The Story of Some Talents

I once knew a pair of twin sisters who loved to dance. These sisters, Amy and Emily, had gotten into clogging while they were still pretty young and by high school they were on teams that toured around and they had not only become very good at dancing, but they grew more and more in love with dancing. I met these two in our freshman year at college and they were on some dance team, practicing often and having awesome performances. I was friends with not only Amy and Emily, but also their four other roommates, a handful of some of the funnest people I've ever met. I would often spend my days hanging out at their apartment, doing homework, talking nonsense, doing dishes... you know it's only been four years since then, but I have a hard time remembering just what it was I was doing there. I remember it was relaxing to be at their apartment, I felt at home.

Something I will probably always remember though, was once sitting idly in their kitchen while Emily was cooking some food. As she stood at the stove stirring her noodles (or whatever it was she was cooking) she was softly bouncing as her toes and heels tapped out rhythms from their dance routine. For me it was a small indication of just how much these girls LOVED to dance, more than anything else, and how it permeated their entire lives. I went to a large dance show that winter 'Christmas Around the World' and as I watched them dance I couldn't imagine them being any happier. Their smiles were just so huge and full of joy.

Yesterday I went to the dance devotional and saw them again dancing some amazing pieces, again with engaging and full smiles permanent on their faces. It really made me enjoy the performance that much more because I felt like I really knew how much they were enjoying the performance, and also how much work, effort, and practice they had put into it. I began to reflect on other people I know that shine while performing and I could recall various others who when dancing, singing, acting, or even cooking, would grown between their ears the largest and fullest smile possible. Such a smile is contagious I think, and blesses those who see it.

I think there is a lesson to be learned here about sharing talents. If there's something that you love that much, and you can do it at a performance level then it can truly become a great blessing to those you share it with. Perhaps hidden away in us all is the happiness of doing what we love and it is my prayer today that we can discover it, do it, and use it to bless others.

p.s. in the first picture Amy is the first full face you can see on from the left, and in the second she's up and to the right of the guy right in the middle. I guess she's more photogenic, I couldn't find any pictures of Emily, and actually another of their roommates, April, is also in the ensemble now.

Day 6

Saturday: Movie Making
This actually only took about 2 hours to film all we needed and a couple hours on Sunday to clip it all together. ENJOY (click here to go to the YouTube file of this video)

Other than that I went shopping on Saturday, got some new white shirts for work, a black belt, and a new wallet. This time I didn't get a big thick, fill with junk wallet, but a small, simple, hold-your-ID-and-some-cash wallet. I'm really excited to start using it, it's just so nice and small and makes me happy ^_^

.. don't wake me I plan on sleeping in....

It is currently 12:30 am. I am sitting in bed with my laptop, eating ice cream and not caring one lick that it's ridiculously late and I have classes tomorrow. I'm not even going to set an alarm for tomorrow, ha! how exciting.

This evening I went on a whim to watch a video production of the french musical, Le Roi de Soleil. It was an amazing production, despite me only understanding 10% of what was said. The costumes and sets were phenomenal, and the music and dancing was beautiful and intriguing. Despite being about 15th century france, it had a very modern feel that made all the boringness of a history story melt away and the excitement that it must have had (back when it actually happened) came through quite strongly. Something I would recommend, although having english subtitles may have proved useful.

Today I lined up an interview for the best job ever!! -oh hush, hush, I'm afraid we don't want anybody else taking the idea, so I can't talk about it.... it's a very top secret, very original theme... I mean job. Anyhow, I'm really excited, and I pray that this will go better than the other ten on-campus jobs I've applied too.

I've been in a bit of a spot as of late over my hair. I'm not usually one to obsess over how I look, but now and again my hair will throw me for a good one.. Today I had to comb it nice and I even put a little hairspray in to keep it there for my choir performance. After the performance though I noticed it in some side glances of semi-silvered windows about campus, and it was not looking good. It was neat, yes, but so plastered and lacking style or attitude. As the progressed some wind knocked it here and there, but really it stayed pretty much the same. Before my evening class I ran my fingers around it trying to bring back a more natural feel, but it just kept looking my mom had combed my hair that morning :-( (not that that's always a bad thing, but...) Anyhow, that is me today.

I think I have the most biased dance teacher ever.  If I didn't love dancing so much I would totally drop that, I'm nigh unto offended by her ignorance.  She always gives reasons for what you should and shouldn't do while dancing, which is good, but I'm under the impression that she's going about it all wrong.  I would guess that an appropriate reason would sound something like, "This is the technique that has been developed etc, etc." or "keeping you hands like this helps your posture stay raised and it is the proper way to dance."  In fact I think the reason that "it's the proper way to dance" is reason enough, it's like english grammar, you just do it right!  My teacher however has decided to give us better reasons for certain dance moves.  Some of which include, "because, well.. that would just look dumb" and "... and guys don't do that because it looks really femmy, and you don't want to be femmy" or "... it would look like you were trying to eat your lady..."   ok, first of all, who even says that!?!  And what if I want to be femmy? okay, so I may not be of that crowd but there sure are guys who enjoy looking feminine, what about them?  can they dance like that?  And who made her the authority on 'coolness' and 'looking dumb'?  ......... sigh   I just don't like the way she words her excuses.  She's usually right about what should and shouldn't be done (although a lot of it is just pointing out the already obvious), but like I said, if I cared a little less about the class I might state a protest during class and demand some better excuses.