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3月13日 IssuesVandaag heb ik een beetje moeite met iets. Weet je wel, dat iets waar je gedachten steeds naar gaan als je even niet nadenkt? Dat gebeurt steeds vandaag. En erover schrijven is voor mij een goeie manier om te “venten”. Ik heb er vandaag moeite mee om steeds “the bigger person”te zijn. Dus dat je jouw gedeelte van de schuld op je neemt en doet wat correct is, terwijl de ander waarmee de wrijving zit gewoon aanneemt dat de gehele schuld bij jouw ligt. Een cursist van ons heeft eens iets moois gezegd: “Waar 2 vechten, hebben 2 schuld” Ik vind dat een mooi iets en die 2 beschouwen we nog steeds als goede vrienden, al zien we elkaar veel minder dan vroeger. Behalve dat ik er moeite heb dat iemand zijn/haar gedeelte van de schuld niet op zich neemt, hebben Mautje en ik blijkbaar een vinger op een zere plek gezet. Of “issues” zoals ik ze noem. Iets dat ik even kwijt moet. We hebben allemaal “issues”. Als je denkt dat jij geen” issues” hebt, kijk eens goed naar jezelf en think again. Know thyself. Ik zal wel altijd blijven nagaan wat ik fout heb gedaan en hoe het in de oekomst beter kan. Op zowel zakelijk, als persoonlijk niveau. Maar het valt gewoon zwaar als het erop lijkt dat jij de enige bent die er moeite voor doet.... Ik zal even eindigen met mijn standaard-zin bij dit soort dingen: Het komt wel goed.... 3月2日 The Fania all-stars!You know, just going to write from the heart right now. This teaching Salsa thing isn't easy at all. Especially lately it's been getting harder and weighing heavier than usual. We are still growing and getting better at our craft, but we make lots of sacrifices to get better. Sometimes you ask yourself what it is you are doing it for. Then somehow you end up watching videos on youtube about all those artists in the early days... And I tell you that those guys are my answer tp that question and my personal inspiration. They poured so much love into these songs with texts that lift you up and rythyms that touch your soul. We just owe it to them to strive perfect our dancing as they strove perfect their music. Cojer el bembe, dale sabor, ahi na' mas, all those terms that describe the feeling Salsa releases from within. Who are those people I personally look up to? The Fania all-stars! 10月12日 iTunesiTunes rocks! No click ripping of you cd's Genius app that actually recommends music you like Cheap Music makes you want to buy music again Lighter than windows mediaplayer, more organised than winamp Nice integration of the iTunes store including several convenient ways to pay My hard drive with my mp3's just crashed, so I have to rip all my cd's again, but this makes it a snap. I just bought de ti depende by Hector Lavoe for 8 euros. Now that's a bargain, because that one was hard to find. Time to load up the old iPod! iTunes rocks! Oh and I bought a new computer rig, that rocks too. 9月30日 THATFrom the booklet that came with the cd by Eddie Palmieri - The Sun of Latin Music:
"When I am playing live , I'm not thinking at all." Palmieri concludes. "Estoy entregado." I'm completely surrendered. It's a unity of minds with the other players, a syncronization. Es el mazacote. I've had problems with sound engineers at the small clubs, the needles on their equipment are about to blow up. Pero asi se toca. That's the way this music is meant to be played. My mission is to make the dancer happy. I'm always thinking of him, you know. He smiles. "On stage I'm a warrior. And the dancer is my best enemy."
