I’ve always enjoyed training for dance competitions. Even if the outcome isn’t fantastic, even if I don’t make the break rounds, even if I flop, I still enjoy the training nevertheless. That has always been the best part of the competitions for me. The medals and trophies attained are just an added bonus. For the MODF, we had practice 3 times a week. Now my nights are free and I get to sleep early, but I’m feeling lost instead…

Well, on the bright side, I met up with three different friends for breakfast/dinner/lunch over 2 days. My social life seems to be on the rise. Hahaha.

Just to fill up space, here’s my bragging rights:

My trophies from the Malaysian Open Dance Fest 2009

That’s my trophy for modern jazz individual (2nd), trophy for line dance individual (3rd), and medals for team events (3rd). I’m short of a medal for one team event, because there was a mix-up during the prize presentation, which the organisers haven’t fixed to date.

Here are the photos Pei Ru took during the night of the finals at Shangri-la.

In other news, I dropped my watch! My favourite watch!!! *sobsob* This watch was given to me by my website clients – a very sweet couple who thought of me when they saw this watch. Notice the brand of the watch in the photo below?? Best watch I’ve ever had! No one has ever had a watch with a brand in their name… mind you it’s not custom-made!

I dropped it as I was taking it out of my bag to put it on, and it fell straight onto the floor with a resounding crack. The impact not only caused cracks to appear on the glass front, but some of the diamantes were severely broken too :(:(:( Fortunately it’s still running though.

I dropped my watch! Notice the cracks on the glass front??

So I had to dig out one of my other watches to get the battery changed at a watch shop in One Utama. While the battery was being changed, I showed this watch to the sales assistant and asked if the glass face could be replaced. Admittedly, this isn’t a famous brand and obviously the shop I went to doesn’t carry the brand. The lady just handed it back to me and said, “It’s not worth it to change. Some of the ‘diamonds’ have already dropped off.”

I couldn’t believe how snooty she was. I mean, this watch is important to me for personal reasons, and it’s not some RM20-piece-of-junk picked up from some night market. So I just paid for the battery change and went off. I was actually contemplating buying a new good watch from the shop since they were having a sale, but her attitude completely put me off.

I’ll just have to go look for another watch shop to get it fixed then; probably a family-owned watch shop, if they still exist. Going to watch shop chains are of no use; some shops are so snooty, they won’t change the battery of a watch if they don’t carry the brand. At least if a shop is run by a family, they’re nicer and more willing to do what the customer asks.

Anyway, while I was in Midvalley today, I saw a Swatch roadshow and went to poke around. I asked a sales assistant to show me their waterproof watches (almost all of them are) because I have always wanted to get one for a long time, especially one that I can go swimming with. (Sometimes when I swim at the pool in school, I lose track of time. It would be good to have a watch so that I can check on the time.) She helped me pick out a really pretty and trendy white watch.

My brand new Swatch watch!

Yeeha!!! I haven’t had a watch with a rubber strap for a long time. Come to think of it, I haven’t bought myself a watch for a long time. Some of my watches were either free gifts with items bought, or given to me by friends. My watches in the past few years have all been either metal straps or leather straps. So yay!!! Now I’ve got one I can wear even when I’m exercising or dancing.

And… this is my first Swatch in my entire life!!! Hahaha!!! When I was in school, I’ve always wanted a Swatch because all my friends seemed to have them, but they were pretty expensive and I never worked up the courage to ask my parents to get me one. And I didn’t save for one either, because I felt that it was really too expensive, and I could easily get a working watch for less than half the lowest price of a Swatch. So this is like a childhood wish that’s been finally fulfilled. The only thing missing now is the rubber watchface guard that was the rage back in school.

I consider this my belated birthday present to myself, and my reward for my achievements at the MODF

Actually I spotted another Swatch watch that I also really liked; it has a metal strap with crystals in the them. But I can’t afford to buy too many watches And I’ve still got to fix the glass on my Zyenn watch.

Pretty good week so far, in spite of the cracked watch. And to top it off, it’s the second three-day weekend in a row! WOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!

My birthday was last month, on the 8th of July. I had shamelessly been announcing my impending birthday in vain hopes that I would, for once, be able to get something from my birthday wishlist, and I mean my birthday wishlist. Nothing of the sort happened, of course. Except for the dark chocolates. Oh, but at least I didn’t get any plumbing accessories this time

Anyway my birthday was off to a good start with dinner with close friends at The Ship.  It was fun and enjoyable, but if I thought I could escape the “Happy Birthday” singing, there was no such luck. While other places like TGIF merely get all their staff to sing very loudly, The Ship blasts the birthday song over their speakers so that everyone in the restaurant knows it’s someone’s birthday.

