Tanja

As a dance lesson partner, this Tanja gal is really kinda difficult. She's not a horrible person, but she's quick to criticize and never bothers to soften the blow. She never provides any encouragement either. I wish I had a different kind of partner.

She's also a very prickly person with a harsh personality. I don't like her much.

Lind hop outside turn variations

I need to tabulate all of the outside turn variations that I've learned in the course of my lindy hop lessons. They are as follows:

- Basic outside turn
- Outside turn with a free spin
- Quick stop
- Outside turn with a press on the back
- Outside turn with a catch
- Outside turn with a behind-the-back pass

I'll also add some rollaway variations

- Basic rollaway
- Rollaway with the lead's spin

Andrew Koenig revisited

Revisiting my previous post...

Upon viewing this tearful video from Andrew Koenig's parents, one person said (and I paraphrase), "Oh, man. That was so hard to watch. I'm tearing up right now." This same person had jokingly wished that Kirk Cameron had been the one to die instead.

Isn't it interesting how we can express profound sorrow at the death of one person, and yet take pleasure at imagining the death of somebody else? That's just wrong.

Andrew Koenig is dead

In some heartbreaking news, Growing Pains actor Andrew Koenig has been found dead. Subsequent reports state that he committed suicide.

That's sad news. I'm disappointed at some of the reactions that I've seen on the 'net, though. Some people have been saying "Why Koenig? Why couldn't it have been Kirk Cameron instead?" Now that's just in poor taste. Some of these people have expressed great disdain for Cameron's religious views, so I can understand why they don't like the guy. To wish that Cameron had been the one who died, though... that's just distasteful.

When this was pointed out on one forum, one person said, "Most people can tell the difference between a message board and reality," as though this excused such behavior. It doesn't. Whether it's on a message board or not, one shouldn't wish that Cameron had been the one to die, regardless of what one's opinion of him might be. This is especially true in the wake of a tragedy like this.

That DVD was positively incoherent

I'm interested in quantum mechanics, so I borrowed a copy of "What the #$*! Do We Know!?" from NetFlix. That was a mistake. Talk about a huge waste of time and brain cells. The whole thing was an incoherent jumble of pseudoscience and bizarre babble. (This review expresses much the same sentiment, as do the reviews on the NetFlix site.)

I'd love to see a decent DVD on quantum mechanics or other fields of modern physics. This was not one of them. Yuck.

A lackluster interviewee

Yesterday, I interviewed an applicant for an IT position. He did not do very well at all. For example, I posed a problem to him that (to cut a long story short) led to him having to divide 1000 by 8. I'd expect any computer science graduate to be able to figure that out in his head, but he couldn't. Very disappointing.

He did poorly in many other ways as well. I don't think he has a chance of being hired.

Body fat

I want to lose another 2% of body fat. It's getting hard, though. I keep working out and working out, and I've been watching my dietary intake, but it's getting to be quite difficult -- especially when one considers the amount of time it takes to plan ones meals and to exercise hard. I also have plenty of work to do, and my household chores are piling up.

Free will

I was reading a message board debate -- the kind wherein some people argue intelligently, and some argue as though they were philosophical dilletantes. In this discussion, somebody brought up the concept of free will. His opponent retorted, "You're only allowed to cite free will if you can resolve all the problems with it" and proceeded to cite some alleged problems.

First of all, I don't think that the problems he raised are truly problems at all. For example, he claimed that it's poorly defined; after all, what are we free of? I think that's a childish objection. We intuitively know what free will is -- it is the ability to make our own moral decisions. One might quibble about certain philosophical fine points, but ultimately, it means that we are not simply slaves to the universe and that our every action is not predetermined by the laws of physics.

Moreover, even if the issues he raised were truly problematic, what of it? Are we truly not allowed to mention free will in a debate unless we can resolve all of its philosophical problems? That would be like saying that a scientist can only cite quantum mechanics if he can resolve all of the problems with its implications. It's a foolish line of reasoning. One need not resolve every single problem with a premise or line of thought before it can be used.

Moreover, denying the existence of free will creates its own host of problems. Consider this: if there is no free will, then whatever "reasons" you have for rejecting it are ultimately not reasons of your own choosing. You may be right in rejecting it, but only as a matter of dumb luck, the same way that a stopped clock is right twice in one day. It also makes it nonsensical for someone to criticize a person who believes in free will, as that person ultimately has no choice but to believe it. If you insist in only using premises that are problem-free, then you can neither presume free will nor adopt a position of non-belief. It's a daft and self-defeating line of reasoning.

