Nudity is Only Skin-Deep

I just got another picture from my performance at the Church St. Fetish Fair.

Thanks, MOPO!

Oof. Still exhausted. That rude awakening did a number on me. I had a nap, but it didn't help much. I'm skipping the gym today, because if I went, there'd be nothing left of me to teach dance class tonight. But I'm going tomorrow as usual.

My shoulders are really feeling the addition of the poi practice. It's been so long. I've gotten rusty on my reverse three-beat weaves, especially with kick directional changes. Reverse spin arm wrap directional changes have also gotten rusty. Everything else still seems business as usual, which is a relief.

I got my copy of Serpentine - Belly Dance with Rachel Brice :: Bellydance Technique & Yoga for Strong, Relaxed & Sinuous Movement in the mail yesterday and started watching it. I was shagged out from just getting home from a workout, so didn't practice any, but I did watch to get acclimatized to it. I'm enjoying the drills, but man.... That's a seriously long DVD. I guess I won't be following along with all the drills before doing my other work for the day. I'm almost 2 hours in, and I'm still not through watching everything. Holy crap! And there's another DVD in the case, too. Definitely worth the coin, but until I can clone myself, I can't do this and all my other workouts and regular day-to-day stuff on a daily basis. I gotta eat and sleep sometime!

And I haven't even looked at Rachel Brice: Bellydance Arms and Posture, yet. Yikes.

And for my second act, poi on the balcony. First time spinning poi in performance in about a year, I think.

The music is "Trinkit" by Beats Antique. Again....

Tonight's the night. I'll be doing two pieces: poi and circular veil. This will be my first veil performance in years (last one five or six years ago, at least), and I've no idea when I'll do another, so if you want to see me whip around a piece of fabric all glamourous-like, make sure you get your arse on down to the Registry Theatre on 122 Fredrick St. in Kitchener. Doors open at 7 pm, and the show starts at 8.

The show is 18+, so leave the kiddies at home.

All proceeds go to the Pin-Ups for Troops project, wherein vintage-style photos of wholesomely naughty ladies are sent to Canadian troops in Afghanistan. Even if you don't support the war, please support the soldiers.

The weekend was a blast. I went to shbe and tailchaser's stag and doe party, where I decorated and performed. I wore a crazy technicolour Viking outfit (holographic dress, a mish-mash of various cultural jewellery, braids, a fluffy white sheepskin, hip scarf, Spanish silver belt, and what I call my gay Viking orgy hat). Then I danced to "Indiscrete" by Qntal, starting off with poi, dumping those and dancing solo, then grabbing a dagger and ending the performance with a pyrotechnic flash. Huzzah! It seemed to go over well, despite me looking like an utter goof and having never heard the music prior to the night before.

Afterwards (once the fire and dagger were put safely away), I got right and utterly wasted on beer, screwdrivers, whiskey, and vodka. On realizing I was staggering around and hoping to start bar fights, I drank enough water to submerge a submarine, and was fine a half hour or so later. Two days later, I'm still peeing like a race horse. I drank a LOT of water....

Want some links? Here you go!

How to be a Scene Kid: Includes such great advice as "Scene kids should listen to 'Conway Twitty', 'Jimmy Buffet', 'Harry Chapin' and 'Brook Benton'," and "Add extra letters to many of your words. For example: 'rawwr' 'kiiid' 'kayyy' 'baaby'."

Anti-Emo Riots Break Out Across Mexico: Ok, I understand that people don't like emo kids, but rioting over it? Hmm.

*barf*: Clamato beer? No.

USB Humping Dogs: I don't get it.

Ken Lee - Bulgarian Idol: Bwahahahaha!

Velvet Worm Juice: Now that's just too weird (thanks, shbe).

Rachachuros Seasoning: Pig: Necrophiliac bestiality cuisine ads. Just plain bizarre.

Naughty Nads: Kitties.

Appendix Removed Through Vagina: That sounds rather complicated, to me (thanks, gha5t).

