1. First, a super offensive commercial from Pampers:
White (wo)man’s burden: to take care of all the little colored babies of the world. I love the moms and babies in “ethnic” garb. Especially the toddler in the poncho that runs up to embrace the white woman. Vomitastic.
2. Language intensive is going well. Flash cards are lifesaving, though I have yet to implement the post-it strategy.
3. I have moved up to the intermediate/advanced ballet class. I am sucking again, which seems to happen every time I move up a level in dance class. I stand in the back of the studio during grand and petit allegro and mark the steps rather than dancing them. I am getting lots of corrections, however, which is useful. Occasionally embarrassing, but ballet is a singularly masochistic activity wherein being corrected and critiqued is desirable. Critiques may be harsh or friendly, but the worst thing is not being noticed at all…an especially brutal correction is at least proof that you’re worth a glance. No wonder professional ballerinas have so many emotional issues.
Also in ballet, I have achieved a long-desired goal this week: I can finally rest my forehead on my knee while stretching croisé devant at barre. It’s a sign that I’m one step closer to being able to do splits in 3 directions. However, I have also noticed that since I’ve been working on flexibility, my pelvis will give a little painless pop when I’m getting up from sitting for a long time. This occasionally happens when I stretch, as well, and then I can push the stretch a little further once the pop happens. Odd, but actually nice.
4. I’ve decided that I will move up to SF or Berkeley in late 2009, dissertation committee willing.
