Monday, May 14, 2007

Signing Off My subscription to this site is about to expire, so I thought this was an appropriate time to take a break from blogging. Don't worry - I'll be back before too long, but with a new blog and a new look. I figure a hiatus is in order...I'm not feeling very inspired to write these days and God forbid that I should bore you with more dance pictures!  Love and peace.  10:02:28 PM    comment []

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Too Busy to Blog Here we are again at Dance 'Til You Drop week. It's tech rehearsal at the Arts Centre tonight, dress rehearsal tomorrow night, and performances on Thursday and Friday night. Iris has an additional performance on Saturday afternoon. I plan to go, since it's the only full performance I'll get to see (I'm doing a little jazz number myself on Thursday and Friday). On top of that, I tried out a new flamenco teacher last night, and I now know I shouldn't have. She was fabulous, but I am very sore this morning and my back is threatening to give me grief. I'm trying to appease it with lots of stretching. I shouldn't complain though: Iris also started rehearsals this week for the Frantic Follies. She's missing an afternoon class throughout the week to do this, which I'm not at all happy about, but at 18 I figure she's old enough to make sure she's getting the homework, etc. without me nagging at her to do so. It's taking its toll though. She's quite sick and I suspect it might be strep throat. I'm taking her off to the doctor later today. 7:00:39 AM    comment []

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Dance Party These photos were taken recently at the house of one of the women I dance with. It was a party for our dance instructor (the woman with short red hair and white long-sleeved shirt). The book that some of us are so intently reading is one that gives instructions on how to dance the Black Bottom from the 1920s. You'd never get away with calling a dance by that name in this day and age.  7:00:54 AM    comment []

Saturday, April 28, 2007

A Sign of Things to Come I have been like a whirling dervish on speed today. I dusted, vacuumed and washed the floors, cleaned the bathrooms, cleaned out kitchen cupboards, made some chicken stock and pizza dough (the dough is still rising - dinner is late tonight), baked butter tarts and strawberry tarts, did some dishes, taught two piano lessons, found a bit of time at the piano myself, went to a fitness class at the gym, bought a dress for me to wear to Iris' graduation (at my favour place to shop - the second hand store), went for coffee with Joe, read the paper and had a bubble bath! Now how, do you ask, did I have time to do all that? It's because I have not had to drive one child to one activity all day. I can't recall the last time that happened. My goodness! Think how much time I'll have on my hands once the kids leave home! 7:47:09 PM    comment []

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

What Ever Happened to Poor Self-Esteem? Last night Iris' graduation class put on a fashion show, as a fundraiser for their grad. It was called From the Reels to the Runway and featured about 40 kids, both boys and girls, dancing on the runway to various pieces of movie music. The grads did the whole thing themselves, from approaching businesses about getting clothing for the show, to the choreography, to the programs and advertising. Watching the show, I marvelled at these young adults, who seemed to have so much more poise and self-assurance than I ever did at 17 and 18. No low self-esteem in evidence here! Rotary It's Rotary Music Festival time again. I only have two students playing this year, and so far they've performed beautifully. One more to go today and then we're done.  My students have inspired me to play a bit more myself these days. My piano and I had a bit of a falling out a while back:  long story which I won't bore you with here. But I'm starting to come around. I'm also going to look at some space today that might work well for a new teaching studio. If I find something that feels good and is a price I can afford, I'll take on more students in the fall. 7:01:26 AM    comment []

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Insomnia I can't sleep. I woke up about an hour ago from a dream I was having that I was a judge on 'Dancing With the Stars'. I kicked a guy off the show because he looked silly walking everywhere with a paper bag lunch. Now where did that come from?! School Tales: the Good, the Bad and the Creepy In just two weeks, Jamie's English mark has gone from 32 percent to 70 percent. In fact on his mid-term he wrote this week, he got the highest mark in the class. For someone who has labled himself 'the dumb one', this is such a self-confidence booster. We celebrated last night with a big batch of hot wings. Maybe that's why I can't sleep now! One of Iris' guidance counsellors is a creep. She's had to meet with him a few times lately to sort out a course that she's had to pick up midway through the term to meet Ryerson's requirements. One day when she went to his office and asked him how he was, he replied, "I'm great now that you're here!" Another time he told her, "I used to date a dancer. She was VERY flexible." He's also promised to get her a pass in this course 'no matter what'. My first impulse, of course, is to march into his office like a mother bear and confront him. But maybe at 18, this is something Iris needs to learn how to deal with. She's fully aware of how very wrong all of this is. She says he's never touched her, and if he did she would scream blue murder. I will take some time to ponder this. 2:44:45 AM    comment []

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

I happened upon these two photos over the week-end while going through some papers. They were taken when Jamie was between 18 and 24 months old (probably closer to 18 months). I was at his day home that afternoon playing piano for the kids. Looking at these pictures, I'm trying to remember this 36 old woman. Sure, I remember things about me, like how incredibly sleep deprived I was (Jamie didn't sleep through the night until he was three years old, plus I was doing the morning show on CBC) or how overwhelming my life felt at that point. But to really know who that person was? It's lost and I can't seem to bring it back. I can't find myself as a 10 year old either, or a 17 year old, or a 25 year old or a 39 year old. Hell, I don't even know if I can uncover the Janet of two years ago. What happens if I reach old age, and can't find any of the Janet's that have made up my life? Where do those Janet's go? All of this rambling has been brought on by 'The Time Traveller's Wife', which I finished on Sunday night. It's a most wonderful read, but be forewarned. It will tear your guts out. 7:02:40 AM    comment []

