I know this should be in the Digg.com RSS feed over on the sidebar, but I thought I’d mention it anyway. For those of us using WordPress, you might want to check out this:
WordPress Widgets by Aut0mattic
Might come in handy for tweaking your sidebars. I know I finally just got mine the way I like it, but if you’re playing around with your layout or sidebar features anytime soon, check it out.
I almost forgot. Yesterday I installed Gallery and got it working (with Chips help). You can check it out here:
You can also get to it via the “projects” page (link at the top) and soon I’ll be adding it as a link under my “blogroll” for easier access.
Enjoy.
I just checked out a few tracks from the new Less Than Jake album. Sad. So so sad. You can check out the few preview tracks here. I wonder if Jason knows about this. God it sounds bad. What the hell? LTJ was the last hold outs in the endless parade of pop-rock crap. I could hear at least 3 of those tracks being whored on radio.
Fuck that, I’m going to go put on a Real Mckenzies album.
I appologize for not having seperate entries, but given the fact that at the end of day two I went home and passed out, at 3am no less, it wasn’t really in the realm of possibilities to stay up and post in such a delerious state.
It was fucking bad ass.
Day 2 started out with a Shim Sham lesson from the master, Frankie Manning. The Shim Sham is what would be the equivelant of a “line dance” in other dances. It’s a performance piece that entire groups can do. It’s really quite fun. After that we went to the “musicality” class with another legend, Dawn Hampton. She was the most wonderfully inspirations speaker. I learned more about what dancing is all about from a half hour of her speaking than I have in all the years I’ve been dancing. After that it was “Smooth Lindy” which was all about some flashy swivels and slides to make a persons style a little more, well, stylish.
After that we took a break and headed home for a shower and some food before heading back to the all night dance party. We were determined to dance till the wee hours this time (we had left a little early the night before). I think 3am satisfied that need.
Sunday was the 3rd and final day. We started by getting our asses kicked in a “spins, turns and balance” class. It was basically a mix of ballet, lindy and aerobics. It took the fucking wind out of me. Then it was on to “Jazz Movement”. I’m fairly certain that modern usage of the word “jazz” doesn’t involve black spiritual formation church style dancing, but I really didn’t care. It was fun. Complicated but fun. The best part had to be the entire class shouting “praise Jesus” about a dozen times IN the Jewish Community Center gym, while all the nice Jewish folks watched. It gave me a laugh. After that it was two “instructors choice” classes. Mainly just some new turns and moves to add to our own repitua. Quite fun.
We decided not to go to the last dance, we were pretty tired at that point. We had danced for three days strait, until quite early in the morning. It was time for a little rest. Not to mention the fact that I could move my legs any more. I think we were asleep by about 9, that’s how tired we were.
So, I’m still alive, still kicking, still got that swing feelin’ in my head. It’s a great thing to have again. I’m just loving life at the moment.
Oh, and I did manage to take a few photos this weekend as well as some video. The video is far more interesting. I didn’t have a tripod of flash equipment, so the photos are mainly quick little snap shots. I’ll post them some time this week, as soon as I can find a decent host for videos (and not YouTube).
Matt out.
I doubt I’ve properly described the amount of dancing Lauren and I have been doing since the new year. We love it. We’re as addicted to it as we were back in college. All my college buds know full well the frequency with which we danced back then. This rivals that. Which is good. Honestly, I could use the exercise. The people are nice, the instruction is great, and we have a great time.
So, since we are having so much fun, we decided to sign up for LindyFest, the Houston Swing Dance Societies big annual festival/workshop. Thousands of people from all over the county (and internationally) come to this. Its Thursday through Sunday.
There’s lessons, workshops, presentations, dances, parties, all sorts of great stuff.
Today, at 10am, we started with Intermediate Lindy Hop. Then it was on to general all level Lindy Hop with Frankie Manning (google him for the moment, I link that to something good later). After that it was Lindy Hop Fundamentals and a Lindy Hop history lesson. We’re taking a break for dinner, but then we’ll be at the dance party tonight until 12:30, follows by the after hours party that goes until 6am.
Tomorrow we get more intermediate stuff and more “technique” and Sunday is the more advanced stuff.
I’m having a friggin blast. This is the best thing we’ve done in a long time.
Matt out.
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