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♬♫♪♩ O.K.L.A.H.O.M.A! ♩♪♫♬
Just be glad that you can’t actually hear me singing! I’m a dancer, not a singer. 😉 Actually I can sing, but I don’t have a “pretty” singing voice. I have in the acting trade what is known as a “character voice” meaning I can hit the notes but it isn’t a “singer’s voice.”
In other words, I can’t entertain solely on the sound of my voice. Instead, there has to be some other factor involved like a humorous song selection or I have to be playing a character in a musical. But I digress… Hmmm has there ever been a post on this blog where I have not digressed? *grin*
Back to the whole dancing thing. My next event will be in Oklahoma. Here is the details.
Apr 6-8, 2012 — Oklahoma Dance Rush
— ON STAFF: Teaching Line Dance Workshops
— Competing in Intermediate Couples
— Competing in Intermediate ProAm
— Competing in Advanced Line Dance
Oklahoma City, OK
Event Director: Beth Emerson & Mike Shoemake
WEBSITE: www.oklahomadancerush.com
See ya on the dance floor!
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Sometimes you just know…you’re getting better…
Numbers? I don’t need no stinkin’ numbers! Well, sometimes you don’t. Sure, measuring yourself with a tape measure or weighing yourself regularly is a good way to track your progress but they are a means to the end, or rather, they are validation of the means.
Or, perhaps, one could view those measurements as the chronicle of a tale told.
But… the story itself plays out whether or not we record it.
Last week I spent a lot of time in front of my computer dealing with being unemployed. This week there was less of that “desk stuff” and a lot more dancing in the studio. Neither last week nor this week have I really been all that concerned about “keeping track” of my fitness levels-NOT a high priority! This week so far I’ve….
- Sunday — 2 hour couples practice
- Monday — 2 hour couples practice
- Tuesday — An hour private lesson with my coach followed by Line dance practice followed by 30 minutes of couples practice followed by an hour couples lesson followed by another hour of couples practice
- Wed — an hour and a half of couples practice followed by an hour and a half of line dance practice
Which brings me to now. OMG!!! Gurl let me tell ya…
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“World Championships” mean it’s time to plan for the coming Competition Year
“
Heat # 55, bringing to the floor in Male Newcomer Pro-Ams, number 442 dancing with his pro….”
“Now for the dance of love… Polka!”
“Remember gentlemen, you’re supposed to gaze lovingly at her during the night club”
“Let’s hear it for our dancers” *applause*
“And in first place, our new World Champion in Male Newcomer Open…”
Ah, the sounds of competition at the UCWDC Country Dance World Championships, “Worlds” for short. The World Championships are held the first week of January each year and there are dancers from all over the world competing. This year it is in Orlando Florida. The dancers at the event have been working all year long toward this final event of the year, the culmination of 12 months of effort.
Screen capture from live broadcast of Worlds XX Femaile Newcomer Waltz
Just so you know, Worlds XX is actually going on right now; right this very minute in fact. I’m watching the Female Starter B and Female Newcomer Pro-Am competition right now as I type this, streaming live from GlobalDance.TV. They are just finishing Night Club and then they’ll do Cha-Cha, followed by the Waltz heats.
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Sometimes life gets in the way of living…
Ah… the proverbial path littered with “good intentions”. I know thee well. It’s been about two weeks since I’ve posted.
First some housekeeping: I’m still trying to get back into the groove and routine of being on Jenny Craig. Notice that I said “trying”. *sigh* More on that in another post. Second, I’ll try to catch up the weekly progress photos and charts this weekend. I took the photos and I have the data but haven’t had time to post them yet. There is no real visible difference yet in the photos and alas, my net weight remains almost the same. 😦
The big news and the reason I’ve been not blogging is that I’ve had drama in my life: things going on at work, a couple unexpected car repairs and, dealing with the realization that I can’t afford to do ProAms at the UCWDC World Championships in Jan. Ugh. Bleech even! Paatooie! With all that, I’ve not had a lot of time for the blog.
I haven’t talked a lot yet about dancing here on the blog. So a bit of background for those of you who are not into the sport of Country Western Dancing: “ProAm” is a concatenation of two words: Professional and Amateur. The ProAm division is where a Coach or “Professional” dancer teams up with a student or “Amateur” dancer. Both dance together on the floor during the competition, however, only the student is judged in the competition and receives a score. The Pro’s job is to be on the floor with the student, dancing, and try to make the student look as good as possible and to help them out, if possible, during any glitches…things like the student forgetting what comes next in the routine. Not that has EVER happened to me! If you believe that then send me your credit cards and your bank account routing number so that I can deposit a kabillion-zillion dollars into your account. 😉
Anyway… I do digress at times don’t I? Moving on… So, when I say that “I can’t do ProAms at Worlds”, this… Is. A. BIG. DEAL!. *sigh* Read the rest of this entry
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My first week back on Jenny Craig
This past week was a mix of goals met and goals missed.
On the “positive” side:
I did not eat out at any fast food place or restaurant all week. Yay! Woo Hoo. Go Team Tony!
I weighed myself morning and night so now I have full week of good data rather than estimates. Uh-huh! Uh-huh! Who da man?
I increased the amount of exercise that I’ve been doing, adding extra practices with my dance partner. Yay! Yippee! Yee Haw!
I followed the Jenny Craig menu for lunches and for breakfast. Yay Me. Woo Hoo! Happy Dancing!
I ate the foods I bought at Whole Foods. I try to buy organic, locally grown, foods. Bravo! Yay Me!
I took my bicycle to Bicycles Inc and had it serviced so it is now ready to ride. Tires aired up! Chain lubed. Brakes checked. Woo Hoo!
On the “not so positive” side:
I did not actually weigh and measure all the foods that I ate. I tried, and think I succeeded, in keeping the portions about right but I didn’t actually do the measurements. Goal for this week: actually do the measuring.
I did not ride my bike on the weekend as I had planned. Which is a shame. The Katy Trail runs right by my house. Goal for this week: ride my bike at least one time.
I did not eat the dinners that were on the Jenny Craig menu. This was by design though. I had food in the pantry and freezer that I did not want to go to waste, so I watched the portions and tried to make the calories come out right. Nonetheless, I didn’t follow the JC menu. Goal for this week: stick strictly to the Jenny Menu.
I did not do my “Program before the Program #1”. There is this really good book called “Getting in Shape” by Bob Anderson, Bill Pearl, Ed Burke, and Jean Anderson (ISBN: 0936070161). They have a new edition of the book called “Getting Back Into Shape” which includes an additional chapter on running. Visit their website for more info. The book has 32 programs designed to get you back into shape or into shape as the case may be. The programs start off very easy; the idea is that folks who are out of shape should start off easy because well, they are out of shape. Research as shown that often people try to do too much too quickly, get discouraged and quit. Hence the “Program before the Program 1, 2 and 3″ which feature light easy stretching, light easy lifting and movement”. Well, I didn’t do the stretching and lifting parts. the movement part, I do during my dance lessons and practice. So… Goal for this week: do the lifting and stretching parts.
So my goals for this week are:
- Keep doing the good stuff! Yay me!
- Stretch & Lift (Program before the Program #1)
- Ride my bike at least 1 time.
- Stick strictly to the Jenny Craig menu, weighing and measuring everything. (except for my Birthday dinner which actually took place yesterday — a friend took me out for my birthday.)
See ya on the dance floor!
5-6-7-8 Dancing My Way to a Healthy Me! 