Trying New Things

I went to my first dance workshop today with JS, MC, VH, PS, NF, and EP. It was taught by Gigi Torres a touring choreographer from LA, to "Untitled" by 112. Coming from just one year of ReFresH and no actual dance class experience, I was worried that I'd be getting in over my head, but even though the choreography was harder than anything I'd ever done before, everyone was friendly and supportive of each other, which inspired me to work hard and keep up. Seeing so many amazing dancers was also an amazing treat.

Gigi. And gasp! It's a video with me hiding in the back(wearing red)!

If someone were to ask me in high school to make a list of things I'd never do, joining a dance group and attending a dance workshop would be up near the top of the list next to things like "eat feces", "shoot small children", and "lose my virginity". But somehow, by virtue of living in the right place (Shepard) with the right people (MC next door yelling "come to practice!" every week), the impossible became unlikely and then reluctantly possible (in the case of dancing, not the other examples listed). *sappy* It's really amazing how much ReFresH changes some people -- we really do feed off each others' energy. In my case, trying something new not only opened the door to a whole new set of friendships, but improved my coordination and (most importantly) kept me from turning into a saggy lump of fails-at-life. You guys are awesome! */sappy*

How To Sing Lower

Get sick. Yesterday when I woke up my vocal range had shifted down a major third to a low B. Today, I woke up and stunned myself by hitting a low G. I amused myself for a few minutes by humming the bass portion of Chapter 6's rendition of "Your Smiling Face" (in which the bass hits a low G#), then realized that it doesn't bode well for drunken karaoke tonight. Plus, getting sick has all sorts of nasty side effects like congestion, headaches, spotty vision, missing midterms (I thought last quarter was the last one!), and being unable to sing. Yeah, that kinda negates the whole lowered vocal range.

In other news, dollar chicken noodle soup at Cozy Noodles for Saturday lunches is amazing. Makes me happy. Unfortunately, now I have to clean up my apartment for a ReFresH potluck tonight. And I'm the designated driver, too, since we live out in the middle of ghetto-land. Well, I can enjoy other people's drunken revelry (as long as they don't trash the place).

ReFresH Apartments

Late post-Celebrasia post:

Well, it looks like my housing issues are settling themselves. Turns out EL was considering living with another friend too, so I wouldn't be destroying her housing plans by living with ReFresH people. We got a group of eight people hopefully getting two 4-bedroom units at 2157 Ridge. The groupings appear to be MC, VH, NK, CL; me, JC, KQ, DW. This could be pretty fun.

Celebrasia went really well. People really liked our Kung Fu segment, although we weren't listed on the program. It amazed me how much attention Jeff's pink silk attracted -- Girls: "Oh my god, it's so cute!" Guys: "Are you for real?" Travis: "Show me your pink, Jeff!". I hope the Kung Fu performance isn't a one-time thing, and we start getting more people to perform. It's silly to have to bring in professionals or, worse yet, groups from other schools if you can do it with Northwestern students. ReFresH also went well. I think I was able to put more energy into my performance than before, and a few facial expressions too! Still have to keep working on it though... at least I'm not as stonefaced as Jeff :-)



Update 20080216:

My e-mail's been exploding recently. 30 facebook notifications the day after Celebrasia. 34 e-mails about housing. 31 e-mails about tonight's potluck. Makes me feel loved (ha!).