0:27 :)
God, I love this movie!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
I may jones for a New York minute...
... but when I see pictures of places like these, I can't help but think I live in the wrong part of the world.
I have fantasized for a long, long time that I will make the Mediterranean my home someday. Who knows? My family may someday receive Christmas cards postmarked from France, Italy, Greece...
Friday, July 25, 2008
I have the secret to making your dreams reality...
While driving home from the grocery store yesterday afternoon, my boyfriend (who will be known as JBF here on out, short for Jessi's BoyFriend) was telling me that he met a life coach while hiking with his friend earlier that day. I asked him to be more specific in regards to "life coach", as that can mean all sorts of things, and he told me that the life coach guy specializes in helping people find and pursue their passions. JBF thought this would interest me considering my own experience with going after my dreams. I joked that since I'm the walking example of Mr. Life Coach's work, I should go into business with him.
Mr. Life Coach: "... take my assistant Jessi, for example... at the age of 28, she decided to forego plans for nursing school, change her major to dance and begin a ballet-and-modern-dance education - with no previous technical training!" (Insert the oohs and ahhs of his future clients here.)
I then said to JBF that the advice I would give people would be short and sweet: just do it.
That sounds trite, but really, that's how its done. Planning and pondering and calculating too much about something prevents it from actually coming to fruition. I know that each of you knows exactly what I'm talking about. We all have things that we fantasize would happen, thinking "I wish" and "if only"... But when you think too much about something, you begin to hyperanalyze and then think up a thousand reasons "why it won't work". And once that happens, forget it, its not going to.
By nature I'm impulsive and impatient. This sometimes gets me into trouble, yes, and I have friends who like to remind me of this (just in case I might forget). Sure, not all my impulsive decisions were the greatest, BUT of the impulsive decisions I've made that I look back on were some of my best. And each one came from a place of what-the-hell-do-I-have-to-lose. This has applied to things small - ignoring the fact that I'm shopping for something else entirely but buy the shoes anyway - and large - such as pursuing a dance career in my late twenties.
So, I probably wouldn't make a very good life coach. Clients would expect there to be some profound, intricate secret to making their dreams come to life that will require months of searching to discover. But then I would have to burst their expectation bubbles with those three little words, and I really hate disappointing people. I would be fired and they would angrily demand refunds.
I'm sorry, but that's all there is to it. Thank you, have a nice day.
Mr. Life Coach: "... take my assistant Jessi, for example... at the age of 28, she decided to forego plans for nursing school, change her major to dance and begin a ballet-and-modern-dance education - with no previous technical training!" (Insert the oohs and ahhs of his future clients here.)
I then said to JBF that the advice I would give people would be short and sweet: just do it.
That sounds trite, but really, that's how its done. Planning and pondering and calculating too much about something prevents it from actually coming to fruition. I know that each of you knows exactly what I'm talking about. We all have things that we fantasize would happen, thinking "I wish" and "if only"... But when you think too much about something, you begin to hyperanalyze and then think up a thousand reasons "why it won't work". And once that happens, forget it, its not going to.
By nature I'm impulsive and impatient. This sometimes gets me into trouble, yes, and I have friends who like to remind me of this (just in case I might forget). Sure, not all my impulsive decisions were the greatest, BUT of the impulsive decisions I've made that I look back on were some of my best. And each one came from a place of what-the-hell-do-I-have-to-lose. This has applied to things small - ignoring the fact that I'm shopping for something else entirely but buy the shoes anyway - and large - such as pursuing a dance career in my late twenties.
So, I probably wouldn't make a very good life coach. Clients would expect there to be some profound, intricate secret to making their dreams come to life that will require months of searching to discover. But then I would have to burst their expectation bubbles with those three little words, and I really hate disappointing people. I would be fired and they would angrily demand refunds.
I'm sorry, but that's all there is to it. Thank you, have a nice day.
Monday, July 7, 2008
There is no such thing as half-empty in my world
You know, even though I'm at a slight disadvantage for starting ballet so late in life, I'm glad that I wasn't a bunhead at an early age. Really. I never had to add pressures to perform or maintain a certain physique to the already awkward preteen and teenage years. I may not have the best turnout, my feet might not point into a perfect little half-moon, nor am I the best pirouetter in the world, but I really, truly enjoy ballet.
