Zombies at Bikes ‘n’ Brews! (Denis suggested turning on the flash. Maybe not such a great idea :D)
Oh, and here are some ballet-themed zombie usses, just for kicks, courtesy of the inimitable Dave Crowell.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Where Did It Go?
So, apparently, we’re now more than halfway through this term. Hooray!
We have our second math exam a week from now. As such, I’m taking a break from ballet class tonight to make sure I’m caught up and on top of the material, math-wise. I will hit up Friday class to make up for the gap, even though I think a Monday-Wednesday-Saturday schedule is more effective for my purposes than Wednesday-(long freaking gap)-Friday-Saturday.
I’ve decided to be okay with this particular concession. Maintaining a high GPA now will help me get where I want to go later.
So that’s it for now. Next week I should be back to my usual schedule.
Apparently, I am just as bad at Math On An Empty Stomach as I am at Ballet On An Empty Stomach.
Good to know!
Ballet Squid Chronicles: I Survived Friday Morning Intermediate Class!
And, in fact, it went pretty well!
The class comprised five of us, including PDG, who just did barre, and B, who is always lovely.
I didn’t know the other two ladies, but one drove all the way from Georgetown, IN*, which makes me very glad I live close enough to ride the bus.
Compared to Wednesday’s class, the barre was more challenging, but the centre work was about the same level. There’s a lot more focus on detail and refinement in this class (he says, having taken it all of once!), though.
We did a rather lovely bit of adagio with all these développés during which, at one point, I totally lost it and almost fell over completely, y’all. If it was Swan Lake it would’ve been like, “Oh look, that one Swan is drunk.” Also it would’ve been Bourne’s production or the Trocks (because male Swans). Come to think of it, drunken swans would fit right in with the Trocks.
We also did a petit allegro thing with glissades, assembles (tons of assembles, omg), jetes, and temps lève. I would start out with the arms playing along, and then every time they would decide they’d had enough and do it backwards. Every time.
And then I ran into the piano, just about. I like to use up the whole floor. I didn’t think of that when I chose my spot.
In other news, my turns from fifth were uniformly terrible for some reason, though better than they were a couple months ago, I’m sure, but I managed a couple nice ones from fourth and my jumps were mostly pretty (except for random Squid Arms on a couple of sauts de chat).
After, most of us stayed and chatted about arms, which evidently are everyone’s nemesis (file under: Yay! It’s not just me!). Tawnee answered my question about what to do with one’s arms for saut de chat, and I feel better informed now.
So there you have it. Friday morning intermediate class. I lived and was not so horrible. Today was one of those days that I find myself thinking, “I can’t wait to see how this all looks a year from now.”
Notes
*I’m assuming Gtown, IN, and not Gtown, KY because the KY one is closer to Lexington, which also has a ballet company with a school.
Ballet Squid Chronicles: Friday Morning Intermediate Class
So I’m off to try the Friday morning intermediate class. Tawnee is teaching, so I will probably forget how to dance. Why must I have a Tawnee-specific mental block?
Scratch that. I am wearing my favorite tights, which will endure, and as result I will to be so brilliant and amazing that LB will offer me a corps job*.
If I survive, I shall dutifully report back after.
In other news, I mostly survived my conditioning workout video! I wrote a brief review, which I will post as soon as a convergence of “having my laptop handy” and “remembering” occurs.
Notes
*I wish!
Ballet Squid Chronicles: Wardrobe Malfunction!
In the middle of barre I noticed A Draft.
In horror, I did a quick, “Ohai, just rearranging my shirt!” and discovered that little hole had conveniently opened in the back seam of my ersatz tights (which are really leggings, which is unimportant).
It was not in The Worst Possible Place – I was able to arrange my tights pro-dance-guy-on-stage stylie (yes, in case you’re wondering, the in/famous Male Ballet Wedgie is very much intentional).
Thus, I more or less made it through class, occasionally making nice lines when I could forget that at any moment I might burst a seam and horrify the girl behind me or PDG* or our teacher (regardless of what my husband may believe, most people probably do not want to see my nekkid behind).
I say “more or less” because my head was not in the game and Tawnee likes to give us long, complicated combos at the barre. So basically I spent the whole class approximating with half my brain while the other half worried about my backside.
Worse, because the demiurge of ballet has a twisted sense of humor, Tawnee decided today was a good day for a barre stretch. One with lots of bending over and pivoting and so forth. In the studio with the Really High Barre. Needless to say, I approached that exercise with trepidation.
Fortunately, the impending Wardrobe Disaster did not arrive.
I fumbled my way through basically everything else. I seem to have a mental block regarding doing anything right, ever, in Tawnee’s class.
Afterwards, I went directly to Big Lots without passing Go or collecting $200 and bought some ridiculous fuzzy lounge pants to literally cover my behind:
These pants scream either "I'm crazy" or "I'm a dancer and I don't care" or maybe both. Hell, probably both.
