I suppose this update is long overdue. I have had a pretty hard time finding the drive and time to sit and write about what's been going on the last couple of weeks. My last couple of weeks in America were the best time I've had in yeears there, which makes it so much difficult to be over here. So to all my friends, new and old alike, I am actually looking forward to my visits more so than I thought I ever would. I guess in a perfect world I'd just bring you all with me. Someday I'll tell everyone the story of how I completely fucked myself over with only a few days to go before my flight.
First, lets talk about Sacramento and the Capital swing dance event: briefly. I had a pretty good time there, but the Raddison is a shithole. They overcharged for my room about double and I'm having a hard time getting my money back because they suck so bad. Everyone I talk to hates that hotel. The event for the most part is okay, but since I'm not there to compete it's just a matter of finding ways to waste your days until the dancing starts at night. I won't miss that event at all. I did manage to enter a beginner competition, one meant for people that have no points towards intermediate, and win first place. I got tickets to the US Open and J&J O'Rama, neither of which I'll end up using I'm sure, but the thought of winning 250 bucks or whatever in passes is pretty sweet for something I didn't have to pay to enter.
The best (and the worst) night of that weekend however was Saturday night. Instead of spending the evening at the hotel I took a beautiful girl and two of her good friends to a party in San Francisco. While I was there I met some cool new people, walked on the clouds and danced until the place shut down at 4AM. Much of the rest of the morning I spent in a constant state of confusion. Leaving became far more bittersweet than I had imagined it could be. Without going into detail, I will simply say that a day hasn't gone by where I've been torn about the plans I've had for the last 6 or so months.
Paris, what can I say about this place? It's the most romantic and lonely place I have ever been to. It has everything I love about a European city. The architecture, the history and all the famous old crap that everyone has to go and see. I have had an amazing time, but I'm definitely ready to move on and get things settled over in Berlin.
I actually took some time to go out and visit a bar, with the sole intent of getting buzzed and trying to find my way home. That was the first time I did something that didn't have to do with taking pictures or looking at old or famous shit. So talk about random, I stroll into a bar and take an empty seat next to a couple of girls and order up some vodka. I hear they are speaking English (yay) After some time I manage to work my way into their conversation. Turns out, Katie is from San Jose - and her BF Alex is from D.C. by way of Santa Cruz. Had to share because well, I just feel it's a bit ironic.
Anyway, the point of the blog isn't to talk about who I met or what I did, but I guess it's more for the details about the dancing. Finally I've gotten to do a bit outside the US, and I have to say it was fun. I happened to get here at the same weekend when Torri, Brenner (in my thickest possible French accent) and Katie were all here from the USA. It was cool to see some more familiar faces. Both Friday and Saturday night there were performances at the studio, where those 3 and Maxence were dancing for the crowd. Of course they looked great and the response from the French were a lot of oooo's and ahhhh's!
The dancing was pretty great and similar to what it is at home. There were a few of the locals here that were exceptional. It reminded me a bit of the dancing at 2LF. Here there aren't as many "advanced" level dancers, of course, but the followers on the whole were a pleasure. I will also say that everyone was really nice to me and some of them took the time to talk to me and ask me questions. I appreciated that so much. The music was generally the same, but they played a lot more slow songs that I imagined doing NC2S to instead of swing.
Thumbs up, for sure. I will enjoy coming back to Paris do visit my new friends and dance the nights away :o)
Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Abandon all ye hope!
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
I've changed my flight from the 15th to the 22nd ($373) and I've booked a room ($330) from Thursday through Sunday for the dance event ($130) I like the least of all the events I've been to. I'm going to handle things differently this year however in hopes to make this fun for both me and my friend, who also apparently doesn't like this event. Yeah, sounds like it's time to spend about $800 to say goodbye to the dancers I've come to know and do the only thing that keeps me sane these days. It's been a particularly rough month, I have to say.
There is of course, a flip side to all of this. While the forces of the world are pulling me into this amazing adventure with my new flat mate Norman (who knows what kind of trouble is possible with this young man) I still struggle every day with .. I don't know .. the magnitude of it all. Not only that, but with less focus on intense personal relationships I've managed to meet a number of really incredible people these last 4 weeks. All of them, whether they know it or not, are making this choice harder and harder. I guess you can't be too careful when trying to figure out whether or not you're going to move out of the country.
