Adventures of a tribal dancer...

Chilliwack is da bomb!

by Shay Moore The TribalDancer Wednesday, April 04, 2007

This past weekend was wonderful fun. Gen and I head up to Chilliwack, BC to teach a weekend chock full of dancing goodness.

We got stopped for a full search at the border which was scary. I mean, had I brought a ton of stuff to sell at the workshops as I usually do, we would have been in a very awkward position, surely. But we didn't, so the car search didn't implicate us in any way. And the immigration guy was so very nice, and we chatted him up a little bit about bellydance and the workshops we were going to... Puts the fear o' god in ya, lemmie tell ya.

Every single time I visit Canada I am struck by how very very nice they all are (except for the border guards, who seem very rude by contrast, but it's kinda part of their job to be intimidating). I feel like I am coming home to old friends, even in a room of strangers. They are so open, and so giving. We were showered with a small flood of gifts right from our arrival in the form of a gift basket, complete with home-crafted bath salts, scented spray, and lotions; a package of digestives; home-canned peaches; and two mugs and a selection of teas and hot chocolate!

We tried to spend some time assembling our performance set for the following night, but kept getting stuck, so we struck out for dinner. Latitude 47 was down the street, and we got a hearty meal and a bottle of yummy wine. The "I love you man's" started pretty early this trip, and we talked about dance and our troupe and wodnerfulness around all that. We chilled back at the room, and chatted late in the dark. The morning came too fast and we were tired, but off we went!

The workshops went well. The group was pretty beginner level across the board, so we didn't get as many concepts covered as I usually get to. I hadn't realized how few of them had any tribal experience, so the movements and stylings felt very foreign to them and were a struggle on some of the rudimentary concepts. When I discovered that many of them were under the impression that a shimmy was pumping your knees, and they didn't know there even was any other kind of shimmy, I had my work cut out for me. But that was good news--I was thrilled to be able to bring some general technique and theory to them, and they were so eager and so wonderful throughout, working hard and laughing along with us. I know I had fun, and they seemed to as well.

Back at the room, we set back to assembling a couple sets for the hafla that evening. We finally settled on a two-song first set featuring the skirtwork they had learned, and a three-song second set showcasing the bhangra they would be learning the next day. The first set was a surprise--we decided last minute to add an additional set, so we weren't on the schedule. We just came slinking up the aisle when they thought the intermission was about to begin, and they erupted into applause. That was fun. :)

I always love dancing with Gen (Hell, which of my sisters don't I love dancing with?!). We definitely have a great rapport onstage, and our comparable height and shape makes us appear even more in-synch. And Gen is great at eye contact and vamping it up with me! LOL SASSSSSSSSY GENEVIEVE!! And it is a rare treat to get to do duets in our group, since we work in trios mostly, and duets tend to be very limited in use. So getting to really connect just the two of us was a treat.

Afterward, we felt like superstars. Folks heaping on praise, taking photos with us, and each of us given a bottle of wine by the beautiful and fun Amy who we became friends with at Kamloops. We felt really good about the performance. Everyone then changed and head out to dinner at a restaurant just a block away, where we stuffed ourselves, drank wine, and then sleepily head back to the room...where we ate cheetos and drank more wine, and again talked way too late.

Morning came too fast, and we had to pack up and load the car to be able to head home right after the workshops were over. We started with some drills, introducing some basics isolation concepts and introducing different shimmies, which had their eyes wide and smiles beaming at something so new and different. I love that! Their enthusiasm feeds me, and I had much fun jamming alongside Gen as my stellar assistant. We finished with Bhangra, which tapered off a bit near the end, as the students lost steam in their 8th hour of workshops in one weekend. It was hard to keep them moving near the end, which was too bad since bhangra is usually such a complete adrenaline kick! But some of them just plain gave up, and I couldn't get them to push through it. :(

We ended with a nice long yoga cool-down, and brought the workshops to a close. I packed up what was left of my vending, which wasn't much, changed into fresh clothes, made our goodbyes with kisses and hugs, and hit the road. The drive is just so easy, especially compared to the Kamloops drive which felt like ages comparatively (well it was over twice as long!). I was welcomed to Seattle by a hailstorm and grey grey pounding rain, and no hubby...puppies, but no hubby. Because he was off in Burbank, CA drinking the Disney Kool-Aid!

family livejournal travel

My Mom journaled

by Shay Moore The TribalDancer Monday, March 12, 2007

So today as I was searching for my copy of the Artist's Way (which some of my troupemates and I are going to be doing together (again for some of us)), I walked past the stack of plastic boxes which had been passed on to me from my Mom on our last visit. In our family, we didn't have scrapbooks or anything so organized. We had "memory boxes". Basically, everyone had a cardboard box where anything you achieved was thrown into. Report cards, certificates of achievement, essays, birthday cards, pictures you drew, notes, photographs... They all would get crumpled and torn over the years, but that didn't seem to be an issue when considering changing systems.

