All good things must come to an end...

Last night was my last tribal class until the fall (sniff). We were encouraged to dress up tribal style, so I dug out an old 10 yard swirly hippy skirt and matching crop choli top and wrapped a bit of a scarf/turban around my head. I found a sparkly red bindi and wore my sparkly red belly jewellery that is shaped like a sun that rings the belly button...cool. I seldom get to wear it (J found it hilarious, that with all this I wore my yellow rubber boots out to the car...) Our teacher even had face makeup and painted our eyes and cheeks up with tribal markings. Not everyone dressed up but I LOVE costumery of ANY kind so I was right in there. It reminded me of a grown up costume/slumber party :)

It was a 2 hour dance party...lots of fun. Our teacher taught us the basics of zills and moving with zills (she brought enough for everyone to try), a bit of stomach undulations and then we had some tasty snacking while her troupe prepped a bit. Yum. After that, those of us that wanted to be involved could be in the chorus for some group dancing, with trios and pairs going forward to do some moves...I joined, as I thought it would be fun. I got paired up with my teacher which was fun...I just had to follow her moves, and she stuck to stuff she knew I knew...it was all low pressure just for fun, so it didn't matter if we got it "right" or not - it was just for the joy of dancing. After that (while we snacked some more...ahem) our teacher and two of the pro dancers from her troupe put on a bit of a short show...even did some sword dancing.

So.
Cool.
After there was a bit of a group dance and then we even got to try balancing a sword on our head to try it out (yup I was right in there). I wish I'd brought our camera...oh well. People say they'll send me some photos. We shall see. Our teacher gave all of us who danced last night a flower to wear when we dance (it's tradition for tribal dancers to wrap their head up in a turban and wear flowers and pins...now I have my first flower :) ) My instructor invited me to take classes with the beginner performance troupe in the fall - I'm quite excited. The performance classes are through a dance studio sot hey cost more, but they are 1 1/2 hours long so you really get to focus in on things...and do more zills and trio work. I can't wait for fall :)

Right now I'm trying to concentrate on work and figuring out what is going on this weekend. I forgot it was easter so we made plans saturday night...plus both our families have made plans sunday, involving us and giving us stuff to do without asking first. *sigh* So tonight I must talk to everyone and figure out just what the heck is going on this weekend. If we can't do our initial plans it will be interesting enough here...I hope we can though. Our good friends are bringing in a bunch of DJs on saturday night and we'd like to be there, but unless we confirm the details it's a no go...the annoying thing about email and cell phones is you think it would be easier to get a hold of people...not so much. Hopefully it all works out. We shall see. I'm in such a good mood at the moment I won't mind either way in the end...

Off to the lab for some shinanegans. Cheerio my good peeps.

But you ARE special - we thought of you 23rd!

I had a few simple New Year's resolutions this year:
-listen to my body and try to give it what it needs, and not push it too far
-eat as little processed food as possible
-exercise a minimum of 3 times a week
-Stand up for myself more and make sure that I give myself the respect and consideration I give others.

The last one will be a challenge.
Being a bit passive aggressive, I tend to put others first. I don't always know what I like, just more what I don't like, so unless I dislike something, I'll usually go happily along with the flow. The problem comes when I bump up against others who either indirectly or directly know they can bully me into doing something and try to do so. I used to just give in and then hold grudges or get frustrated at myself for being a wimp, and occasionally blow up when it went too far. I am not sure how conscious others are when they do this. What I do know is that I have to be stronger...when people do push too far or hurt my feelings I have to let them know, even if they don't like it. It's a scary concept for me, but it's something I need to start doing more. And I can't expect them to read my mind...

This has, oddly enough, come up in life already...last night in fact. Thanks to my Mum-in-law, who is notorious for doing this.
Needless to say I'm a bit annoyed at the moment and have to vent.
If you aren't in to it, go have a coffee. I understand. :)

My sister in law just had a beautiful baby last month, and now that Christmas is over, should have a baby shower thrown for her. My other sis-in-law and I have been told we will be putting it on (yup, not asked-told)...a bit annoying to be told what to do at 35, but it should be fun, so we ignored that, and put things in perspective to do the right thing...and we'll do it the way the sis-in-law would want it to be.
Last night tho, I got more annoyed, as it got even more complicated. I received a call from the sis-in-law asking me if a date a few weeks from now would work as the date. "Absolutely not" I replied, as I have bellydance class that night and also and don't even have the car as J has to work that evening, so getting to the loaction out of town would be tricky -I would not even have a way to get there. I suggested many other dates as options. I then received a call back (again not from the mum-in-law) saying that "oh actually, turns out the mom in law has already called 22 other people about it being that night", and she wanted me to "just" cancel my class and find a ride out of town and plan the party...
At first I grumbled and then acquiesced, and sis-in-law and I talked about this and figured out a way to make it work - we're kind of used to this sort of thing happening to us, and figured we'd make the best of it. After all it's a baby shower - this is a big deal for them. We will rock the party.

Then, I hung up and talked with J and fumed...as the woman does this often. Later, I called the Mum-in-law back and asked her to reschedule if she could and mentioned that if she had merely asked *before* calling 23 other people it would be simple to change...to try and let her know that my feelings were hurt...but in the light of day, I've decided that for my sister-in-law, I'll just suck it up and jump thru all the hoops and make the party happen (and miss a bellydance lesson and work out a ride in and back...grrrr). I will, however, have a long chat with the mum-in-law this morning to make sure she understands why I am so annoyed, that she she does this to us a lot, and that perhaps we'd be more apt to visit or be involved in family events if we felt like it mattered that we were there. If it was something for her, I likely wouldn't show up and send a gift with regrets, but the sis-in-law had nothing to do with it really, and these things that only happen once are things new mom's remember and I'm not going to be turned into the "bad selfish person who couldn't put her life aside for just one evening and made everyone else change things for her". Even tho (dammit) I've actually done nothing at all wrong.

Yup I am still mad...but nothing can be done about it now except ask for a little more respect and consideration next time.

Maybe I'll move up the ladder to the top 10 next time.
Oh to dream...

ADDENDUM:

Whattaya know? Being honest and open with people does work. My mum-in-law was very good about it and said she had made a few calls and if it was OK they'd move the date back 1 day. No guilt. An apology and no problems...huh. Good. A positive thing.... I'll have to stick with this stand up for me thing...:)