So many things to consider..
If anything, all the confusion and strife have given way to a shitload of dancing. For 3.5 minutes you can forget about your problems, forget about all the personal drama, and just talk to your partner..
Vorfreude ist die schoenste freude.
I've changed my flight from the 15th to the 22nd ($373) and I've booked a room ($330) from Thursday through Sunday for the dance event ($130) I like the least of all the events I've been to. I'm going to handle things differently this year however in hopes to make this fun for both me and my friend, who also apparently doesn't like this event. Yeah, sounds like it's time to spend about $800 to say goodbye to the dancers I've come to know and do the only thing that keeps me sane these days. It's been a particularly rough month, I have to say.
There is of course, a flip side to all of this. While the forces of the world are pulling me into this amazing adventure with my new flat mate Norman (who knows what kind of trouble is possible with this young man) I still struggle every day with .. I don't know .. the magnitude of it all. Not only that, but with less focus on intense personal relationships I've managed to meet a number of really incredible people these last 4 weeks. All of them, whether they know it or not, are making this choice harder and harder. I guess you can't be too careful when trying to figure out whether or not you're going to move out of the country.
So many things to consider..
If anything, all the confusion and strife have given way to a shitload of dancing. For 3.5 minutes you can forget about your problems, forget about all the personal drama, and just talk to your partner..
Vorfreude ist die schoenste freude.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Monterey Swing
I'm all moved into my temporary housing, with my sights set on the final days of my job. Everything is coming to an end on the 28th at work.. Our shithole company will be sending the last of the calls up to our outsourced call center in Canada, and I will be free of the place where I worked so long for so hard, and got treated like .. well .. no never mind, no sense in dwelling on them. I have bigger and better things going on right now.
I'm sitting in an amazing hotel room in Monterey, a view of downtown and the ocean on the left, and the entrance to the ballroom on the right. It's supposed to be sunny and clear all weekend, which is amazing for Monterey in February, but like most things going on at the moment everything is coming up aces. I still can't believe this is all happening to me - I feel like any moment the walls could come crashing down. I guess you just have to live in the moment sometimes and go where the flow takes you.
"The law presides over things of this world. The world where shadow is shadow and light is light, yin is yin and yang is yang, I'm me and he's him. You don't belong to that world. The world you belong to is above or below that.
I'm sitting in an amazing hotel room in Monterey, a view of downtown and the ocean on the left, and the entrance to the ballroom on the right. It's supposed to be sunny and clear all weekend, which is amazing for Monterey in February, but like most things going on at the moment everything is coming up aces. I still can't believe this is all happening to me - I feel like any moment the walls could come crashing down. I guess you just have to live in the moment sometimes and go where the flow takes you.
"The law presides over things of this world. The world where shadow is shadow and light is light, yin is yin and yang is yang, I'm me and he's him. You don't belong to that world. The world you belong to is above or below that.
The point is, not to resist the flow. You go up when you're supposed to go up and down when you're supposed to go down. When you're supposed to go up climb to the top, when you're down find the deepest well. When there's no flow, stay still. I am he, he is me.
Abandon the self, and there you are."
The name of the game tonight is west coast swing. If you don't know what it is, here's a link. With Kyle leading and Deborah following, it's a perfect example of what can be accomplished on the dance floor without sound coming out of your mouth. This dance inspires me.
Tonight, gin and tonic, cigarettes and dancing until my feet turn into pulp. Tomorrow, listening to the finest dance instructors in the world offer up their advice and theories on musicality, connection, movement. Constant eb and flow in your interpretation of the music. Great times with great people.
It sounds perfect, but alas nothing ever is. There's always something missing., the constant tugging of a force far greater than I can control.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
In the beginning...
I guess everything needs to start somewhere. To introduce myself, my name is Kevin and I am a dancoholic. I currently live in Livermore, in California, in the United States of America. Normally I wouldn't be so specific, however, in a short time my world will be turning upside down, so where I am coming from is just as important as where I'm going. In a little over 5 weeks from today I will be boarding a plane into the unknown, a distant world full of an entire lifetime of new experiences. The old world, the birthplace of modern history. A land of rich cultural, political and artistic revolutions that have given rise to the world as we know it today. I feel like I have already lived a lifetime or two, but this.. This is something that I have dreamed of my entire adult existence. Having the pieces fall into place now, as they have, is extraordinary (and a very interesting story I have to admit, but it has no place here).
