Dance like no one's watching

I’ve been quite obsessed with nailing the basic footwork for West Coast Swing. It’s not difficult per se – almost everyone I’ve seen has no problems doing it on the correct count. But doing it with the right style & groove is quite a different story. Having observed people on the dance floor, I’ve concluded that as long as you don’t perfect the basic step, no matter how well you lead/ follow, it still won’t look good.

I think I like WCS a lot more than salsa… at least I really enjoy watching the pros on youtube whereas I’ve never actually bothered to watch a salsa video at all.

While salsa is fun, I think I enjoyed the partner interaction more than the dance itself. WCS, on the other hand, has a very captivating dance form. I wished I could learn more and learn faster but classes are short (1h only) and it’s not always easy to get enough practice.

Anyway, there’s still 3 more months till Swingvitation 2013. Hope I improve drastically by then!

Started the new year by learning a new dance – West Coast Swing (WCS). It’s the official state dance of California and has its roots in Lindy Hop. Thank goodness it looks very different (i don’t like Lindy. Heh.) My interest in WCS was 1st piqued when i saw videos of my friend (and salsa instructor), Zee, dance it with his gf, Dalena. WCS can be danced to contemporary music – anything that has a 2-beat rhythm. Which appeals more to me than salsa cos while salsa music can be catchy, i can’t fully appreciate songs which i don’t understand the words of.

After checking out videos of Jessica Cox, Jordan Frisbee and Tatiana Mollman on youtube, i was hooked. What a great dance form! I love how musical interpretation is so tightly intertwined and accented in WCS. I’ve gone for 4 lessons and 2 social dances so far and i love it. Can’t wait to learn more steps! Hope i can fully internalise the basics soon so that i can move on to styling.

Custom made dance shoes for WCS today. Super looking forward to them!!

Was so busy throughout Nov and Dec that Christmas came and passed in a flash. For whatever reasons, i didn’t get to sing nor listen to many Christmas carols this year, which is quite a shame. Went to watch CZ12 on Christmas eve. Excellent movie. Classic Jacky Chan at his best! It was non-stop action and laughs. I enjoyed the show so much I wanna watch it again… But i think i’ll wait for the DVD or Blueray.

Just watched Jack Reacher… Not too bad, typical Hollywood action show which i think i’ll forget about in a few weeks’ time.

Came down with a cold on Christmas day. Such a bummer but i’m almost fully recovered.

Anyway, thank you Jesus for coming down on earth 2000 plus years ago. I know Christmas wasn’t the actual birth date of Christ but it’s symbolic for us to commemorate God with us, Emmanuel has come.

ANGELS FILL THE NIGHT WITH SINGING, GOD IS REACHING OUT TO MAN
BRINGING US A GIFT OF HOPE IN CHRIST OUR SAVIOUR
MORE THAN JUST A TIME OF GIVING, THIS IS GOD’S ETERNAL PLAN
AND CHRISTMAS IS THE REASON WE CAN SING AGAIN

Blessed Christmas!

After 8 long years, I’m taking salsa lessons again. It all started when I saw this notice for a performance course and decided on a last min whim to go for the audition for the course. Thankfully, I cleared it and so I joined the 8-week class.

Two Weds ago, I also saw a new 4-week advance class opening and so I signed up for that too.

To date, I think the performance course is really interesting. I’m only able to satisfactorily do 80-90% of the moves… Which I’m rather disappointed at myself but I console myself in that if I could do everything, then the course would be a waste of money.

The advance class, unfortunately, was below my expectations. I think the problem is that some guys who are obviously not ready for the class are taking it and being a “lead-follow” dance, I’m limited in what I can do cos of this. The good thing is that social night at the studio falls on the same day as the advance class so I get lots of good practice there.

I still need to drill the on-2 count into my system. I can handle on-2 for most songs but when it comes to very fast songs, I still have a tendency to revert to on-1. Hopefully, with more practice, I’ll slowly rid myself of this “bad habit”.

Anyway, it’s been a super tiring week but I’m looking forward to salsa tomorrow. Being able to just focus on getting the count and dancing is quite therapeutic. 🙂

If u’re interested in salsa too, check out www.mosaicdance.com.sg.

Cheers!

We were talking in office today about where to go for karaoke with a client next week when Mr Noseshit said, “It’s been so long since I’ve gone to a normal karaoke that I don’t know of any”. I was quite put off. While I don’t condemn guys who visit unsavoury establishments, I don’t endorse it either. I mean, what you do in your free time is none of my freaking business but spare me the details and cut the bragging tone. I don’t think it’s anything to be proud of.

