I spent the afternoon at Helios today, enjoying a cup of coffee, while completing my blog entry for yesterday, and writing a long overdue letter to a friend.
I had on sandals and sat inside, not because it was too hot outside, but because I didn’t feel like dealing with screen “contrast issues” on my laptop, while I tried to write.
My toes got so cold in there that I made a mental note not to wear sandals there again. They do keep that place cool. Kevin (av8rdude) and I, both, have been too cold in there at times — even with covered-toe shoes.
Speaking of shoes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HjIljJd-o0
I left Helios at about 4:30, and not having had any lunch, decided to stop at Applebee’s for dinner.
I sat down and two things happened:
| 1 |
After about two minutes of sitting down and looking at the menu, this tall, thin, unattractive, black guy at a nearby table says in a real loud voice to someone who works there who was standing a few feet from his table, “Look around at all the guys in here sitting alone. Every one of them but me has their head down. [Mine was down reading the menu laying on the table.] Guys, pick your heads up! No girl wants to sit down with a guy who has his head down.”
I just love when someone broadcasts his ignorance and tiny worldview, and has no clue that the things he is saying say nothing about the people about whom he’s speaking, but shouts out his own biography.
Obviously, he comes to a restaurant to seek a spouse, so everyone else in the world must be here for the same reason.
And, further, his mind is so small that there’s not even a tiny corner in which the idea that at least one of the guys, even if he was here trying to find a spouse, is totally uninterested in a girl sitting down with him.
I’m assuming he kept his “head up” the entire time he sat there and ate alone. He’s got the whole world all figured out; a “lucky catch” without a doubt.
| 2 |
Evidently, the waitstaff had more time to interact with this pinhead than they had to serve me. After another minute, totaling three or four altogether since I had been seated and not attended to, I got up and walked out.
I forgot to mention yesterday that I attended a webinar called The 93 Percent Solution put on free by Phi Kappa Phi, to which I was recently elected.
The title comes from the fact that, when you present, or communicate in general, 58% of your credibility comes from how people perceive you visually (what you wear, how you gesture, eye contact, and so on) and 35% of your credibility comes from your vocal quality (volume, tone, flow, and so on). That’s what comprises the 93%. The other 7% is your verbal ability; that is, the actual words you use.
The other most salient point of the presentation was that another huge factor in successful presenting is that you be your authentic, whole self — be open and honest with your audience.
I found this rather ironic, because the guy presenting this webinar was clearly family, though nowhere in his introduction of himself, or in his bio online, does he disclose this part of his “true self.”
I listened to more of The Da Vinci Code this evening, and took an hour nap before dancing.
Dancing was sort of blah tonight. Up until about 10:00, dancers included Carl, Geromy, Me, and Ernie. Michael arrived shortly after that.
Todd and his partner, I can never remember his name, took the lessons, as did one other guy that no one in “our group” spoke to all night. Who said we’re a clique?
Carl reviewed Chill Factor again, and then later, Badonkadonk. I almost have Chill Factor now. One more review next week should do it. It, for sure, is an advanced dance.
Step Sheet for
Chill Factor
Choreographed by Daniel Whittaker & Hayley Westhead
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Description: 48 Count, 4 Wall Line Dance
IAGLCWDC Division: Advanced IAGLCWDC Music Selection: “Last Night”, RIGHT SCUFF, KNEE TURN, KICK BALL STEP, PIVOT 1/2 TURN |
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| 1-2 | Scuff right beside left foot, touch right toe to right side |
| 3-4 | Push right knee in towards left knee, push right knee out making a 1/4 turn right |
| 5&6 | Kick right foot forward, step right beside left, step forward left foot |
| 7-8 | Step forward right foot pivot 1/2 turn left |
| RIGHT GRAPEVINE HEEL JACK, 1/2 TURN, LEFT CROSS SHUFFLE |
|
| 1-2 | Step right to side, cross left behind |
| &3 | Step right slightly back, and touch left heel diagonally forward |
| &4 | Step left beside right, and cross right over left |
| 5-6 | Step left foot slightly back making a 1/4 turn right, step right foot to the side making a 1/4 turn right |
| 7&8 | Step left foot over right, step right to side, step left over right |
| SIDE ROCK, 1/4 TURN, ROCK STEP, COASTER STEP |
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| 1-2 | Rock to the side on right foot, rock to the side on left foot |
| 3&4 | Step right foot behind left, make 1/4 turn left and step forward left, step forward right foot |
| 5-6 | Rock left foot forward, rock back on right |
| 7&8 | Step left back, close right to left, step forward left |
| SWITCH STEPS 3/4 TURN, KICK CROSS CLAP |
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| 1&2 | Kick right foot forward, step right beside left, and touch left heel forward |
| &3-4 | Step left beside right, lock right foot behind left foot, unwind 3/4 turn right (weight ends on right) |
| 5-6 | Step left forward, kick right foot forward |
| &7-8 | Step right foot back, touch left foot over right foot, clap |
| STEP LOCK, 1/4 TURN STEP LOCK, STEP 1/2 PIVOT, STEP 1/4 TURN |
|
| 1-2& | Step left foot forward, lock right foot behind left, step forward left |
| 3-4& | Make 1/4 turn right step forward right foot, lock left behind, step forward right |
| 5-6 | Step forward left, pivot 1/2 turn right |
| 7-8 | Step forward left make 1/4 turn right, touch right beside left |
| SYNCOPATE FORWARD, BACK, FORWARD, FORWARD, HEEL JACK, HEEL JACK |
|
| &1 | Step right foot forward, step left foot to side of right foot |
| &2 | Step right foot back, step left foot to side of right foot |
| &3 | Step right foot forward, step left foot to side of right foot |
| &4 | Step right foot forward, step left foot to side of right foot |
| &5&6 | Step right foot slightly back, touch left heel diagonally forward, step left beside right, step right beside left |
| &7&8 | Step left foot slightly back, touch right heel diagonally forward, step right beside left, step left beside right |
| REPEAT |
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I swear if we’ve learned it wrong… it’s hard enough “un-learning” and “re-learning” a dance, but when it’s an exceptionally difficult one, well, it’s exponentially hard. And not in a good way.
I left at 11:00.