Trustees

I went before the Trustees yesterday with a proposal about repainting the downstairs. Not only did they accept my idea, but they also granted me the money to make it happen! Sweet! I feel like a big girl today. I know that Mark went in before hand and made it happen that way, but I'm still okay with that.

Welcome to the Underground Church!

Yay

It's Friday!

So unbelievably excited!

And ready to release my Diva!

Thursday

I love Thursday nights. They are so much fun. It is the most fun I have dancing all week. Tim is always in rare form and it is the perfect end to a long work week. We will start working on my showcase routine soon. I can hardly wait!

Haiku

Cory and I were just talking about ways to fill up my day.

He suggested writing a Haiku. I have not yet done that. I will save that for after my meeting. But here is one Cory wrote for me.

Kimberly Driver
coolest church lady i know
love wise, hott dancer

Shoes

My ghetto-ified shoes got me through a practice session with Chris last night without too many slip-ups and they are still in decent shape for Thursday. But today, I got my new shoes in the mail. Yes, I have several pairs of dance shoes, but all are for showcases and comps. The regular practice shoes were completely worn out and I badly needed a new pair, I have waited for a month to order them when I had a little more room in my paycheck. They are here at last. And I get to break them in tonight. Now, I can wear my ghetto-ified old pair to highland and not kill my new shoes as quickly. Sweet!

Thursday

Thursday night was amazing!

First Dance Stop: Highland

Tim teaches at the Lincoln Center in Highland. He usually teaches really intricate stuff that you can't learn anywhere else, but it is filled with lots of interesting characters.


The Men

Joe: Consistently smells like he has not only showered in a week, but also as though he has recently soiled himself. His fingernails are thick and perpetually filled with all sorts of disgusting. Makes weird sexual innuendos to all women regardless of age and tells lame jokes. Also believes he is the best dancer ever and doesn't need to listen to what some teacher half his age is telling him.

Rich: Hasn't been around lately, but definitely worth the explanation. He is probably about 5'3''. And my best guess is that he is a stroke victim. His right side does not work as well as his left. He limps and cannot raise his arm above his shoulder. Also believes he is a fantastic dancer, but does listen to Tim. However, when there is a problem. He automatically blames his partner and begins counting (wrong) for his partners benefit.

Charlie: The seventies throw-back. I'm pretty sure he has not purchased an article of clothing since 1975. He probably weighs about 100 lbs and is about 5'3'' but 5'5'' with his platform dance shoes. He wears glasses with huge lenses. He IS a fantastic dancer and adores Tim almost as much as I do. He makes me laugh and likes to pick on me. He is the only other person aside from Tim that I don't mind dancing with.

Doc (Joe): I'm not really sure of this guy. Another shorty. 5'2''ish. He adores the ground Tim walks on, but also mine. He makes comments about how graceful I am and what a great dancer. Fine, no big deal. But then he says stuff like, I'm never gonna let you go, or I'll pay you to dance with me, or you are so beautiful, or no, I don't want to dance with my wife, I'll keep you. Last night, "Oh, you're not married huh?" Followed by, "you know that couple would get much better if they traded partners, but there in love, not like me and my wife." He literally holds on to my hand as I am trading partners every time, until I have to yank my hand away.

There are other males: The uncoordinated giant (Mike) and The wedding crasher, but they are less interesting.

The Women:

There are significantly less strange women characters, or maybe I just don't know them as well because I don't dance with them.

Beth: Always wears some sort of dress jacket. Seriously, every time. She also wears pointy toe shoes with extremely high heels. She is perpetually back-weighted, which means she doesn't move very smoothly. She flirts with all the guys, which is pretty slim picking. She is terrified of demonstrating with Tim. Avoids it at all costs. She loves me and is constantly in a state of adoration of my dancing ability, much to my chagrin. She is always telling Tim, that she'll just watch me to figure out her footwork. This of course is a blow to Tim's ego, which I usually pay for later. However, after finally telling her that I pay for her comments she is getting better at not making them.

Laura: Has that dumb person look on her face. The one that involves your mouth hanging wide open and a blank look in your eyes. She is a decent dancer. Has been doing it for a while, but she looks pretty much exactly like this guy. She wears a purple dress regularly because Tim wears a purple shirt regularly and he once commented about great minds thinking alike. She had never worn it before that day, but wears it frequently now.
Doc's Wife: She is a great dancer and always speaks kindly to me. However, she always hears what Doc says to me and then looks at me with this expression. Sad.

There are several other females none quite so interesting. Charlie has two different mouse looking women who he brings occasionally, but never together.


The Couples:


The Angry Couple: Really tall, thin, and severe looking woman and her short husband. Husband, refuses to learn any technique which would help him to do the moves easier. Wife, refuses to take any responsibility for any problems they have dancing as a couple. They get angry and walk away from each other. Leaving weird, awkward pauses in the middle of class. They argue loudly, which interrupts the class. Tim tends to change the class based on when they show up to make sure he teaches easy stuff so they won't fight. When they are there, I call him "Dr. Tim" the marriage counselor.


Doc & His Wife: Really nice to me, no real connection to each other. Doc is overly involved in my business. His wife is really kind to me and complements me regularly.


On to what happened this Thursday:


Charlie had come to the party at the studio last Friday and wanted to do the Cowboy Cha cha so his partner could learn it. Apparently, he asked Tim to teach it this Thursday.

So we are learning this dance, Joe, smelling like feces as always is making up his own stuff, as usual. The women, mouse #1 and Beth are really struggling because Joe keeps throwing them off, and Charlie is struggling to lead them. Tim and I are cracking up watching the characters work together. Then Tim starts playing around with the dance changing the tempo and feel of the dance. I match him perfectly and he starts laughing and thanks me for helping keep him entertained... Then he turns around and notices that the people behind us are trying, unsuccessfully, to match what we were doing. He then starts laughing again and we switch back the way it is supposed to be done.


What are the odds that a such an odd combination of people could all meet up in the same 100 sq ft every week. It's like all of the strangest people from all of the surrounding times flock to the Lincoln Center each week. Silly.


Second Dance Stop: Premiere in Schererville


Ray's lesson went really well both nights. It's a big ego boost. I was the only one besides Eliza (the one demo-ed with) who remembered the cha cha exercise from last month. It was amazing. Ray watches me a lot more than he used to. I used to be sort of invisible, but now I am attracting some of his attention. I hope that it is due to skill and not lack of it. Oh well. Either way, I'll learn more that way.


Time to clean and do some laundry.

Back

Well, between the stress of the last month, being in a dunk tank on Sunday, and dancing, I have hurt my back. I know, I know, old news right? Nope, it hasn't hurt like this since high school. I took some heavy medication last night to get to sleep and try to relax the pain. It quit working by 3 AM. I was up the rest of the night.

This morning, my concerned mother, who was disgusted at the amount and type of medication I took last night, asked me if I wanted to make an appointment with my doctor today. My totally irrational dancer brain answered, "no way, Ray is in town tonight and tomorrow and I don't want him to tell me I can't go."

So what am I doing to ensure that I can go tonight? I packed my heating pad to take to work. I am leaning on it as I type. I will not move much today or spend any time off of it, other than my education commission meeting. As soon as I am done here. I am going to go rest horizontally at home, until the time comes to go to dance where I can damage myself further and repeat the whole process tomorrow.

Totally irrational, but totally worth it.