Sergeant ShanMonster

[shanmonster]

Tonight ended up as belly dance boot camp. I've begun to really crack the whip at my more senior students, pushing them to fight their dance transgressions (dansgressions?). I focused on one student per song. I sounded like a broken record with my accusations of "Dead bird arms!" and orders to "Float those arms up! Shoulders down and dropped! Raise up through that chest! Think tall, tall, tall!"

And do you know what? It paid off. Every single one of them improved dramatically during the course of the song. Woohoo for them! I'm going to turn this into a regular feature of the advanced class.

To top it off, at the beginning of the beginner class, I had two stone-cold newbies who were doing perfect snake arms in about ten minutes of work. I think I'm really improving with my explanations. Woohoo for me!

And in other awesome news, my sore hand is almost completely healed. I'm only occasionally feeling a quiet throb. For the vast majority of the day, I didn't notice any pain at all, and even when it does hurt a little, it isn't enough to effect my movement or dexterity. I spent the day working on a hollowform ring. It's a real bitch to get into the right shape. I'm using brute strength with the half-round pliers plus hammering to get it in shape. I keep having to anneal it. It's slowly coming to the right shape, but I fear I'll have to make some inserts for gaps that simply won't close. This ring will (if it works!) have a turquoise set in it. But the bezel is causing me grief. Mucho grief.

In other news, the Magic cards are selling pretty steadily. This is excellent. f00dave and I may pay for our tuitions yet! Up on the block now are some really big cards, including Mox Diamonds (not ours) and a whole bushel of dual lands. Plenty of booster packs from Stronghold, Ice Age, and Weatherlight are also to be had. Here's your chance to help me pay for my education while also feeding your CCG addiction.

Comments

[elanya.livejournal.com]

Jacquie from the passport office called me today at work to ask about your classes, and I gave her your home number, did she call you?

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

I haven't checked my answering machine since I came home from class, but there weren't any calls today....

[pivyca.livejournal.com]

I am doing "Belly Dance Boot Camp" as a theme camp at Burning Man this year! I keep telling everyone that it combines my two favorite things: yelling at people and belly dance! :)

[perplexedforpie.livejournal.com]

Neato. My shifu actually tried soemthing the other day that was pretty cool and from now on, we are gonna have indoor soccer matches before and after class, as kind of like a warm up and .. cool down? By the way, Ive deemed you interesting enough to let your livejournal fall under my watch. And youve been added in my friends, Beware! =P

On the subject of your schedule, Im either confused or you are *REALLY* busy all the time. And what are snake arms?

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Welcome!

What schedule are you talking about? I'm not sure what you're talking about. But yes, I do tend to be very, very busy.

Snake arms are a dance move. It's like a sine wave that travels through your arms. They're very sinuous in appearance, when done correctly. It's a pretty standard arm movement in North American belly dance.

[perplexedforpie.livejournal.com]

Standing up out of my chair after closing my browser window, I walked over to my bathroom where I brushed my teeth and washed my hands to take off my contacts and my brain went *Thwacks to back of self* "Silly man! You must go ASK if you can add to friends first!" so here I am replying to my own comment, posing the question if I MAY add you to my friends list, please? =)

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

I'd love to go to Burning Man, but I doubt I'll ever get the opportunity. I'm sure you'll have a blast! Yell at 'em some for me, while you're at it.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

I checked it again, and yes, there is indeed a message from her. I could have sworn I checked the machine when I got home, but there was a message from Monday on it, too!

Does my incorrect memory mean I was abducted by aliens? Eeek!

[perplexedforpie.livejournal.com]

Well that was kind of interesting, both posted at 3:22 LJ time. That totally threw me off.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

No asking necessary! I've got nothing to hide.... Well, aside from the horrendous mess in my room, but that's another story.

[perplexedforpie.livejournal.com]

Well its not so very well hidden if you just declared it on the internet, now is it?

By the way everyone, im trying to hide a missile silo in my room, please dont tell my parents im using their room as the blast shield.

[perplexedforpie.livejournal.com]

By the way, get AIM, because im too lazy to get ICQ =D aim.com

[threemilechild.livejournal.com]

Whew.

I'm rude enough I just add people if I feel they're interesting. I figure Canada's probably too far to bother coming to beat me up anyhow...

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Yup. There are plenty of people to beat up at my kung fu class.