Festival

So, today was the Boston Israeli Folkdance Festival. Which means I've been up, straight, since 5:30 am, and I was dancing/rehearsing or waiting to do one of those from 7:30 am until about 6 pm. But the show went well. I received a number of compliments on both my dancing (mostly from my parents) and on my choreography (my parents, Eli and Amy from Boston dancing, Kenny- all of which really mean something to me), and was incredibly nervous and then things went well. Quite well, I think. It was very relieving. The day started off a bit worrisome- we knew we were runnign the dress rehearsal without Samara. And we knew Judith wouldn't be there for finale. But we got a call saing that Felicia was taking her son to the doctor before she'd show up. So, opening only required two folks from each group that wasn't a group of high schoolers or below- basically, we were child-herding. It was fun, and they were cute- but it was one more thing to do. THen finale, which took forever- and my goodness, I've never put that many people on one stage before. But at least Ira didn't do it. (Ira traditionally choreographs the finale, and while he starts off great with the kids, of whom there are many, his choreography is all running and clapping, and he always ends up loosing his temper- although that is, albeit easy to do: no one pays good attention, and even if they did, no one can see or hear, just because of the number of people.) Actually, there were fun bits to learning the finale- we got to follow ANgela from Neshika again (we did last year, so it's something of a joke) and to joke with Zikukim (the nicely sized and very impressive Boston group- we're currently small, creative and different, Ruach Aviv hits somewhere in the middle, and Neshika is good, consistently folky and generally all women) which is full of amusing folks. And they left us assorted Boston folks to basically dance around and play on stage while most of hte other groups got off, and afterwards. We actually had a lot of fun- basically we hora-ed around and did assorted funny stuff. In some ways, that was the best part of the show.

(paragraph break for readability) So it was a day full of lots of make-up. I got to practice doing stage makeup on other people. Felicia never puts on enough by herself- and I even got eye makeup on her this year- basically, I just didn't ask, I assumed she'd let me, and so she did. Getting it on Matthew was a bit harder- we borrowed Bernie to show that other guys wore it, and thus we got some blush, eye liner and mascara on him. We were still working on the lip stick, but then he went off to talk to his girlfriend, who's in B'yachad, and he returned and she'd put lipstick on him. Hurray Julie! ANd so, of course, we were running our schedule around Judith's nursing schedule. ANd just as we thought next year we might not have to worry about that- Felicia told us after the performance that she's pregnant, due in September. It's wonderful, of course- this will be her second. But she and Judith went off counting how many HaMakor performances had a pregnant dancer in them, thoroughly scaring the rest of us, even with the declaration that finishing college and marriage had to come first. It was an odd conversation. Funny, but laced with serious undertones- Joanne on not actually wanting to have children, a few others that are somewhat more private-seeming...

So eventually we all got ourselves back into street clothes and out of hte dressing room (we were, unsurprisingly, some of the last people out), and I found Mom and Dad, and we went back to Brandeis. We met Dave, and went out for dinner- so yes, both my parents have now met him. As they were leaving, Dad quietly gave me some actual approval- very relieving. He commented that Dave seemed very nice, and mature. This is a nice change in my dating life. We'll see.

Random other details will pop up at some point, but not now- I'm exhausted.

Festival

So, today was the Boston Israeli Folkdance Festival. Which means I've been up, straight, since 5:30 am, and I was dancing/rehearsing or waiting to do one of those from 7:30 am until about 6 pm. But the show went well. I received a number of compliments on both my dancing (mostly from my parents) and on my choreography (my parents, Eli and Amy from Boston dancing, Kenny- all of which really mean something to me), and was incredibly nervous and then things went well. Quite well, I think. It was very relieving. The day started off a bit worrisome- we knew we were runnign the dress rehearsal without Samara. And we knew Judith wouldn't be there for finale. But we got a call saing that Felicia was taking her son to the doctor before she'd show up. So, opening only required two folks from each group that wasn't a group of high schoolers or below- basically, we were child-herding. It was fun, and they were cute- but it was one more thing to do. THen finale, which took forever- and my goodness, I've never put that many people on one stage before. But at least Ira didn't do it. (Ira traditionally choreographs the finale, and while he starts off great with the kids, of whom there are many, his choreography is all running and clapping, and he always ends up loosing his temper- although that is, albeit easy to do: no one pays good attention, and even if they did, no one can see or hear, just because of the number of people.) Actually, there were fun bits to learning the finale- we got to follow ANgela from Neshika again (we did last year, so it's something of a joke) and to joke with Zikukim (the nicely sized and very impressive Boston group- we're currently small, creative and different, Ruach Aviv hits somewhere in the middle, and Neshika is good, consistently folky and generally all women) which is full of amusing folks. And they left us assorted Boston folks to basically dance around and play on stage while most of hte other groups got off, and afterwards. We actually had a lot of fun- basically we hora-ed around and did assorted funny stuff. In some ways, that was the best part of the show.

