Ballet, okay

After a little bit of encouragement from my dear friend Suzanne and a lot of delusion on my part, I decided to take an adult ballet class at the Pacific NW Ballet School. I even have special shoes and stockings. But no leotard. (I can't see that happening.)

Last night was my first class and, for the record, I have never taken ballet before. When I was a pre-teen, I took modern dance so I know the difference between a Plié & a Relevé and what the 5 positions are, but the nuance and familiarity with this art form stops there. Having turned to cheerleading as a high school sophomore, I effectively killed my dance aspirations, because we all know that cheerleaders are "dancers gone retarded." As a former professional dancer and now instructor of this class, Suzanne is amazing to watch. Grace, accuracy, strength and years of discipline plus a compassionate demeanor make her a perfect teacher. And that's really important--teaching an adult open class that anyone at any level can take. As for me, I felt 10-years-old again looking around the room and sizing myself up against the other dancers. Then we started and I realized how ridiculous it was to get competitive. Especially since I am out of shape and practice for something so physically precise & demanding, my flower-patterned yoga top did not aid in my mission of becoming invisible and blending into the wall either. Quite the opposite really.

My method of learning dance is by watching and mimicking, so I would stare at a dancer in-front of me or at one in a side mirror as we did quick pointing of toes in-out and leg lifts up-down. And because I was watching other people, I simply hoped my legs were doing the things I wanted them to do. Today, my legs are sore, but I like it. Feels like they did something significant even as "unnatural" as ballet...take fifth position for instance.

Funny thing about hitting the 30's I've noticed: muscles don't always respond like they used to. And catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror from time to time--AYE! Definitely not my "A" game. But I've got my dancing shoes and I intend to use them.

Ready? Set? Disaster!

Before Ken starts his new job, he is spending time getting to all those projects that we never seem to have enough time and focus for. One of these very important projects is assembling our winter storm of '06, the need for a kit is real. I got as far as clipping the article out of the paper but Ken is a man on a mission... Behold, the Moore-Sakai Disaster Supplies Kit:

It is supposed to sustain the two of us for 3-5 days with food, water, shelter, warmth, first aid and living comforts. Since we don't go camping, we are starting from scratch. We own none of the standard issue items that most Pacific North Westerners have for recreational use or, in our case, living off the grid among the elements in the backyard. But Ken has remedied this gross oversight and among other things, we now have sleeping bags, a tent, iodine pills and---laxative?

With Ken being in charge of buying all the items, I have no idea what's in the bins. It's like Christmas when I look through them.

But we are now thoroughly stocked. We are prepared! Especially with: Canned corned beef. (I don't even eat that when we're not having a disaster.) Steven Seagal in a ninja mask. And Lactaid, though I don't know how much dairy one consumes when a disaster strikes but still, it's very thoughtful of my dairy-intolerance. All kidding aside, it's very comforting to know that we have this. Next we'll be devising our Disaster Plan (bottom of THIS link), which is all about what actions to take when something happens. Do you have a disaster kit & plan?

Pan's Labyrinth: Public Service Announcement

A few weekends ago, Ken and I went to see Pan's Labyrinth. It's only now that I can find the nerve to talk about it...

After doing a scan of "Pan's Labyrinth, review" Google results, I saw a great majority of the reviews are absolutely glowing. [Keep in mind that Pan's was advertised as a fantasy movie.] All the trailers for Pan's are dominated by shots of the little girl, the awe-inspiring magic goat man and the dude with eyes in his hands. Now, I like a good fantasy movie or superhero movie for that matter. Lord of the Rings is an all-time favorite and like Amy says about my taste in movies, "if I didn't know you, I would have thought you were a 12-year-old boy."

But this representation of the movie was completely misleading. Over half of it isn't fantasy at all, but the harsh realities of the Spanish Civil War Guerrilla Conflict. This movie contains intense GRAPHIC violent images. I don't even want to list them, I was so shocked by it. Now I understand sometimes that you need violence to make a point. But the camera hangs 3 seconds too long on every violent scene so you actually see what Independent films cut-away from and what Hollywood movies only allude to.

I enjoy foreign films for their bold storytelling but I don't like being misled and I certainly don't like feeling 'assaulted' by graphic violence that I'm not prepared for. Now, "Kill Bill 1 & 2"?--I knew what I was getting into. Tarantino's samurai epic blood bath and the Crazy 88's--but that's not what we're talking about here.

Pan's Labyrinth has been nominated for 6 Oscars, so it's worthy of seeing ...but you've been warned.

"End of the World"

This is one of my most favorite flash movies ever. Thanks to the Finns of Mr. Goodliving for introducing us to this little nugget of fun. Some swear words, so be careful playing it @ work.



HERE is were it came from.