(Sorry it’s so dark, y’all.)
I had been thinking of buying some warm – uppish pants anyway, because winter, y’all.
So now I have fuzzy warm – up pants and a way to get home without blinding anyone (though, come to think of it, if my tail-light dies, there are few surfaces as blazingly pale as those parts of me that never see the sun, and my behind could probably double as a reflector). My leg muscles are really happy to be wearing these, oddly enough, so there’s a nice silver lining.
So that’s it for Wednesday class. On Monday, I was Coming Together; today, I was Coming Apart.
Notes
*Who was totally in class tonight and upon whom I totally have a kind of Ballet Crush. Someone please tell me I am not the only proto-dancer who develops Ballet Crushes?
Brraaaaaiaaaaaiiiiiiiiinnnggzzzz
Last night, I had a wicked sinus headache, so I took some night-time decongestant-y liquid stuff in order to A) quell the Sinus Beasts and B) actually get to sleep.
This morning, I am a zombie. Hence: BRAAAAAAAAINNNGZZZ.
And lots of caffeine. Loooooots of caffeine.
I did manage to make it to school with essentially everything I need for school and ballet. I do wish I’d had the sense to bring a sweater. It’s cold in here and I’m freezing my tuchas off.
We’ll see if I can stay awake through math, and senior sem, and all the way though 7 PM. At least it’s pretty much impossible to actually fall asleep in ballet class.
Might be an interesting day.
The Giver — Surprisingly Good
I have to admit, I didn’t expect much of this film.
I first read Lowry’s classic novel in grade school; it has remained an enduring favorite ever since. Given that the trailers clearly revealed major changes to the main characters (fast-forwarding them from twelve to eighteen years of age) and what I assumed to be a predictable teen-romance angle, I expected to be disappointed.
Perhaps because of that, I walked away from the film surprisingly impressed.
Yes, the teen-romance angle was there — but it was handled and employed with significantly more delicacy and grace than is typical. Likewise, the up-aging of the characters was managed without significant damage to their roles in the story or their personalities.
I’m guessing that both of these were marketability decisions — it’s much harder to sell a film about pre-teens than it is to sell one about teenagers. Unfortunately, films about pre-teens, even if exceptionally good ones, are generally marketable to a narrow audience — pre-teens themselves, their parents, and a few people who are willing roll the dice on movies in general. Add the complexity of workin with a mostly-underage cast and their parents, and one can see why a production team might make such a decision.
Meanwhile, movies about teenagers, especially teenagers in the young-adult bracket, are marketable to just about everyone. Teenagers (and many pre-teens) usually don’t want to watch movies about pre-teens, whereas pre-teens are generally pretty happy to watch movies about teenagers, as are teenagers themselves and many adults. And teens (especially 18-year-olds) can be played by people in the 18-and-up bracket, who aren’t subject to all the complicated regulations that pertain to child actors (and who might not come with overwrought parents or guardians in tow).
As such, I’m willing to forgive what initially looked like a story-destroying concession to the almighty dollar*.
Both the up-aging and the romance angle manage not to destroy the story. The romance between main characters Jonas and Fiona is gently done and manages not to become Jonas’ prime mover in his ultimate decision, which means that the decision in question retains its power. Not to say that love is ever a bad reason to do anything — but sometimes there are greater kinds of love than the romantic love for another individual.
And while the Hollywood retelling does occasionally veer towards the black-and-white (no pun intended) morality common to its kind, much of the subtlety and nuance remain untouched.
In short, the power and impact of Lowry’s message come through loud and clear — or, well, subtle and clear, because the message of The Giver was never a knock-you-on-the-head message. Rather, it comes through in all its colors, bright and muted alike.
The film is compelling and surprisingly well-done. There are a few weak moments, but the acting is good and the script is far better than expected.
If you’re on the fence, give it a try. I did (grudgingly!), and I don’t regret it.
Maybe you won’t, either.
Notes
*Had the up-aging bit actually ruined the story, I would definite not have forgiven it. Just sayin’.
Quora: Is Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT) effective? Why might someone choose DMT over verbal therapy?
Answer by Asher Taylor:
I don’t think it's an either/or question – both well-executed "talk therapy" and well-executed Dance Movement Therapy lead to changes in the brain (as do all our experiences). The changes in question are measurable and, modern neuroscience suggests, intrinsic to the healing process.
Research has demonstrated that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) — perhaps the most – effective "talk therapy" in use today — and antidepressants lead to similar changes in the brain and similar outcomes. Research has also demonstrated that programs of physical exercise lead to increases in Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, which is an important factor in neuroplasticity and brain growth. Neuroplasticity is essential to change in the brain, and it is through changes in the brain that therapeutic measures work over the long term.