Birthday fun at The Ship! (Kodie not in the photo because he's taking the pic)

We took a lot of photos… Take a look!!!

Sunday saw a brief celebratory lunch with some of my dance teammates. Tracy made me beautiful cupcakes, every single one personally handpiped by herself. The cupcakes were absolutely delicious! She bought us lunch at Starbucks before making everyone embarrass me with a “Happy Birthday”  song…

Tracy's beautiful cupcake. She says her sifu told her it takes 600 tries before she'd get a perfect rose, but it already looks beautiful to me

Me with Tracy and her cupcakes

More photos of the beautiful cupcakes here!! Must-see!!!

My family then took me out fo a nice quiet dinner at Sri Siam. Erm, there’s no photo because it was a really simple dinner.

Tuesday night, on my birthday eve, I went for dance class which is usually followed by dance practice. One of the ladies who attends the social dance class, Eloise, usually brings her 6-year-old daughter Jye Yi to the class, but because the little girl usually can’t cope with the adult-level class, I spend time with the little girl, teaching her the basics and dancing with her so that she doesn’t lose interest in the dance. Because I spend so much time with her, she became quite attached to me; and she found out my birthdate… through the expedient method of asking me.

She made her father take her out to buy a cake, and insisted on coming to class to give me the cake. Fortunately it wasn’t a class celebration, because everyone left quite quickly when the class was over (phew!) but for the little girl’s sake, her mother and her aunt (both of them attend the social dance class) sang a quick round of Happy Birthday, and I cut the cake to give the little one a slice. She had bought a delicious coffee cake… yummm :)

Jye Yi and I

Wednesday… my actual birthday. I have to say that it was simply the best birthday I’ve celebrated at Sri KDU, ever. The day got progressively better

I had ordered mini-cupcakes from a friend, with the intention of giving each of my students one, and some of my colleagues (can’t give EVERYONE… there’s too many). I ordered the cupcakes because I knew that I couldn’t expect people to celebrate my birthday with me, so the only way to make sure I’m not alone in my celebration is to MAKE THEM CELEBRATE IT WITH ME.

The mini-cupcakes I distributed to my students and friends

The first class of the day was 4 Newton who, instead of the customary “Good morning, Miss Hoo” sang “Happy Birthday”. That was a nice greeting

"Everyone do the Japanese pose!!"

And… surprise, surprise. Some of my tuition students actually got me a cake!!! I was quite touched; it was the first time I ever received a cake from students not in my class. Muaxes to all of you With Lydia’s help, they got me a very pretty chocolate cake.

With the 5A kids who bought me the cake

Shaun attempting to stab Kareem with the superlong knife

The second class was 4 Aristotle, who used to drive me nuts the whole year by always singing “Happy Birthday”. But when I walked into class, they refused to sing it to me, and gave me the customary “Good morning” greeting instead. And when they did sing, they sang it to one of their classmates Gary instead. After a bit of hemming and hawing, Juno finally came forward with a papercard which everyone signed. And they said they didn’t know how old I was, so they wrote every number they could think of – “Happy 16th birthday”… “Happy 32nd birthday”… “Happy 48th birthday”… But of all the numbers everyone wrote, no one got the right number.

Me with 4 Aristotle

The class immediately after that was 4 Mozart, and they sent people outside to stop me from going in. I guess it would have been obvious to anyone as to what they were planning, especially since the lights were off and so many of them were holding cameras, but I had long taught myself not to expect anything. And… so when I went in, they had a cake with candles lit and everyone burst into song, I actually started crying. And unfortunately, a few of them caught my tears on camera. =.=”

But I don’t mind admitting it. I was truly overwhelmed, especially since this class isn’t even my homeroom, yet they were thoughtful enough to throw me a surprise party. If I could, I’d take them in as my homeroom, too.

"Everyone look at Miss Hoo!"

I don’t have photos of the cake 4M prepared for me though. I didn’t have my camera ready, I was too busy wiping the tears away.