And THAT ladies and gentleman, is why I dance salsa. 8月20日 Educate your mind....You know, I have always believed that there are different levels of educating your mind. You have the academic level (intellectual), the spiritual/religious level (beliefs) and the knowledge of human nature (wisdom). And I think these three come together beautifully in dance. If you look closely you can see a dancer’s intelligence, as in the way he or she masters his/her moves. You can also see their beliefs as in the way they move their bodies. To make this more visual, you can see whether they believe they can pull it off or not. This is totally independent of intelligence, or in dancing’s case, whether the move was actually technically correct or not, If you belief you can do a movement, you can still pull it off if you believe you can do it. That doesn’t mean it’s technically correct. But as long as you keep polishing away, it should get better and better. As long as you believe that it is still not perfect, you will keep growing as a dancer. And last but most certainly not least, their wisdom. Whether or not passion is expressed through their movement, or anguish, pain, happiness, fear, hope. Any and all of the human emotions. This is the wisdom part. I recently took some classes by mr Brian van der Kust and apart from the technicalities of the dance, I learned a lot from his dance knowledge and above all his wisdom. His biggest advice was: Shop around, get to know different teachers, different styles, different ways of dancing and different ways of teaching. (These last two are totally separate things) It is much harder to try to get your body to unlearn wrong things, then it is to teach it the right things. Educate your mind before you let that teacher educate your body. Dance is more than just a range/series of movements; it is creativity, flow, expression, being as much part of the music as the music is part of you. And it takes time, so be patient. But in the meantime, enjoy it. Look back to a year ago and see what you have accomplished. And then look forward and see what you have to/want to accomplish. And shop around. Educate your mind. Everybody dances and teaches differently. The more knowledgeable you are, the better a dancer you will become. As for me, I recently rediscovered that I had been focusing a lot on partner work these past few years (something the male salsa dancers focus on a lot, sometimes way too much) and that I need to train my body more as an independent dancer. So it’s time to put some oil on these joints again. Adelante siempre voy, you never stop learning. Shoot for the moon and you might land on some star. 8月13日 Surinamese PrideAll right, this blog needs to have an introduction before I can dive into it. (If you know about the history of Suriname, skip this part) ---start Surinamese history--- I used to be very mis-educated about the Independence of Suriname. In my head it played off, more or less, like the USA acquired their independence. Not through a series of wars, but I used to think that we boldly stated that we deserve to be independent and thus were granted our independence. Nothing is less true. I was first shook up by a comic in the paper of the day that Suriname got independent. It was a picture of a mass of people heading in to an airplane. Apparently about half the people in Suriname left around the day that Suriname was declared independent. Politically, the group that was for independence was sweet-talked and supported by our former Colonizer, the Netherlands, into actually getting Suriname independent. Supporters of the opposite party with the opposite opinion left Suriname en masse. ---end Surinamese history--- Basically we weren’t economically viable anymore, due to the plantation era being over and thus were dropped as a colony as we were costing money and not making money. That is the bottom-line. You can imagine my shock, having believed what I wrote in the history part for around 20 years. The aftermath was brain-drain, a military coup, dictatorship, dictatorship taken to the max by killing of all criticizing voices and even more departure to the Netherlands by Surinamese folk. It was during this era in which my parents were finishing up their studies in the city of Groningen, the Netherlands. On the day of the declaration of Independence, they drove from Groningen to the Hague (something like a 3 hour drive) to change their nationality from Dutch to Surinamese. They then left the Netherlands, came to Suriname, had me and my sister, built up their individual careers and never looked back. If you had told this story to anybody Suriname, 90% would have declared my parents crazy and had told you that they needed to be locked up in some psychiatric ward. Remember that in order to achieve anything, you need to sacrifice something. Keep that in mind while you read this next paragraph, we’ll come back to it. Pictures say more than a thousand words, so I would like to start with these 3 photographs.
