Just like Calculus

When I was a senior in high school I took Calculus as an elective. I basically failed every test. The teacher gave me a passing grade because, as she explained, she could tell from the tests that I was just a week or two behind the rest of the class. I guess she was right, because my college Calculus I class seemed easy and I had one of the highest grades in the class.

That's how I feel about the combinations we get at the end of ballet class. I'm generally too tired to absorb the sequence, but with repetition and time for it to sink in I figure it out. Unfortunately, by then we've generally moved on to something new.

Is this dancing or swimming?

It's been a bit hot and humid here the last week. A "heat wave" here is defined as three or more consecutive days where the high temperature is 90F (32.2C) or above. It's been that hot since last Tuesday, though the official high yesterday only hit 89F (31.6C) Sunday so technically the heat wave is over. Yeah, right.

Tuesday night's class was sparsely attended, which made for an active class. I asked about the adult pointe class and Susan said enough people had expressed interest to justify a class; now she has to figure out when and where. I asked her to let me know, as I might want to sneak in and watch just to find out what a pointe class is all about.

Sometimes we're our own worst enemy

I went to Philly for the day yesterday, which forced me to miss my usual Saturday morning class. This morning I motivated myself into the car and arrived at the school about 10 minutes before class. It looks like they have a new desk clerk, and he's still learning the business of checking in students. This resulted in a bit of a queue. Nervously glancing at the time I was quite relieved when one of the regular desk clerks called out, "Oh! Hi, Reece! Julie's class?" Problem solved.

Walking down the hall to the changing room I encountered this morning's instructor. She smiled and said, "We have a guest artist today!" I'll choose to interpret that as good-natured teasing for not having been in any of her classes for several months, though for some reason I'm never quite sure. Chalk it up to a touch of insecurity, and insecurity leads us to make poor decisions.

It's the heat AND the humidity!

After taking a week off for the US 4th of July holiday, I went back to class this weekend. I'd piloted a charitable medical airlift mission Friday, and despite guzzling water during the 5.5 hours aloft I managed to get myself pretty thoroughly dehydrated. Waking up Saturday morning I realized that going to class would be foolhardy and made plans to go Sunday instead.