Week of April 14, 2013:
Sunday: Bike ride to campus and Target/HEB
Monday: Quickie strength work-out (push-ups, bicycle crunches, etc.)
Tuesday: Bike ride to campus, I think? Wow, my memory is failing me here.
Wednesday: Evening run (20 min. on the treadmill to avoid sketchy-looking weather with two 1-minute bursts of speed to keep t-mill boredom at bay)
Thursday: Evening run outside! (20 min.)
Friday: Bike ride commute to work
Saturday: Off in Austin watching amazing ballroom dancers in the Austin Open!
Minutes run this week: 40.
You asked for it, and I deliver: photos from the Austin Open! My camera failed the capture the beauty and grace of the dancing—low light plus motion is a bad combo for my little point-and-shoot. Nevertheless, I enjoy the sense of motion in these photos. I took many, many bad photos, but be assured that the fault is all mine, not the dancers’. My only real regret is that I have no pictures of any of my new crushes…but that fourth photo is a blurry one of Paul with his partner, Leah. They are a really fun pair to watch: with those long legs of theirs, they just fly around the dance floor. And they have great chemistry, so there’s a real sense of fun and affection between them. It was pretty special for me to have a chance to see them in their element, since ballroom dancing is somewhere between hobby and professional aspiration for Paul right now. Which is, it turns out, the same relationship that I have with blogging! Now, if only I could find a way to make more than 0.05 cents an hour while writing these blogs of mine…
As a spectator at the ballroom dance competition, the thing that stood out to me (and I know nothing about technique) is that the appearance of having fun makes all the difference in the world. The great illusion of ballroom dance is, I think, the transition from practicing to performing. When you practice, you concentrate. You focus on technique, precision, execution. When you perform, you put on the illusion that dancing is effortless. Unlike, say, running, ballroom dance is a performance of emotion. Without the emotion, it kinda falls flat. Paul has even said to me that he can’t really dance with someone if he has no emotional connection to her, which makes complete sense to me. As a person who is dating him, I think it’s pretty great to be with someone who has such a finely tuned sense of partnership. I see the dance of leading and following in our relationship, and I quite like the analogy.
On a sillier note, how about Paul’s fashion statement here?
Hot, right? The perfect mix of elegance and modern caveman. I sort of wish Paul had worn his Vibrams on our first date, just for the sheer silliness of it. His Vibrams are not nearly as ridiculous as others that I’ve seen around campus. For goodness sake, if you’re going to wear five-finger shoes in your everyday life, please consider avoiding neon colors! Or learn to laugh when people mock your footwear.
And that, my friends, was the Austin Open. I’ll save my fitness update for tomorrow—I’m trying to catch up on posts this weekend and have some foot-related news of my own to share.
Until then, happy running and dancing!
Full disclosure. I own five pairs of Vibram Five Fingers. Only one pair is black.
ReplyDeleteYou makes 0.05 cents per hour on your blog? Jealous!
I really like your photos. So much movement.
Wait, are you serious about the Vibrams? If so, wow. That's a serious collection! Have you worn any of them in your style posts?
DeleteHee hee...yeah, I think unless you are willing to spend a lot of time on the business side of blogging, it's hard to make money. Until now, I have deliberately stayed away from monetizing because I wanted to focus on the content. But I think I'm going to try to strike a balance between making some money and the creative work. We'll see how that goes :-)
And thanks! I'm sad that I didn't get any great action shots that aren't blurry, but oh well. The movement effect is kinda cool!