I'm Mint Chocolate!

I was running low on body wash and deodorant, so I made a run to Wally-World to pick some up. For both products I tend to get the same brand every time (Axe... don't judge me...), and on both fronts each had come out with a new fragrance. The body wash was called something like Dark Temptation, and the deodorant was Sharp and Focus. I was swayed by the power of something new in both instances.

So I get in the shower the next day and try out the new wash. In the store it had smelled like soap to me, but once I started to suds up with it I could detect faint hints of chocolate! The back of the bottle says, 'You'll be as irresistible as chocolate, but I didn't think they were being literal!

Then I went to put on my deodorant, and I noticed that the bottom of the stick said something about having mint extract in.

That's when I realized that I'm now mint chocolate flavored...

Food!

I just did a half hour of yoga and I feel pretty refreshed/stretched... although I slept til 11, so I guess I should feel refreshed anyways.

While there's a lot of things I could talk about that happened since my last post, I'm choosing to talk about food instead!

Last weekend I went down to Charlotte for a couple of days of practice with ML. It went very well. We got a lot of good work done and I even learned something important about my waltz from the group lesson... but more importantly, I ate very well! Most notably was when we went to this Japanese place called Sushi 101. It was fantastic! Not only do they serve sushi, but they're also a noodle house, which was particularly appealing to me since I've recently been on a Naruto binge (Naruto's favorite thing in the world is Ramen from a little stand in his village). The excitement that Naruto shows for this stuff is tremendous, and I realized I'd never had ramen noodles before. I always avoided the little 10 cent packs from the store, as it seemed too cliche for a college student to eat ramen. So I was really excited to see it on the menu. I was a little nervous since I'd tried udon and yaki soba noodles before and really didn't like them very much, but I took the plunge and ordered the ramen anyways! It was kinda funny... I ordered the bowl of ramen, with chicken, and the waitress turned to ML so I had to get her attention again to tell her I also wanted a spicy tuna roll. Well... that's not the funny part, the funny part was the look she gave me, like an "are you serious?" kinda look, and then, when ML only ordered a bowl of miso soup and (I think) a cucumber roll, she gave her a similar look, but with the opposite meaning. Like mine was too much food and hers was too little... She ended up being right on both ends!

The first thing of mine to come out was the tuna roll, and let me say, this was the best looking tuna I have ever seen in a roll. Maybe they added color to it or something, but it had the deepest red color I've ever encountered, and it was a really big cut of fish. It tasted really good too. I wonder if I can just buy that spicy mayo they use, or make my own somehow... I bet that would really kick up a turkey sandwich... but I digress...

Next came out my noodles. The bowl was huge! and it was a very nice looking... I guess you call it stoneware... bowl. On top all you could see was grilled chicken breast... which is saying a lot lot since the bowl was a good 10 - 12 inches in diameter. The chicken was sliced to make it easy to eat with the chopsticks, and under it was a bunch of veggies (carrots, onions, zucchini, etc...) and a mountain of noodles! I dug right in, and it was amazing! The noodles were really good, and the chicken was grilled just right. Mmm mmm MMM! Great! I did my best to eat it all, and I got pretty close on my own. ML helped a little bit and between the two of us we ate all the chicken and the noodles and most of the veggies. It wasn't until after we were laughing about how much it was that we noticed they had brought two smaller bowls and two spoons out also... it seems as though I was supposed to have served it out of the big bowl into a smaller bowl for eating... I hope I didn't look silly or break some cultural rule by eating strait from the big bowl...

The stuff was awesome, but I will say that I would have preferred a little more flavor in the broth. I think it might have just been a light vegetable stock, or maybe even just water...

So that was the big food event of that weekend, we backed a lot of cookies too, but cookies are cookies and this ramen was something a little less conventional.

So then this week... having the memory of wanting a chicken broth in my ramen, and then having some of the worlds worst chicken noodle soup (don't buy Harris Teeter's generic chicken noodle, its not worth it and now I've got a can of crap in my cupboard)... I decided to make my own chicken stock. It took me a couple of days, but I did it, and I have since turned that stock into some of the worlds best chicken noodle soup! It's outstanding! I love this stuff! There is so much flavor in the broth itself that you don't even need to put anything else in it, but then when you add more chicken and veggies and noodles it transcends this world into a nirvana or soup!

Mmmmmm..... I'm going to eat some now ...

