True swinging does not require ropes or vines.

After a long hiatus due to summer traveling, I went to the swing club on Sunday. I had to run around and scout the running trail for next Saturday's event, but after getting cleaned up I headed over to the Zendah Grotto. There seemed to be a lot more people there than had been since I was last there. My friend Adrienne and her fiance Jesse were there and have been attending pretty regularly. They looked great on the floor and I'm glad to have a chance to be a photographer at their wedding in a few weeks! Since I'm leaving Sunday for the week-long cruise to Grand Cayman, Belize, Cozumel, and Costa Maya, I wanted to get in a bit more dance practice so I won't get as many 'white boy' dance comments as I did last year. :(

This week is spent organizing for the trip and getting in a lot of project work at the office and one of the rental homes. A tenant is moving out and has a serious amount of damage inside from marked up walls, torn window, to a dryer that had lint piled up inside the door. You would think someone would wonder why clothes were not getting dry. Could it be the lack of any exhaust because you didn't check the unit?!? How so many people can be oblivious to the operation of things one which they depend is just beyond me.

I also bought a new small camper this week. I've been researching the old teardrop campers for a little while and found one on eBay that had just what I wanted in terms of style, and features. The big camper is great from large events like at the hash campouts when I usually have 2-5 other people crashing with me anyway, but I wanted something that I could take to the mountains or on diving / kayaking trips without killing gas mileage due to weight and aerodynamic drag. I'll post some pictures when I get back from the trip. The camper is in Tallahassee and I was dreading having to waste 10-12 hours of my life merely driving up there and back just to retrieve it. Fortunately I thought to ask around just before I was about to go and found that one of the hashers that will be going on the cruise this weekend lives in Tallahassee and was willing to pick it up for me. This saved me an incredible amount of time and gas and it was really nice for the guy to be willing to help out another hasher, whom he had yet to meet, in this manner. This kind of camaraderie is one of the things I liked about the group when joining. I may not believe in karma per se, but I think such acts are rewarded. The guy is bringing down the camper for me and I'm hosting a bunch of out-of-towners, setting the trail, and even taking people to the airport, so in the grand 'circle of life' I think it will all work out.

Friday I'm going to check out the 'Counting Crows / Goo Goo Dolls' concert at the Ford Amp since I was able to get ahold of a bunch of tickets and will be taking some of the people I'm hosting for the weekend. I probably won't have time to blog anything until I get back, so I hope you all, assuming anyone even reads my blogs, have a great week. BTW, the picture I posted is something I created when playing around with some photo mosaic software. The picture is constructed using photos that I took when in California. I'm still learning the settings, but for a first attempt, it isn't too bad! You can see the original here.

At the end of your rope? Tie a knot and swing.

Went dancing at the Grotto last night and had a great time. The crowd as a bit light (someone said something about a football game being on TV), however that just meant that there was more room for us to practice. I met a group of nice people at the dance place last week and we all rendezvoused at a local parking lot near my place so that we could drive in together. I'm only on my second lesson, but I'm starting to pick it up a bit if I continue to practice and not get too frustrated, so the key is to find a patient partner. I'm going to see what Netflix might have in terms of dance DVDs so I may practice a little bit at home.

"Swing hard in case they throw the ball where you're swinging"

Well, I have finally decided to try to kill this 'white boy syndrome' that seems to be afflicting me! At the encouragement of my friend Adrienne through a Christmas gift, I am going to start taking dance lessons. I wasn't sure where to get started and so spent some time last week and last night checking out local dance studios and getting advice from fellow patrons (and even had a salsa lesson last week). I think I have decided to take up east coast swing. I'll start in February by taking the Thursday night class at the Swing City Dance Studio and then check out the Swing Gang at the Zendah Grotto on Sunday evenings. I considered salsa, however I've always just loved swing music and the style of dress (of course hot women swaying to Latin music is always good too). I'm looking forward to it, so we'll see how things turn out.