So I opened mine. Or what was mostly mine. Over time, looks like a lot of cross-pollination took place, and there were some memorabilia from all my siblings in there along with my stuff. And then I came across some cards from my Dad to my Mom. And I found some notes that seemed to be pieces of a scavenger hunt my Dad had assembled for my Mom at some time, and a little handmade heart with a promise for a backrub from Mom to Dad. I felt like I was peering in on something intensely private, and at the same time, sad that my Mom wanted to throw all of this "out" by tossing it into my memory box and pushing it off onto me.

One discovery made me take pause, and is ringing in my mind right now. My father's handwriting is just as distinct as my Mother's, and completely the opposite. While my Mom has swirling script, my Father always wrote in all-caps. Precise, boxy lettering. And he never wrote much. Even in anniversary cards, he never wrote more than "Love, Me" at the bottom. No extra note. And he always signed it "Me". So it was surprising to find a small notecard--the kind that accompanies flower arrangements--written in his stilted unpracticed cursive, which he almost never used. It read, "Honey, You deserve so much more. Me."

My mind races. What circumstance inspired him to write such a self-deprecating note? What was he apologizing for? What had he done? Or not done? What had she said? Imagining my Father in some emotional state where he believed himself to be unworthy of my Mother, or somehow incapable of giving her the life he (or she?) felt she deserved...it breaks me heart. And felt like some kind of insight into his suicide all those years later... but maybe I am reading too much into one little note. I just know it made me well up with tears as I studied it, and makes my chest feel tight to picture it now in my mind's eye...

And then I realize that maybe the card meant "You deserve so much more (than just these flowers)". And the tightness doesn't go away. Because I realize that his suicide has made me approach every piece of memorabilia with the eye of some kind of detective. I am filled with a degree melancholy and suspicion as I dig through these memories, as if searching for a clue to the mystery. I read into everything. The tiniest notes make me feel connected to him, and at the same time remind me that I didn't really ever know what was in his heart and he feels even further away than you believe even death could carry someone...

I also found some "journals" of my Mom's. I had no idea she ever journaled anything. But here they were, funny little spiral-bound memo books with her clean cursive writing I recognize anyplace. And the entries are very short, and mostly matter-of-fact.

"Oct 11th
Left this morning for Honolulu. G&G came out to the airport--so did Daddy on his way to Newark. Arrived Honolulu at 12:30. Went to Holiday Inn. Kids swam in the afternoon, ate at the hotel restaurant. Didn't attempt to make flight as TE-11 was canceled. No room for us."

I continued reading, and found this was an account of the month-long trip she took me and brother on to New Zealand when I was about 7 years old. The entries were brief throughout, a few days apart throughout the trip. Now, I know for a fact that my Mom was completely harassed by the husband of a friend we went to stay with at one point during our trip. Sicker still, it was when his wife was in the hospital giving birth to their third child, and my Mom was helping take care of the kids and house while she was away. But the short little entries reveal nothing. Sure, they relate, in two sentences, how we went to see the Queen Mother walk down Queens Way, and that the Prince himself walked right up and touched my hand and smiled at me while I waved my New Zealand flag with zeal. She shares a couple lines about our walks to the bakery each morning, and our long day on One Tree Hill, playing in the park. How Brian and I were loving tea every day, and out on the farm how we loved the fresh milk and butter. But she was nearly attacked by her friend's husband, and she doesn't note it anywhere?

Which got me thinking about the nature of journaling, and associated blogging, and wondering "Who is this for?" And if it is for us, how honest are we in our writing, and how much of what we write is revisionist, in that we only write what we want to remember, and avoid writing about the things that we might later be sad about or even ashamed of.

