Tinikling

I have that 3/4 beat stuck in my head still (3/4 right?) one, two, three, one, two, three... that one. Kris is excellent at it, like everything else, or at least the fact he has done it a few times before helped out a little. I got the first three series of steps down, except that our teacher and I disagree about what a steady beat is and the difference between count seven and count eight. When Eric and I danced together I had to lead otherwise we both got all mixed up. Remind me to write a foot note about that someday. But once we got the steps down to music, they said hey lets start clapping the poles! And then I forgot everything, became a useless dance partner and even let out a little whimper as I made up my own steps that did not involve stepping between the poles. So I need to work on overcoming that fear before our Cultural Night performance next weekend. I have this thing called lympodema/lympedema (?) in which my ankles are permanently swollen and full of liquid. Yeah its kind of gross to talk about, but other than the fact they are not particularly sexy, there is nothing really wrong with them. I have been warned not to injure them because the swelling 'may' get worse. I am pretty sure tinikling is exactly what I should not be doing. I didn't get hit, but all that jumping around wasn't so good for them either, and they are still throbbing from this morning. But it was really fun, even though I am a little ashamed of myself for not being able to dance while the poles were going. If you have ever been at a tinikling event with me though, you have probably noticed how nervous the whole thing makes me. But because there are only three girls here, they/the teachers really want me to dance. Anyway if you have no idea what I am talking about with this tinikling stuff, check it out on youtube, I am told it is the national dance of the Philippines since a certain president likes it so much.

Did I tell you I am presenting at a conference here tomorrow? Just the same old presentation I gave in Vegas and at UW's research symposium last year. I even gave it in Tagalog as my final project this spring. This conference doesn't mean a lot more to me than a free lunch and something else to write on a resume. But I am still not really prepared for it, and that's why I am on the internet and not working on it right now.

So anyway, I now have a dowel in the door to my porch, a motion sensing light, and bells on the handle of my sliding door- compliments of my even more terrified roommate. So I am not very scared anymore.