categories

On Saturday evening I went to a pool party for my friend Curtis. It was his birthday yesterday and I hadn't been swimming all summer so I suggested we plan a gathering at his apartment's pool but then our friend Scott offered his parents' - even better! It felt so good to dive into the water in my new swimsuit that I got last week for 80 percent off its original price and swim around like a fishy. Only seven of us actually got into the pool, so we felt it was our duty to have cannonball contests and get the wieners wet who didn't want to dip. After swimming around and goofing off I suggested that we play 'Categories', which I loved playing when I was a kid at the Storrs' pool. Some of them had never played before (gasp!) so I had to explain the rules. The person who's it picks a category, such as 'colors', and then plugs their ears while everyone else picks a color for themselves as well as a 'family' color. Once that's decided the 'it' person sits on the diving board with their back to the pool and calls out colors. When your color is called you have to swim to the other side of the pool without them hearing you and diving in to tag you. If he or she calls the family color then everyone has to go. If the person who's 'it' turns around after calling a color and no one is going, then they have to scoot up on the diving board, further from the water as a penalty. Anyways so everyone agreed to play and we nominated an 'it' to pick a category. As a kid with all of my Storrs pals we chose categories such as Disney movies, cereals, farm animals, colors, junk foods, etc. I must say that it is much more entertaining when playing with peers in their early to mid-twenties. Here are a few of the categories we used:

• 'Lost' characters
• Pizza toppings
• 'Lord of the Rings' characters
• Latter-day prophets
• Gale Beggy quotes
• Types of cancer

Some of the suggested categories that we did not use (all offered by the one and only Ben P):

• Goldmine era diseases
• Black US presidents
• People in this pool
• Wheelchair bound astrophysicists

This may be an "I guess you had to be there" story, but I can't help but laugh now, thinking about his suggestions and the manner in which he offered them so I just wanted to remember that moment by immortalizing it in a blog post. I <3 my nerdy witty guy friends!

DO try this at home, fellas

So the past couple of days I have been reading a book called The Nazi Officer's Wife, the true story of an Austrian Jewish woman who forged some papers and assimilated into German culture to survive the Holocaust. It was an okay book, not really inspirational but intriguing nonetheless. Anyways this lady was courted by and eventually married a member of the Nazi party, who wasn't all bad. She recalled this occurrence from the beginning of their courtship:

"Is that why you got a job that keeps you out of the war?" I asked. "Because you joined the party?"
"Ah, no, no - it's because I am blind in one eye. I had a motorbike accident and cracked my skull and severed the optic nerve. Look closely, you'll see." He leaned across the table to show me his blind eye. I leaned across the table to look. He leaned closer. I looked harder. He kissed me.
It was a shock, how much I enjoyed that experience. I was surprised at myself, and I must have blushed. Werner laughed at my embarrassment. "My, you're a sweet girl," he said.

Okay so I'm going to forget for just a moment the fact that he was a Nazi and just think of him as a guy on a date and say that that is the cutest thing ever! He really was blind in one eye but I'm just going to put this out there: future husband, wherever you are, feel free to try this trick with some suave for the first kiss instead of awkwardly going in for the kill. I'm just saying.

youtube goodness

Here are some videos that make me feel better about myself because it's nice to know that even professional musicians mess up every once in awhile. Each one is known as a 'fail'.









Now if you think that last one was some poor middle school band, you're wrong. I found out that it was a group of British students called Portsmouth Sinfonia, who gathered together to play music in the 1970s. Anyone could join, but you had to either be a non-musician or play an instrument completely unfamiliar to you. Now does that sound like fun or what?? If you've got about 10-15 minutes to waste and you'd like to listen to some more of their ear-piercing tunes, check out these links (some are better, I mean worse, than others):

William Tell Overture -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs7QdpF0DE8

Also Sprach Zarathustra (in full) -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpJ6anurfuw

The Hallelujah Chorus -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVUakcyLnsw

The Nutcracker Suite March -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEaWyOmcPlg

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtVDazgT3ko

In the Hall of the Mountain King -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wiRivDMIYM

Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVq7xPi98fY

[Bob] Only Knows by the Beach Boys -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahgpX6wx8lg

mini-vacay

Courtesy of Becky and Joseph and CW Roberts, this where I'll be for the next few days:
Here's another hint:

real men tap dance

So I've never been a big fan of the whole art of 'dancing'. I preferred cleats to ballet slippers as well as hand-me-down Ninja Turtle shirts over leotards every day of the week. As I grew older, the word 'dance' conveyed images of my high school's skanky dance line or gatherings of Mormon adolescents awkwardly doing the deacon two-step. And then there are the movies today that revolve around dancing and scandalamity, crap like Step Up 3D (which I have not seen, but I sure am tired of the ads for it online. This was the least offensive poster I could find) and Center Stage (I did like this movie when I first saw it but the dancing...not so much). So you can see why I've never been a fan of this expressive art form. But somebody has helped me to see the light, and his name is President Val Dean Riggs. He is my stake president/Institute teacher/adoptive uncle and we are real tight. So tight that we give each other movie recommendations, and let each other borrow our favorites from the silver screen. A few months ago I let him borrow one that is close to my heart, Iron Man, and he and Sister Riggs loved it. So when he found out that I had never seen Singin' in the Rain, he lent me his copy immediately. I must admit that it sat on my bookshelf for two and a half months, and I kind of forgot about it until a few weeks ago at Institute he told me that he had had a hunkering to watch it but realized that he had loaned it out to me. I promised to watch it within the next week and then return it to him, but I didn't really have the time so I figured I'd just give it back without watching it. Fortuitously I had a free afternoon last week and it just so happened to be pouring down buckets outside. I considered snuggling up with a book but decided I might as well watch the movie then and there and get it over with, as if it were some homework assignment I'd been given. Well let me tell you I was mesmerized from the beginning! I really hadn't known what to expect, except for maybe some singing...in the rain, but surprisingly there's only one scene where someone actually sings in the rain. And that someone is the one and only Gene Kelly. Such a classy fella; he's my new favorite movie star (actually he's probably tied with Paul Newman). And the way he dances is just wonderful. He's so athletic in his movements yet just plain goofy and I love it! The way he expresses that carefree giddiness of the beginnings of love just makes me smile.



There were so many other songs in this movie that I loved as well, especially the peppy ones. Donald O'Connor, the supporting actor, is also an excellent dancer and entertainer and I loved his performances, too - ESPECIALLY when he and Mr. Kelly did a little number together that I have watched multiple times every day since I've seen the movie. Youtube won't let me embed it so here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKlub5vB9z8
So anyways the long and the short of it is that this movie has made me appreciate dance more and start to actually kind of enjoy watching it, as long as it's stuff like this. I've come to realize that dance is like any other form of art, and just because some paintings or songs are trashy doesn't mean they all are. Man they just don't make 'em like they used to. Please let me know if you have any recommendations for any other great dancing movies!