Monday, April 16, 2007

Romanza Last night I went to a performance of Romanza, a trio of tenors. I wasn't expecting much, but was blown away, especially by Ken Lavigne. My oh my that boy can sing! 7:24:22 AM    comment []

Friday, April 13, 2007

Time Travel and Relationships A friend of mine sent me a book for my birthday: The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I was hooked by page 2. Lucca, you have got to read this novel! I'll loan it to you when I'm done. So It Goes Kurt Vonnegut died this week of a head injury.   From Slaughterhouse-Five: Robert Kennedy, whose summer home is eight miles from the home I live in all year round, was shot two nights ago. He died last night. So it goes. Martin Luther King was shot a month ago. He died, too. So it goes. And every day my Government gives me a count of corpses created by military science in Vietnam. So it goes. My father died many years ago now -- of natural causes. So it goes. He was a sweet man. He was a gun nut, too. He left me his guns. They rust. 6:39:38 AM    comment []

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Sickies I have been surrounded by sickies for the past few days. Both Joe and Iris were quite sick all week-end. Joe had planned a birthday party for me on Saturday night but had to cancel. I ended up making my own birthday dinner on Sunday - not that I minded. The kids and I did make it out to lunch on Saturday, but Joe was too sick and stayed in bed. They seem to be better this morning though, so things are looking up. My friend Ted was also very sick over the week-end, although he crawled out of bed to call and send birthday greetings. Poor guy - he sounded terrible. Get better soon!  7:16:00 AM    comment []

Friday, April 06, 2007

Back to School Jamie is not doing well in school. It's not that he can't do it....he's  just so darned unfocussed and disorganized. Joe and I have been nagging him for years: we've finally come to the conclusion that we just have to treat this like it's a learning disorder or disconnect. So that means putting some things in place to ensure that he not only does his assignments, but actually hands them in (often they end up getting lost before they make it to the teacher's desk).  Joe picks him up from school every day and makes sure he has his homework, the appropriate books and materials he needs to do his assignments, and that he has handed in everything he was supposed to. My job is to sit with him at night and ensure he completes his homework and keeps his binder organized. So far I've refreshed my knowledge of English grammar, I've re-read the book 'The Giver' (I read it years ago when Iris was about this age or younger) and I'm re-learning grade 8 math (although it's just as hard for me the second time round as it was when I was a teenager). Ballet Jorgen Iris and I went to see a performance last night of Ballet Jorgen Canada. It was all contemporary ballet - very entertaining. Celebration It's time for a family celebration. I'm taking the whole family out for lunch this week-end to celebrate Iris getting accepted at York, Jamie catching up on all his overdue homework, Alan starting to get regular gigs (by the way, last night I asked him if he had considered a Plan B and he said he was thinking about becoming a teacher!),  Joe almost finished teaching a very long year at the college, and me - well, it's my birthday this week-end.  Celebrations are important and we've been so busy that we haven't done this in a while. 8:01:57 AM    comment []

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Good News Iris received a letter from York University yesterday offering her a position in the dance program. The offer comes with a small ($2,000) scholarship. She's pleased of course, but Ryerson is her first choice. And Ryerson's offers don't go out until early May. She's supposed to give York an answer by the end of April. Quite a delimma. 7:20:57 AM    comment []

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Janet the Landlord I just got word that the house in N.S. finally has tenants. Now my brother and I have to act fast to finish up the last bits before the family moves in....fill the oil tank, purchase a new fridge and stove, etc. My bank account is looking rather scary so I'm glad that we're at the point I can finally start getting some of my investment back. 10:04:52 AM    comment []

Saturday, March 31, 2007

The Answer to One of Life's Great Mysteries Tonight my jazz dance class had a potluck dinner for our teacher, as a way of saying thank you for being so wonderful.  We dined like kings (or should I say queens) and then what did we do? We danced of course. We did the jive, the charlston, we did some barn dancing, and we even riffled through an old book that talked about modern dances of the 1920s and carefully followed the instructions to something called the black bottom. Then our teacher's husband arrived, and he danced with her. And we all sighed. "A man who can dance," we all said longingly. This launched a very long conversation about each and every one of us feeling a bit sad, neglected, frustated (everyone had slightly different feelings) because none of our 'significant others' can dance or has ever made the effort to try to learn. Listen up men, because here's the answer to one of life's great mysteries. While the way to a man's heart may be through his stomach, the way to a woman's heart is definitely through dance. And it takes only the relatively small effort of signing up and carrying through on some dance lessons to make your woman happy beyond belief. Our conversation led me to remember a guy named Jamie who lived in the men's residence at Ryerson. Boy could he dance! Dancing with him always made me feel pretty.  I have no clue where he is now, but I hope he's still dancing. 10:18:14 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2007 Janet Patterson. Last update: 5/14/2007; 10:02:30 PM.