(paragraph break for readability) So it was a day full of lots of make-up. I got to practice doing stage makeup on other people. Felicia never puts on enough by herself- and I even got eye makeup on her this year- basically, I just didn't ask, I assumed she'd let me, and so she did. Getting it on Matthew was a bit harder- we borrowed Bernie to show that other guys wore it, and thus we got some blush, eye liner and mascara on him. We were still working on the lip stick, but then he went off to talk to his girlfriend, who's in B'yachad, and he returned and she'd put lipstick on him. Hurray Julie! ANd so, of course, we were running our schedule around Judith's nursing schedule. ANd just as we thought next year we might not have to worry about that- Felicia told us after the performance that she's pregnant, due in September. It's wonderful, of course- this will be her second. But she and Judith went off counting how many HaMakor performances had a pregnant dancer in them, thoroughly scaring the rest of us, even with the declaration that finishing college and marriage had to come first. It was an odd conversation. Funny, but laced with serious undertones- Joanne on not actually wanting to have children, a few others that are somewhat more private-seeming...

So eventually we all got ourselves back into street clothes and out of hte dressing room (we were, unsurprisingly, some of the last people out), and I found Mom and Dad, and we went back to Brandeis. We met Dave, and went out for dinner- so yes, both my parents have now met him. As they were leaving, Dad quietly gave me some actual approval- very relieving. He commented that Dave seemed very nice, and mature. This is a nice change in my dating life. We'll see.

Random other details will pop up at some point, but not now- I'm exhausted.

This Name Shtick

For some reason, this name thing that's going around has caught my interest. SO here goes.
If you call me Miranda, you're either my boss from this summer, a couple of co-workers from the same, or a substititue teacher.
If you call me Miwanda, you're my maternal grandmother, being cute and reminding me of my very early childhood.
If you call me Maya, you're almost anyone who actually knows me (or has met me).
If you call me My-my, you're my immediate family, or Teresa, my best friend in middle school.
If you call me My-my-my, you're my sister.
If you call me My, you're anyone who's greeting me very quickly, or who's making bad rhymes.
Sub-category: Any of my friends may greet me with "Hiya Maya" once, and no more than once.
If you've ever referred to me as "Maya from Rochester", you met me at a dance event, and sorry, but you're wrong.
If you call me Miri, you're one of the guys from the kitchen from work this summer.
If you call me Mayaleh, you must be someone who cares about me- but I'm not sure who you are, just that I think you exist- someone used that on me, and I'm not sure who- strange.
If you call me Miriam bat Chaim v'Chana, you're calling me up to the torah.
Sub-category: If you call me Miriam, you think I'm someone else.
If you call me anything suffixed with Herald, you're a BORGling.
If you address email to me as "Hey hot stuff", you're Ted.
If you call me Miss or Ms Kosowsky, you're undoubtably a telemarketer. But you do get kudos if you actually pronounce it right.
If you call me Mrs. Kosowsky, you think I'm my mother, which happens often enough on the phone.
Similarly, if you call me Emma, you've either just gotten our names swapped, or you've mistaken us on the phone. Happens all the time, and I still hate it.

I think I'm forgetting something, but I can't think of it now.
But really- has anyone noticed that everyone's written tone comes across the same way with this thing? That seems to be, besides the idea, what's being copied. It's a fun thing to do, especially when you're doing it semi-consciously

This Name Shtick

For some reason, this name thing that's going around has caught my interest. SO here goes.
If you call me Miranda, you're either my boss from this summer, a couple of co-workers from the same, or a substititue teacher.
If you call me Miwanda, you're my maternal grandmother, being cute and reminding me of my very early childhood.
If you call me Maya, you're almost anyone who actually knows me (or has met me).
If you call me My-my, you're my immediate family, or Teresa, my best friend in middle school.
If you call me My-my-my, you're my sister.
If you call me My, you're anyone who's greeting me very quickly, or who's making bad rhymes.
Sub-category: Any of my friends may greet me with "Hiya Maya" once, and no more than once.
If you've ever referred to me as "Maya from Rochester", you met me at a dance event, and sorry, but you're wrong.
If you call me Miri, you're one of the guys from the kitchen from work this summer.
If you call me Mayaleh, you must be someone who cares about me- but I'm not sure who you are, just that I think you exist- someone used that on me, and I'm not sure who- strange.
If you call me Miriam bat Chaim v'Chana, you're calling me up to the torah.
Sub-category: If you call me Miriam, you think I'm someone else.
If you call me anything suffixed with Herald, you're a BORGling.
If you address email to me as "Hey hot stuff", you're Ted.
If you call me Miss or Ms Kosowsky, you're undoubtably a telemarketer. But you do get kudos if you actually pronounce it right.
If you call me Mrs. Kosowsky, you think I'm my mother, which happens often enough on the phone.
Similarly, if you call me Emma, you've either just gotten our names swapped, or you've mistaken us on the phone. Happens all the time, and I still hate it.

I think I'm forgetting something, but I can't think of it now.
But really- has anyone noticed that everyone's written tone comes across the same way with this thing? That seems to be, besides the idea, what's being copied. It's a fun thing to do, especially when you're doing it semi-consciously