Me, myself & I

To Salsa or Not to Salsa?

It has been eons, really eons since I last tried salsa. About 2 years ago, a few friends and I enthusiastically signed up for salsa lessons at Attitude Dance Studio and I even took lessons up till Intermediate 1 - which meant that I went through Basic I & Basic II first. (Apparently, different schools have different structures)

After a short while, I stopped my salsa lessons - it was just too hard for me (and I have a natural INEPTITUDE for salsa or any form of dance - it didn't help that my feet kept slipping inside my shoes or that I have an innate fear of twisting any part of my body, especially my ankles. Also, my salsa friends tended to hang out at XenBar, located in Chinatown and I didn't care much for the crowd there.

Well, firstly, that place is super ulu and no one stayed in my area - hence, couldn't share cab back. Secondly, my friends tended to start appearing there after 11 pm!! Goodness and I have work the next day! But most important of all was the pple there; somehow, I just didn't care for it - the place has a really limited dance floor and it meant that those who were REALLY good (as in competition standards) were always dancing, and I felt that my skills were just so bad that I didnt even wanna share the same dance floor with them - really, you'd just feel super embarrassed at the lack of aptitude. Eventually, I stopped going and resisted most efforts by my friends to revisit salsa again.

Until tonight, 2 of my JC classmates (one who has taken up salsa after I stopped actually, and another one who is in the middle of his beginner 1 lessons) went to Union Square and asked me along. I like that place - it is big enough and there are small dark corners where those beginners can practice their steps first and build up their confidence before they venture out into the open dance floor. Granted, there are many pple there and of really high standards, but at least there is one tiny spot for me to try and practice.

I realised how bad I am at salsa - not practising it for almost 2 years didn't help - this is one dance that one has to work hard at practising to be adequately good at it. And it didn't help that the only guy I know there is halfway through his beginner's lesson. I have simply forgotten EVERYTHING, even the MOST BASIC moves and steps - goodness, I even got the basic step wrong. But when a fren got another male fren to dance with me (he was good at leading), it suddenly became really fun; especially when somewhere back in my mind, I know that I have learnt that particular step before.

However, I am just worried that it's just another phase for me - I have gone through quite a lot of phases - and pretty expensive ones as well - rollerblading, golf, salsa and I didn't even stick through any of them. Sigh, I really don't know. All I know is that if I wanna try to enjoy salsa again, I have to take lessons again, and start at Basic 2 again. What about the time, and travel distance? Oh well, let me finish my assignments and exams first before I think about it again. Meanwhile, I'll just let it hang ard the back of my mind first.

posted by moi @ 2:35 AM

Senseless Complaints

It's been more than a whole month since I have blogged here; or at least that is what I gather from the last entry in this blog space. Been really swamped with work and deadlines - I shall not even attempt to complain about my life - or more appropriately - the non-existent one I've been leading.

I used to need a lot of sleep - well, not a lot, but unlike a savings account - I cannot store sleep and take it out for use as and when I like. Thus, it means that I gotta have at least 6-8 hrs of sleep per day to function normally - that is, don't walk into walls, fall into drains, that kinda stupid stuff.

Unfortunately, that is not a luxury I can afford to have now - for days, weeks even, I have been sleeping at abt 2-3 am and waking up at 7-8, which makes it 5 hours a day on average. You should see the size of my eye bags and dark eye circles - they are probably larger than my eyes now. And the worst thing is - no amount of concealer can even begin to hide that.

Weekends are a thing of the past - well, they are still here, but they are more of a time for me to TRY and tidy up my room - it's so freaking messy and packed that my books and notes are either resting on my bed or on my table & laptop at ANY ONE TIME! Yes, which means that they've gotta migrate an average of 2-3 times a day -depending on what I needed to do - WORK and SLEEP - which happens every single day. I so miss the days when weekends were relatively stress-free. Unfortunately, that seems to be so far back that its just a distant memory.

The only remotely 'good' thing is that I have finally gained the ability to nap!! I think it's probably due to the fact that I don't have enough sleep at all. So usually I'll conk out from 7.30 - 9 pm, if not, I won't be able to work at all. Argkk, running late again - and I haven't done any work at all! This is horrible!! Life is one big mad rush - for what? I seriously have NO idea...

posted by moi @ 2:33 AM