1/6/2011 A night for myself

Odd day.

I got to work as early as I could, which still wasn't early enough, about 7:50. Worked hard, fought extreme exhaustion and sleepiness and headachiness all day. As much as I like starting work early, a short nap in the late mornig would make ALL the difference in clearing my head and letting me think straight for the rest of the day.

I rarely go out to lunch, but I'd won a bet with a coworker and he was paying up! Two others joined us and we chatted about grownup things like financial markets and what motivates business executives and politicians. It's always enjoyable to have this broader social contact.

Still, I was so tired I was wondering how I'd meet my goal for the night: to start a skating class session! In some ways being SO tired means I MUST make the class, because the class is what's kept me going all day. So I left work on time, was very efficient in picking kids up, getting dinner started, homework, lunches made...and made it out to the 7pm class on time.

But what a disappointment the class was!! What class? It was a set of loosely grouped people of a wide range of skills, and no clear *class*. I finally interrupted an instructor who was teaching things that sort of looked like what I'd do, and asked her how this works. So she gave me a short evaluation, a few minutes of suggestions, then off she went to the next class member. Some of those were doing jumps and spins, way WAY ahead of me. What happened to an actual *class* with an actual *exercise*, that we all do together, and the teacher gives little corrections to all members of the class as you go along? Not 3 minutes of specifics then they're gone, that's not a class. Plus the other "classes" were mingling right into our practice area, which I find annoying too. It was really all too loosey-goosey. That was disappointing. Fortunately it was a free trial class and I didn't pay for it.

Still, the few minutes of instruction I did get were useful, and it makes me want to take classes again. I just can't waste my ultra-valuable time on a disorganized group lesson, so I signed up to inquire about private lessons. I assume they're more flexible in scheduling and more bang-for-buck in time and cost. I've gone way backward from where I was when I'd taken the real classes -- at the steep point on the learning curve that I'm on, I'm bound to slide back very quickly!

It occurred to me that what I really want to do is take dance. That's been true ALL my life, since when my first Halloween costume was a tutu my mother made. But I did take class for many many years, when my life lent itself better to evening classes 3-4 times a week. Still, someday, somehow, I will tearfully joyfully rejoin the dance world again -- creakier and stiffer, but I was never very flexible or graceful to begin with anyway.

Skiing all seems so crude my comparison -- maybe that's why it appeals to me so much now. It's more a sport and less an art than dance or skating, and maybe I just need some of that. (2 more weeks to our ski trip, I can't wait!)

My brief reunion with skating tonight was uplifting anyway. Little things like that add extra time load, but it helps bring this life a little more into balance.

1/6/2011