Tag Archives: #adultballetblog

#NoBloPo It’s still November and I’m Still Writing!! #NoBloPo

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Whew!! I’m over a week behind!! Maybe I’ll finish out the week one-post-a-week basis? Well, I’ll give myself a break, if I may…I’ve been super busy with work and “stuff.” But I will have an extra post or two in the next couple of days because I have to tell you about my weekend in NY to see Sylvie Guillem’s retirement performance, hang out in one of my favorite American cities, and have an EPIC tweet up with a Twitter/Facebook/Instagram friend.

In the spirit of keeping November a writing month, here is my update to #NoBloPoMo writing.

Monday, November 9

What is the first thing you do every single day (I mean, after you hit the snooze button)? When did that step in your routine begin?

I am so so so spoiled (and yes, very blessed)… Carboy brings a mug of hot coffee right to my bedside table every morning and that is how I wake up – a cup of hot coffee and a warm, soft cat on my lap. I’m a happy girl.

Tuesday, November 10

What is the hardest part of a big project: getting the energy to begin, finding the time to work on it, or feeling down that it’s over?

Again, I think I’m super fortunate in this respect… I like work, I like hard work. So when I have a big project looming I’m excited, the energy builds and I’m ready to go.   I’m always overworked so there are always issues with finding more time but I also don’t do things like watch TV or go to the movies or spend hours playing online games so I actually have quite a bit of time available to me. The hardest part for me is when something is over because it’s hard for me to let go of something that I’m invested in – which is every project that I work on. I always go through a bit of a grieving process. It was super hard to finish my doctorate. I still miss it even though it’s been a couple of years now. I miss the intensity of the whole thing.

Wednesday, November 11

What was the last thing you fixed or built?

hmmmmm… does curriculum count?  Usually when something needs to be fixed I hand it over to Carboy and say “Here, make this work!” and he does, like toothpaste that doesn’t want to come out of the tube or when a milkshake at In-n-Out is too thick to be sucked out of the straw and he takes care of it for me 🙂  It’s a good system.

Thursday, November 12

If you had a personal assistant who would do your most dreaded tasks, which items from your to-do list would you assign out?

HOUSE CLEANING!!!!

Friday, November 13

Describe your ideal day off. What would you do with your time?

Oh, you know ballet would be involved… taking a class, watching a rehearsal, going to a performance, ballet shopping. Also coffee would be involved. And chocolate. And probably pasta and or bread. A bookstore. A beach. A long walk. Art. Music. A park bench. Just listening to the everything and nothing. And then closing my eyes and knowing that my small bit of world is still okay because the people (and that includes my dog and cat) know that I love them and always will.

#NoBloPoMo November 5 & 6: Lessons & Fear

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Thursday, November 5

What is the most important lesson you learned as a child, and who taught it to you?

Friday, November 6

What was your biggest fear as a child? Do you still have it today? If it went away, when did your feelings changes?

“You’re the smart one.”

I heard that a lot when I was a kid. It gave me confidence in my brain but not much else. I learned from a very young age that being smart was important and that being smart was only part of intelligence. Diligence, persistence, and hard work were also necessary to be truly intelligent. The unfortunate side effect of this statement was that I pretty much felt deficient in all the other aspects of life. If I was the “smart one” then I wasn’t the funny one or the pretty one or the athletic one or the talented one… just the smart one. No one really likes the smart one, not really. It’s okay to think that the smart one is the nerd and is annoying and strange.

Being the smart one also meant being afraid of making mistakes, being called out, fearing failure most of all. Spiders were scary, heights were scary, coyotes were scary but not nearly as scary as failure.

Sometimes I still feel like the “smart one” in ballet class. Not the popular one, not the one that looks good in ballet clothes, not the talented and athletic one, just the smart one.  When the smart one makes mistakes, it’s far worse than when the popular one makes a mistake, she can laugh at it and everyone still thinks she’s cool. The pretty one makes it look cute. The talented one added flair and the athletic one muscled through. But the smart one just makes a mistake. Is this the truth? Probably not. But sometimes that’s still how I feel. And sometimes when I’m feeling like the 7-year-old smart one, I wonder if being called the pretty one comes with a similar set of paranoid feeling.