The best surprise was yet to come though. 4M had done something great, and it would be right to expect my homeroom to do something better, but like I said, I had taught myself not to expect anything. But during lunchtime, it was obvious that they were planning something, because from my seat in the staffroom, I saw quite a few of my students walking by the doors, and the moment they spotted me through the glass, they quickly doubled back. Then Darryl was sent in to ask me to step out. He pretended to want to ask me a Chemistry question, but it was so obviously a lie, that I handed him my camera. What was waiting outside for me was beyond anything I had expected…

I GOT A HUMAN GREETING CARD!!! IT’S THE BEST CARD I’VE EVER RECEIVED!!!

My human greeting card is so big, I get to stand inside it!

And on top of that, they got me a cake! And embarrassed me in front of everyone by singing “Happy Birthday” very loudly at the cafeteria.

The cake 4 Dickens bought. I'm at the cafeteria where they embarrassed me by singing "Happy Birthday" very loudly.

I had no more tears left, but I was still very touched. It trumps 4M’s surprise party, hehe.

I was surprised at how quickly everyone disappeared back to class when the bell rang, leaving me and a few others to clean up the mess. And when we got back to class, someone kept saying, “The party isn’t over yet” but it didn’t register until Johann walked in with a second cake…

My second cake from 4 Dickens!!

The day ended with my receiving a beautiful bouquet from Bronya, which she had sent to the school. They were late; it was supposed to be sent in the morning. But nevertheless, it was a great end to a great day.

The lovely bouquet Bronya sent to me at school

Thank you everyone for your wishes, presents, and cakes! I love you all!

Photos of my birthday at school can be viewed here.

1. I love dark chocolate. The darker the better. I prefer those with AT LEAST 70% dark chocolate. Anything less doesn’t qualify as dark. But, NO FERRERRO ROCHER, PLEASE!! That’s my least favourite chocolate brand. Seriously!
2. If you think I deserve something more intellectual, book vouchers would be great!
3. Have I mentioned how I like photography? I could do with some new lenses to go with my Nikon D60. Or one of those LED flashes.
4. My videocamera is dying on me. It’s been having problems for a while, and now the lens holder at the camera is getting loose (as in, it seems like it’s going to fall off my videocamera). I actually sent it in to fix a while back, and obviously it wasn’t a good job. Sigh… what to do, it’s a Sony. I really could do with one of those new HDD HD videocameras.
5. I’ve never been to Club Med before, would love to go there…

*Hint hint*

I’m pretty sure that the workshop attendees must have thought me unsociable, because I sat in one corner fiddling with my laptop instead of mingling with the crowd. But then, the 2-hour drive was only enough for me to cut one medley, and I was supposed to do three! So I worked on the other two as the workshop was in progress. Fortunately I-Vee was with us, and she helped me take a video of the entire workshop. From time to time, I managed to take a few shots of Chief Guru with my DSLR though.

…. which goes to show how last-minute our performances were planned. We did have a rehearsal between the workshop and dinner, but that was obviously not enough

I performed with Bronya in two of the medleys (a funky mix, and a cuban mix) while she performed solo for one (smooth). Erm. We did pretty well in spite of the last-minute cuts, if I do say so ourselves. OK, maybe she won’t agree with me, because I messed up some of the beats. But the crowd did respond to me, and to her, when we played with the crowd. So I guess they enjoyed our performances in spite of our mistakes. Hahaha!!!

No, I’m not putting up the videos. The performance was probably only fun to watch live. If you want to watch it, well… you should have been there!

The next morning Bron had 2 private classes, so we had breakfast together before she went off. My right wrist felt stiff, and I thought I slept on it wrong. It was only much later that I realised it was a slight injury from last night. What happened was this: we didn’t have a changing room so we were given the stage (with curtains drawn) to change behind. The actual performance was on the floor in front of the stage, where the dinner tables were arranged around. As I was walking down the short flight of stairs from the stage, I slipped and grabbed the railing to stop myself from falling. I hit my thumb, so there’s a small bruise on it, but I thought that was it. I didn’t realise then that I’d probably sprained my wrist as well.

Anyway, so when we left the hotel, we were in a bit of a hurry to leave as we supposed to meet some ladies for lunch. Bron had come back to the hotel to shower after her private classes. I had like, 3 million things to carry… as usual. I had all my videocamera/camera gear, my make-up, my clothes bag, etc etc etc…

AND I LEFT MY CAMERA BAG BEHIND. WHICH HAD MY VIDEOCAMERA, MY DSLR CAMERA, 2 LENSES, FLASH AND MY WATERPROOF CAMERA.