Friday night was spent with 8 Digital and friends for a jam session/rehearsal. Ostensibly, I was to be interviewing band members, but the environment really wasn't the best for that. I'm sure I'll get more usable information from them in a one-on-one setting. I can't let the world know how offensive they really are! No. I must cushion the impact.

I managed to whirl my poi during the run-through. I'd figured the music would be too slow, but found out the rhythm is conducive to spinning. So depending on the venue, I might be doing some poi. We have shows coming up later this spring. Maybe there will be something sooner, too. I'll let you know as soon as tour dates are settled.

Sunday was spent at the brand new club Z in Toronto. It was schwartzung's inaugural night DJing for This is Heresy: Sadistikal Sundays, and Blue Hour's first time performing. I took some pictures while I was there. You can see them here.



When I first got to the club, I found myself in a brightly lit stairwell. I walked down to the very dark basement, and blinked a few times, trying to get my dark adaption. I could see the silhouette of a man rushing my way. His hand shot out toward me and he pawed at my throat. I was just thinking that maybe I'd have to attempt to lay a beatdown on whoever this was when he said, "Don't I get a hug?"

It was Ward (of H-427). So I hugged him instead of decking him one. Heh....

Sara and I danced most of the night away. We were pretty much the only dancers. We were the only two dancing to Blue Hour, and that's a blooming shame. Folks, if you like a band, show your appreciation! Toronto folks, you need to loosen up. Standing there looking blasé may make you feel goth as fuck, but it does sweet fuck all for the entertainers who are working their arses off for you. And a polite golf clap at the end of a song just won't cut it. Dance, damn your eyes, DANCE!

I just got in a couple of action shots from Tribally Yours, courtesy of Isabelle Jetté. They're not the most flattering photos, but not too bad considering I wasn't able to breathe much while dancing.

Augh! I'm feeling a little megrim-alicious again. It's a bit like being really stoned. I'm a bit disoriented, my attention span is shot, and reading is tricky. I had enough sleep, and I've eaten properly today, so I have no idea what's triggered it.

I'm sure it'll be gone by the weekend, right? RIGHT?

I'm pretty much ready for my trip tomorrow. I have my costume and changes of clothes packed, I have my contact information and maps ready to go, and I even painted my nails up all girly-like. All I need to do now is redo my poi so they look splendid and shiny, and get my portable CD player laden with my performance piece so I can play it to death during my trip.

Does anyone else prepare for a dance this way? I've listened to my performance music for an average of two hours a day for the past two months. I should know this stuff well enough to dance it backwards.

Too bad I haven't had enough room to practice my poi, though. My ceiling has a light fixture placed most inconveniently. I have to spin in a most miserly fashion. Summertime is much more conducive to practicing poi. I can practice outdoors, and don't need to worry about pesky things like wanton property destruction.

I'm still not feeling the soreness from yesterday's two-hour pole dancing session. However, I am seeing the evidence. I have bruising on my knees from less-than-graceful landings. I'm going to start wearing kneepads in class until I have my descensions under control.

I also want to find out what club my instructor dances at so I can go and see her in action. She did a short demonstration for us last night, and she's really good. I want to see her do the same stuff in 6" heels.

Want some links? Here you go:

Gunslinger's war on weeds: "There are many ways to get rid of weeds. You can dig them up, spray them, cut them to pieces or burn them. But noxious weed eradicator Trevor Thompson prefers to shoot them."

Helpful criminal calls police: "In a heartwarming example of criminals going out of their way to help the police, a Wisconsin man was arrested by police after ringing them up to tell the he was trying to break into a church, and then inviting cops to come home with him to have a look at his impressive drugs stash."

Black Weatherproof disguised Bullet/Stab-proof jacket: I want one! It looks comfy and will serve me well in all my illicit undercover dealings.

Girls Who Said 'Vagina' During Monologues Suspended: This is so fucking lame.

