A Dancer's Ineffable Love for Leotards

A variety of leotards at an audition for the Rockettes 

Simple Leo

It's hard to explain to someone who doesn't dance, but there's just something about wearing, buying, and shopping for leotards is one of the most satisfying things possible. You may be saying, "what the heck is a leotard?" It's the thing we wear that kinda looks like a bathing suit, typically shown in black, mostly on ballet dancers. . . but it is so much more. A leotard is what separates you from all the other dancers, whether it be in an audition or in class. It allows a dancer to be comfortable yet still be fashionable with a bit of their own personality thrown in. For example all my leotards are black, but they have cool designs on the back. A friend of mine has only colored, really fancy looking leotards, but a different friend has a mixture of both. There are so many different kinds to choose from it gets overwhelming, there are long sleeve, short sleeve, tank style, it goes on and on.

Something like one I would own

Some who may be reading this are probably thinking, "how can she talk about this so much, it's a piece of clothing." But the thing people don't understand is that getting a new leotard is like becoming a new dancer that first day you wear it. You put it on and you're  inspired to dance well to show it off, and give it justice. It's different than wearing a costume because a costume is a one wear thing, a leotard you have to wear multiple times, and it should last you more than a year, so it must be almost perfect. Any one you ask who dances will tell you that ordering a leotard and finally getting to wear it will automatically make you dance better, or at least make you feel like you're dancing better for that first wear.

The day we all matched

There are complications though. There is somewhat a "dancer code"; you don't buy a leotard that someone else already has. It's common courtesy. Occasionally it will happen anyway, but it is only fun if you show up twinning with someone else if you are actually friends with them, otherwise you'll have a bad time. It can also be irritating because some of the best looking, best fitting and most gorgeous leotards will be $50-$70, which is a large investment, but in some cases it will be worth it. On most occasions though you have to settle for an inferior option. Buying a leotard is complicated because dependent on your body shape it will fit differently. It is important to buy one that offers good support, but is not too tight or too loose, must of importantly it has to be comfortable, sometimes you may only find one or two out of twenty that will fit properly.
It's hard for people to do sports to understand some of the things us dancers talk about. And I don't even know what to compare the experience of leotards to to someone who does sports. Maybe it is like a runner getting new sneakers, a swimmer getting a new suit, or a field hockey player getting a new stick.  Either way, I can't wait to buy some more leotards.

Tea Truly Makes Everything Better

It could quite possibly be the result of having a British mother, but I am of the firm belief that a nice cup of steaming hot tea is the cure for most things.  Exhausted after a long day at school? Have a cup of tea.  Need to stay up late and finish that blog for English class?  Have a cup of tea.  Feeling a little under the weather?  Have a cup of tea.  Just want to sit and stare in to space?  Hold a cup of hot tea in your hands and those mind wanderings will take on a whole new world of possibilities.  

A small representation of all types of variations

I suppose I should point out that when I say “tea” I mean “tea”, the real English breakfast kind with milk and sugar.  While there is probably a time and a place for those other strange beverages that masquerade as tea (Sleepytime, Throat Coat and Get Lost are three that can be found in our tea cabinet, or pictured above) it is English breakfast that has true transcendental powers.  It has to be Twining’s and it needs to be really hot.

The best cups of tea are the ones where you take the time and effort to follow the age-old tea-making ritual, which begins with filling the tea kettle with fresh cold water and then placing in on the stove to heat. (Distinct from a teapot a teakettle is the vessel that goes on top of the stove and is used to heat the water for tea. A teapot is the vessel, usually ceramic, that you make the tea in.) 

China set very similar to our own 

Once the water is hot, but not quite boiling pour some of the heated water in to the teapot.  Return the teakettle to the heat source to finish boiling and, while you are waiting, swirl the hot water around in the teapot to warm it.  Once the teakettle is almost ready to whistle (hearing the singing kettle is a part of the ritual) pour out the water from the teapot and add to the now warmed pot the tealeaves or teabags.  (Although many generations of true tea connoisseurs frowned upon teabags, my Mum says it is ok to use them provided you only use the good kind.) If using tealeaves the correct amount is a tablespoon per cup of tea plus one for the teapot.  If using teabags one per person is good.

As soon as the water is boiling pour it into the teapot until it is filled.  Set the pot down in a safe place, cover it with a tea-cozy and wait for three to five minutes depending on how strong you like your tea.  (Waiting for longer than five minutes will result in something referred to as stewed tea.  It doesn’t taste good, and is sometimes referred to as “builder’s tea” because on a worksite the men frequently don’t get to drink their tea until it has sat in the teapot for egregious amounts of time.)