Diogenes

I've been reading the rantings of some fella named Diogenes. Boy, what a loon this fella is. He's the kind of guy who extols his own intelligence and yet routinely puts his foot in his own mouth.

Speaking of cortisone and anabolic steroids...

Revisiting an earlier topic...

I am baffled by the number of people who argue thusly: "Substance A and Substance B are both dangerous. Yet Substance A is allowed and Substance B is prohibited. They should be treated equally!"

That's like saying that gasoline and plastic explosives are both dangerous; ergo, if private citizens are allowed to keep gasoline at home, then they should also be allowed to have plastic explosives. That's a ridiculous line of thought.

Dance song recommendations

Here are some lists of song recommendations for particular dance styles. I got these from an instructional DVD.

WALTZ:

Moon River by Henry Mancini
Come Away With ME... by Norah Jones
Natural Woman by Carole King
Love Dance by George Benson
(I'd like to add "Annie's Song" by John Denver)


RUMBA

Here we are by Gloria Estefan
Te Extrano by Luis Miguel
Beautiful by Christina Aguilera
Emotion by Destiny's Child

CHA CHA CHA

Oye Como Va by Santana
Let's Get Loud by Jennifer Lopez
Crazy in Love by Beyonce
September by Earth, Wind, and Fire


QUICKSTEP

Mack the Knife by Frank Sinatra
Nit The Road Jack by Ray Charles
Black Magic by Sammy Davis Jr
String of Pearls by Glen Miller Orchestra

Cortisone usage does not justify performance-enhancing drugs

I was having a conversation with some guy who was foolishly arguing for the use of performance-enhancing drugs in competitive sports. He was saying that they should be allowed, as long as the athlete uses them willingly. He also seemed to be arguing for the creation of specialized leagues in which athletes can use performance-enhancing medications freely without competing with the unsullied athletes.

Personally, I'm against the use of such drugs or the creation of these leagues, but that's a subject for another day. Instead, today I'd like to focus on the foolishness of his one particular argument. He says that cortisone is a performance-enhancing medication, since athletes can use it to keep injury pains under control. He also says that they entail a certain risk, just as anabolic steroids do. So if cortisone usage is legal, he argues, then anabolic steroids should be freely allowed as well.

That's a mind-bogglingly foolish argument. Here's why. Cortisone has legitimate medical applications for the treatment of injuries. Does this make it a "performance-enhancing drug"? In a manner of speaking, but only in the sense that it allows someone to recover from an injury more quickly. Obviously, that not at all the same as ingesting anabolic steroids, in which the objective is to gain strength more quickly and using less effort.

If someone wants to argue that anabolic steroids should be allowed, then they can't legitimately point to cortisone as a precedent. Cortisone is restricted. It requires a medical prescription and should only be used as part of a therapeutic regime. Moreover, the reasons behind its usage are completely different from those of anabolic steroids.

Juanin

Oh, my gosh. Actress Juanin Clay was really beautiful back in the day! She would have been a worthy Wilma Deering.

Such a shame about her premature death.

Annoying clueless guy

I mentioned this one dance wherein nobody really knew how to dance. I'm not saying that none of them were seasoned, expert dancers. Rather, the problem was that none of them could dance at even a basic level.

Please don't get me wrong. I understand that not everybody knows how, and I understand that sometimes people just want to have fun. All I'm saying is that it was frustrating for me. I like to dance and I know a few different styles. I also try to be creative. All this shaking and wiggling around just doesn't do it for me. If you know how to dance, then this sort of thing isn't fun anymore except in small doses.

I came across an old acquaintance at this dance. He kept asking stupid and annoying questions. For example, he'd point at one couple and ask, "What style are they doing?" I'd say, "They're not doing any style. They're just swaying around." Then he'd point at another and say, "Look, they're swinging back and forth. That's swing dancing, right?" I'd say, "No, it isn't. Reember, I demonstrated swing dancing earlier. Those folks are just swaying around. They're not doing any style."

He then pointed at his friend Jon, a fella who has (and I'm not trying to be unkind by saying this) somewhat diminished mental capacities. He asked, "Look, Jon is dancing out there. What style is he doing?" I said, "He's not doing any style. He's just making stuff up. Not everyone who dances does so with a specific style, Dave."

It got to be really annoying after a while. You'd think that people could tell the difference between dancing with intentionality and doing something real.

Another disappointing dance

I attended a Valentine's Day "dance" that turned out to be extremely disappointing. Now please understand, I don't want to insult anyone, and I recognize that not everyone is an accomplished dancer. Nor do I begrudge people who don't dance much and can't do much more than shake it around a little bit. However, it is nice to be able to do more than just wiggling or swaying around, especially if one truly enjoys dancing.

