Friday, February 25, 2011

Day 371: To be young...

I never went to church dances when I was a teenager (I preferred house parties with illicit substances. Don't judge!) so I am now experiencing this important ritual through my daughter. I have carefully observed the stages of these dances and will now share my findings.

Stage one: Awkward foyer standing.
Music is playing, lights are low, but we're not brave enough to actually enter the Cultural hall.

Stage two: Awkward hallway standing. 
Getting closer!

Stage three: Awkward dance floor standing.
Not comfortable enough to dance...the DJ hasn't won them over yet.

Stage four: A few fearless souls execute some very nice 
ballroom-style dancing and a couple clowns do the worm. 

Stage five: With the ice now broken, the DJ plays something they recognize 
and the awkward flailing and fist pumping begins.
 
Throw in a hardcore full contact game of musical chairs

Some awkward slow dancing

A little bit of silliness

And you have yourself a typical church dance.

A great thing about this particular dance was this guy:
~The DJ~

This kid was incredible. He was mixing live. I was so impressed with him, I had to go up on stage and shake his hand and express my great appreciation of his skills. (three times. ahem)
Most of the kids there had no idea that that was what he was doing, or what kind of work goes into live DJ'ing - most were just waiting for him to play that one song they hear on the radio 9 times a day.
I was totally geeking out, and I may have embarrassed the children with my gushing about this kid. I have not been to a dance with a live DJ since the old days when we used to go to underground rave parties. 
Good times.



Thank you, young people! Thanks for letting me tag along and share a little bit of your fun :) 


Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Day 369: Chicopee


Field Trip Day!

Today I went with the 6, 7 and 8th graders to Chicopee Tube Park.
The weather was perfect and  gorgeous. It looked absolutely Utah-esque with the blue skies. It seems like the sky here is dreary gray from about October to May...OK, that may be an exaggeration, but seriously - blue sky and sunshine is a rare and wonderful thing.



Taking the easy way up...though the moving walkway is a blessing after you've climbed the hill five or six times

G'd up from the feet up
View from the top.
Emma and her friend-boy riding down together :)




Video of the action. Whee!




And when I went inside to warm up, where did I find the teachers? That's right. In the bar.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Day 365: The Year in Review

Here are some memories from the past year, in no particular order :)