Trust me, I screamed louder than you did.

I couldn’t believe it. I only realised it when I had reached home, unpacked everything, and switched on my computer to convert the videos, and suddenly went, “Eh? Where’s my camera bag?”

I was in total shock. I thought that I left it in I-Vee’s car initially, but my memory was very clear on that one. I could picture her car boot in my mind’s eye – what it looked like after unloading all my many, many things, and I knew it wasn’t there. And then it hit me. I knew exactly where it was in the hotel room, and I remembered that I was carrying many bags, but I had not carried it out of the room when we checked out.

I had never left anything before in a hotel room, and it’s horrifying to leave something so expensive and precious behind!

And here, I was lucky. I normally wouldn’t have the phone number of the hotel we stay in that has arranged by someone else, but today I did. I-Vee had gone downstairs first to check out, while Bronya and I had struggled out with our many bags (she herself had many bags too). I pocketed the hotel keycard which was left in the room slot (to trigger the electricity) and didn’t return it to the reception because I was carrying too many bags. And it had the hotel’s address and phone number on it.

So I quickly dialed the number and spoke to a hotel staff (who seemed to be rather *blur*) and made him check with the cleaning staff for me. And yes, it was there.

THANK GOD!!!

(Which brings another issue to mind as to why they didn’t call me to tell me about my bag. You see, I’ve labeled my bag AND cameras with my name and phone number. But that’s another issue altogether)

I called the workshop organiser, Helen Fan, who was the one who also arranged the hotel for us, and asked her to pick it up for me. Fortunately she’s coming to KL tomorrow, and I can meet her then to take my bag from her.

Actually, if Helen wasn’t able to pick it up, I was prepared to drive all the way back there myself just to get it!!

Yes, I know I’m lucky. And I’m every bit grateful for that. I had once also left a cheque book behind at a cheque deposit machine in a bank on a Sunday. And when I went back, it was GONE… but someone saw me looking for it, and his friend was the one who kept the cheque book with the honest intention of giving it to the bank. I cannot say how lucky I was. It was perfect timing as well… that the guy happened to be at the machines when I returned to look for the cheque book. If he wasn’t there, he wouldn’t have seen me hunting, and wouldn’t have told his friend to pass the book back to me.

I know I was such a fool to have made such a horrible mistake, and I cannot say enough how lucky I am. Oh, and because I don’t have the photos, I can’t put anything up with this post yet…

So now I’m waiting for the bag, and I hope everything’s still inside. My wrist is stiff, but it will recover. And I’ve just had a cup of Milo, which, to quote I-Vee, has made me “warm, comfortable, and contented”.

1. YOUR REAL NAME:
Hoo Sze Yen

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name plus izzle).
Szeizzle [gosh, how do you pronounce this?]

3. YOUR SPY NAME: (favorite colour and favourite animal).
Purple Dolphin [now THIS is cool!!]

4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (your middle name and street you live on/or neighborhood if it’s a number).
Sze Taman Megah [how unglamorous!!!]

5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, and first 2 letters of your first name).
HooYe or YeHoo. Take your pick.

6. YOUR SUPERHERO/CRIMINAL NAME: (your 2nd favorite colour, and favourite drink).
Blue Milo

7. YOUR IRAQI NAME: (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, 1st letter of your last name, 2nd letter of your moms maiden name, and 3rd letter of your dads).
Zohwk [If I add the "!" in front, will it sound cooler? !Zohwk!]

8. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (parents middle names).
Hokswee [still sounds Chinese]

9 . YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one of your pets).
Black Kimoputih

10 . YOUR HOOD NAME: (first 3 of your first name, and add -iqua).
Yeniqua

Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s supposedly because I want to know more about you, but I don’t really mind if you don’t do this note; so it’s more like I’m tagging you because I want you to know these 25 random things. Anyway, most of you’d already know most of these 25 not-entirely-random things about me.

And the main reason I’m doing this is because I got tagged by 2 people (curse you, Lyn Li and Sean. Ok not really, I love you two too) and this note is way overdue. I was supposed to complete it before the Internet became obsolete. It?s not obsolete yet (at least, I hope not) so I?m still early. In a manner of speaking.

If you do decide to this list too, remember to tag me!