There were more than a hundred people there, but not one of the ladies could dance, even in a basic way. I tried to lead a couple of the young ladies through some basic moves, but to no avail. One of them refused outright, and the second reluctantly agreed but was a complete disaster.

One older lady saw me trying to lead this young gal, and she asked me if I could show her what I was trying to do. So I was able to (somewhat roughly) lead her through a triple-step swing basic move. Later that night, I kinda managed to lead her (again, somewhat roughly) through a few waltz moves. She was stumbling around a lot, but considering that she had never done waltz before, that was still pretty good.

Anyway, it was frustrating that despite the large attendance, not one of the women knew how to dance, even at a beginner's level. Not a whole lot of dancers among the men, either. One guy told me that he knew country dancing, but as far as I could tell, he was the only one in the entire group.

It was SO frustrating. I'm not saying that everybody need to know how to dance well; however, when the entire room consists of people just shaking it around, I find it disappointing. The reality is -- and again, I know that this might offend some people -- there's no real art to this kind of "dance," and most people look pretty foolish when they're doing it. Some people call it "club dancing," but I think of it as "spazzing out."

Check out this map

Take a gander at this. Check out the map of Europe on this site. It's cool to see the way the individual countries are highlighted, and it's great how clicking on any of those countries directs one to the most appropriate language (English, German, or French). Only those languages are supported, which is a shame, since it'd be interesting to see the site in Spanish or Italian.

And heck, they even have Monaco! You have to look closely at the French coast to find it, though.

Dance studio shutting down

I just learned that one of the local dance studios will be closing its doors in August. Bummer.

One of the instructors there is a college student, so I'm not too concerned about her. One of the older instructors, however, could probably use some help. I know that she was very thankful for this job when she had to leave her previous employer a few years ago. Darn it.

So thankful

I am very, very thankful that Moni is a part of my life and that she's a good friend of mine.

So tired

I am so tired. I am very beat. I could really use a nap to refresh my mind and keep myself feeling more alert.

Farrah Forke, Aquagirl, and Batman Beyond

Whatever happened to Farrah Forke? I liked her in "Wings," and I think that she did a fine job in the short-lived and vastly underrated sitcom, "Dweebs."

I did find out that she did some voice acting. She "appeared" in two episodes of Batman Beyond ("The Call" Parts 1 and 2) as Barda, this character from New Genesis. She did have a nice speaking voice, after all.

Pathogens

I recently found myself casually using the word "pathogens" in conversation. I don't recall the context, but I did think that it was kind of amusing. Most people would just say "germs," but for whatever reason, I felt like being more scientifically precise.

Maybe I've been reading too many of the right kinds of books lately.

More on the sock hop

I just want to vent a little bit more about that stupid sock hop that I mentioned.

I think that a lot of people enjoyed themselves, but that was because they were doing lame-o dancing. You know, just shaking it around. Now I understand that not everybody knows how to dance, and that not everyone has a lot of skill. Still, it disappointed me that most people didn't even try to do anything interesting. Honestly, it doesn't take a lot of skill. At least try to be creative and so something that's different from just shaking and wiggling around.

I've seen someone refer to a move called the "cracker squirm." That's how most people I've seen tend to dance. It's not a pretty sight.

What a lame sock hop

Here is a little something that I wrote to a friend of mine. I kinda want to preserve it for posterity.

Hey there, Bri. I thought about you this weekend. Here's why.

Your friend David Palmer and I attended a 50s/60s-themed sock hop last Saturday. I think that we were both bored, though. There weren't a lot of good dance partners, and people were pretty much just shaking around. Too bad; I was kinda hoping for some authentic 50s-style dancing... or at least some attempt at it.

Even though it was a 50s and 60s event, the band mostly played 60s tunes (plus some 70s stuff). IMO, there wasn't a lot of good dance music that came out of the 60s, since it was mostly known for listening music. Most Beatles music wasn't really meant for dancing, for example, though one can certainly shake around to it.

I remember that they started with some more danceable songs, during which the dance floor was fairly bare. Once the band played some shake-it-around kinds of numbers though, the floor was suddenly flooded with people. At one point, David and I looked at each other from the sidelines and said, "We can't dance to this."

Anyway, that's why I thought of you. I remember you saying that you like to take pride in your dancing, which is why you don't like to shake it around unless you're under the influence of alcohol (heh). Apparently, David feels the same way we do. He said that he likes to have some sort of plan when he's dancing, and I agree with that sentiment. I love the artistry that comes from dancing well, and I just can't take any pride in wiggling or swaying around.

