Amber & The Pursuit of Happy Face

I know I love dancing.  But, now I know that everyone around me knows exactly how much I love it because this is what my face looks like when I boogie.

How does J. Timberlake make bringing sexy back look so, well, sexy?

All I can say is thank you to those who dance with me.  You are brave, brave souls.

And also, if that face is the price I pay for happiness, so be it.  I'll be good.

Amber & In Your Dreams

Last night, I had a dream I was in this video.



Like, not wish fulfillment that I was some kind of ballerina background dancer interpreting Just Jack's interpretation of The Cure, but I lived in that exact apartment building.  I was waiting for the super to come see why my microwave wasn't working.  My apartment inside was exactly my current apartment, but it was in that rundown British building.  And it was snowing.

Sometimes, my subconscious is very boring and obvious.

Amber & Inspiration

People with whom I am planning to form a professional dance troupe (and you know who you are), I'm thinking this number has to added to our repertoire.



But with less facial expressions and more fancy dance moves.  Maybe more like this version?  (P.S.  He's a con artist.  Get it?  Bluffmaster.)

Amber & I Love Pooh

And not just Classic Pooh or Pooh from those Taoist books.  I was raised on Sears & Roebuck Disney Pooh with the red half-shirt, and Piglett in the pink-stripe leotard.  And I love that Pooh.  I loved my aforeblogged Talking Viewmaster Viewer with the amazing depth to the images, but I also loved the flatter hand-painted animations.  Like with the Heffalumps and Woozles.

(Yes, that Pooh nightmare gave me nightmares, but it was a growth experience.)

So just imagine my excitement, when Jimmy directed my attention to this.



I cried. That is how excited I am.  Who is in for a midnight screening on the day it opens?  Huh?

Come on, people.  It's Pooh.  And there seems to be a honey dream/dance sequence.

Love.

Amber & Some Sundays

Some Sundays, you just can't blog.  You are too pooped in the hamstrings from taking a class with this amazing woman.



And so all you can do is something like this.

Or this.

Amazing role models: I gotz em.

Amber & Over It? No, But Moving On

Am I over my Shakira obsession?  Well, no.  Especially not with my belly dance class right around the corner.  But, I sure have moved on.  In  backdating kind of way.




I love Missy. And dancing.

Amber & Learning New Skills

Where will I be starting the eleventh of next month and every Saturday thereafter from 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm?  In class.

What will I be learning?  Here is a hint.

Amber & The Company Picnic

I don't want to give anything away, but let's just say that Erl's post of this video has been very inspiring.

Amber & Birthday Boys

Happy Birthday to Nick!

Nick has so many great qualities.  He is a fantastic watching programs companion, he is good with kitties (being one of the only three of Pickles's people friends) even when it means selflessly giving up his own pillow for old guys.  Nick is creative, kind, and forgiving when you eat all the sorbet he brought back from Fretta's without him.  He is also extremely brave when it comes to throwing out weird food in the fridge-- he even sometimes postpones doing it so that it is even more challenging.  He also has great taste in eye glasses and has some of the nicest hair I have ever seen.  Also, he is a great director for my interpretive dance.  He is incredibly supportive of all of my talents like that.  Even my newfound belly dance obsession.  Also, he is good at gently warning you if you are about to eat too much salami.

Nick wears a number of professional caps.  His main job is as a trainer for telephone operators.

In this photo, taken by the very talented James, Nick is showing an operator how to plug in the telephone.  You will note his work uniform matches the phones.  He is good at matching.  That is another admirable quality.  He has great socks.

Happy Birthday, Nick!  I am glad you were born.

Amber & My Gift

So, today is a super big day for me for two reasons.

First, I got a chiropractic jaw adjustment, my first ever.  Dr. Cooper is a miracle worker.

He started off my massaging the inside of my mouth which was not very enjoyable.  And then he did that scary magic thing with the cracking sound.  And now my jaw is in a different place; I am actually biting my tongue a bit and have a lisp, which the doc says will get better as I adjust to the correct position.  He said it moved a whole centimeter.  Crazy stuff.  And, now I am wicked sleepy, likely from the release of all of the tension.  Maybe tonight, I can sleep through dawn?

The second big thing today, maybe even bigger than my jaw miracle, is that maybe I will get my big dancing break tonight.  I mentioned to my chiropractor that I was planning to go see Nick's sister dance tonight.  (Also, I asked to leave postcards in his waiting area.  Seriously, it sounds wonderful and you should go.  It's about the Forest, which is very timely for me--stay tuned.)  Dr. Cooper asked what I had been doing to prepare in the event they asked me to join them on stage.  Why, I have been born to dance, as readers of this blog know.

But, even those with natural gifts sometimes need to use them lest we lose them.  To this end, I have spent the week watching Shakira videos.



See?  Anything I want, anything in the whole wide world.  And what I want?  Is to share my gift.

I only hope the world is ready.  I fear the crowd might yell, "Give us Barabbas!"  And then my dance would be silenced.  Not to use too heavy of a metaphor.  Or to bring to mind my favorite summer reading.

More than anything else in the world the Procurator hated the smell of attar of roses.

