Hooray Day!

So today was another totally wonderful day. It started out like any other day, which means my car threatened to over heat from the moment I put the key in the ignition and I rushed in to the office like I had no idea that morning would come so early, but once the afternoon rolled around the magic started to show. And no surprise here, the magic started as soon as I met up with one of my old professors. Not only did he have some really encouraging and exciting things to say about grad school, but it was great to sit down and just hear about all the cool things he's been up to lately. It's so nice to be able to watch people that I care about and that I look up to succeed in such astounding ways.



It was also really nice to sit down and talk about anthropology and what we do without having to impress anyone or try and throw out names and theories like I'm in a spelling bee. One of the things that I particularly like about this professor is that he shares my passion for people's stories. I, probably naively, gushed about how I loved the "beating heart" in what we do, and how I felt that those ethnographies that removed themselves too far from the people they were discussing had missed the point of what we do. I love that my professor seemed excited to hear me say that. It really helped to change my thinking about applying to his program for my PhD. Not that I'm saying I've made any decisions, but after today's meeting, I'm much more comfortable with the idea of sticking around for awhile.

I had also intended to talk about kinship terms a little more today. Mostly because I spent sometime with my sisters this evening and we all laughed so much that my throat and face hurt, but the clock keeps catching my eye and making that "it's time to go" hand gesture. So I think I'll head off to bed. I'm sure I'll have plenty of other opportunities to gush about how much I adore kinship terms on other occasions.

Oh and just for the record, I promised the meanest one of my friends I'd make a note about how nice he was today. So for the record, meanie wasn't awful today. There, promise kept. And now I'm off to bed. Read more on "Hooray Day!"!

Bummer! :(

So I was hesitant to write tonight, because I'm not a huge fan of whining, but rather than go to sleep grumpy I thought I'd at least make an attempt at writing it out. So I'm sitting here in front of the computer pouting, because I'm sitting here in front of the computer. It's 11:30 on a Saturday night, and I want to be out dancing, instead of sitting at home. I realize that it's very silly of me to being feeling as sorry for myself as I am. After all, I spent all afternoon with a lot of my amazing friends, laughing, eating, drinking a bit, and generally being jovial. And yesterday, I did nothing but dance. I went from work to bahini's house and meetini was teaching me (or at least trying very hard to) how to dance to Hindi music. After that I went straight to swing dancing and danced for 2 hours. And then after that, I went to the salsa club in town and danced for another 3 hours. It was pretty much a perfect day. But I had still hoped that I would be out dancing again tonight and I'm disappointed that our usual Saturday night has been canceled due to work and car troubles.

I have two dear friends, that I will call the Chicas, that I adore and that I see twice a week on dancing nights. And part of the reason I adore dancing as much as I do is because of them. We have so much fun together and going out with them has had such a positive effect on my life. Before I started dancing with the Chicas, my single status was a constant worry of mine. I missed my ex, I hated being along, and I worried about never finding anyone special. But dancing with the Chicas has been such a liberating experience. Some of my friends worry that I am going out to meet guys and they disapprovingly warn me that the men I'll meet at the clubs are generally going to be womanizers or partiers. But for me the joy of dancing, esp with my Chicas, is that it makes me relish my single status. I can go to a club where there are plenty of guys who want to get to know me (read into that what you will) and my emotional response is genuinely, "oh, I'm sorry, but this is far more fun without you." It's like I've taken an activity that many see as focused on bringing the opposite sexes together, and learned to enjoy it all on my own. I could go on and on about how dancing with the Chicas has taught me to enjoy my single life and really helped me not only to stop worrying about dating, but to even turn down dates with some really cool guys. I never thought that I would be the kind of person to relish being single, but lately I really do. I had always thought that people who said that kind of thing were either lying or really saying that they enjoyed being promiscuous, but lately, I'm coming to understand. Granted, I still have days, no weeks, where I hate being single more than anything, but I'm learning to put those in perspective and dancing is really the key to that for me.

But I'll stop there. I had no intention of writing on and on like this. I just wanted to cheer myself up and I think reflecting on just how happy dancing makes me did just the trick. Still, I think I'll turn some music on and have a little dance party of my own, just for good measure. :) Read more on "Bummer! :("!