These represent the growth of the Lobi Foundation of which my Dad has been the Director for 25+ years. I am very proud of all he has achieved and it is the best representation of the career my Dad has built up in these 25 years. Starting out as a small foundation with debts all over the place, it has grown to a big and one of the most recognizable foundations in Suriname. Good Job, doesn’t even cut it. Yesterday, the foundation received another award for most outstanding contribution to the reduction of the regional condom gap. (which is the last of around 10 awards in these 25 years) This also states their position in the Caribbean. Needless to say, I am very proud of my Dad’s achievements. Since I have arrived here, I had to visit multiple governmental offices to get a LOT of paperwork done. My mom is an English teacher with a career of 25+ years as well. And EVERYWHERE we went, I heard the same thing: Hi teach! Hi teach! Yes, I work here. Hi teach! My mom has taught so many people in 25 years, she had even taught my physics teacher back when I was in VWO. (pre-University) And the thing that boggles my mind is that he on his own was one of the most inspirational teachers I had myself. It is insane to see how much my mom has contributed to the working force that is Suriname nowadays. So my parents came back as idealistic students bent on being a building block in the rebuilding of Suriname as an independent, democratic country. Experiencing their fruits, I as their son, am very, very proud. I hope I can use their example in the career of my choice. So their decision to change nationality to Surinamese has made my life quite difficult as I chose to live with my girlfriend in the Netherlands. The amount of bureaucracy is insane. But….in order to achieve something, you need to sacrifice something else. If I have to sacrifice this, than I’ll gladly put in the energy. I hope this story is as inspirational to you as it is to me. In the words of dr. Martin Luther King: If you are called to be a street sweeper, sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.' Enjoy life, serve the higher purpose, be honorable, shoot high. Fleppie 8月9日 Trainwreck...My body feels like a train wreck. Let me try to describe it for you.
The underside of my toes hurt
The muscles to the sides of my shins hurt (didn't know they could hurt)
The insides of my thighs hurt
My stomach muscles hurt
My shoulder muscles are all tensed up
My back muscles are all tensed up
The muscles on the sides of my fore-arms hurt
So what happened? An Afro Workshop by mr Brian van der Kust happend. If you are ever looking for a full body workout, book him for a Afro workshop. I highly recommend it, because in the end it was all worth it. (Footworks) 7月19日 For Heaven's sake GROW!!
Good God! Normally I am not this negative, but dear Lord do I need to vent. Let me try and start with the positive: Mixing music is as much an art-form as dancing is and there are true artists in the mixing business in Suriname. Clever use of rhythm as one song flawlessly flows into the other. But, these crappy-ass DJ"s need to freaking educate themselves about Salsa and Latin. I went to a Latin Night over here and it was ABSOLUTE CRAP. When will you DJ's learn that there are different kinds of Salsa than that God forsaken Sonora Carrusseles!? STOP IT DAMNIT! Idiots! And the Dj's don't even play their salsa's. They play their boogaloos, mixed together for FIVE freaking songs in a row! WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH THAT? One artist for FIVE songs? I'll tell you what the hell is wrong with that. IT SUCKS! Stop with the damn Sonora Carrusseles already, my ears are bleeding! Do you even KNOW what a cumbia is, or a timba, or a Salsa Romantica for that matter. You are a DJ, do your Job and research the shit you play, damn! Juan Luis Guerra is awesome, but not for a whole damn set! Never heard of Kinito Mendez? Amarfis? Johnny Ventura? Come the hell on already. I've been away for 11 years and the crap hasn't changed. And you DARE call it a Latin Night!? Get the hell outta here. You are killing us dancers... Same things for the bachatas, the same damn songs over and over, blegh! There is more to bachata then Monchy & Alexandrayou know? How about Frank Reyes, Joe Veras, Raulin Rodriguez? Do your job and research the music if you need to DJ for a Latin night and invite salsa schools. Oh and IF you're gonna mx, please let us finish our songs..don't mix them in the middle. Feel a bit better already. If you are DJ and have to DJ for a Latin night, please, please consider these legends of Salsa: The Fania Allstars I could go on and on, but this is so easy to find if you just google the net for Salsa. And please! Please stop that Sonora Carrusseles and Marlon crap while you are a at it. (Marlon is nicely done, but so are all the other ORIGINAL songs) Move on my fellow DJ"s move on. A proper DJ researches and evolves. It's been 10 years, how long are you going to take? Dancers of Suriname, I say boycott those Latin Nights even if they give you a 1000 free tickets. Because crappy-ass Latin Nights just suck, BIGTIME. 5月23日 The Big 7!Last week was the week of the big 7. Why? Two things 7 happened. First off I passed 7000 on my live gamer points. If you are not into gaming, points stem from achievements and achievements are gained by fulfilling specific conditions in a game. This can be as easy as playing through a level as you would normally, or as hard as get through the level without getting hit once. When these conditions are met you get an achievement which is worth a certain amount of points. You can use these points to compare yourself to other gamers, in theory. In practice you find people plowing through easy games just for the achievement score. Also if you play short games you get to get the 1000 points they allocate per game pretty easily. But if you play role playing games or multiplayer-focused games, you'll get them much more slowly. So you can't really compare a game in which you can achieve the 1000 points in about 5 hours to a game you have to play at least 30 hours to get all the achievements. The system is very addicting nonetheless and it's a miracle I got to 7000 with my schedule being the way it is nowadays. Mind you that's 7188 out of 37120.
