This Goes Here, That Goes There

so i've had LOTS of free time on my hands since the semester is over with and that i'm officially a graduate of graduate school! YEAH! that being said, i've found other things to fill my time :) the other day, i inventoried ALL of the jewelry that my jewelry partner and i have on the market. took about four hours but i believe will be totally worth it. everything has a code number which notes who made it, what year it was made and what order it was made...a simple 5 digit code :) in the midst of all of this, my mother and sister have found it entertaining to discuss my organization skills which, i must say, are quite stellar and are far from a problem as far as i am concerned.

Two of the examples discussed will now be discussed here. When I was probably about 10 or so, I decided to catalogue all of our family's VHS tapes. each started with a letter - K for Kid, A for Adult, F for family, H for home video and so on. Then, a number was assigned to each. I then made an inventory sheet so when we wanted to watch something, all we would need to do is look on the sheet, take into account who all were going to be watching and choose from the appropriate category as opposed to thumbing through all of the cumbersome tapes. made sense to me! when my mom and i reminded my sister of that, she did not remember BUT still has some of the tapes with my numbering on them and now knows what they are there for!

The second example was one that I had forgotten! My sister reminded me today. At my Granny and Papa's house, we had a plethora of puzzles with lots of grandkids to work on them and to lose the pieces. I took it upon myself to number the bottom of each puzzle box, complete each puzzle, turn them over and number the pieces to match the box so puzzles could be easily kept together. I found this sooooo funny to be reminded of. Sometimes I'm amazed as to how far back my organizing obsession goes!

Growing up, I was paid by my parents and my friends parents to clean and organize closets and cupboards in their homes. I'm talking from age 7 and up I was many peoples' organizer....and i loved it. I often thought for years growing up that I would perhaps just clean houses for a living! My childhood best friend, her sister and my sister would play what we called 'Townspeople' where we would all create businesses for ourselves, make storefronts in doorways and conduct business just as adults would do in the real world. There was the banker, the postman (always my sister since she was the youngest and nobody else wanted the task), a daycare and other odds and ends. I ALWAYS had BB's Beauty and would do people's hair and Classic Maids where I would come to organize and clean your business. *I recently drove past a business the other day actually called Classic Maids and about shat myself when I saw it! - That was my company first! ;) * So it's in my blood I suppose.

I wonder why some people are this way and others are not. I'm SO glad I am this way though! I can't imagine living in a chaotic, disorganized way. I just wish I could organize my thoughts as I organize the tangible things in life.....

Spinning and Learning

this post should prove to be a bit more upbeat than last :)

so i dance. i think dancing is great medicine for the soul. i refused to even move my feet to music in my teen years yet one night at church camp, of all places, i decided to truly shake a tail feather to 'come on eileen' and i've not been the same since. i've clubbed all over the world. i actually find it incredibly interesting to examine different countries club cultures and make it a point to hit night life spots when in different countries - i've been to clubs in mexico, all over germany, prague, mumbai, hungary, switzerland, and england. out of all of those, the clubs i visited in acapulco, mx were by far the most elaborate, best music, and overall the best club experiences i've yet to have.

when i was younger, i used to enjoy choreographing dances for my sister and i to perform for our parents. the ones i recall were done to prince's 'batdance', weird al's 'like a surgeon' and a mix of all sorts of songs i cut and pasted together. oh! and baby got back :) i also recall attempting to choreograph some synchronized swimming in our pool as well. in addition to the dancing, i'd also arrange for my sister to sing into our little blue and yellow microphone while i played piano and we scripted out newscasts and commericials to perform as well. we've been little entertainers for a while. i'm now getting off subject.

though i love to dance, i've had no formal introduction to dance aside from participating in a tap dance class when i was 6 or 7. i can now say though, that i'm experiencing some formal introduction.

i was married in march and a month or so before that, my father, who loves to do 'the peguin' dance or spin around like james brown, decided that he was going to take private dance lessons to razzle and dazzle all those in attendance when we did our father daughter dance. he started learning 'west coast swing' at the beginning of the year and apparently now has an addiction. i attended one of his private lessons, learned a bit and completely forgot what i learned promptly after the wedding. recently though, he's started attending group dances of west coast swingers (the dancers, not the partner sharers) at a community center near my home. he asked me to go and i agreed. simple as that. my mother is beyond tired of his dancing and him trying to get her to dance with him which i don't understand at all. at least he's not drinking his arse off and beating her or attending the topless lady establishments in town! all the man wants to do is dance and have his wife dance with him. i see no harm in that. that being said though, my husband isn't all too into the dancing craze either although i have taught him a few steps while our beast of a dog barked at us. i digress.

so two weeks ago, i accompanied my father to the group dance at the community center. we dance in a gym for an hour and pay $4 for the experience. i'm lightyears younger than the rest of the crowd and i wouldn't be suprised to find that one or two of them to be serial killers. i say that lightheartedly and only to accentuate the interesting folk who have left their homes to learn to dance. we are first split into male and female appropriate groups and learn our 1-2-3 and 4 5 and 6 steps and then are partnered with a male. we dance with each man for about 30 seconds and then switch to the next while the instructors pass through and tell us to tighten our arms, watch our feet and so on. what do i have the most trouble with you ask? following. i can't help but lead and that is true for every aspect of my life. i have control issues and want to control it all. it's a bittersweet curse. i love taking responsibility for things but hate that i'm always responsible for something.

in last week's class we learned spins with our partners. i had the hardest time with this. some of the men you dance with are terrible leaders but others teach me more than the instructor does. one in particular last week told me, in the midst of the spinning, to not do any of the work, let the man do all of the work on the spins. and i did. and it was liberating. i got it! i did the spin! but it was more that that, i let go of my control and let someone else take the wheel. it was a small (dance) step for mankind but a huge leap for me. perhaps i can learn to let go of control periodically and can continue to feel that release i felt while spinning.

tonight i will spin some more and will pass under some serial killers arms and i can't wait.