That's Life :)

I think I'm finally "back on top in June" Things are good... they could get better yet, but I'm pleased with things for now :)

New FB group

Oh yeah... I found myself at a dinner table surrounded by three girls that I've hooked up with in the past. Some more recent than others... it was odd. They started comparing my techniques... They wanted to know who else I've been involved with and so the idea of making a facebook group of all the people I've made out with was tossed out there.

I think it would end up being a pretty small group in the scheme of things...

The days of my life

Someone referred to my blog as a soap opera tonight... apparently it's that interesting and dramatic. The funny thing is that most recently I've left out all the best parts. A new/old girl came and, well it seems like she's already left too.... but she was fun while it lasted. I won't say much more about her... she asked me not to talk about her here, so I'll respect her wishes. There's a new girl who's caught my eye at the dance studio, we'll call her P for now. I've only met her twice, and for only a few minutes each time. She has a cute factor, but she's probably too young for me to pursue... but this is me we're talking about here, and age hasn't really stopped me before. As long they're not one of my students, but they have to be old enough to be one... ha... no wonder my friends think I have no ethics... This girl's not even in school. She works full time instead.... And then it seems as though I've stirred things up with the big J... the only J that I've never actually gotten. I pretty much told her that I'm cutting myself off from her. I would do almost anything for that girl. She could call me in the middle of the night and I would come for her... that's why I can't see her anymore. She's never even given me a reason to care about her, and yet she holds a power over me. I giver her control... and I'm a control freak. Although I am conflicted. She sees this as losing a friend, and I think she's lost a few of those as of late. Our conversation has only been through email, so I can't be too sure, but I think I have upset her. Although, it's not like we really ever hang out much, if we do it's because I call her. I always work really hard to see her, why would she be so upset to hear this I can't see her anymore? She flip flopped on her boyfriend so much and got my hopes up so often... I just can't put myself through that all the time. I told her that I wouldn't be able to change. I wouldn't be able to stop flirting with her; to stop wanting her; that it would be unfair to her boyfriend for me to hang out with her and harbor such feelings. I know that I act on my feelings. Especially with her, I cannot keep them in check. While she has allowed my advances in the past, I cannot allow them in the future. But yeah, at the same time I'm sad and worried that I have caused her undue stress and sadness. I want to hold on. I want the conversation to continue. I check my email all the time waiting to see if she's responded to my last message, but I worry that she's given up and accepted the situation... or if she's just admitted to herself that she doesn't really care at all. I don't know if she ever really cared about me, she may just be more upset about losing my attention.

On another note... I've found NARUTO. Hulu has three seasons (each season has like 60 episodes) of the original japanese subtitled. That show is hardcore; people die! There's blood! And yet, it's very emotional. I have found myself getting choked up at moments... although it does often deal with orphan themes and growing up without parents that strike a chord with my daddy issues. I watch the show and think that the ninja stuff is pretty cool, but also think that chicks would be really interested in the relational bonds that are made and then tested in the story lines. As is typical of these shows, out of 30 mins, 15 is made up of credits, flashbacks, and foreshadowing... but with hulu I can skip past all of it and get through each episode in 15 mins. In two nights I've watched the first 20 or so. I think I'm hooked... although I don't really like the title character yet. He's too wreck less and self centered... although I do see how people can identify with him. He's still very much a kid though, and he has shown glimmers of maturity that make me change my opinion of him... temporarily.

Time Capsules

So I was doing some file management on my older computer, trying to clear up some space so I could run a good defrag, and I found an old video from about two years ago. It was a dance video from what might have been the first showcase I ever did. Ginny and I were dancing in Wythville, VA with Ray and Angela.

I remember some of the thoughts in my mind at the time the video was made. I remember how much work and effort we put into making up fancy, showy, intros for our most basic silver routines. But, I also remember feeling really good about our dancing. I can't remember... I think it was before our first competition together, but we were pretty confident about our abilities. You can see it in my face and my body actions... I really think that we are the cat's meow (oh yeah, that good), and it's evident that we're having a blast dancing.

Looking back on it now... we were awful. Terrible by comparison to where ML and I are now. It's embarrassing to watch and see some of the stuff I do. I look like a real idiot there with my arms flailing about and my actions so choppy and staccato, absolutely no fluidity of movement... but then it's kind of nice too. Nice to see that I have made improvements since then. That even in the time where I didn't have a partner I was still getting better. It helps ease my mind a little bit. For a while I've been feeling stagnant. I worry that I'm regressing, and that I'm not even as good as I was a few years ago... but seeing the video reminds me just how far I've come in that time.

