Friday Night!

No salsa tonight but I went skating with Siao tonight, and the most embarrassing thing happened! Hahahahah I'm not going to stop laughing at it for years, I'm sure. We had some fries from Carls Jr (I declare it my favourite fast food place for fries!), so the exercise part didn't really work.

Cleaned the car a little too. I went up all the way to the highest level of the multi-storey carpark where there were no other cars, parked right in the middle of the level and got down to work. Have you tried cleaning a car? It's a really tiring task; you need to pull out the floor mats, vacuum them, wipe the seats, the dashboard, grooves where you never knew existed...etc. There's just so much dust in all those hidden places! Good experience though, since I don't get to do this so often... and I would like to think of it as a little contribution for the family car.

I love Friday nights!

Latin Music Loving...

Two consecutive nights to the salsa club left me with aching soles, but what the heck, I had so much fun!

It's been 4 months since I first picked this form of dance up, and nope, no regrets so far. Started off with the fairly basic steps, and then we moved on to more simple turns, and then onto the more complex turns. I started visiting the salsa club more regularly only two weeks back, and this 'extra practice' I get at the club is so helpful. There's been much more exposure to the different kinds of latin music, and I'm really into some of them.

that's my left heel

I guess I'd like to share some of the different (but more common) types of latin dances with you guys here, hope it'll spark off some salsa interest, enough to make you sign up for classes... and we can dance together after!

First up, the most common and popular Salsa! The beat goes like 123 (pause at 4), 567 (pause at 8), and it's mainly just about weight-shifting between your two legs. Once the coordination is right, it's pretty difficult to be stepping on your partner's toes. Heh. The male half will need to lead the female into her turns and steps, and the female, basically, she just has to follow through. I guess it's pretty important that the guys learn to lead proper. It's all about making the lady look good, so you will look good in turn.

Salsa

Next up, there's Bachata. This is a really sexy and sensual-looking dance, when done in the close-hold (hip-to-hip) position correctly. I don't know much about it yet, apart from the basic steps that are supposed to be taken in a sidewards motion, in a beat that goes like 123(hip), 567(hip). I like Bachata music a lot, maybe because it's much easier to follow the beat. Listen to it below, see if you like it too! I guess after Salsa, Bachata is what I want to learn next.

Bachata

And lastly, there's Zouk. Not talking about that popular mambo club here (speaking of which, mambo in Singapore isn't really the latin mambo), it's another genre of music. This is a category that I'm mainly clueless about, but I think one of my salsa mates summed it up in a relatively easy to understand manner: pop songs + latin beats. 

Zouk

I think it's amazing how the people that you meet at the salsa club come from different woks of life, in all shapes and sizes. You have the steady-and-sway-like-crazy Uncles, smoking hot mamas (ladies in their 40s onwards), pretty young things, handsome studs... etc. Before you know it, that uncle with the big beer belly standing in the corner is going to show you all his 'pro' moves. I like seeing how two people are able to move together with so much chemistry, it's just nice to watch lo.

salsa, anyone?

And now, I suppose I'll need to give my sore feet a break. Happy weekends to ya all!

Thursday Night at Union Square

I visited Union Square for the third time tonight with a couple of my classmates, and despite all that nerve-breaking moments, I had a lot of fun! My classmate was quick to tell me I get stressed rather easily on the dancefloor, seeing how quickly I broke into sweat. My ankle's hurting a little right now; it was a little crowded today and some lady's heels went down my right ankle as we were dancing. I think nearly everyone heard me cry out in pain, oops.

It was really nice looking at those amateurs spinning their partners around in circles, makes me hope that I can spin so nicely like them too someday. Heh. 

Anyway, I'm really glad it's Friday! Another night of salsa lesson and then it's the weekend. Time to skate and surf oh yeah.

ps. Just talked about the possibility of a Redang trip with Jaime and his friends end June. How... exciting!

Social Night

social night at JJ

You know I'm going to say the same old thing again; time flies! I haven't done much this holiday, and yet it feels like I've been really busy all the while. With god-knows-what...

JJ's (where I learn salsa from) social night for the month took place two nights ago. As usual, there was good latin music; the performing dancers, the beginners, the professionals... everyone were all just out to have fun! I signed up for a new class with two different instructors this time round; June & Jackson (now you know why it's called JJ's), and the first class some three weeks back just took me off guard because the pace was so much faster.