1. I am an adrenaline junkie. I’ve tried bungee jumping, tandem skydiving, Zorbing, surfing, skiing and snowboarding. Dying to try paragliding, hanggliding, and those crazy roller-coasters in Disneyland. Name me an insane adrenaline-kicking activity, and I’ll be the first to sign up.

2. I love dancing. Really, really love dancing. I would like to try every dance form just once, if possible – with the exception of breakdancing and the Melbourne shuffle. But I can’t really dance to save my life.

3. …. and yet I like going for dance competitions. As in competing in them, not just watching them. It’s that adrenaline rush, I suppose.

4. I love dark chocolate. The darker the yummier. Other chocolates (milk choc, white choc) are also good, but I LOVE dark chocolate.

5. …. but I can’t stand cheapo chocolates, especially those horrible cheap fake-tasting things they sell to kids. And I don’t like Ferrerro Rocher.

6. I’m always late. I have to make a conscious effort if I ever want to be early. Tardiness seems to be part of my DNA.

7. I hate it when people try to tell me what to do, in the everyday sense. Oh, I can take instructions from my superiors and clients; that’s different. But I mean when people tell me, “You should do this…” as if they know so much more than me. There’s only one person I can take this from, and it’s not my mom, and it’s certainly not you. [The one who is, well you know who you are :-* <3 ]

8. I always like to finish what I start, in a very complete sense. If I?m taking up a course, I would try if possible to go through the entire course from beginner all the way to advanced.

9. I can?t speak any Chinese language or dialect. Enough maybe to order food, but not enough to carry on a meaningful conversation.

10. I have a civil engineering degree. But right now I?m a Science teacher in a private high school, and on the side I do website design. And prior to teaching, I was working in the IT line for a few years.

11. I?m a very technical person. I usually drive a lot of people nuts by talking about angles and parallel lines, and relate everything back to Physics as much as possible. In fact, I even look at dancing as one big Math problem (which is why I remember dance steps so well. Weird but true).

12. I?m a gadget geek!!! I love computers and the Internet. And other things with bits of electronics in them. I spend most of my money on things like computers, cameras, and the like. And I don?t like going into IT shops because I?ll be seeing too many things I want to buy but can?t afford to

13. And unlike most girls, I don?t like shopping or window shopping. I don?t like going into store after store to look for pretty clothes or just to try things on. Whenever I go shopping, I typically have a shopping list or know exactly what I need to buy, and I make a beeline for those items.

14. I don?t like my hair because it?s frizzy and wild and so hard to manage. But yet I wouldn?t trade it for anything else. I would never straighten my hair or go for a permanent perm.

15. Bad spelling drives me nuts. Bad grammar I can live with (provided I understand what’s trying to be said), and typos are forgiveable but I can’t stand bad spelling. I’ll be itching to circle the misspelt words with a thick red marker pen.

17. I love reading!! I like curling up in bed or on the couch with a really good book. Some of my favourite authors include Terry Pratchett, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Roald Dahl. And yes I also read Harry Potter.

18. … but I DON?T like reading romance novels and chick lits. And I?m proud to say that I?ve never read any. *pats self on back*

19. I?ve got scoliosis. Yeah, that was random (it IS supposed to be 25 random things). If you don?t know what that is, look it up. And I?ve also got flat feet, which is a killer when I try to walk for a long time, plus it makes dancing much harder.

20. I don?t watch much TV. But I do have a few favourite series, including Bones and Heroes. But I don?t watch them on the telly. I erm, have other sources (not stating them in case the Internet police clamp down on me).

21. I actually don?t like dressing up. I?m most comfortable in a T-shirt, sweat pants, and sports shoes.

22. I?m not the type who can sit still. I like to be doing something all the time. Idleness drives me nuts.

23. I don?t believe in ?dieting?. I have never dieted or starved myself in a bid to achieve ?beauty?. When I put on weight, I usually go, ?Oh well.? And somehow that extra weight usually goes off by itself eventually.

24. I can say the alphabet backward. And no, I never practised. It’s just that I know the position of each letter in the alphabet without much effort; name me a letter and I can tell you which letters come before and after it without much thought. One day I decided to test myself and found that I could rattle the alphabet from Z to A without pausing much. I think it’s because I saw the alphabet as a big Math problem. Yeah yeah, I’m weird that way.