This looks perfect to me

My personal preference is three minutes and thirty seconds tea.  So at the end of that time remove the tea-cozy and stir the tea.  Put the cozy back on and prepare your cup or mug (the best way to drink tea is from a fine bone china cup and saucer, but that only happens on rare occasions). Pour the milk into the cup first, not too much and not too little – you will have to experiment to find your preferred amount. Pour the brewed tea into the cup and gently stir.  Taste the tea,and if you feel it needs a little sweetening add sugar to taste. (DO NOT use the same spoon you just stirred the tea with to spoon in the sugar – that is the height of uncouth behavior. Use a clean, dry spoon to add the sugar, pouring from the spoon into the tea without actually submerging it in the liquid. That way you can return the dry spoon to the sugar bowl and thus avoid getting the brown, wet lumps of sugar in the bowl that are caused by people using a wet spoon.

Now with tea cup in hand settle in to a nice comfy position in a nice comfy spot, the corner of the couch, a soft and squishy chair with ottoman, or even your warm and cozy bed and sip and savor. Let the tea work its miracle and you will soon find that you can conquer the world.

The Belated Valentine's Post

As another Valentine's day has come and gone, I started to realize what it actually means to me. To many people it is about the romance, passion and infatuation between a couple. It's a chance for them to buy a dozen red roses, boxes of chocolates, and express their love in often eccentric, over the top ways. Songs like, I Will Always Love You, The Way You Look Tonight, or I'm Yours play all day on the radio for people and their significant others. I for one, love these songs just to listen to them on their own, but when they play on the radio all day back to back with other overly sappy love songs, I cannot stand to listen to them. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not against Valentine's day. I love the candy, and the loving atmosphere it creates, but why do people need a special day to express their love for each other?
My boyfriend and I spent our second Valentine's day together this year like any other normal day we spend together. We agreed that we don't need to spend extra amounts of money on each other just to go with the flow of everyone else. Our peers often scoff at us when we tell them we didn't buy each other anything or we don't have anything special planned, but it just annoys me when my friends go on about their extravagant dates with their significant others, I just don't understand the purpose. If Valentine's day was advertised as a day about love in general and not just couples, I think I would be a lot more willing to be happy about the holiday.

Our Valentine's Dance Party

The thing I enjoyed the most about the day was going to my dance class that night celebrating with my friends. We all made each other cards, brought food, wore pinks, whites, and reds. We had the most fun we had in a while. Which leads me to my conclusion about the holiday. I am in no way way anti-valentines. I would just prefer it would be a day about overall love, a day to simply express affection and appreciation towards everyone who is special in your life, not just a boyfriend or girlfriend. An example of this love would be the guy in the video above. He simply wanted to make a nice gesture to anyone he saw he felt deserved it, it was not about impressing his girlfriend, or buying someone love, it was simply about making random people happy. I only hope that in the future people will use the day to show universal love, everyone needs it, as the Beatles said, all you need is love.

Long Lost Twins or "Doppelgangers"

I was amused tonight by an unexpected Facebook wall post from my brother's girlfriend (who is an amazing girl, in case you were wondering). She posted, "I'm at a concert and your long lost twin is here." I was intrigued, was this a drunk message? There couldn't possibly be someone out there who looks like me. I've always seen pictures on the internet of people of look like identical to each other, but I never even considered that would happen to me. So I told her to send me a stalker picture, I had to see if it was true.

Lo and behold I get a message with an image attatched. At first the girl I saw was just a random girl, and then I saw myself. It was weird. I was looking at this picture of me, but it wasn't me. Despite the fact that her hair is a good 8 inches longer than mine and she was a couple years older, it was a picture of me. (The being older part is explainable. It was a future version of me. The door to the bar was a TARDIS, or a time machine for time lords. A British television reference that few will understand, but it's whatever). She was wearing an outfit I'd wear, right down to her shoes. Daniella then sent me another message saying she talked to this girl and she even sounded like me.

The whole thing weirds me out a bit. I had been introduced to my doppelganger (officially defined as: a ghostly double of a living person that haunts its living counterpart). Would I be friends with this girl if I knew her? How can we possibly look identical without any biological relation? How many other people in this world would be mistaken for me? How many people are there who share my name? What's this girl's life like? How would she react if she saw a picture of me? Maybe you'd call it an identity crisis, who knows. What would you do if someone told you they found your twin? Normally if someone told me I resembled a celebrity or a stranger it wouldn't matter, there'd barely be any similarity. This was different because I was looking at myself in this picture.

As I wrap this post up I leave you and myself to ponder, how unique is everyone really? Are we as special as we are told, or are we just a lone clone of ourself?

And for some entertainment, some celebrity doppelgangers

What am I doing?

My friends' blogs:

Steph's Blog
Jean's Blog
Eric's Blog
Braxton's Blog

As the blogging process starts, I can only hope that I will eventually figure out what I am supposed to do. I'm still kind of in the dark about how a blog works or what I'm supposed to write about. As a person who keeps to herself and doesn't really talk about herself, or anything really for that matter, I know this whole blogging thing is going to be awkward for me. I'm not one who wants to let out her "barbaric yawp." That's weird. I don't yawp. So with those things considered, all I can say is hopefully this will go better than expected. Who knows what this blog will turn into, because I certainly don't.