My Blue Heaven

Feelin Hot Hot HOT!

What’s with the weather now? It is insanely hot today. Didn’t sleep well last night coz it was too hot & I still had a sore throat. Woke up this morning to a balmy 30 degrees.. and rising. It’s supposed to hit 37/38 degrees today! Far out brussel sprouts!

I dunno if I should go to dance class today, in this heat. But then again… its good dancing when its hot.. your muscles are just so much more loose and flexible. We’ll see!

The thing that sucks about this weather is that its gonna cool down by the weekend. They forecast only 22/23 degrees. Grrr. And here I was hoping I could hit the beach for the first time this season.

In other news, following up from my previous post…. I have decided. And it feels good.. a weight lifted from my shoulders! 🙂

[Edit: 3:20pm]
My picture is in this weeks 3D World Magazine! Hehe check it out, top of page 56! Was snapped at Soul Train at the Dancers Workshop afterparty on Sun 3rd Oct. 🙂

Current listening :: “Hot In Here” – Nelly (How appropriate :P)

Just chillin

I’m just relaxing at home right not, doing not much. Its nice to have a relatively free Saturday to just chill. I took the opportunity to go to a dance class today at Dance Central – I’ve been itching to dance again ever since last weekend’s dancer’s workshop finished (and my muscles had recovered).

So I went to Kaylene’s intermediate jazz/funk/hiphop (JFH) class. It was fun – we spent most of the class learning & doing the routine, with just a short time at the beginning warming up. I found the class a little easy, though it was still enjoyable and a great workout. I’m actually starting to find it hard to find a class which is at a level that challenges me. Maybe the dancers workshop has raised my standards. Well, I’m sure there are challenging classes out there, I just have to find em. Perhaps I should try Michael Boyd’s int/advanced JFH at the Sydney Dance Co again. That was definitely a hard one!

Anyways, better be off. Paul is coming over now and we’re gonna head out for a swim. 🙂

Current listening :: “A Love That Will Last” – Renee Olstead

Sickie

Inevitably, after such an exhausting weekend of intense physical activity and not enough sleep, my body has had enough. So here I am, at home today, sick. 🙁 Woke up this morning with a pretty bad sore throat, a bit of a headache, and just a general feeling of exhaustion. So deciding I should probably stay home, I promptly went back to sleep – waking up at nearly 2pm. 😀

I’m feeling a little better now – been drinking lots of hot honey lemon, water and chinese herbal tea. Also had some jook for lunch. Typical asian sick person meal. 🙂

Anyway, I’ve updated yesterday’s blog entry – the extended section now contains a nice long rant about the dance workshop and after party. Go and read if you dare. 😛

In other news, we just got cable internet at home! Woohoo!! No more snail-paced surfing on a 56k modem. Yay! 😀

Okies, time for a shower..

Current listening :: “Breakaway” – Kelly Clarkson

Dance dance dance

I had the most AMAZING weekend of dancing, dancing and more dancing! I must have clocked up about 16 hours of dancing. 6 hours on Saturday & 5 hours on Sunday at the International Dancers Workshop, and then another 5 hours at the afterparty (SoulTrain @ Hunter). I actually stayed at the afterparty until the club closed – and got home at 7am!! Had myself quite a big night. And I even dreamt about dancing when I went to sleep on mon morning.

To spare those of you not interested in dance, I’ll put my ravings about the details of the workshop in the extended entry area (just click on “more” at the end of this post). But in brief, I had the best time at the workshop. It was very much hiphop/funk – and was really hard. Even the beginners level was very difficult and fast. And adv/professional was just insane. But by the end, I knew that I’d improved HEAPS as a dancer, and had really challenged myself with this hip hop style straight from the US. (Though not all the routines were hip hop.. some were more funk, some even slightly jazz/funk).

Here’s a photo I took at the end, with our teachers Kevin Maher and Teresa Espinosa.

Over this weekend, I got a glimpse of the joy and freedom in hip hop dancing. I really understand why ppl love it so much. It was definitely an amazing experience for me. And I have soooo got the dancing bug now. I really really want to dance more. To learn more hip hop… do my usual jazz classes… and just dance. Wanna go clubbing again too. Heh. At the afterparty, I danced the best I ever have before in a club. It was like my body & limbs took on a mind of their own, and just moved of their own volition. Even when I wanted to rest, my body just kept moving with the music.. kinda like that fairytale about the red dancing shoes.

Current listening :: “Lets Get Retarded” – Black Eyed Peas

(more…)

Fairytale revisited

Just got back from watching the latest Hilary Duff girly flick, A Cinderella Story. Actually went by myelf – after doing a light workout at the gym. Was nice to spend some quality time, just doing things I enjoy.