Amber & Six Things At 6 am

1.  What can possibly happen when you are on bed rest and leave your chewy beast alone with two rolls of paper towels?

Shreddy mayhem.  What are those blurs under the drying rack?  Why that is Ginger and Woody rolling around with crazy head in piles of shreds.

2.  Not being as active as I usualy am, I was thrilled to discover this use of my skills while prone.

I am going to excel at this.  I wonder how to interpret Mrs. Tiggy Winkle while asleep.  I bet Miss Tiggy Winkle can help me.

3.  Why am I craving a chili dog at 6 am?

(Photo of my hertiage food, a Capitol Lunch dog, by Candice)

4.  Who knew some kitties had boggled eyes?

5.  What did we do when we had insomnia before LOLcats?

6.  Remember when we went to the River House last year and Pickles was the bravest and came outside to explore before any of the other cats?  Think he'll be that brave again this year?

Amber & If The Ballet Shoe Fits

I present you, on this fine Sunday, with some Culture.

You see now why I wanted to be a ballerina.  This was made the year I was born.  It was, you might say, the Role I Was Born to Dance.  Coming soon to an office where I work?

Amber & Monism

Thanks to Emma for sharing this and giving me the gift of happy mid-day.



Namaste, Ohio students and employees. I recognize and bow to the dance spirit in you with the highest dance spirit in me.

Amber & What It Feels Like In My Head Right Now

My headache is back, and I know it's because this guy is inside my skull.



I don't mean that metaphorically, like I've got him stuck in my recall.  I mean I think he is really inside my skull dancing on my squishy brain cells.  Is there an acupuncture point for that?  Dancing Man Dragon?

Amber & Mind Blenders

Sometimes on the weekend when I am engaged in meditative activities like laundry and house chores, my mind is like a blender mixing together different ideas and thoughts and quite often coming to exciting new conclusions (often then forgotten by Monday) or new resolutions.  Today, I made a smoothie from the different delicious fruits and yogurts and ice cubes that CRD served up over at Internals Plural.

I was thinking about what I would be like if I hadn't ever met some of my BFFs and also remembering how central Kate Bush, who might just become HUGE with the Twighlight fans any minute now when they Google "Wuthering Heights," was to many of my first conversations with CRD.  And if it wasn't for Kate, Jerry and I wouldn't have first bonded, and I would have never met his roommate, Kevin, who introduced me to Diana, or his friend Chuck's friend James.  And then who would I be?

And that made me think about how much of who I am, the quintessence not sparked by my BFFs and family, is all thanks to Kate.  After all, Kate defined pretty for me with leotards, beautiful sparkle eyes and red lips.

And where do you think my love of big hair came from?  When I want to be pretty, really, I want to be Kate.

And without Kate, I might not have pursued my dream and honed my skills in interpretive dance...and wouldn't the office be a less interpretive place without it?



And, aren't we, after all, what we eat?



Like a pomegranate, insides out, all is revealed: everything I am, Kate, is you, too.

Amber & A Few of My Favorite Things

J.B., dancing, outfits and hair.



'Fro tip, Erl.

Amber & Absent Referents

Nick has been busy working on a project to help preserve the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.  Since I have been to Alaska and like animals, I offered to help by contributing my exemplary dance skills and keen semiological talents to an interpretive dance to the presentation he was working on.



At this point, there are two main movements to the dance: "migratory birds" and "baby moose waking up in the spring."  I just developed a new "snowshoe hare in snow" move, but I need to make sure that they live in the area which my dance is representing. More to come.

Amber & New Career Paths

I just signed up for ice skating lessons!  On Mondays at 7:00 pm, I'll be refreshing my on-ice skills and, I hope, developing new ones.

Now, I just need to get my mom to make me one of those outfits over the weekend.

When Kevin gets back from his doctor's appointment, I'll break the news to him so he can start finding my replacement.  Nick told me the shocking news that Ice Capades are out of business, but I think I will make a great Princess Jasmine.



Or, I could be the skating alligator, like in my second favorite ennui comedy.  (Wait for it.  It's in there.)

Amber & Uniqlock

What do you do when you are sick all weekend with a fever that is draining on your mental capacity, have watched all the Netflix Avengers, watched Lost In Translation (your favorite ennui comedy) twice, and even tried watching Caddy Shack only to discover all those people who say it's funny are wrong?

You watch time pass on the Uniqlock.

It's like synchronized swimming on land.  Why does it exist?  To tell time and, of course, to sell clothing in Japan size.  But maybe also to soothe my fever addled brains?

It's also available as an iPhone app.  And, at the top of the hour, they do a longer dance.  Oh, and it changes depending on the (Tokyo) time of day.

Ah, fever.  Ah, Japan.

Amber & Peer Psych Pressure

Yesterday, Hulu put this in my queue, perhaps because I so enjoyed the other one. I did indeed so enjoy it so much that I sent it to Nick.  Today, CRD sent me a link to the YouTube version.  I will succumb to the pressure and post it to my blog.



It's a wonder they didn't do this sooner. I enjoy those guys.

P.S.  My favorite part is when Dulé does the fill as the song fades out at the end.  Reminds me of another singer who does excellent work with fill.