I have stacks of hand-written journals I have kept for years. I no longer write in a hand-written journal, because frankly it is too slow for me. All my life I found it frustrating that my hand couldn't write as fast as thoughts came to me, and my hand would invariably cramp up at some inopportune time. Add to that the fact that with the advent of blogging, my focus in writing changed to be able to not only record my thoughts and experiences for myself, but to share them with friends so we can keep up with one another. Which changes the nature of the writing significantly. I look at some of my handwritten journals, and I cringe at times at some of the harsh honesty and embarrassing details contained therein (I am reminded that my father always told me that if I ever got famous, I should burn my journals. At times, I consider doing it anyway...). And then I look at my fairly sterile-by-comparison LJ, and realize I don't really write for me any more. I do, but it is censored and focused in such a way that it is more revisionist than I may have realized before today...before finding my Mom's journal.

Thing is, I am not sure who my Mom would have been writing her journal for. But I an inclined to believe it was just for herself. And she chose not to tell her own tale honestly. I wonder why...

disney family livejournal

As we speak...

by Shay Moore The TribalDancer Saturday, March 03, 2007

holidays livejournal musings

Why all the hatin?

by Shay Moore The TribalDancer Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Valentine's Day...
I have never understood the amount of negativity people have toward a holiday that is devoted to love. This is not directed at anyone particular, but instead feelings that have long germinated in me over this topic.

"But it's so COMMERCIALIZED..."
You don't have to buy a THING from Hallmark or anyone else to give a gift to someone you love. Draw or paint something for your Mom. Sew up something fun for your best girlfriend. Make a "coupon book" for your boyfriend. Wash your car and go for a day road-trip with your honey, pack a picnic dinner...so many little things you can do for fun.

"I hate feeling like I am OBLIGATED to do something..."
Obligated? How about OPPORTUNITY?! A chance to celebrate the idea of love, in all its forms, with the rest of the country (or world, depending on other countries that celebrate it :). A chance to smile, look someone in the eye, and say "Happy Valentine's Day!" and better yet, follow it up with "I love you!" And from there, it can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. No obligation. Just a chance to do something a little special and different from last Tuesday...

"Why just ONE day? I mean, we should be loving to each other EVERY day."
Right, and every day should be your birthday, because you are valuable and special every day? And it should be Christmas every day because we should celebrate good will toward men every day. And it should be Independence Day every day because we should be grateful for all the freedoms our country allows us, and the honor the men and women who fight for those rights and priviledges. And am I only required to not be racist during black history month?

Setting aside one day to especially recognize something important doesn't mean it isn't something that should be valued and practiced the rest of the year. But having one day to really focus on it and share that moment with many other people who are also celebrating and honoring it...it's magical. Give yourself permission to share in it, too!

If you don't want to celebrate it, fine. But the excuses make no sense to me. This holiday, in whatever different form, was around long before commercialism took hold of it. We don't have to be bound by what they say it is. It is what WE make it--a chance to give friends an extra-special gift or write them a note to acknowledgment their value in our lives; a chance to pat ourselves on the back and focus on the love we have for ourselves and maybe treat ourselves to a little indulgence we might not ordinarily; a chance to go out of your way to tell your family how much they mean to you and add a smile to their day; and for some it is just plain permission to say "I love you" to people who on any other day might feel it was overly emotional or out of context--not everyone has open, loving relationships in their lives where they get to say it and hear it every other day of the year. If you are one who does, then you are blessed. If you are not, then don't disparage a holiday and businesses which support the practice so at least one day a year, a woman (or man) gets flowers, candy, and a back rub. :)

livejournal travel work

Vegas, baby!

by Shay Moore The TribalDancer Saturday, February 03, 2007

Chris and I had a rough Christmas. It was good, but it was stressful. It was frustrating. We were on needles (the pins broke under the strain early on) through the whole holiday, and trying not to freak each other out with our personal fears. So when the boom finally dropped, it was a sort of relief and yet a continued stressor. We still weren't sure if Chris was going to get his severance, let alone the unused PTO and the owed back-salary from LAST Christmas when he was not paid for three months. So when the money came through a week later, we were relieved to say the least. More like "released" from all the waiting and hanging on, wondering, fretting... We felt we needed something to commemorate the change. And more than that, we needed a celebration. A way to honor what we have been through. And I really really wanted Chris to have a rite of passage (for lack of a better word) between his past career path and the one ahead of him. I was feeling excited for this opportunity for change, and worried that he wasn't feeling that hopeful. I was thinking a drastic, spontaneous something would notch things up a bit in the hopeful department.

