Rock on Will!

Will loves music. I suppose all babies do. We don’t play him music specifically for babies. He listens to our music.

I am putting together a collection of tunes that gets Will rocking. “The Will Mix”. Stay tuned. I will share it with you here.

Spoiler: his favorite artist is The Juan MacLean

Will loves to dance! Sometimes his head moves back and forth so fast he becomes a blur. I have tried to mimic him. It hurts my aging and scared neck and makes me dizzy. He also raises his fists and pumps them to the beat or just sways back and forth with his fists framing his face.

As I type, he is playing his toy xylophone / piano thing-a-ma-bob that we have on loan via the mommy toy share I am doing with my mom friends.

Rock on Will!

Portland Visit: Baby Will and Auntie Julia Dance Their Hearts Out!

Julia opened her house for peeps to gather to say hi to me and Will on Thursday, May 14th, Will’s 10 month birthday. After everyone had left, except Jenny, Julia popped on her music set for the following night and started getting her groove on. Will started rocking out with her in his little head banging arm swinging way. Then, wham! The two of them joined forces and danced their hearts out. It was beautiful. Here is a pic. Video to follow… you wont want to miss that! Will squeals and laughs in delight!

We love you auntie Julia!

willnjuliadancing

Music and Dance Musings

This afternoon I headed over to Hype Machine looking for a little random music but got distracted almost right away by the animated banner ad at the top of the site. The words “Treasure Island” caught my eye. I wondered “what is going on on Treasure Island?” I have never actually set foot on it but I pass by there a lot (when not on bed rest, that is) on my way from Emeryville into the city. “Treasure Island is an artificial island in the San Francisco Bay between San Francisco and Oakland. It is connected by a small isthmus to Yerba Buena Island.” I watched the whole ad cycle through and discovered that there is a Treasure Island Music Festival coming up in September.

The line up this year is amazing! I was going through all the artists and heading over to their websites to listen to their music and check them out a bit. Wonderful, wonderful stuff! When I made it over to Amon Tobin’s site I was seduced by a song I had not hear yet: Delpher. I had visions of dancing to it (tribal bellydance with modern stylings). The snippet on the site is short and a tease. I have to have it! I also discovered a video of a dance choregraphy to his song “Rhino Jockey”. Seems others have had their own visions:


I kept exploring more of Amon Tobin’s music and discovered that my dear friend Dulcinea had the dancing visions to his music too! I recognized a song that she choreographed a beautiful dance piece for her dance troupe Gemini Project. Funny, I had thought of her right away when I was listening to Delpher and I was excited to turn her on to Amon Tobin. But she is already all over it!

Here is a clip from one of Gemini Projects performances. The first song you will hear is the Amon Tobin song I spoke of:

As far as the Treasure Island Music Festival goes, I realized that it falls on the same weekend as my other brother’s wedding in September and that we will be in South Dakota. Well, there is always next year.

Stepping up to the challenge

I have been putting off writing today and here are some of the reasons why:

I have been feeling bit edgy, perhaps “stir crazy”. There is so much I want to do with my life, there are things that I have been wanting to do, and now that I have all this time on my hands I have come face-to-face with these desires. Due to bed rest, I can’t do anything about them now which is frustrating.

Actually, in truth, I can do something. I can prepare. I can read. I can research. I can write. I can brainstorm. I can finally work on meditation and learning more of what it is about so that I can practice my way into it. I even have a book on my shelf that would introduce me nicely. Then from there, there are options: I can get on amazon.com and find something more in depth. If I am feeling unsure of which book (or dvd) to pick, I can email or call one of my local yoga teachers and ask.

It is the things like dancing that are really frustrating me. Bed rest and dancing do not mix. I have decided to watch videos and read writings of dancers to learn from their experiences. I learn a lot just by watching so I have been watching clips on youtube. But all this observing is making me antsy. I find myself clenching my jaw or sympathetically moving my body like a snake being charmed by the snake charmer. Well, I can look at this “problem” as an opportunity to work on my relaxation skills, which is something I want to work on anyway.

And then there is crafting. I am itching to make stuff again. I used to create and sell silk flower adornments (among other things) and I’d like to start doing that again. This too will have to wait until after the baby is born. But when will I have time then? I will find a way (eventually).

Yesterday I began crying, sobbing actually. I was embarrassed because someone in our building might hear me. In trying to be an growing, pro-active person, I tried to assess why this was happening. But I couldn’t figure it out. It was as if a cleansing was taking place that allowed no room for assessment. Billy called me soon after the tears ended and he asked me why I was sad. When I talked about it to him I figured I was sad because I feel lonely. Not only do I feel lonely being pretty much secluded these days but also because I don’t really have much of a community here in the Bay Area. I have been somewhat hermit-like and my social skills have been wanting.

In thinking about it now, it seems as if I have been closed-off a bit to life… not living fully. Why? I have been wondering if it is because I have been wanting what others have (that means I am living outside of myself) instead of wanting things for myself and going out into the world and developing or getting those things (that would be living inside myself).

When I have these realizations, I try to use them for positive ends and not for wallowing in the negative. That’s hard, and is what I’ve done for too much of my life.

Anyway, this is part of what’s been going on for me. I am finding this time of my life to be very challenging. I also find it to be a gift.

I decided to post about this in my quest to be transparent, or, to be real. This is part of who I really am. Pleased to meet you.