I assume the people that are reading this know something about me already, so I will not be recounting my life up until this point. Soon everything will be awash with that new car smell, so from here on out - the only thing to do is to move is forward. Forward into the tail end of a French and German winter the likes of which this spoiled rotten Californian boy has never seen. Into a world where people such as myself, you know, the typical self serving, uninformed, uneducated (this list could go on forever) American with the oppressive, self righteous, manipulative (again, another particularly long list) government may not exactly be appreciated or welcomed in some social circles.
Of course, I feel like I am none of those things and I hope to make people see that not all of us are the arrogant, ignorant people many think we are.
38 days, that's it. That's all that I have left in this place where I grew up, until I leave all the people I've ever known or loved behind. No more Sharks games at the Tank. No more hot dogs at the ballpark watching the Oakland A's league best pitching against every other teams higher budgets. No more San Francisco; no more Sacramento; no more Santa Cruz. Am I scared? Damn fucking right I'm scared. Am I sad? Hell yes, I have a few particularly amazing people in my life that I will probably not see for a long ass time. I'm going to miss the long nights, pretending to be a rock star in Jason's garage, jamming out Iron Maiden and Stone Temple Pilots in Rock Band. I'm going to miss the Bay Area as a whole, home of one of the most amazing dance communities for country and WCS. It's really beautiful here, nothing can beat the view from Twin Peaks looking onto downtown San Francisco and the entire east bay on a clear night. And of course there's my family, who I absolutely love and can barely tolerate at the same time haha. Mom, Dad, Michael, Melanie, Mark, Scott, with some Steven & Susan sprinkled on top. Aunts and Uncles of the past, cousins, nieces, nephews.. Far and wide, this dysfunctional family has made its way around the USA, and soon, one of us will be dropping the Wallace tartan smack in the middle of the German capitol.
Alas, however, something is calling me. Soon, I will hit the reset button and reboot my life with a new operating system. It's going to take a bit to get used to the new feel, all the icons in this OS are going to be in different places - and in a different fucking language. I can't wait to figure it all out and find out where exactly *I* fit in in this crazy new world.
Peace.
I assume the people that are reading this know something about me already, so I will not be recounting my life up until this point. Soon everything will be awash with that new car smell, so from here on out - the only thing to do is to move is forward. Forward into the tail end of a French and German winter the likes of which this spoiled rotten Californian boy has never seen. Into a world where people such as myself, you know, the typical self serving, uninformed, uneducated (this list could go on forever) American with the oppressive, self righteous, manipulative (again, another particularly long list) government may not exactly be appreciated or welcomed in some social circles.
Of course, I feel like I am none of those things and I hope to make people see that not all of us are the arrogant, ignorant people many think we are.
38 days, that's it. That's all that I have left in this place where I grew up, until I leave all the people I've ever known or loved behind. No more Sharks games at the Tank. No more hot dogs at the ballpark watching the Oakland A's league best pitching against every other teams higher budgets. No more San Francisco; no more Sacramento; no more Santa Cruz. Am I scared? Damn fucking right I'm scared. Am I sad? Hell yes, I have a few particularly amazing people in my life that I will probably not see for a long ass time. I'm going to miss the long nights, pretending to be a rock star in Jason's garage, jamming out Iron Maiden and Stone Temple Pilots in Rock Band. I'm going to miss the Bay Area as a whole, home of one of the most amazing dance communities for country and WCS. It's really beautiful here, nothing can beat the view from Twin Peaks looking onto downtown San Francisco and the entire east bay on a clear night. And of course there's my family, who I absolutely love and can barely tolerate at the same time haha. Mom, Dad, Michael, Melanie, Mark, Scott, with some Steven & Susan sprinkled on top. Aunts and Uncles of the past, cousins, nieces, nephews.. Far and wide, this dysfunctional family has made its way around the USA, and soon, one of us will be dropping the Wallace tartan smack in the middle of the German capitol.
Alas, however, something is calling me. Soon, I will hit the reset button and reboot my life with a new operating system. It's going to take a bit to get used to the new feel, all the icons in this OS are going to be in different places - and in a different fucking language. I can't wait to figure it all out and find out where exactly *I* fit in in this crazy new world.
Peace.
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