I am more often the spontaneous one in our relationship. I tend to drag Chris along on my last-minute adventures. So when I brought it up Thursday morning, I was shocked and pleased to find Chris was downright enthusiastic about the idea. But we needed to find out if the dogs had a place to stay before we could drop everything and run away. So we e-mailed and called his Mom, our usual puppy-caregiver. And we waited. And waited. We texted. We called again. And around 5pm, we heard back that Chris' Mom was at the ocean for the weekend and couldn't take the dogs. Oh no! Plans thwarted? I had to start class soon, so a vacation wasn't going to happen if it didn't happen Right Now.

I remembered that the Puppy Resort we normally board them at required all kinds of shots and vet check-ups before they could be boarded. So I called our vet...and thanks to the snow, the office was closed for the day. CURSES SNOW! So I called our other vet, and due to the late time we were calling, the vets had gone home for the day. They could take them in the morning, but our flight, plus needing to take them to the boarders...it wouldn't work out. I was beginning to feel really pissed off that FINALLY something truly epically spontaneous was falling into place, and now it was falling apart. I was grumpy. So I called the boarders and began to inquire if their rules were really that strict...and found out that they only needed the shots and vet check-ups every 6 months after they have been boarded there once before. And they stayed there in September during Steph and Nathan's wedding, so they were all caught up! And they happily had room to take them. HOORAY!

I hopped over to Expedia, and booked a slightly overpriced (though not too bad) trip to Vegas, leaving the very next day. Unfortunately, Renee was busy with yoga class on Wednesday, or we would have stayed one extra day. But I had to come back on Wednesday to teach my class, so we booked 5 days total. By the time everything was confirmed, it was about 6:30pm. We had to quickly do a lot of laundry, pack, and cuddle the hell out of our doggies in preparation for our Crazy Last Minute Trip to Vegas Because Chris Got Laid (Layed?)-Off!

Friday morning, we took the dogs up to Bothell to drop them off. And this is the story where Sharon discovers she doesn't have anti-lock breaks. The area where the pups are boarded is somewhat remote--not terribly remote, but not well-traveled. There is a large hill--long and somewhat steep--that I was concerned about with the snow. And sure enough...it isn't sanded. Lots of surrounding streets are sanded or well-traveled, but we hit the top of this hill looking down...especially following the slip-sliding I was already doing on smaller hills with some sanding...ick. Luckily, I am a fairly confident and savvy driver, and I had my SUV which is heavier and tends to do well on ice and snow if you treat the road with respect, which I do.

I wait until the car ahead of me is almost down the hill, and much to my dismay, just as I commit to coming down the hill, someone starts coming up. So to the left of me there is no room to slide. And to the right...about a 4 foot ditch into trees. So if I slide out of control, there is no place to aim for to get out of trouble. My heart-rate goes up. 'I'm cool.' I begin to slide. I press on the brake...and it begins to vibrate and growl at me. Yep. I take a deep breath and pump on the brakes, trying not to freak out, and it continues to vibrate and growl and slip. I have to pray that gravity won't speed up my car too much. i am gaining on the car in front of me... I blissfully pass the car coming uphill next to me, but my car is still picking up speed, resisting any braking, and ploughing down an icy hill. *shaking a little, and trying not to show it*

Thank all that is good in the world, I make it to the bottom of the hill, my brakes relax, and I can turn onto the side road to the kennel. *whew* It was easily the scariest 5 minutes I have ever experienced in my car. The only downside is that we have to go back UP this hill to leave! To cut to the chase, we gladly made it up the hill without incident. But DAYUM.

Off to the airport, puppies happily ensconced among their puppy friends. But to add to the laughs, we found out the evening before we left that it was expected to SNOW in Vegas. Yes, record lows. Snow flurries, and 20 degree-and-below weather. Bleh. But hell, we planned to be in the casinos in any case.

