More than 30 before 30...

I just realised that I haven't posted anything for a while and I did have a wee panic last week that I'm going to get behind and not complete everything, so I've been checking the list and dates and things I need to save cash for etc.
But I've been off list too, maybe I'll call these things 'off-liste' as in 'off-piste'... I like it. Where was I?...I've been doing other things that I've never done before.
Ooh, I've got the boots, had them for a month or two now, but just haven't written anything because I don't have a photo of them yet. But what else, ooh, I gave Dad the voucher for his hot air balloon flight for his 60th birthday last week and he was so excited! it came attached to a helium balloon for added balloony effect, so we've booked it for May now, and I've got fingers and toes and everything crossed that the weather stays good on that day!

Books: I've finally got my copy of Mockingbird...actually that is photo-worthy because it's a beautiful edition. I'll do that later. But I haven't started reading it yet, I feel I should just sit down and do it in one rather than dragging it around in my handbag for days. But I read my first Evelyn Waugh - Decline and Fall - and it was funny, I enjoyed it but it was more of a handbag book than a bedtime read, and I need a break before I start on Vile Bodies. So I'm reading Love in the Time of Cholera just now - I got it as part of World Book Night and started it on the train last week and I'm enchanted! I remember struggling to get into One Hundred Year of Solitude so I was expecting this to be the same, but it is compelling reading and lovely lyrical writing. It's also kind of dreamy with an undertone of love having all kinds of negative aspects too so it appeals to my slight cynicism.

Movies: I had my first Marx brothers movie night at the weekend! I can't believe I've reached 29 without seeing any of their films, shocking. So I turned off my phone, dimmed the lights, popped the corn and settled down to a double-bill of Duck Soup and Monkey Business and I laughed more than I have laughed in ages!!! Man does Groucho talk fast though! it's defo going to take a few goes to have really seen it properly :) and he has some amazing one-liners, and Harpo's physical stuff is hilarious. So I'll be trying A Night at the Opera next.
And to honour the passing of the greatness of Elizabeth Taylor I'll be having Elizabeth Taylor movie night next weekend.

Work: I'm judging my first ever moot tonight. And my second one - both of the semi-finals. Should be interesting.

So lots of firsts, and I'm loving it :)

Tango jet-lag!

The tango festival was amazing! and I completely have tango jet-lag now - my body wants to wake up at lunchtime and dance until 3am :)
I'm feeling so energised now, it's fantastic. I want to dance nonstop! they are the most generous teachers, they seem to be always happy with endless energy and it's contagious. I learnt so much, particularly to make my steps 'mas grande' but I did manage to get through the whole of Sunday's workshops without being told 'mas grande, mas grande' so I think my legs are obeying...gradually! I think there are too many things to say, and not really the words to say them, tango is just a feeling and it makes me smile, and I can't put it into words.

Ooh, but the musicality workshop was amazing (they all were, but this one especially) so I have resolved to buy music from a different orchestra each month and listen, listen, listen, so that I know the music from inside, so I have just ordered a bunch of CDs. My favourite orchestra is Canaro at the moment, it just makes me smile :) but I want to expand on other things so I've ordered some Fresedo as I only have one cd of his orquesta and it's so elegant, and I have ordered some D'Arienzo con Echague because they are fantastic but I don't have much.

So I am on a tango high at the moment. Tango is good for the soul. I think my soul wouldn't be complete without tango.

It's tango time :)

Love it! and kind of wish I had signed up for the workshop on decorations now...

Tangooooooooooo!!!

So my list clearly did not include 'learn to travel light' - I'm going away for a weekend of tango festival and have packed 6 outfits, boots, 2 pairs of shoes and 7, yes 7, pairs of tango shoes! I still might change my mind about my dress for the Gran Milonga though, the one I've got for the milonga de aperture is fine, but my other one is quite a plain jane...although I've got gold glittery shoes to wear with it, so actually maybe plain is good otherwise I'll be as spangly as a christmas bauble and that's not a good look.

But the main point, a weekend of tango!!!!!! I'm so excited! I think we've got 5 workshops, 2 milongas (10pm-3am - Buenos Aires is coming to Birmingham!).
(Random question, is a thermos supposed to fizz?...mine has just started and I'm slightly nervous it's about to explode or something...)

Where was I? Sebastian Misse y Andrea Reyero, coming over to Gallo Ciego in Birmingham organised by my teachers Loyd Vidal y Sandra Bernard...all amazing tango de salon dancers, it's going to be fab!!! And I haven't managed to get over to Birmingham for classes the last few weeks so it's going to be great to get in some dancing with Peter, and I can't wait for the milongas :) So I've packed and I'm at work, had Biagi on, now got Canaro on and having a sneaky squiz at the occasional video of the maestros over a cup of tea.

Tango is life!

30 before 30: No. 11 ...the book has been ordered!

I have ordered 'To kill a mockingbird'! I went to Waterstones and searched the shelves, it wasn't in fiction, it wasn't in classics...mystery. Then I got distracted by the other books - I've been watching 'Glamour's Golden Age' on BBC4 and am having a 1920s thing so I wanted Evelyn Waugh's 'Vile bodies'...also not there. It seems that they had one copy of each but they were both sold at the weekend - I must have a book choice doppelganger in Leicester pre-emptively buying all my books! either that or I've started sleepwalking again and have gone sleep-shopping and then squirreled the books away...I like to think that if I did sleep-shop I would sleep-shoeshop not sleep-bookshop, so I'm blaming the book doppelganger.
Anyway, they did have 'Decline and fall' so I got that. And then I saw 'On the road' which I half read in my first year of uni but apparently my short attention span had already set in by then because I didn't finish it. And that was on 3 for 2 so I decided to see whether they could order any of my books on 3 for 2.
Long story short (because let's be honest, this is not the most interesting story of my life...although it is kind of an exciting story just because it forms part of my 30 before 30) I ordered 'To kill a mockingbird' - a teeny tiny baby step towards No.11 :) And while I wait for it to arrive I have Decline and fall, my first book by a Bright Young Person,! and On the Road, and Norwegian Wood (the third of my 3 for 2, because I'm reading Dance, Dance, Dance at the moment and I'm loving my Murakami, but it's time to have a break from my Japanese phase now).
Wowzer, I just managed to say in 5000 words what could have been said in 15...it's a talent.
Summary - 'yay for me, I ordered a book' :)

I am sooo a watch wearer!

Yesterday for the first time I remembered to check my watch for the time rather than my phone.
And this morning I almost left the house without it but felt slightly naked and realised it was my empty right wrist giving me this sense of nudity - it is confirmed, I am a reformed character, I am now a watch-wearer!