I quite enjoyed the movie. T’was suitably girly and romantic. *sigh* Though there were times I wanted to smack her one for being the biggest doormat known to man, but she eventually stood up for herself and all ended well. *sigh* 🙂

I’m such a girly girl.. and I’m proud to be one!! 😛 Ooh.. almost time for Stargate. Off to the TV room!

Current listening :: “Come Clean” – Hilary Duff

Updates

Decided to do a little house-keeping on my site and update a few bits and pieces around the joint. If you’re observant, you may have noticed I’ve added a little weather pixie to my side nav bar. She’s cute eh. 🙂

I’ve also finally fixed up the layout on my search page so that it matches the rest of the site. Hmm.. what next.. I might update my cam archives since they are a little behind.

Geeky sci-fi tv joy

Watched Stargate last night. What an amusing episode. Heheh. Its becoming a bit of a Wed night routine after CG… the Brightsider’s and I gather round the TV to watch our beloved Stargate SG-1 (10:30pm on channel 7!) I think I’m actually becoming a fan of this series… at last. I haven’t been keen on a particular show for years and years… since high school (aside from my brief Dark Angel Season 1 stint)! After last nights “to be continued”, I really wanna catch it tonight to see what happens. I guess it figures I’d like this show… in high school I only got into series such as Star Trek (Next Gen & DS9) and Seaquest DSV. Yay for geeky sci-fi shows! Hee.. I know, I’m such a geek. 😛

Current listening :: “Hero” – Mariah Carey (Ahh.. good ol Mariah… just what I’m in the mood for… :D)

Got the dancing bug

Went to my jazz/funk and UK Street Funk dance classes again at lunchtime today. It was great fun and a really great workout (esp with that humidity.. lots of sweating.. great for dancing!) Though both had exactly the same routine as last week, it was still good because it allowed me to concentrate on improving my technique, perfecting each move, putting in more strength and energy, and actually dancing each step.. rather than being caught up just trying to remember the next step.

Yeh.. I’ve really been getting back into dancing these days (have you noticed? :P) I love it!!! Wish I could actually perform or get a gig or just do something with my dancing some day. Maybe an opportunity will come up at the International Dancers Workshop? Maybe I’ll make some contacts? Who knows.

Ooh, so I met someone today who was also going to the workshop this weekend, this girl in my Street Funk class. She works as a promoter for Soul Train at the Hunter Hotel. And I scored myself a whole stack of free VIP passes to Soul Train (Fri nights), as well as to the official afterparty for the Int Dancers Workshop, which will be at Soul Train this Sun night. Hmm.. anyone wanna join me.. for free? Got lotsa passes!

Can’t believe the workshop is in 3 days time!!! Eeek! I’ve been very good preparing myself physically for it. I can really feel the difference in my fitness, strength and endurance. Feels goooood! I did those 2 classes today back to back, and felt fine the whole time! I even had enough energy to run back to work. 🙂

Happy Birthdee Terri!!

Last night I went to Terri’s 26th birthday drinks/dinner. We went to Cube for drinks (the old Alexanders.. can hardly believe it used to be that dingy, seedy old place!). I actually had a cocktail – a “Chocolate Cube” (Frangelico, Bailey’s and Kahlua blended with chocolate cream and honey topped with almonds. Yummo!) – and I went a little red afterwards. Shame on me. :\ Then to Superbowl for dinner (heheh.. that was a kinda funny transition… from classy to seedy.. :P).

Anyways, it was really good to see Terri again, as well as many old friends from “The Crew” (back in our uni days) – lets see, who was there.. Vic, Dan (and their respective partners), Esmond, Sharon.. Sam & Pauline, Steve & Nam and Faith + hubby dropped in for a short while. Plus a few others. I really haven’t kept in touch with them these past few years, which is a shame. But I guess now that many are engaged and getting married soon (so scary!), we’ll get a few more chances to catch up at weddings and what-nots. 🙂

Current listening :: “Naughty Girl” – Beyoncé

Weekend miscellaney

Another weekend gone by. Gee they fly by fast don’t they. Lets see.. what did I get up to. Friday night was the last Glue for term 3 – we get two weeks break, and then back into it for term 4 (is it already the final term for the year??) On Saturday morning I had a nice sleep in, then Paul came round for lunch and we just hung out at my place.

We watched Tomb Raider on a dodgy DVD 😛 – man, Angelina Jolie is hott! 🙂 I was so inpsired by her buff and toned body – I wanna get more toned like her. Perhaps that’ll be my aim for this summer. Haha. Well, I’m on a good start – been exercising heaps! We went swimming again on Saturday eve – 13 laps, 650 metres, yeh baybee! 😀 I really think we’ll be making 1km soon! I wore my mums ridiculous looking swimming cap and goggles for the first time – bright green and blue cap with pink goggles. Haha. Oh well, at least it saved my eyes and my hair. Chlorine is evil.