To each his own, though.

Positive feedback

Here's a message that I sent to a friend of mine recently.


====================================
Hi, Esther. How have you been? It's been way too long since I've had a chance to hear about your insights into life.

I remember your comments about how you don't appreciate brutal honesty. I'm with you on that point. I think that when people say that they're just "telling it like it is," it's pretty much just used as an excuse for not being tactful or empathetic.

This came to mind because of some struggles I've had with people in my dance class and martial arts classes. In my lindy hop dance class, for example, there's one gal who's kinda quick to provide negative feedback. That's not necessarily a problem, and she's not obnoxious about it, but I always feel that she could afford to cushion the blow with a smile or some words of encouragement. A bit of positive feedback now and then would be nice, too.

That's how I deal with other swing dancers, especially beginners. When I see that they struggle with something, I try to help them out with a smile on my face. I even say that I hope we can dance later, even when I know they're kinda bad.

I've got a similar situation in my Muay Thai (Thai kickboxing) class. Most of the people there are quite nice, and some of them are great sparring partners. However, there is one guy who's quick to criticize when my punches or blocks aren't quite right, and he does so with a somewhat hard expression and/or tone of voice. I always try to be encouraging when provide feedback, and most of the other guys are the same way. We've found that few gentle words like, "It just takes practice" or "I struggle with that too" can go a long way, y'know?

So anyway, those experiences made me think of you. I'm glad that you're more of an empathetic person. That's a positive quality to have.

Philology

Okay, this is really kinda petty, and I don't want to sound overly negative. However, part of my motivation in maintaining this blog is that I need a venue for venting, even about little stuff. Here's one example.

I get really annoyed when I hear certain folks refer to music videos as "MTVs." I also get annoyed when these folks refer to cassette players as "cassettes." I keep trying to explain that cassettes are what you place INSIDE the cassette players, but this distinction is apparently lost on them. (They refer to cassettes as "tapes," which is accurate but does not justify referring to the players as "cassettes.")

I know this is kinda trivial, but it's annoying nonetheless.

Why so many visitors?

On Wednesday nights, I take a cardio bootcamp class that’s heavily based on kickboxing. Last week, our regular instructor “R” was out of town, so “L” filled in for her. L can be utterly brutal, and I appreciate that.

One thing amazed me, though. Attendance was unusually high on that night, as a lot of ladies apparently chose to attend because L was teaching. I don’t understand that. L is a tough instructor, and she provides an intense workout, but I don’t think that’s the reason why she has a fan following. I say that because almost none (if any!) of these folks were able to keep up with her. Heck, most people have a hard enough time keeping up with R, so it doesn’t make sense to me that so many of these folks would attend L’s class but not R’s.

I’m just glad that the loud barking guy (let’s call him “Harley”) wasn’t at that class. I remember that he joined in once when another lady (“F”) filled in for L. He was such a poser, whooping and barking enthusiastically even though he was barely working out. To be fair, he does work hard on some moves, such as flutter kicks and certain step aerobics moves. He punches and kicks like a teenaged girl though, his jumping jacks are pathetic, and his high knee raises aren’t high at all.

Another guy's comments

Here are some comments from another fella about community dances.

Going to a non-specific dance can still be a disappointment. e.g. I went to a 40s themed event where everyone knew how to dance to some extent but there were many clashing styles and few women who could follow a lead without knowing the specific moves. I wouldn't expect anyone to, for example, be able to tango without having had specific lessons, but I would expect anyone who can follow a lead to be able to cope with the dumbed-down simplicity of modern jive. The fact that so many dancers cannot follow a lead is down to poor teaching, I think - although, obviously, inexperience or lots of experience of poor leads could be the problem.

Comments from a dancer

I just wanted to reproduce the following comments that I saw on a public discussion board about dancers. This gal had some wisdom to share.

It can sometimes be impossible to avoid the bad dances, since there is no way to know if it is bad or not until you try it out. Unless of course it is a weekly event and you have already heard word, but those are not what you seemed to be talking about.
...
As for attending socials at dance studios. Those, to me, have a very different feel than just attending a regular social event. From my experience, at the studios people are very willing to dance, but are constantly trying to fix how you are dancing or how they are dancing. They paid money to learn and want to make sure they are doing it right! And often many have the exact same style as the others there (since they are all learning from the same person). When going out socially you never know what you are going to encounter and I love that! From new dancers to people who are incredibly experienced. Each person has their own style, and each feels different to dance with.