25. By the way, did anyone notice I skipped #16? Waahaahaa….

Tuesday : I went for Bronya’s Freestyle-in-Line CD1 class (yes, I’m starting from beginner again!!!) after school from 5 to 6.30pm. We’ve finished learning her choreography to Lady Marmalade. Then I went for the swing dance session at Aliyaa from 8pm-11+pm.

Erm. Nearly died on Wednesday. By Wednesday evening, I could barely concentrate on teaching my class. Hahaha.

Wednesday: Was supposed to go for salsa at Aliyaa with my sister, but at the last minute she decided against it because she said she had work the next day. Sigh! I already made Adam promise to go there, so I went alone. But first I joined Bronya’s line dance class until 10pm, before going over to Aliyaa to check out the salsa scene. Was there till just before midnight.

Thursday: Had dance classes in the morning with Bronya again. Joined her Freestyle-in-line CD3 and CD4. Good God, having slept late the night before, I had to force myself to wake up early. Actually when I woke up early, I felt fine. But as the morning wore on, I got sleepier and sleepier

Thursday night saw me at Shall We Dance studio for a swing dance workshop and practice session, again until 11+pm!

Friday: Salsa night! Was at the Salsa Cruise Asia event at Salsa Havana, Federal Hotel with my sister and Adam. I must say that the bartenders were terrible. We ordered 3 drinks, and were supposed to get 3 drinks free. Adam ordered a lime juice, I ordered a virgin lemonade, and my sister ordered a Mojito. Our free drinks could only be alcoholic, but Adam couldn’t take alcohol, so we ordered 2 more Mojitos (for my sister) and I ordered a rum and coke.

The bartender took forever to prepare our drinks, and although I kept going there to ask for our drinks, he kept telling me to wait. I finally got so fed up and a waitress saw me, and she kinda scolded the bartender. And it turns out he ONLY prepared the Mojitos, because it was the common drink of the night. He took a while to prepare the rum and coke, and the virgin lemonade, and promised to send the last drink over later.

Well when we finished all the other 5 drinks, the drink still wasn’t ready. I went over at least 3 times, and each time he asks for “2 minutes”… “5 minutes”… in the end i just stood there and waited because otherwise I’d be a year older and it still wouldn’t arrive. And when he mixed up the drink, it wasn’t even what I ordered. I don’t know what it was (I’m not a fan of alcohol or cocktails) but it was definitely an alcoholic cocktail.

We were so disappointed about the whole thing that we decided to go to Little Havana. Sorry, Tim. Would have liked to stay but we were there for the dancing which didn’t start even though it was already 11pm. (Everyone was initially just standing around even though there was music, and then there were games)

Little Havana had a bit more dancing which was good.

Saturday: I slept the whole day and yet I was still tired by night. Saturday night was Havana Estudio’s studio party. And when I got there, I am shocked to say this, but… I was tired of dancing. I did enjoy the few rounds of salsa I had. But I can’t believe I’m already getting tired of salsa.

OK, I’m not a very good salsa dancer. Largely because I never took lessons. This salsa party is only my 4th salsa night (in two weeks!), and so far I’ve just been picking up steps on the floor, mostly by Adam who goes for lessons. Good thing is I’m able to follow most of the leads, and whatever I don’t know, I… bluff my way through. Convincingly. Some people don’t even believe that I never took classes. Hahahahahahaha!!! But after a while I guess I’m tired of doing the same steps again and again, even though I’m dancing with different male leads. I think this is largely due to (1) my being a level zero (not even beginner!!!) so they don’t try steps that are too advanced with me, and (2) they all learn from the same teachers (Sam & Aisha at Havana Estudio) so they all know the same steps.

Perhaps I ought to take lessons. That might challenge me and make me improve and maybe make me like salsa a bit more.

On the other hand, I’m kinda picking up salsa on the floor so rather reluctant to pay for classes. Yes yes I’m a cheapskate but can’t afford that many dance classes on my poor pitiful teacher’s salary, OK.

And one thing I observed. In open social parties like at Little Havana, guys are more willing to dance with girls that they don’t know, whether or not the girls are good dancers. But at the studio party, well, the guys tend to just ask the girls they do know, especially their classmates. Me being an outsider meant that I didn’t get to dance much. Which was fine because I was “a bit sick of salsa” anyway. But the studio party showed me how clique-ish people could get. I guess it’s because they only want to dance with good dancers or people who know the steps. I don’t know why. To show off to their other classmates? To show off to their teachers?

