Thanks to (e:heidi), I had one of the most fun audience experiences I have had in a while. She urged me yesterday to "Get yer butt down here" and I am glad I did exactly what she asked me... after a couple hours.

Even though I was just passively standing in a corner and watching the battles, all the windmilling that went on left me completely breathless... and a bit worried. For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, this was definitely not what it looked like...


Nopes. This was not it either...


It was more like a couple hours of this...


The breathlessness was a result of all the frenetic action in front of me. I could hardly keep up with all the battles. How does one judge these things? They all looked awesome to me. I am guessing that the three interesting people who were judging the dances were watching for technically challenging moves. I say interesting, because the judges seemed rather young. I wonder if they were experts or just appointed judges for the evening...

But my subconscious worry was because I was approximating the number of subtle shear injuries all these dancers were accumulating as they danced. Most of the battling dancers were pushing their bodies to the extreme. They were achieving what would have been physically impossible without a high velocity movement of their limbs. If I had a speed gun yesterday, I am sure it would have recorded the same velocity as a windmill in buffalo on a particularly windy day... and we all know that's not really a pastoral idyllic scene.

It was absolutely dazzling to watch at close quarters but it left me with some doubts about why I would want to take such an intense hip hop class. On the other hand, life would not be challenging or half as interesting if I limply sat here and chomped on those windmill biscuits with tea, would it?

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NB: If you want to experience windmills, worlds apart from what Don Quixote battled, and a completely novel approach to what self-expression through dance can mean, trot on down to Verve Studios on Main street (above the Hyatt Art Store) and see the battles for yourself. Verve studio is electrifying hip hop on the web at this

Who on earth thought up this splendid idea for the library's homepage?!

UGH. Hurts my brain.



If I had been about to donate, I would have second thoughts after witnessing this level of tackiness.

I love this song to bits. The lyrics ring so true for me right now and the music is SO incredibly Rainbow + Deep Purple with that unmistakable magic of Rata Blanca...



Fui como un ángel caído
preso de mi libertad
hasta que te conocí
por esas calles

Fue porque quiso el destino
que te pudiera encontrar
y hoy no sé como seguir
cuando no estás

Te agradezco que sanes mi alma
sobrevivo encontrando en tus ojos
el resplandor de un verde talismán

Si al final esta vida es un sueño
sólo sé que a tu lado me quiero despertar
amanecer una vez más

Sabes, cuando era muy joven
nunca pensé que el amor me daría
sin preguntar tantas respuestas

Y hoy me fío de pocos
y hoy que reina la traición
se que alguien puede curar mi corazón

Un amor
Un amor viví
Llorando. Y me decía
Las palabras de Dios,
Llorando por ti,
es con amor.

Un amor
Un amor viví
Llorando. Ya tormentado
Las palabras de Dios,
Llorando por ti,
es con amor.

Hay para ya vivir junto a ti
Me enamoré ya de ti
Ya sin tus besos yo no puedo
Vivir y recordar

Yo quisiera
Para entender un amor y saber
Que me quería ya tormentado
Las palabras de Dios,
Llorando por ti,
es con amor.

Hay para ya vivir junto a ti
Me enamoré ya de ti
Ya sin tus besos yo no puedo
Vivir y recordar

The people have spoken. (E:peeps) have infinite wisdom and are to be trusted. So I have a fitness question for you all.

I think I have finally identified the weakest link behind my lack of core stability - and no, it's not my stick-like forearms. I have a fairly good posture and no lower back or upper back issues so it's most certainly my weak abdomen muscles. I really loathe doing abdominal crunches... well, I guess I could do them, but they will be my last resort. Can you think of any other exercises or exercise-routines that you have personally done and seen results with?

I know the web has a trillion pieces of advice and probably a zillion flatten-your-abdomen exercises, but I am specifically looking for exercises that you have achieved results with - not really to flatten my abdomen, but to build up the isotonic strength of my abdominal muscles, however un-flat the results might be.

Ideas?

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PS: Before you suggest belly-dancing, have YOU really achieved muscle tone with beginner belly dancing?!