North Korea | Children's Parade - Arirang | Mass Games 2005: "This is unreal. You're seeing about 2-3000 kids under 10 in the front doing intensely choreographed gymnastics moves, and look in the background. That's not a giant screen, that's thousands and thousands of children holding up sets of cue cards for the routine. I don't know what it is, but there's something frightening about this. | Children's section of 'Mass Games' or otherwise known as the 'Arirang' performance in Pyongyang city, North Korea in 2005. Watch the giant human mosaic in the background, composed of 15,000 or more individuals each holding a colored placard. The mosaic changes with the music."

Holy Cow! Meat-loving calf eats Indian chickensHoly Cow! Meat-loving calf eats Indian chickens: The end-times are obviously nigh.

Elf defence for 'lingerie thief': Shadowrun player runs amok, Mazes and Monsters-style.

Serbian vampire hunters prevent Milosevic come-back: More gamer news?

The community du jour is bible_slash. Enjoy!

I didn't make it to dance class last night because I'm just feeling downright shitty. My plague is determined to turn itself into a full-on head cold, but I'm trying to fight it off. The battle rages on. Tissues are dying by the score, falling into their wastepaper basket graves after being riddled with yellow-green holes thanks to my shotgun nose. My chest occasionally fills with napalm, courtesy of my asthma. And still I soldier on....

Even if I'm not better by Sunday, I'm going to fill myself full of cold/flu tablets and go to Jillina's workshop in Scarborough.

If all goes well, I'll be attending a wholly different sort of workshop early in December: fire play and Polynesian fire poi. I'm more interested in the latter, as I'm not particularly interested in setting people alight (although it will be interesting to watch).

My costuming endeavours have met with a snag. The lovely silk I've been using will not lie flat when I sew, so the triangular panels I want to add to my belt are less isosceles and more scalene. I think I'm going to scrap the triangle idea and go for plain old edging. It'll still look nice, and I'll waste far less of my precious fabric this way. Maybe I'll just use pretty ribbon for fancy detailing work. I'll have to look through my collection and see what I can find....

Oooh! I found some very nifty stuff, indeed. Who'd have thought bright green rick-rack would go so well with PVC and silk? And I found some scary old earrings (given to me by elanya and longpig along with a collection of beads) which will set the whole thing off beautifully. Now, to figure out how to attach those earrings.

The lacing and tassels (I'm still not sure if I'll use tassels) will be made of some gorgeous rayon/cotton yarn I bought a while back. With just the silk it doesn't really work, but when I bring those earrings into the mix, I think it really pops. We shall see.

I never would have thought black PVC would be so versatile. And to think so many people only think of decorating it with silver metal. It's a waste, I tell you. A waste!

By the way, I tried hanging the PVC in the bathroom while it was nice and steamy, but to no avail. I may try ironing a bit on low heat under a damp towel next.

Completely unrelated, I know, but Tazo Chai is delicious! snowy_kathryn made some, and I'm savouring mine before I grab a much-needed shower. Honestly, I showered last night, but I smell like a ripening cheeseburger this morning. What's with that?

And now for some links:

Hitachi: Commercial Mind-Machine Interface by 2011: And when you take it off your head, your hair is in perfect little ringlets! Heh...

Artificial Intelligence
When Humans Transcend Biology: "People have created systems that can tell the difference between a dog and a cat using the millions of pictures of dogs and cats that you can now get from google." I'm a little dubious. Can it tell the difference between a stylized cartoon dog and cat? I can.

Beverage firm offers pea-flavored soda: Mmmm.... They also sell turkey and gravy-flavoured pop. Perfect for Christmas, hmm?

Weird Foods from Around the World: I'm fond of a few of these, like dulse (it's great wrapped around popcorn!).

Some Newfoundland Phrases, Sayings, and Figures of Speech: Almost makes me homesick for Newfoundland. Almost. Nice place to visit, but I never want to live there again.

I really don't give a fiddle's fart about politics, but this photo is just too good not to share. Enjoy!