Musings on Dance, Food, Geek Stuff
Every day at the rink I see skaters working on “unlocking” a move — backwards skating, transitions, spins, crazy legs… I see their knitted brows and frowns as they concentrate on getting it down, sometimes for five minutes, sometimes for weeks or months. I don’t always offer tips or help, because not everyone wants that….
I had the opportunity to lead another mini-workshop on how to cypher at the skating rink recently. Which was an opportunity to think more about what a cypher is and how to explain that to a newcomer. I’m getting pretty good at describing the basics — that a cypher is a tradition practiced in many…
The cutest moment I’ve ever had at the roller rink. Her name is Dream, and yes she will definitely kick my ass in a cypher soon. Thanks to Norm for this incredible footage.
Oaks Park Rink in southern Portland is a national treasure — the oldest rink in the America, established in 1905, and the second largest in the country! I had the pleasure of spending the weekend skating on that buttery, gigantic floor for the Rose City Skate Jam. What’s interesting about the rink is not only…
Somehow I have lived this long without ever visiting Portland, Oregon. This is despite being a coffee nerd and a foodie, and it being just a short flight from San Francisco. I remedied that this weekend with a quick trip there for a skate party. (I’ll write more about the party in the next post.)…
I made a baingan bharta (Indian eggplant) pot pie for Michael’s always epic birthday pie party. This time I tried to do a little decoration at the last minute, which came out not terrible. Here’s the steps for how I did it: Takes a little planning and time (about two days) but totally worth it!…
Model train dioramas just fill me with inexplicable pleasure. I realized this in Kyoto, Japan last year, when I visited their incredible train museum. I kind of lost track of time when I found their interactive model train area. It hit me again when I went to the Alameda County Fair this summer and went…
I managed to unearth my last and probably best breaking showcase that I performed way back in 2010 at PMT Dance Studios in New York City. As I look back on those days, while my dancing definitely was a bit cringe, it was so much fun! Just getting to workshop ideas and play with moves…
Taking you home from the Long Island animal shelter on November 27, 2005 was one of the best decisions of my life.
Today I’m celebrating six months of physical therapy! On the plus side, doing daily PT I believe has helped to mitigate knee pain and be able to walk for longer periods of time. And the exercises are not too onerous — basically they are part of my daily morning prep and evening wind down, which…