I'm not implying that all dancers who started dancing at a young age dislike or hate ballet. But in the short time that I've been in ballet training I've occassionally come across angry, resentful ballerinas who are bitter towards ballet. Take my good friend, for instance. Recently she commented that taking class is pointless for her at this point, because she won't be doing anything with it. "What's the point?" she posed (um, maybe for the joy it brings? how dancing makes you feel empowered, happy, strong...?). She also told me she's disappointed in my choice to study dance, as there's no money it it. Um, thank you, I'm aware of that, and most dancers who are pursuing dance as a career are aware, too. I think it's pretty safe to say that I'm not in this for the money.
That conversation makes me sad for her and anyone else who thinks similarly. Yes, there's a damn good guarantee that I will live paycheck-to-paycheck and that I will most likely have to work extra jobs to make ends meet, but that's how I've lived over the past 10 years and I know how to make it work. I'm not too worried about it. The conversation also makes me incredibly grateful that I didn't join the ballet world until I was 28 years old in that I'm able to be impervious to bitterness and other negative emotions that I don't want corrupting my sunshiney outlook.
This is why being 29 is a blessing in disguise. Some may consider my "advanced age" (I'm speaking in dance years, remember) a handicap as far as my future success in the dance world may go, but I think of it as being a li'l golden nugget my 18-, 19-, and 20-year-old peers aren't yet blessed with. I know what makes my heart and soul tick and this knowledge is what will bring me success because it gives me drive. I believe this is the "moxy" someone once told me I possess.
Glass-is-half-full, baby.
I'm not implying that all dancers who started dancing at a young age dislike or hate ballet. But in the short time that I've been in ballet training I've occassionally come across angry, resentful ballerinas who are bitter towards ballet. Take my good friend, for instance. Recently she commented that taking class is pointless for her at this point, because she won't be doing anything with it. "What's the point?" she posed (um, maybe for the joy it brings? how dancing makes you feel empowered, happy, strong...?). She also told me she's disappointed in my choice to study dance, as there's no money it it. Um, thank you, I'm aware of that, and most dancers who are pursuing dance as a career are aware, too. I think it's pretty safe to say that I'm not in this for the money.
That conversation makes me sad for her and anyone else who thinks similarly. Yes, there's a damn good guarantee that I will live paycheck-to-paycheck and that I will most likely have to work extra jobs to make ends meet, but that's how I've lived over the past 10 years and I know how to make it work. I'm not too worried about it. The conversation also makes me incredibly grateful that I didn't join the ballet world until I was 28 years old in that I'm able to be impervious to bitterness and other negative emotions that I don't want corrupting my sunshiney outlook.
This is why being 29 is a blessing in disguise. Some may consider my "advanced age" (I'm speaking in dance years, remember) a handicap as far as my future success in the dance world may go, but I think of it as being a li'l golden nugget my 18-, 19-, and 20-year-old peers aren't yet blessed with. I know what makes my heart and soul tick and this knowledge is what will bring me success because it gives me drive. I believe this is the "moxy" someone once told me I possess.
Glass-is-half-full, baby.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
A little reality check never hurts
Class last night was great... it felt so good to be back. I'm definitely sore today, no surprise there, and I'm sure it will continue to get worse as the day goes on thanks to a little thing called "delayed onset muscle soreness" (or DOMS, for the fitness gurus out there). Class was definitely a little reality check as far as the importance of regular training... I've definitely lost some strength, flexibility and balance over the last six weeks. Again, no surprise, but physically being in class hit it home for me. I'm very glad I'm able to take class these three weeks... going back in the fall without any training would be bad.
Being back in class and starting a home conditioning program will help me get back in dance shape. Oh, and no more ice cream, except for special occasions... Ben & Jerry's has become more habit than a special treat lately, and that's gotta change. Rolls in the leotard are not okay.
Being back in class and starting a home conditioning program will help me get back in dance shape. Oh, and no more ice cream, except for special occasions... Ben & Jerry's has become more habit than a special treat lately, and that's gotta change. Rolls in the leotard are not okay.
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