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Indulging Fantasies

Like every child I had a list of things I wanted to be when I grew up. My list looked something like this;

• Lawyer
• Astronaut (I really wanted to go to space camp)
• CEO/ Executive
• Lobbyist
• CIA

There were a few others, but these five were on the short list. As the years went by I decided against all, but one… the one I’m still working towards, however, thanks to Hollywood, I can indulge my career fantasies through the power of cinema. So when I read about Zero Dark Thirty of course I had to see it.

ZDT was a terrific movie - I love it! From the moment it started I was completely sucked in… And, even though I knew how the story ends I was sitting on the edge of my seat. The near 3-hour movie flew by… I was shocked when I found out how long it was cuz I didn’t even notice, which is always the sign of a great movie. One part that struck me (even gave me chills) was the first few minutes - sorry no spoilers here!

The movie primarily centers around the CIA agent “Maya” who was responsible for the capture of UBL. Needless to say Maya is a badass - I SO want to be her when I grow up! :) In all seriousness, it was nice to see a female CIA agent being portrayed like a CIA agent and not some love sick school girl like we see on TV - ahem Homeland. The actress who played Maya, Jessica Chastain, was amazing too. She definitely deserves an award. In fact, the entire cast was great.

If you are thinking of seeing this movie - definitely see it in the theater if you can. This is the kind of movie that deserves to be seen on the big screen. In fact, I think I may go again before it leaves the theater - it was that good.

Must See TV

My latest TV vice is White Collar (I’ve been watching it in marathon mode since Saturday). It’s not a new show. It’s actually been on since 2009 – I know – where have I been? (Clearly not watching this show) If you haven’t seen it yet, then I’d suggest checking it out. It’s about this hot and smart (of course) con man, played by Matt Bomer (now I know why everyone thinks he’d play a good Mr. Grey. Agreed!), who becomes an FBI consultant to stay out of jail.

If you’re looking for riveting TV this isn’t it. But, if want something fun and mindless to watch so you don’t have to do what’s on your “to do” list - this is it. You can watch the first 3 seasons on Netflix - the show is currently on season 4.

Okay, now, back to my must see TV - I’m on S2:E13. :)

Starting Anew

Like many today, I felt the need to resurrect forgotten goals, activities, and enjoyments in hopes to start anew. Two years ago, I came up with the idea of this blog – The Year of Me. While it was off to a good start “life”, as they say, got in the way. So I thought why not give it another go. I mean, why let a perfectly good domain name go to waste - right?

This time I’m not going to over commit or get fancy about the ‘what’ of this blog. I’m just going to do what you do with blogs…write. :)

Happy New Year!

it-happened-in-a-blink asked: Just wanted to say i just found your blog and it bought a smile to my face. I have done a few adult beginner balet classes with my sister. and likewise i sucked. there were people there who had been doing it for like a year and in the "beginner" class!! Im glad you found an actual beginner class, i am going to go back when i finish up uni for the year. Hopefully attempt 2 will be better. Good luck with it all!

I’m so glad you like my blog post. Getting your note reminded me I need to start blogging again. Thank you for taking the time to send it. :)

Re: ballet - I’m happy to say that I finished 8 classes! Although, I decided to go back to swimming. ha! ;)

I hope you find a beginner class too! 

Take care! 

I will be good.

I’ve been a very bad student… My grand plan that had me practicing my French nightly for 30mins – 1hr hit a little snag this week. How big of a snag you ask? Well…I haven’t logged into Rosetta Stone at all. GASP! I know it’s terrible.

I even got an email reminder from the Rosetta Stone TOTALe learning system informing me just how bad of a student I am…. I mean, that I haven’t logged in… making me feel even worse, which I think is their goal. It worked! 

 

So I’m writing this quick blog entry to get me back in the saddle and start anew… I still have tonight!

Ballet. Take Two!

I was having the hardest time trying to think of how to start this post, so I settled on starting by answering a question I posed to myself in Tuesday’s post – Ballet Is F@*king Hard.

The question was - did I like it? With “It” being ballet.

That night, I wanted to write, NOOOOOO! But I knew if I did it was just my bruised ego talking so I decided to wait till I had at least taken another class - I wanted to be sure it wasn’t an ego-based decision.

So, back to the question - did I like it? YES… I really like ballet!

For those of you who read my Tuesday post, you know that my first adult ballet class was…well, a little embarrassing. However, I was committed to giving ballet a fair shot.

If you didn’t read my blog post, no worries…here’s the 10,000 ft view…

I signed up for a beginner/intermediate class at the Peninsula Ballet Theatre Conservatory. I went from being extremely excited to super embarrassed. My class turned out to be an intermediate class, which was advertised as a beginner/intermediate class, with yours truly being the sole “beginner”.

One thing that I didn’t mention in that post was that after class one of the girls (who I had been copying the whole time) told me there was a true beginners class on Saturday mornings. She mentioned the instructor went over the basics and was more focused on technique. So I thought I would give that class a shot, instead of going to the next beginner/intermediate class.

Needless to say, I was less than excited about going to this class. I was actually contemplating not going, and hitting the snooze button instead. But, the competitor in me refused to accept defeat… and, defeat is not in any competitive person’s vocabulary.

After my previous humiliation I proceeded with caution. I was the first one there so I began stretching and psyching myself up.