We decide to stay at Aladdin, since this is likely the last time we can stay there before it is Planet Hollywood. After an uneventful flight, and a nice enough shuttle trip, we arrived at about 7pm and found the casino utterly transformed. Very slick. Dark brown polished woods, hanging crystals, beige details. Lots of video screens playing images of celebrities who had partied there recently. So not our "scene", but nice looking in any case. We get a free upgrade to a room with a stellar Strip view. On the 36th floor. We can see the Bellagio fountains perfectly, to our immediate right is our favorite scene to gamble--Paris casino--, and we have a view of the construction of the new City Center condos and casino. It is breathtaking--one of the top 3 views we have ever had (all three of them having views of the Bellagio fountains, incidentally).

We changed and head out to find some food. We hit Lombardi's in the Desert Passage--one of our favorite little Italian places, which has a great "patio seating" area where we could people-watch--one of our favorite activities in Vegas. We didn't stay out very long, as we were a little tired from the flight, and wanted to save some energy for the rest of the trip. So we watched some TV, surfed the web (slooowly--we didn't want to pay for the hotel access, and we didn't have Edge), and relaxed...for the first time in a looong time. It felt great. I mailed Renee at one point, and she wrote back quickly saying, "What are you doing surfing in your hotel room?! Go out and play!" to which I replied that we were chilling for our first night. And really, it was releasing. It was letting go of the stress and fears at home. We weren't ready to party. We were exhausted. We needed to release. This was the best way to start out. And having a connection with Renee that night was nice, too...just to have a supportive friend cheering on the escapism from afar. Thanks for that, Naynay. :)

And we slept...

Unfortunately, the side-effect of the cold weather outside was that the air-conditioning was off inside. Not just off...but heating. So the smoke circulation wasn't great, and the stuffiness factor overall was high. And having to carry a jacket everywhere was kind of a pain. The Desert Passage mall had even added large blow-fan heaters at all the entrances, because they were trying to combat the cold--they were ill-equipped for such cold. And went the other way, in my opinion. And frankly, I really missed walking in the heat. It's truly a dry heat, and being able to stroll in shorts down the Strip is nice. Putting my ID and cash in a back pocket, feeling unfettered in that way I missed this trip with a coat and gloves slung over my arm. It was strange. I have been there before in January, but the weather is typically in the 50's and 60's during the day, so this was just odd.

We went to the concierge and got some tickets to see some shows. We have seen almost all Cirque shows when we have been there in the past, with the Blue Man Group being the one outlier (and a gleeful one, I would recommend to anyone!). We wanted to try some new stuff. The plan was Jubilee, which has been on our "must see a Vegas-glam boobie-show" list for years. But the concierge recommended "La Femme"--the US version of the Paris, France Crazy Horse revue--and since were are certain that a show running for 30 years will be there next year when we will likely return, we took her advice. We also booked "V-The Ultimate Variety Show", which was staged at the V Theater right in the Desert Passage, tipped the nice concierge, and head out for the day.

The highlights which followed, now follow...

Lots and lots of walking offsets lots and lots of eating. I always eat and drink AAAALL I want, and lose weight in Vegas. It rocks. The negative is that I pretty much always get some serious foot pain, no matter how broken in my shoes are. I don't "do" serious tennis shoes, and in Vegas I tend to wear a little bit sassier clothes, so my usual comfy shoes are right out. Ack the pain! Good news is, Chris loves to give massages, including foot rubs. So every night ended with Chris curling up with me and giving me foot and leg rubs until the day's pain was all rubbed away. *sigh*

We slept in separate beds most nights, which isn't a highlight, per se. But the hotel, as I mentioned before, was stuffy, and without my usual fan to blow on us, it was just plain tooo hot. So it was fun to spread out on an entire bed of my own. We would cuddle and share the bed at "key times", but the rest of the time, it was me and Loomis, my amazing cuddly bear that Chris had gotten me for Christmas.

We got to get on our crazy Vegas schedule, which is really our wacky natural schedule of going to be around 4-5am and getting up around Noon. We would get in so late that even most restaurants were closed, so we....ordered room service! And YUM! The room service at the hotel was amaaazing. Yes, it was spendy, but not ridiculous. And the food was just delicious. I had this fantastic salmon steak with red potatoes and asparagus our first night. Chris had steak and eggs. It was just completely decadent to come back to the room at nearly sun-up, put on pyjamas, climb into bed, and wait for the server to arrive and roll our white cloth-laden table between the two queen beds, open the bottle of wine, and shuffle off while we watch bad latenight TV and eat a yummy dinner.