Also my game-collection has now exceeded the 700 mark. Absurd? Maybe. Proud of it? Yes! All originals and a result of 5+ years of collecting games. So I am pretty proud of the fact that I now have 700 of em. I still enjoy all of them whenever I can, though most of my free time is spent in World of Warcraft. I finally finished my new epic armorset
Though the last one look more menacing I think. Well that's about it for this blog. Not very interesting, I know, but the next one will be a bit more interesting, promise. I am just proud of the big 7. 5月5日 a free week of gamingHi Blog!
So effectively I have had a week off more or less. Tuesdayclasses were mostly empty, thursrdayclasses were cancelled and initially I didn't have to DJ on wednesday (which I later had to do anyways, but that's another story) So I had all this free time in my hands and my first thoughts were: gaming!!
And when I was gaming, I realised that you have to let the past stay in the past. Don't get me wrong, I had a damn good time, but I have just changed too much to still do those hour-long sessions for extended periods of time. I'll go for short bursts of power-gaming and I still love it as much.
So what is the end-score of 6 whole days of gaming (more or less)
Finished Bioshock, one of the best game-stories I have seen in these past few years. The kind of story that still ahs you guessing till the very end if you are in league with the good or the bad guy. And crazy-ass plot-twists.
After finishing Biohock, I looked at my library of xbox 360 games and realised why Nintendo is doing so well. Of the 33 games I own, 18 are First Person Shooters, racing games or something that closely resembles them. Of the remaining 15 games, 3 games are games only hardcore gamers would play, or hard for new players to get into. Stuff like japanese Role Playing Games & Online Massive Multiplayer RPG's. So that leaves 12 games of the 33 that are easily accesible to non-gamers or new-gamers. Games like Guitar Hero 2 & 3, NBA homecourt, Marvel Ultimate Alliance etc. Do the math and you get an idea of whom Microsoft is targeting with these games. Whereas Nintendo has simple understandable games (which bore the hell out of most hardcore gamers) which in turn attract people that don't play videogames that much into the videogameworld. Take the wheel in Mario Mario Kart Wii for example. That thing is brilliant. I had a slight learning curve twith the thing, but after that it feels natural and it's more fun. I think if you are playing Mario Kart Wii hardcore-like and are going for the top-spot in time trials and races, you'll play with a controller. But for all the non/new-gamers out there is is a brilliant concept. Everybody knows what a steering wheel is and it comes with the game. I expect a lot of people to get into this new hype. To further strengthen my theory, Mario Kart Wii has been sold out in stores. As is Wii Fit, which further cements my theory that making understandable games for this new audience translates into more cash for Nintendo. Go Ninty! 3月31日 Netherdrake baby! Woohoo!I finally got my Netherdrake mount In World of Warcraft! Took me long enough, but I have it now. And it rocks!!
On to the next challenge, though I'll be there faster, 380% faster to be exact. :) And when I beat that one race I'll get it up to 300%. 3月25日 Tipica Salsa Weekend, day 3This is a 3-part blog I kept during my weekend at the Tipica Salsa Weekend organised by Femke & Manoah from Salsa Tipica. It was awesome! No, it was beyond awesome!