DMT couples principles from traditional counseling psychology with physical movement, and while research into the neurological impacts of DMT is in its infancy, I'd be very surprised if we find that it doesn't lead to brain changes associated with positive therapeutic outcomes. In fact, I plan to do my doctoral research into this very question.
At the end of the day, DMT is another tool in the therapeutic tool kit, and it's one that works well for many patients, though it's under – utilized. Just as some people respond better to SSRIs and others to tricyclic antidepressants, for some people DMT will be a more effective tool than talk therapy — and I suspect that the combination of both might make for a very powerful therapeutic toolkit, indeed.
I apologize for the lack of peer-reviewed references here. I'm posting this from my phone. I'll try to get back and post some article links soon.
Is Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT) effective? Why might someone choose DMT over verbal therapy?
Update:
Here are a couple of good articles discussing antidepressant medication treatment, BDNF, and so forth. Whenever possible, I’ve included full-text links, but some of these are only accessible as abstracts without paywall access. There are, of course, may more; these represent a select few from a research project I completed last semester.
DeRubeis, Siegle, & Hollon. (2008). Cognitive therapy vs. medications for depression: Treatment outcomes and neural mechanisms. Nature Reviews Neurosience, 9(10), 788-796. doi: 10.1038/nrn2345
Full Text
Mata, J., Thompson, R. J., Jaeggi, S. M., Buschkuehl, M., Jonides, J., & Gotlib, I. H. (2012). Walk on the bright side: Physical activity and affect in major depressive disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 121(2), 297-308. doi:10.1037/a0023533
Full Text
Wrann, White, Salogiannis, Laznik-Bogoslavski, Wu, Ma, Lin, & Greenberg. (2013). Exercise induces hippocampal BDNF through a PGC-1α/FNDC5 pathway. Cell Metabolism, 18(5), 649-659. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2013.09.008
Absract
It’s Thursday and I Should Be Doing Homework
…But I’ve got enough done to take a break, so instead I’m sticking some thoughts on here.
I just realized that the world needs two categories of “easy” recipes — or, rather, we need two separate categories: easy recipes and ADHD-friendly recipes.
Like most people with ADHD, I am very capable in many areas, and in what we’ll call my “areas of specialization*,” I’m even capable of long bouts of intensely-focused activity.
Cooking, however — although it interests me in a general sort of sense — is not one of my areas of specialization. It’s something I kinda like doing; something I’m happy to do if it’s not too complicated and I don’t have to take too many intermediate steps and I’m not feeling terribly compelled to do something else.
I can even learn complex recipes — if I’m in the right frame of mind and if the directions are designed well**.
On the whole, though, I prefer simple recipes — really simple ones. The fewer ingredients and steps, the better. I can follow really simple recipes even on those days when I’m sleep deprived and all the compensatory skills I’ve learned over the course of a lifetime coping with ADHD just fly right out the window.
As such, I think I’m going to add an ADHD-kitchen category here — one aimed at those of us wrestling (okay, and also sometimes riding) the giant squid that is adult ADHD and trying to do so without eating Hot Pockets for the rest of our natural lives.
It seems like the vast majority of recipe resources related to ADHD are geared towards parents who are trying to implement dietary treatments for their children with ADHD. That’s a fine thing, and I know a couple of people who have benefited from it — but it doesn’t really help those of us living with adult ADHD (and/or bipolar disorder, which can make cooking hard as well). Most of the “ADHD diets” are pretty complex.
I’ll be posting simple recipes and maybe a few pointers that have helped me to eat better and cook more meals at home.
For what it’s worth, the best tool I’ve discovered for living with ADHD is the creation of “paths of least resistance.” For me — because planning is a particular weakness of mine — this process can’t invole a lot of planning. I learn as I go, and I try to remember the things that work for me. If I try to design solutions, I over-complicate things; if I simply stand back (as it were) and observe what works, sometimes I hit on useful tactics that I can replicate.
I plan to write a bit about paths of least resistance as well — in short, how to identify ways to make things easier.
Admittedly, what works for me probably won’t work for every single ADHDer out there — but sharing my strategies helps me remember them, and if it helps anyone else, that’s icing on the cake.
Speaking of which, it’s about lunch time, so I’m going to go take a path of least resistance and throw some tuna salad onto some bread.
Notes
*In other words, my obsessions: ballet, bikes, dogs, horses, music, and designing buildings in Sims 2. Sometimes drawing, painting, and writing fall into this category; sometimes they don’t. Reading varies.
**For example: if a “step” in a recipe looks like a paragraph, it’s too long. Switching between tasks is difficult for me, so switching into deep reading-comprehension mode, then back to cooking mode, then back to deep reading-comprehension mode tends not to end well. Likewise, wall-o-text recipes totally send me straight to TL;DRLOLland. I should add the caveat that following written directions is a particular weakness for me; not all ADHDers are as bad as I am at it.
danseur ignoble 