Ever since I accidentally found out (he saved his employment contract in our network drive) my colleague’s pay (much higher than mine) and that he’s going to get a double promotion next year, I’ve been a disgruntled employee. It irks me cos this chap has a tendency to seek advice / solutions from me, and share it with the boss as though he thought the solution himself In fact, last Thurs, he even went as far as to say that he didn’t join our future boss for dinner with some underwriters cos he stayed back to help me resolve some problems. What a bloody liar. He didn’t go for the dinner cos he had a date! And I have evidence of it as he scanned and saved the receipt in our network drive, with the gal’s name appended to it. On top of that, he even claimed travel reimbursement for “OTing” that day.

On Mon, we had drinks with our clients and he had the cheek to say that he “contributed me”. Shit lah. I’m not some commodity that can be traded. Plus, I was the one who arranged the drinks session. More importantly, this joker doesn’t even drink. He alternates between orange juice and mocktails like Pussy Foot (such a sissy drink).

What added to my irritation was when we were leaving, he asked if I wanted to share cab. My reply was, “For what? There are so many empty cabs waiting for customers!”. His reply was, to help the company save money. Wah lau eh. What a hypocrite. If he wanted to help the company save money, then he should not be making false transport claims, including the “OT cab fare home” last Fri – it was a public holiday! This is the same dude that regularly lunches on company expense!

Such an annoying fellow. Argh!

Then I read Phil 2:14-15 a few days ago. The verse says to do everything without grumbling or arguing so that you may become blameless and pure. Gotta admit it’s a real struggle cos I have so many grievances against this colleague that I’ve been complaining about working with him. Sigh. Still trying to accept that he’s The way he is and it’s not my call to judge.

It’s always difficult to project your voice when singing in a key that hovers around the switch between one’s high and low voice. I’ve never requested for key changes and no one offered either but I thought it’s fine and I should try my best to make do.

During practice today, I was pleasantly surprised that all the songs were suited to my range. For once I’m not drowned out cos my voice is at risk of cracking. I was momentarily disappointed / taken aback when it was suggested that we can change key to accommodate someone else. I don’t want to speculate the reasons. Perhaps it was a passing suggestion. I paused, thought about it then decided to ignore it. Our service is for God only.

Why am I writing this down then? Because this is life on earth. We have to accept imperfection and remember not everything is equal. Most importantly, we must not forget the heart and intention with which we serve.

Saw the movie Taken 2 today. Not bad. But the bad guys guys had 2 family members left… So I guess we’re well set up for Taken 3 & 4. Haha.

I personally think that it’s not easy to do business development. You need to have an extroverted personality and a certain level of charisma. Being well groomed and having the ability to build rapport quickly with strangers are a must.

It thus surprises me that someone who’s a little queer, dresses untidily and has poor hygiene habits can be nominated to do biz development.

Anyway, the wheel has been set in motion and time will tell.

So while queuing at Golden Shoe to buy my ice blended kopi, there was this male customer in front of me who asked the old auntie at the stall, “What type of your coffee beans do you use?  Is it Arabica?”

The poor old lady looked totally stunned.  “Simi Arabica?”, she must be thinking.  Despite her lost look, the guy kept probing – what sort of beans is this?  Do you know if they’re Arabica?

Another lady at the back said they are not sure cos the coffee powder was purchased by their boss.  They only man the stall.  The guy then said (in a polite tone), “But you’re selling coffee.  How can you not know what beans you use?”

Now, at this point I was getting a bit pek cek.  I mean… this is GOLDEN SHOE for goodness’ sake.  As far as I’m concerned, as long as it tastes good, who cares what beans they use?  (Though a search online just told me that local kopi uses Robusta beans).

Anyway, the guy was really persistent.  He then went to ask where were the coffee beans from.  The auntie said they were from Indonesia and the guy asked which part of Indonesia?  “Sulawesi?  Java?  Sumatra?”.

Again, the auntie had no clue.  Then the guy nearly went into an exposition on how knowing where the beans came from can tell you what type of beans they are because there are two types of coffee beans blah blah blah”.

WLE.  I was really a bit du lan by now.  So I cut in the conversation & asked the auntie how much did MY kopi cost.  The guy then reluctantly gave up.

Really wonder what’s his problem.  Trying to show off his new found knowledge about coffee?  Cannot make it.  Want to show off go Starbucks & show off!  Don’t harass the aunties at Golden Shoe!