All's good now, and I really think they're such a loving couple when I see them conducting their lessons. June's one hot mama and Jackson's one funny dude.

Got to run for now, rest of the updates for the weekend tonight!

Two Left Feet

That is usually what happens during my salsa classes. Nobody beats me for having the worst sense of rhythm, and taking the most clumsy-looking steps.. Okay la, I know I have plenty of catching up to do.. But, I still look forward to classes weekly!

Digressing, I think my callused hands look and feel horrible! I guess it means less uphauling for me... let's hope I'll be able to do that on Sunday. It's been more than a week now since I last windsurfed, don't sound like it but it sure feels longer than that.

The fart story

Salsa class starts at 6 pm and it was 5.30 pm but there was still no bus service 133 in sight. I don't know why but the nagging in my head told me it's a bad idea to take a cab. Ignored it, and hailed one nonetheless. Tanjong Pagar Mrt Station, I told the uncle. He asked me which route to take, to which I expressed uncertainty. No idea if it'd be faster to go by ECP or North Bridge Road, considering all that potential traffic jam. Silence, he said nothing. And then we proceeded to take the North Bridge Road route. I cursed as we passed the ERP gantry at Bencoolen Street. Traffic wasn't too bad, there was still not too much of a jam, thankfully. And while the car was cruising past Chinatown, 'Priak''. What was that?

And then I realized the uncle must have farted, since I figured that holding onto the steering wheel could not possibly produce that sound. And the smell, it confirmed my suspicions. I almost died back there trying to hold back from laughing out loud. Gosh. The uncle wind down the window a little and tried to make small talk. We shared a precious moment of awkwardness.

And when I finally arrived at my destination on the dot at six, the place was nearly empty apart from the instructors and receptionist. Oh, so early today? The ladyboss instructor asked. What? Lesson starts at 7 pm, not six darling. Oh okay, I'll just wait then. Smile. Can't be any more embarrassed. I spent 11 dollars to smell an old uncle's fart so that I could be the cuckoo who's one hour too early for her class. FML.

I really should have listened to that voice in my head. Really.

Screw the diet.

I'm hungry and angry. Hungry because I skipped dinner, and angry because I skipped dinner. I should just start to eat healthily instead of skipping my meals; my stomach's growling and urgh, I'm just feeling really restless with an empty stomach. All I had for the entire day was just two slices of toasted bread with some condensed milk on them, and lots of drinks (an iced chocolate, a riesling, iced milo, and iced tea). Don't be harsh on me, I promise to start eating again when I wake up tomorrow.

Anyway, I met a really cool and friendly bunch of people in salsa class today. I finally have salsa dancing mates, yipeeyay. Let's hope we'll be dancing frequently in time to come.

Checked my school posting, and I got posted to Bendemeer Primary and Secondary for my School Experience in July. I'm really happy with it because they're both so near my place; no long travelling distance and time. 

It's been a whole lot of random chunks of information, I'm really sorry bout that but if you must, blame it on the diet. Ugh. 

For a change...

don't you think light balls are cute too?

Random, but I've gone through some rather drastic changes over the years, haven't I?

Salsa's starting to get tough, but still fun, nonetheless! We revisited last week's Open Break & Right-Turn Pop, and learnt two new sets of footwork as well. Lots of laughter because we couldn't quite get the steps and ended up looking really awkward, I guess. Elbowed two classmates in their stomachs today (accidents happen, of course!); swear I felt bad then, but I couldn't help it and laughed out loud instead of apologizing cause it was too funny. Hehe. & I learnt from Jacq that you get to smell fart quite a bit in yoga classes, thought it was funny too!

In a nutshell

I think I've accumulated too many bad karma points; just because we don't see eye-to-eye on certain topics yah. Let's hope the payback will be in small dosages; for example, like the nagging pain I've been feeling in my tummy for the past hour or so.

Today's the first time I drove in such a heavy downpour. Couldn't make much of the lane-markings due to reflection of lights on the wet road surfaces; I got pretty scared at times when the speedometer showed that I hit 80 klicks and above.

Began on the first lesson of Salsa intermediate today too; did 'popping' and some move called the Open Break. No idea why but it feels like I haven't been dancing for a long time, when in actual fact, it's only been a week. Guess I'll need to work more on my balancing!

It's Friday once more, and (as usual) I'm so glad the weekend is here again.