Just a quick one today: I did my first veil performance on Sunday and it went really well, so I thought I'd share the video.
It's from a show my teacher Zehara organised called 'Elementals'; all of the performances had to be inspired by one of the four elements, and mine was wind. Considering that I once managed to nearly garotte myself with a veil in the middle of King Street (really), I reckon I've made some good progress. Just for the record, it's an Australian band but Zehara picked the music for me, so the didj is not my fault. :) Also, look how long my hair's getting! I'm quite handy with the flat-iron these days.
While we're at it, here's another piece I did a few months back:
This one's a double-cane piece, which is... well, not many people do them. You have to be a bit ambidextrous, and apparently I am (?). It's a more traditional saidi (Egyptian folk dance with cane) piece, and I'm wearing the proper outfit, by which I mean I'm dressed as Elvis's cabana boy. I did it more recently in a more modern costume and wish I had a video of that show instead, because saidi dresses are not what you'd call flattering, but there you go.
XOXO
P.S. At 0:14 of the first video you get a quick shot of Colleen in the back row - she's all the way at the end, in the white hoodie. None of you will be in the least surprised.
14 March 2012
06 March 2012
Tartling Tatties
A couple of new things have come to my attention recently.
One is the awesome and reassuring word tartle. This comes to us from the ingenious Scots, and refers to that thing that happens when you're introducing someone - someone whose name you absolutely know and have no right to forget - and completely blank.
This happens to me all the time. No, I mean: All. The. Time. Like, to the point that I don't even try to introduce people in a group anymore, because if there's more than three names involved I am guaranteed to seize up and have to pause in an awkward and completely unmissable fashion.
As useful as it is to have a word to put to that phenomenon, I am more relieved to know that it happens often enough to enough people that it deserved a word of its own. I Am Not Alone, you guys.
The other thing is lavender-scented potatoes. This is, apparently, a side dish that happens; it was brought to my attention by my friend Alison ('The Chef'). Last week she took over as Chef de Cuisine at a local restaurant that's been around for many years and is in need of a shake-up. When we were out to dinner the other day she was filling me in on her first week, and suddenly she started raging - with a fury I have never, ever seen in her - about the lavender-scented potatoes that were being served as a bed for an innocent piece of fish that had done nothing to deserve such treatment.
Cut to a totally separate conversation I was having with Caitlin today, in which I mentioned Alison's new job. The following exchange ensued:
XOXO
P.S. A quick update I keep forgetting to give you: I mentioned a few months ago that I was going to be participating in the Climb for Air, a fundraiser in which I would walk up 789 steps - that's 41 stories - to raise money for the American Lung Association. Well, the Climb was almost a month ago now, but that doesn't mean I still don't feel a bit proud when I think about the fact that not only did I complete it, but I completed it in 11 minutes, 46 seconds - not bad for my first time, I reckon!
I will definitely be doing it again next year, when my goals will be to run at least part of it and to make it in under 10 minutes. It was incredible to do it, and even more incredible to get to the top and realise that I wasn't tired or even especially winded - the only physical side effect was that for the last 10 flights my legs had been a bit wobbly and I was really having to think about where to put my feet down; apparently your body gets a bit weirded out by doing something like climbing that many stairs in that short of a time and starts asking you if you're 100% sure this is the thing you mean to be doing. But other than that, it was actually fun to do, besides being incredibly exciting for me to know that I can do that stuff now. A win, definitely a win.
One is the awesome and reassuring word tartle. This comes to us from the ingenious Scots, and refers to that thing that happens when you're introducing someone - someone whose name you absolutely know and have no right to forget - and completely blank.
This happens to me all the time. No, I mean: All. The. Time. Like, to the point that I don't even try to introduce people in a group anymore, because if there's more than three names involved I am guaranteed to seize up and have to pause in an awkward and completely unmissable fashion.
As useful as it is to have a word to put to that phenomenon, I am more relieved to know that it happens often enough to enough people that it deserved a word of its own. I Am Not Alone, you guys.
The other thing is lavender-scented potatoes. This is, apparently, a side dish that happens; it was brought to my attention by my friend Alison ('The Chef'). Last week she took over as Chef de Cuisine at a local restaurant that's been around for many years and is in need of a shake-up. When we were out to dinner the other day she was filling me in on her first week, and suddenly she started raging - with a fury I have never, ever seen in her - about the lavender-scented potatoes that were being served as a bed for an innocent piece of fish that had done nothing to deserve such treatment.
Cut to a totally separate conversation I was having with Caitlin today, in which I mentioned Alison's new job. The following exchange ensued:
Caitlin: Someone needs to take a stand against the scourge of lavender-scented potatoes.So yes. Two new entries in the Yoshi Lexicon. I would encourage all of you start using them as well. After all, I now get to tease Colleen on a near-daily basis for using Australianisms she's picked up from me, and I still take credit for the introduction of the word 'hoodie' to Sydney (no really... I do), so we might as well keep it going.Me: Comin' over here, stealin' our jobs....Caitlin: Dude, if one more lavender-scented potato beats me out for a Middle East Program Associate job at a DC think tank, I swear...
Me: Actually, I think 'lavender-scented potato' would be a great term for someone who gets something undeservedly. Like, they seem fancy and decorated and whatnot (lavender-scent ed), but underneath are just plain and no better than anything else (potato).
Caitlin: I like it. Putting it that way, I think I really do get beaten out for jobs by lavender-scented potatoes.me: Oh, I'm sure you do. There's no other explanation for it.
XOXO
P.S. A quick update I keep forgetting to give you: I mentioned a few months ago that I was going to be participating in the Climb for Air, a fundraiser in which I would walk up 789 steps - that's 41 stories - to raise money for the American Lung Association. Well, the Climb was almost a month ago now, but that doesn't mean I still don't feel a bit proud when I think about the fact that not only did I complete it, but I completed it in 11 minutes, 46 seconds - not bad for my first time, I reckon!
I will definitely be doing it again next year, when my goals will be to run at least part of it and to make it in under 10 minutes. It was incredible to do it, and even more incredible to get to the top and realise that I wasn't tired or even especially winded - the only physical side effect was that for the last 10 flights my legs had been a bit wobbly and I was really having to think about where to put my feet down; apparently your body gets a bit weirded out by doing something like climbing that many stairs in that short of a time and starts asking you if you're 100% sure this is the thing you mean to be doing. But other than that, it was actually fun to do, besides being incredibly exciting for me to know that I can do that stuff now. A win, definitely a win.
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