Sunday March 16th 10:45 We overslept. Was to be expected, but still a bummer. So we decided to skip the workshop by Mushi & Emma, men styling & lady styling on 1 We’re going to grab some breakfast and then head for Victor & Burju’s chachacha workshop. It’s advanced and chachacha isn’t my strongest point, so I wonder how it’ll go.
The chachacha workshop went ok, though Victor messed with my timing (his words) We missed the first shine, but we did our best to pick it up. If i see it back on video I think I’ll be able to do it. The partnering was doable for me at least. Burju had some crazy styling going on. They teach really well. Fun, but educational. Funny stuff: Mautje busted out some gum and Victor asked for one while running back to Burju after turning on the music. But the packet didn’t open completely so Mautje was struggling to get the gum out. Finally the gum pops out and he rushes to Burju to start the sequence to music So as Victor is standing their he suddenly says into the microphone: Hey, you gave me your nail!! Apparently one of Mautje’s nails came off as she tried to get the gum out the packet. Embarrassing, & FUN! J
As I anticipated, the workshop jazzy shines by Big Spenders incorporated quite a lot of contemporary moves. Which is nice as it teaches me use of my body in ways in which I don’t normallyuse it. I sad it down by the end. I like the combination of professionalism & humbleness of these guys. Last one by Victor & Burju : Advanced partnering on 2. It had some pretty challenging parts, but it was quite doable to me, apart from a guy’s double turn. Having learned on2 on the dance floor I find that I need to understand what the move is rather than count it out.
A big plus for us is that we are getting some recognition by established dancers/teachers about our skills & level. Burju said I was awesome. Gabi from Matanza said to Mautje that she can do more than she realizes. I got Maisanne to smile during dancing. J Salima, the other member of big spenders thought I was great. And Manoah said we were good dancers. A lot of ego-stroking but we are very much going to stay humble and let our dancing speak for us. But coming from an environment that doesn’t stimulate us in a salsa way, it’s good to hear some positive criticism from the pros.
Funny story about Manoah. He was like: where are you guys from? And we go: Maastricht. And you could almost see the wheels in his head turning and then he went: But you guys are good, are there any good schools in Maastricht?? J Apparently the words Maastricht/Limburg & Good dancers don’t fit in one sentence. J He asked how we got to this level, after which I replied: Stay objective and as a leader make it about the lady. Later on Mautje told him that we have a small dance school and Gerald from Salsipuedes confirmed that the level is quite low and that we were the only on2 dancers there. (he meant Musica Mundial in Heerlen) Nice to confirmation that I am not CRAZY!
The proof that we are on the right track also comes from the stuff the teachers said during the workshops. We say the same things, so we are teaching the correct things. Victor said that advanced is not so much about complicated turn patters but more about being conscious of your steps &movement (individually & in partnering) Mitchell from Tambo Project talked about the rawness (anger) & the melodic parts in Salsa, as did we a couple of weeks ago.
It really feels good to have confirmation that we are on the right track. Now we just have to keep growing up as dancers, as a school and as individuals of course. On a last note: It was grat because of the great people, not jsut great dancers. One of the last songs was el cantante by Hector Lavoe, at which point Victor grabbed the mic and sang alon the whole song. it was awesome.....
Tipica Salsa Weekend, day 2This is a 3-part blog I kept during my weekend at the Tipica Salsa Weekend organised by Femke & Manoah from Salsa Tipica. It was awesome! No, it was beyond awesome!
Saturday March 15th
Went to bed at 4:00, got up at 8:30 to get some breakfast. We were wrecked! But ready to get our learn on. Got some breakfast, saw Burju & Victor rehearsing their workshop in the lobby and grabbed a cab to Salsa Tipica. First workshop by Brian & Mechteld started of with a little shine which had a little timing challenge in it for me. The figure was cool, I had it down at the end of the workshop except for the last part, which was a little fast for me. Crazy!
