Tango, Swing, Ghost Tap Dance

I'm ashamed at my blogging delinquency.

All is well.

Well, except for my apartment. It's a mess.

But today is a good example of how my days are going (this week anyway):

8am -- writing
10am -- rehearsal
1pm -- teacher meeting
3pm -- nap, assorted chores
7:30pm -- cardio dance class!
9:30pm -- leftover Heartland macro plate and Season 3 of Weeds

Sometime in there I wiggled like I had a chair stuck to my booty, sang with a zombie, learned some West Coast Swing, heard a Radio Lab podcast on numbers, read about Edwardian love triangles, talked with my dad about the deplorable behavior of a certain ladies' clothing website*, and walked my dog beside the lake under the moon.




* So, Boden has this nifty "style guide" for dressing in your 20's, 30's, 40's and so on. I dare you to click on the 30's section and not be annoyed that it's ALL about pregnant ladies. Because apparently ladies in their 30's do nothing but breed. I mean, make a style guide for the pregnant ladies, delightful, but don't let the babies hijack an entire decade!

More weird things I do

Remember when I was Mary Poppins? I took pictures!





It was an exhausting day but really fun. We got kids up to dance and sing into the microphone throughout the movie -- kind of like The Rocky Horror Picture Show for kiddies. Afterwards, kids swarmed us for pictures like we were at Disney, and I'm pretty sure the four-year-olds thought we walked out of the screen. They stared at me in that awed way kids do when they're not sure you're real.

I'm never sure I'm real, so we have that in common.

I'm almost fashionable!

"How is your book?" you ask.

"How's the writing going?" you ask.

Wouldn't you rather know the things I do when I'm not writing, like enter contests on fashion blogs?



I'd rather talk about those things.

I made it to the top five in Delightfully Tacky's contest to use Polyvore to style a Dynamite Dress with items from Modcloth. I'm new to Polvore and Modcloth and fashion blogs, and I love them all!

My entry is on the top left.

Rites of Spring by fallgirl on Polyvore.com

I call it "Rites of Spring" because it's layered for crazy Chicago weather, and the antler necklace makes me think of rutting.

Among my friends, I am not known as "fashion forward," or even "fashion-able." Geoff regularly berates me for the time I wore my mom's discarded super-white uber-practical Wilson tennis shoes to the Monkey retreat. I still say: Retreat! Messy activities! Free shoes!

So, I'm elated to have this teensy bit of affirmation, even if it does come from a blog called "Delightfully TACKY!"

Go to sleep so you can wake up again

Last night I dreamed I had cancer.

The apes at the zoo sat real close.

My alarm clock can't trust me to wake it.

I never returned that one message.


I still believe I'll know it when I see it.

Ehhhh, Mary!!!

There's a Mary Poppins Sing-Along happening in Wilmette tomorrow.

That live cast of professional actors mentioned in the Trib?

That would be me and Philip, who keeps saying, "Ehhhhh, Mary!!!" every time he sees me. He's trying to be Dick Van Dyke trying to do a Cockney accent.

I'll be talking British which is way easier, but not as easy as I thought it was in high school. I'm sure it will be fine because Mary Poppins is practically perfect in every way and not to be mocked.

Things I've learned by revisiting Mary Poppins:

a) There are two lullabies built into the movie. That's why you always got groggy and ill-tempered or fell asleep entirely during all the creepy bank stuff at the end. I hope this won't happen in the theater tomorrow.

b) Mary Poppins is quite vain and a lot-a-bit sassy-pants, which I can do, so that's good.

c) It is way more fun to watch this movie when you are adult enough to recognize how dreamy Dick Van Dyke was. Swoon. Drool.

Hack-fest 2010

I'm getting a bit better I think. Last night wasn't quite the hack-fest the rest of this week has been. Hack as in coughing, not hack as in can't write anything worthwhile, but both feel true at the moment.

I got bronchitis once a year in my childhood, but it's been a long time since I had it this bad, and I don't remember it taking a month to go away. I hate taking antibiotics, especially if I'm not sure they're justified, but I'm on my second round. I'm going to share something really gross now . . .

Wait for it.

If you don't want to read the gross thing, stop now.

Backstage at the show on Monday night, I cough-wheezed so long and so hard that I puked a little. That was about an hour after I started on the antibiotics, so I'm glad I got to the doctor when I did.

The antibiotic says stay out of the sun, so I'm a vampire these early days of spring.

Over the past few days I've slept - a lot - but mostly in four-hour increments because that's what the codeine is good for.

I've worked on my taxes.

I've worked on a proposal for something silly.

I've spent a lot of time wandering around both my neighborhood and online in a cough syrup haze.

And I've gotten through the first half of Battlestar Gallactica Season 2. Admiral Cain! I'm so glad I don't have to wait to watch the next part of the season, but I made myself stop there last night in honor of those who did.