Ooh one thing to add. During the dance, when we were supposed to do “shines”, I don’t know any of the shines that everyone else learnt, so I usually make up my own stuff. Hahaha. Interestingly a few people said, “I noticed your hiphop moves!” Erm. I never thought they were hiphop moves. I don’t even hiphop. I’d call them “freestyling attempt at salsa to cover up the fact I don’t know how to do shines”. Hahahahahaha!!!

If I’m gonna continue salsa, I’d probably just stick to the open socials for now.

I must say. I’m looking forward to my morning freestyle class on Sunday. At least it’s different from swing or salsa!!!

No Video Log tonight. I couldn’t sleep until 6am in the morning, and couldn’t sleep in because I had to go for a dance class at 10.45am. I managed to stay wide awake and managed to pump in lots of energy in class, and finally decided to take a nap at about 4pm. And after that I had to peel myself out of bed for dinner. I’m looking pretty awful right now, so if I made a video log, I’d probably scare away not only future blog readers, but all my current ones too.

Anyway, if you want me to do a sexy striptease, the best you’re going to get is by superimposing my face onto the body of someone else doing a striptease. If you want ME to do the real thing, all I can say is… Dream on!!!

Well, if you really want an authentic one of me, here’s the closest you’re gonna get.

Sexy striptease

By the way, this photo was taken during the Jubilation Workshop in September. I did not take this photo on purpose for this blog entry!!

For those who know me as a gadget geek, among my many electronic possessions is a handycam (Sony DCR-HC85E). Not a new one, mind you. It’s about 4 years old, and it records using mini DV tapes. Yes, the DVD cameras were out back then but I refused to get one because after weighing the pros and cons (I did hours of research just to check out which model to get, too!!) I decided to buy the tape camera instead. I won’t go into why right now (maybe another time), but I have to say that I never regretted buying this videocamera. The HDD cameras are out now, but my mini DV still works fine, so I’m not going to get one just yet. Even though I really, really want to.

ANYWAY, I’ve known eversince I purchased this videocamera that it can double as a webcam, but I never got around to testing that function – mainly because I don’t want people to view me in my underwear.

Haha!! That got your attention, didn’t it?!

OK, I never sit in front of my PC only in my underwear because it’s really too cold to do so. But I normally don’t look my best when I’m in front of my PC because I either look exhausted or really sloppy, and I don’t really want my friends to see me like that. Anyway I don’t really need a webcam because it’s not like I have a boyfriend miles away who totally misses me and wants to see me in my under– I mean, wants to see me.

But just now when I was testing my videocamera prior to a videography job, I remembered that supposed webcam function, and thought, why not? My poor videocamera has been left unused for a long time. I typically use it to record dance parties/events/performances and/or school events, with the latter no longer in existence since I am not working in a school anymore. Tonight’s videography job is an exception (will talk about that another time)… so why not make full use of my videocamera now?

So after coming back from that event, instead of going straight to bed like I should (I was at that event for seven long hours, during which I didn’t get to eat nor sit down. But don’t blame the event organisers. That’s really expected as part of my job as a videographer. I’ve suffered far worse), I rigged my videocamera up to my computer to test it as a webcam. Apparently it works, except the friend I tested it with couldn’t see my webcam, although MSN indicates that it’s able to show my webcam.

And I thought… hey for a change, why not try to put in a VLog? I’ve read about VLogs for ages but never got around to trying to put my own up for a change. For shame – considering that I’m supposed to be some sort of videographer, eh?

But the main reason is I never did is because I’m never really comfortable in front of a videocamera. Oh, I love still cameras and how they make me look, but that’s a snapshot. A moment frozen in time. And they’re totally Photoshoppable. Videocameras however record you talking and moving. They’re editable, I agree – but they’re harder to edit than still photos.

Besides, I don’t have much to say in front of a videocamera. I express myself so much better in the written word. And that’s mainly because there’s a useful button on the keyboard called “Backspace”. The “Delete” button is equally handy, too.

Anyway, here’s my first video log ever. I know it totally sucks, but hey, it’s a start

Here are some more examples of how “opposite” I am… when I drink coffee, I get sleepy instead of staying awake!

And… I can’t take vegetables. Not only because I dislike them, but they upset my bowel movement. If I stay off ‘em, I’m good… but if I eat a lot, I get constipation instead. It’s another great reason for me to not eat my greens, actually, so that’s fine with me…