Next workshop was by Frantz from Big Spenders, Men Styling. Though I could handle the shine pretty easy, I am pretty sure I need to work on my execution. The warm-up contained a couple of things though that I will definitely practice.
Next workshop: Afro Modern by Mitchel from Tambo project. Both parts of this shine workshop were pretty challenging. Two new Afro Cuban movements and the Modern dancing is very new to me , so you know I look like a fool doing it. But I liked that he emphasized the music by doing the shine on the music. His explanation of modern dance was also nice. Clear & easily to follow, as was his Afro Cuban. I like that he explained that salsa has a raw/angry part. (afro) and a softer melodic part, like the piano and/or trumpets. Since we explained the same thing a couple of weeks ago at video night, it means we are on the right track.
Next workshop: Men Styling by Victor. You can tell that he is experienced in teaching. A relaxed fun class, but still we learned a whole lot. I can do all 3 of his shines, but I need to practice them. Especially if I want to add the body movement parts. He challenged us to link all 3 shines together and wasn’t afraid of screwing up himself. I like how he put the body movement as optional and cited Burju for the body movement. Mautje bought the body movement dvd as well as the partnering dvd. It seems that her workshop was total madness. J
Last workshop of the day: Mushi & Emma from the UK. Nice clear explanation. Fun too. I thought I had seen it all in regards to salsa partnering but man is this a difficult one. I also am not used to counting while dancing on 2, so I got a couple of timing parts wrong. After I left out the hook turn I was able to properly lead it. It isn’t quite smooth yet, but we’re getting there. Judging from the ladies in the workshop (we kept rotating) I could guess that the guys were having some problems leading it as well. I like how they gave me a new dimension in leading now. There is always something to learn. We learned an important thing: When doing a double inside turn, the inside turn changes to a spin on the left foot. Didn’t know that. Got home with Mandy, fell asleep almost immediately. We missed an appointment to eat together with Milenthy. Bummer, but I think it was for the better. We were worn out.
The party was off the hook. You come in and you want to dance your soul off. I know I am totally in to it when I do stuff I don’t even knew I could do. Did part of the Mushi figure and a part of Victor’s shines during social dancing. Didn’t get to dance with the “Salsa-celebrities, but half way through the party I was done. Wanted to, but just couldn’t keep dancing. But watching really made me happy as well. It’s very nice to see a whole room of dancers hit a break, damn! I am also slowly falling in love with Ritmo Kombina, merengue-esque music from the Antilles. I like. We also saw Winnie after almost a year. Good to see our old colleague and partner in crime again. She has only started dancing again for two weeks. I knew she’d be back. J It is now 5:30 am, and I have to get back up at 9:30, so off to bed. Tomorrow is going to be awesome again. Tipica Salsa Weekend, day 1This is a 3-part blog I kept during my weekend at the Tipica Salsa Weekend organised by Femke & Manoah from Salsa Tipica. It was awesome! No, it was beyond awesome!
Day 1:
Friday March 14th
We were supposed to leave at 16:23 but we left at 16:57 in order to leave in a state of peace. Bought a new hat, cut my hair and started packing at about 14:00-ish. I went to pick up our train tickets beforehand and decided to upgrade to 1st class. Hey, it was only 10 Euros. And Mautje bought a HUGE bag.
14:30 Cab came at 14:30 and we were very much on time at the train station. The nice train-conductor let Mautje’s sister travel in first class too, even though she didn’t have a first class ticket. Score 1 for the Hous-Leckie team J
18:00 If you thought NS was bad, Veolia is even worse. Apart from an extra stop with half an hour extra waiting-time in the cold, the trains are just way too small for all the passengers. The hunch to pay extra for 1st class paid off well, though not for the last part of the trip. The train was so full hat people spilled over into first class. There goes your extra 10 Euros. Oh well, at least the first part of the journey was very comfortable
19:30 Arrived in Nijmegen, found the hotel pretty quickly, got settled and then went out for some food We saw a good pasta-place, but ended up at Burger King. Go figure. Tomorrow we are testing out the pasta place and Sunday the Chinese place we saw. The hotel-room is a bit small, big bed, but comfortable.