Sunday’s combined tri-lingual service was… alright. Hehe. Ok it was pretty boring.. to be expected I suppose when you’re listening to a service being translated into mandarin and cantonese. Us “youth” took position right at the back of the hall during the service, and er.. amused ourselves. The performance went alright – cept the mics were wacked. Sam’s was waaay too loud, and mine and Andrew’s were too soft. Ah well. In the evening we visited Vron at St Paul’s Castlehill. My 2nd time there. Fun. 🙂

How gorgeous was the weather on Sunday!?!? Mann… beach weather! If only I was at the beach. Bring on more summery weather! Anyways, I’m off to the gym now. Yay! 🙂

Current listening :: “This Is My Time” – Raven (Princess Diaries 2 OST – I likey! Hee. I’m such a girly girl.)

Princess fairytales

Went to see Princess Diaries 2 last night with Paul. *sigh* I really liked it! It was so romantic and sweet and girly.. and funny too. Anne Hathaway was absolutely gorgeous in it, and I rather liked the Bad Guy Prince Charming. 😉 Paul didn’t like it that much, unsuprisingly, but he didn’t mind it either. I definitely recommend it for all the girly girls out there. 🙂 (That, and Suddenly 30 – really liked that one too!)

A note on my back – went for a final check-up with the chiro today, and all is well. Rib is in, and I’m only sore coz the muscles in my back have had quite a workout! She even said my body seems the best she’s ever seen! I guess all that yoga/pilates/swimming/dancing over the past week or so has done me some good! Yay for exercise! 🙂

Not much planned for the weekend. Me, Sam and Andrew are singing an item at our annual WSCCC Combined Service on sunday. Just the three of us, with Sam & Andrew on guitars. Eeek! Other than that, hopefully will get a chance to just relax and chill.

Current listening :: “Breakaway” – Kelly Clarkson (from the Princess Diaries 2 OST)

Pain

Argh I am soooo sore today!!! It was to be expected of course. Having attended FOUR hours of dance class yesterday. I knew my muscles would be killing me today. Suprisingly my legs aren’t too bad – just a bit sore in the inner thighs (go those plies!) What is the most stiff and sore is my back, neck & shoulders. I can’t even breathe in deeply or walk without it hurting. At least its not a popped rib – I hope.. I was very careful at class, and I think the rib actually stayed in! Guess only time will tell.

So how did I manage 4 hours of dance class? Well I went to Ramon’s int jazz at the Sydney Dance Company = 2 hours. Haven’t been to his class for aaages, so it was good to be back. The main routine was to the latest Guy Sebastian song – quite a funky routine. And the lyrical was to Usher’s “Confessions Part II” – my fave song.. not. Hehe. 😛 Then at lunch I went to 2 dance classes taught by Farah Shah – a jazz/funk and UK street funk class. Makes another 2 hours (yeh I took a 2 hour lunch break for it.. *cough*) At the jazz/funk class I was actually the only one there – so it was basically a private lesson! Very cool! The routine was to “All Nite” by Janet Jackson. I got heaps of pointers and advice about how to improve, esp if I want to go for auditions. She said what makes a dancer stand out is clean lines & precision + the strength/energy in each move. Thats what I needed to improve on. (But damn its tiring!) The Street Funk routine was to Sean Paul’s “Get Busy”. T’was a fun routine! 🙂

Dancers workshop!

Now why did I put myself through that rather intense day of dancing? Well, its all in preparation for this:

I’m gonna be attending the International Dancers Workshop II in Sydney on Oct 2 & 3. I got my tickets in the mail the other week… and I’m soooo excited about it!!!! 😀 Choreographers are Kevin Maher and Teresa Espinosa, coming out from the US. I’m really really looking forward to Teresa’s classes in particular as she is the choreographer for alot of Britney’s stuff, including her latest DVD live performances, and also was head choreographer for Janet Jackson’s Velvet Robe tour! It’s gonna be sooo good to learn from her! 😀 Kevin Maher is replacing Dave Scott (who was the choreographer for the movie “You Got Served” – but ended up not being able to make it out coz of passport issues). But yeh, Kevin should be great too. I think he was actually one of the dancers in “You Got Served”. Anyways, look at the website for more details. I dunno if you can still get tickets though.

I bought the 2 Day Unlimited Pass – which means I get to go to ALL 12 classes over the two days. Thats 6 classes per day (gee 6 hours of dancing.. how am I gonna last – I can barely manage more than 2 hours of dancing!) But yeh, I wanted to try the different levels – even Advanced/Professional! And also it is by far the best value for money option.

Anyway, for this reason, I’ve been upping my exercise regime and dancing. And I really hope my rib is 100% better by then!!! :\

Current listening :: “Canned Heat” – Jamiroquai