But it also makes me sad. I remember the joy I felt at that time. I really loved it. Sometimes it feels like work now. Not always though. Today I played around with a new part of our cha cha, and it felt pretty cool. I had a lot of fun figuring out how to shape it and it felt like it looked pretty cool. So I still have times of joy, but it doesn't seem as though there are as many.

Although that's the thing about memories... they tend to be one sided. It seems like you never remember everything, just the good stuff, or just the bad. I think back to that time and I remember everything as being great. I remember dance as though we were awesome, and I remember absolutely loving to be on the floor with Ginny. I still catch myself longing for that time, when she was in my arms I felt like we could make anything happen on the floor. Dancing was so much fun. We would just 5, 6 around and around in an endless whip and nothing else mattered. She'd just look up at me, shift her tail back and forth in time with mine, the centripetal force pushing us to hold each other tighter, and I was so happy. It's one of my favorite memories of her. Just spinning with her. It makes my heart smile. ... but the point is, I don't often remember how much we fought over dance. How much we bickered about everything... the constant arguments. We rarely could agree on anything, and I don't often remember what our dancing really looked like (ie - not as good).

I need to realize that I've got it just as good now, if not better, than I had it then. I'm a better dancer now, the partnership is overall better, and I love my dance partner. I really love her. She and I are developing a chemistry on the floor and we work really well together. In the long run we have much more potential for success.

But you never forget your first love do you? Ginny wasn't really my first partner, but she was the first one to really work and be successful with me. I don't think I'll ever forget her, at least I hope I don't, no matter how much better I get. I kinda hope I always remember her and our partnership fondly.

I'm not sure what I'm getting at now. I think I'm just free writing. I still love Ginny, at least the memory of her. I love ML, and I'm excited for the potential to make new memories with her. I just can't decide if it will be the same or not; if I'll be able to make the connection with her, or if I even should. Maybe ML will get her own memories and connections. I'm sure she will... but when she does, what will happen to my memories of Ginny?

The moral of this post is: 1. keep a record of your activities so you can track your progress and know that you're improving and 2. don't start a post at 2 AM, especially one that's gonna make you reminisce about ex girlfriends...

I must have been a good boy...

because Santa was very good to me this year! I got pretty much everything on my list that I asked for. Right now, I'm typing this post on my new ASUS eeePC. I absolutely love it! It's so tiny I can take it anywhere. For the first couple of days I didn't even get out of bed until well into the afternoon because I was able to just pick it up and check my email and read the news and do everything online I wanted to right in bed. Although, I am still geting used to the keyboard, and I tend to make more type-o's on this itty bitty keyboard. It seems to follow the rule that if I hit more than one key (accidentally) at once, nothing registers. So I often find words that have letters missing and need to be filled in. Other than that I'm a little disappointed with the battery life and video playback doesn't work with some flash players (like the one on facebook). But I love the simplicity of the linix system.

I also got a new GPS! Totally unexpected... I thought I might get one big thing on my list but the GP too? Awesome! I haven't gotten to really play with it too much, since I haven't gone out of town with it yet. But I think I might be driving to knoxville in a couple weeks, so I'll get to mess with it then. Maybe I'll have it find me a new route to Greensboro tomorrow... It's pretty nice, has a big touch screen. It only has one voice, but that's ok cuz I like it, I just wish I knew her name. I like to refer to GPS's a lady... it's more fun to go 'exploring' with a friend (that's what my mom always called it when we were lost... 'exploring').

AND... I got a tiny little,, cell phone sized HD camcorder! It runs off two AA batts and an SD card. I haven't played with it much either, but it seems like it will be a lot of fun. I have no excuse not to get vids of my dancing now...

I got a few other things as well... lots of gift cards, a new travel case for toiletries, a huge 16 GB flash drive and some other fun stuff too. This Christmas was like I hit the jack-pot! ... I wonder if my family feels bad that I just lost my job, and if they're trying to make p for it with cool stuff... nah, they're just cool!

Then, with some of the cash I got, I bought Guitar Hero World Tour. Its a blast... already gone through with the drums, now I'm working on the bass.

But, I think I'm gonna have to cut this short... it seems that carpel tunnel sets in a lot faster on these tiny little keys...

until next time!