22:15 Drinking my first of probably many cups of coffee to get through this weekend. I am excited, but controlled. J Mautje is sleeping, but she got up at 8:00 this morning, where as I was up at 12:00.
22:30 Just woke her up, we are leaving soon. (listening to a very special song at the moment, can’t say much more about it though J)
(I also bought a game for the train, which I didn’t get to play at all)
3:41 The party can be summed up in one sentence: Food for te soul! The energy from so many great dancers is incredible. Tambo Project had a great afro/modern show and Hache y Machete was awesome. Great perfomers. During the party you can’t help but smile, whether you are dancing or just watching. Brian Libier’s dancing baffles me and Rayonell’s spins are crazy. He really works the ladies as opposed to my relaxed style of dancing. (Learning-moment for myself to not get used to my style of dancing too much) Maybe we should head north more often? I danced with Maisanne from France and with a friend of her who is also an awesome dancer. (her name is Salima and she complimented Mautje before we even knew each other. She’s a very sweet girl. Actually, the whole of the Big Spenders team is very nice, professional and humble) and last but not least Burju from Hache y Machete. Whoa, that was great. And she said I was awesome. JJ I feel an ego coming up.....Always stay humble though. I am very very grateful for this experience. All parties need to be like this. Tomorrow workshops start at 10:00am, so I’d better get some sleep. It was also great fun with Milenthy, Anja and Irene too. Great dancers and Irene has really really grown. Oh and a funny thing happened. I ran across the room to ask Burju and I was a split second too late. Somebody else asked her, but then Victor saw what happened and got up and asked me to dance. So I also danced with Victor for half a song. J The one thing that really stuck with me was that I saw a professional dance with somebody of intermediate level and having great fun. AS IT SHOULD BE! 3月4日 Swift flying mountLast time I reported getting a flying mount in World of Warcraft, which was was awesome when I finally could fly through outland.
But now, after some heavy questing, skinning animals and selling my leatherworking products through the auction-house, I have finally acquired the epic swift flying mount!
It's armored too. :P Though lots of people have acquired this baby pretty quicky, I only just acquired this mount due to time constraints. I just can't devote so many hours one after another to the game. So I play when I can. The old mount flew at 60% walking speed, but this one cuts through the air at almost 300% walking speed. it's crazy!!! And I likez. No more running from me puny alliance.....
I am already working on the next mount, which is a dragon...a netherdragon to be exact. It can't get much cooler than that. 2月14日 Mushin!This is exactlty what it feels like to be truelly dancing. Read it, practice it, feel it, flow...Mushin! Mushin is a state into which very highly trained martial artists are said to enter during combat. The term is shortened from mushin no shin a zen expression meaning mind of no mind. That is, a mind not fixed or occupied by thought or emotion and thus open to everything. For the origin of the mushin concept see Muga-mushin. Mushin is achieved when a fighter feels no anger, fear or ego during combat. There is an absence of discursive thought, and so the fighter is totally free to act and react towards an opponent without hesitation. At this point, a person relies not on what they think should be the next move, but what is felt intuitively. A martial artist would likely have to train for many years to be capable of mushin. This allows time for combinations of movements and exchanges of techniques to be practised repetitively many thousands of times, until they can be performed spontaneously, without conscious thought. The legendary Zen master Takuan said: The mind must always be in the state of 'flowing,' for when it stops anywhere that means the flow is interrupted and it is this interruption that is injurious to the well-being of the mind. In the case of the swordsman, it means death. When the swordsman stands against his opponent, he is not to think of the opponent, nor of himself, nor of his enemy's sword movements. He just stands there with his sword which, forgetful of all technique, is ready only to follow the dictates of the subconscious. The man has effaced himself as the wielder of the sword. When he strikes, it is not the man but the sword in the hand of the man's subconscious that strikes. However, mushin is not just a state of mind that can be achieved during combat. Many martial artists, particularly those practicing Japanese martial arts such as aikido or iaijutsu, train to achieve this state of mind during kata so that a flawless execution of moves is accomplished - that they may be achieved during combat or at any other time. Once mushin is attained through the practicing or studying of martial arts (although it can be accomplished through other arts or practices that refine the mind and body), the objective is to then attain this same level of complete awareness in other aspects of the practitioner's life. Mushin is very closely related to another state of mind known as heijoshin[3], wherein a complete balance and harmony is attained in one's life through mental discipline. Musashi Miyamoto, the great swordsman, alighted to these mental states briefly, and his conversations with Jattaro were often repeated in Japanese folklore as lessons to be learned for the practice of one's life. Mushin and 'heijoshin are closely related to the teachings of Buddhism and mostly zen teachings, and indeed the more mental aspects and attributes share much in common with these philosophies. So true. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushin 1月29日 Greatest quote EVERBest quote I have ever read:
"People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you've got anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; It was never between you and them anyway." By Mother Theresa
Encompasses everything I stand for. Serve the higher purpose and it'll be worth it in the end.