Saturday night we hit the late show of La Femme. It was good. And interesting. I know most people think that "interesting" means bad, but in this case it means still entertaining, but like nothing else and therefore hard to describe or even quite process. The show was developed in France by an artist who experimented with playing light on the female nude. There was dancing and theatrics, and there was also some downright unusual stuff. Some of the acts were just fabulous, and very memorable. Others were so-so. Overall we had a good time.

That night, since we were on the south end of the strip, we opted to hit the Tropicana, since it was one of the hotels I had never been to, and long wanted to. As we entered, we heard an amazing sound...the tinkling of REAL COINS dropping out of the machines. YES! There are some hotels who have not gone over to the ticket system--something that was much to Chris' and my dismay, as the fake sound really doesn't do the trick. Our eyes lit up like 5 year olds on Christmas morning, and we immediately ran to the nearest machines we like to play, and plopped down for a couple hours. It was bliss!

I suggested we then head over to Excalibur, since Chris had never spent much time there, and I hadn't gambled there in almost 10 years. I had hoped that there would be some low-limit Blackjack tables...that is to say, lower than $5. But there were none. The hotel just felt a little sad. We picked up some cigarettes, schmoozed with some of the casino staff, drank some really pitiful drinks, threw some money in their slot machines, and caught a cab back to our hotel to call it a night.

The V show on Sunday night was definitely the better of the two shows, and a highlight of our trip. It was based on the idea that all the acts are usually filler acts in other shows, but here they are all put together into the "Ultimate Variety Show" for our entertainment. There was a magician, a novelty balancing act, a comedian, a juggling act, an acro-balancing act, and an "aerial drumming" act (the weakest, most disappointing act of the show, actually). The comedic act was just amazing. It was audience participation, and we were laughing so hard we CRIED! It was fantastic.

We had a list of hotels we had never been to, or hadn't been to together or in a long time, and wanted to check out on our trip. For me, the ever-divey Circus Circus, and the even divery-er Slots-A-Fun were on that list. We made it over there, and it was a huge highlight for me. I hit a $5 blackjack table, and played for hours. Sure, I probably (definitely) ended up pissing Chris off when I didn't read his passive-aggressive signals that he was D-U-N-done with the whole experience, but it was so fun! There were fun people to chat with at the table, and about every other dealer was talkative and friendly. I didn't make any money, but I didn't blow a ton either. :)

We got to head across the street to the Riviera, which was completely forgettable. Then we walked down to the Wynn to check it out. It was snooty, as you would expect. We walked the floor and left without plopping any money down. It was late, but we were still up for fun, so we spent some time at Treasure Island, and then The Mirage, which I am reminded I still really enjoy gambling at. It's just pretty. We caught a late dinner at the CPK that was put in there not so long back. And the Revolution section added for the Cirque du Soleil Beatles tribute show is interesting and kind of pretty.

We got to do some shopping, which was nice. We hit the Fashion Show Mall, which was fairly forgettable, and our usual trip to Caesar's was fruitless, but still entertaining. We never did hit the mall or gamble at The Venetian, but we did make a point to head over and have dinner at Grand Luxe, as is tradition (it is where we fell in love, after all). The food was delicious, as always, and we brought a warm box of cookies home with us as usual.

We had our usual "fancy dinner" at Mon Ami Gabi. We dressed up and went on a "date", and had just the great experience we always expect there. Of course we had New York steaks with gorgonzola-sauce. We had a cheese plate, a fantastic bottle of wine, and port and dessert to cap it all off. I was soooo full, I couldn't even drink the rest of the night. Yes, it was that bad. Paris is our favorite casino to gamble in, due in part to the great music they usually have at the casino lounge. Sadly, there was a sub-par 80's cover band playing there these days, instead of the kick-ass R&B group we used to enjoy. But we gambled there all the same. It was also, sadly, our last night, and we had an early flight, and I had to teach the same day we got back, as Renee was unable to sub for me. So we planned to be in bed earlier...but ended up gambling some back at our own hotel until later than we had planned.

We drug ourselves to the airport, flew home, and I took a long nap before teaching class.

We were so NOT ready to be back. We are still lamenting having to be back to real life. But now, I am planning many things to look forward to, not the least of which being our Disney World trip in September! WAHOO!!!