One by one the students started coming in… The instructor, Nathan, even came over to me to introduce himself, which completely caught me off guard since Monday’s instructor barely acknowledged me.

Everything about this class was the polar opposite of Monday… Nathan explained EVERYTHING — I know, crazy concept, right? He demonstrated each move. He took the time to come over to each of us (and there were approximately 10 of us) and gave individual corrections or complements and even cracked a few funnies along the way…I was having a blast! The hour went by so fast I couldn’t believe it. This was the class I had envisioned! Where was Nathan last time?

Say Cheese! Just typing that makes me cringe…

I’m one of those people that hate to have their picture taken. It doesn’t matter when, or for what occasion; I hate it. If you put a camera in my face I’ll either duck, turn my head, or run.

In fact, since the release of the digital camera, if someone takes my picture …I’ll delete it the first chance I get. My family and friends have learned (the hard way) to keep their cameras a safe distance from me during the holidays. Hehe.

I know I shouldn’t laugh. Deleting picture off of someone else’s camera is terrible. I’m even ashamed to admit I do that, but it’s true. I’m a compulsive picture delete-er. Watch out!

I don’t know why really… well, that’s not true either, I do… it has to do with vanity. I am not photogenic.

Sadly I’m not one of those people who can just drop what they’re doing, look up, and smile, then, voila, a perfect picture. It’s only on very rare and at very random times that I’ll take a good picture, like at the DMV of all places. That’s right I said the DMV. Random, right?

Anyway, my personal distain for having my picture take is not the reason for this blog post.

I wanted to share with you an iPhone app my friend Naomi, who is always up on the latest apps, introduced me to, Instagram. It’s a fun free app that let’s you get a little artsy with all the pictures on your iPhone. It’s so much fun! I installed it last night and started going through my photo library Instagram-ing them up! Here are a couple:

 

I thought Instagram was a perfect way to get me closer to one of my other ‘things I want to do this year’ goals  – Explore Photography.

Although I loathe being in front of the lens, I thought I would tap into the part of me that has started to enjoy taking pictures. GASP!

I discovered this about myself last year during a few Land Rover Driving Experience trips I did with my husband. I was the official camera gal and had a blast capturing the entire day. It actually made me want to spend time learning more about photography. Double GASP!

So if you ever see me be sure to smile when I say CHEESE!! Cuz’ I’m going to Instagram you.

Ballet is f@*king hard and I have the sore muscles to prove it!

I’m pleased to announce that yesterday I tackled yet another item on my ‘things I want to do’ in 2011 list – take ballet.

 I can’t say it was my first ballet class ever since I had taken ballet when I was 4. So instead I’ll say it was my first adult ballet class. I signed up for a beginner/intermediate class at the Peninsula Ballet Theatre Conservatory, brimming with confidence.

Their website advertised ‘Classes start January 3^rd 2011” and boy was I pumped! I figured new classes meant you would start from the beginning after assessing everyone’s abilities (or experience), which is my case, turned out to be exactly.. none. All the other students had clearly been taking this class for a while, so I turned out to be the sole ‘beginner’ in the class.

I was, however, determined to tackle this new challenge, being the athletic person I was…errr am. I mean, I’m a former college athlete; I swam competitively for years….  I knew I could do this. Call it my engrained athletic confidence, or competitive spirit – either way, I was ready.

I even made sure I had all the right equipment.

On my way to class I stopped by the Capezio Dance Theatre Shop and bought new ballet shoes, tights, leotard, etc. I was all set! BTW, Capezio Dance Theatre Shop was a great place. The owners’ daughter (didn’t catch her name) was so sweet and helpful. I highly recommend them. Anyway, I digress…

Let me tell you…I was a fish out of water.

I walked into that class and saw 11 adults standing next to the ballet bar stretching getting ready to begin. It was at that moment that all my engrained athletic confidence and competitive spirit hit the floor like a ton of bricks. I felt like a guppy amongst…<fill in your large fish of choice here>.  So for the next 1.5 hours I was doing everything I could, just to keep up.

Oh and another thing… Kiehl’s deodorant, my fav, is not made for heavy perspiration, that’s all I’ll say there.

It was the longest 1.5 hours of my life…. at least it felt that way. At one point I thought we were done and asked the guy next to me,  “are we done?”, he just politely said “no.” We had another HOUR left!!

Oh and that brings up another thing… In swimming we would joke around, drop the occasional f-bomb; it was all  apart of the swimming experience. Ballet? All business. No chatting. No swearing (expect for me!). No talking really. That was weird.

Back to my class…

The entire time nothing was explained, which I think was largely due to everyone having taken this class for a while. I wish I could have recorded it. Actually, no I don’t. The whole class I was copying my neighbors and trying to decipher the various ballet terms I couldn’t even pronounce. It was comical. Take my word for it.

So I know you all must be wondering – did you like it? Will I go back? Well, honestly, juries still out on if I liked it. And, yes, I will go back – I signed up for 10 classes. I’m committed to giving it a fair shot.

Oh and for those of you who are wondering if my desire to take ballet was motivated by the recent movie Black Sawn, kinda. I’ve always wanted to take ballet just couldn’t afford it as a child (that’s a whole different blog post). So when I saw the movie I thought why not and it brought back all those childhood desires…Thanks Hollywood!

Now I will end this blog post with these four little words, ballet is f@*king hard.