Something that has nothing to do with this blogpost: And another thing that has nothing to do with tis blogpost: Did you know that the spammers also go on holdiay break? We get about 60 spam-emails in our inbox everyday, but duirng the holdiay break we got....none! It's not a amchine that does these things, it's evil people. Keep your pointer off the send/receive butoon you evil people! 1月11日 InspirationI just uploaded a movie to my youtube account. It used to be hard to find movies-sites before youtube, let alone salsa video sites. But there was one great site: Mamboston2.com. I used to go there alot for congres footage. This is one of the videos shot. They were several scenes, but I edited them together. Some great dancers in there who inspired me so long ago.
Andres Giraldo
Johnny Giraldo
Ismael Otero
Jorjet Alcocer
Troy Anthony
Olivia Dasso
and a lot more dancers of whom I don't now the names.
The song is called la Malanga Brava by Joe Cuba. I bought the cd and everything, but I can't play this song as it's too fast for most dancers.....sadly. rested...sort ofGood Moring Blog!
How have you been? Miss me? No? What I've been doing?
Well......do you know the saying: When the shit hits the fan?
Well I was standing in between the shit and the fan, trying to keep it from getting hit. You know that dream where you are being chased by an axe-wielding killer for about 3 hours and you somehow kept getting away? Well I felt like I was the axe-murderer trying to keep up with your ass. Man has it been crazy. So much to do, at the same freaking time.
But there is another saying: If it doesn't kill you, it will make you stronger.
And then I have my own saying. If you survive one thing from killing you, like for example an axe-wielding murderer, you only find a chainsaw-wielding murderer on the other side...
In my case, at this particular time, the chainsaw-wielding muderer is.......taxes. God these people really try to bleed you dry. And for what? In general, when money changes hands, you either get something material, or some kind of service, or you rent something? So what do I get huh Mr me-gonna-take-all-your-money? What, tell me what??? I'll tell you what you get: The right to operate and pay even more money to these "nice" people when you start making more.
Oh well, it really does have its rewards. We have some great people in our classes and we're doing pretty good. But we wanna get better.....always. And I guess it's better to have too much to do, then nothing at all as part-owner of a company. The rewards are pretty good: People that really grow in our classes, people that specifiacally seek us out to take classes, people that get more conscious in a multitude of ways. I thank you all for that and that great invisible entity in the sky as well. (read: God)
Most importantly, I still love what I do and people still react to that love, that passion, to us. And as long as i can, i'll keep trying to pas it on and keep serving the higher purpose.
May ALL your choices in 2008 make you happier when you make them and act on them. Echa P'alante.
All in all, I am certainly not rested......but it's worth it.
Flep |
I have been doing it for the last couple of weeks to remind me how it feels when you just start dancing. You want to do something, you will your body to do it, but your body does something completely different due to a lack of control. And if this can work for brushing my teeth, then it should be able to work for anything.
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