A Spectacular Weekend

The 2007 Nebraska Belly Dance Spectacular has come and gone.  While it didn’t go entirely perfectly (a couple blown fuses, misplaced music, a broken elevator – oh my!), it was still a well-organized and wonderful event.  There was a good crowd for the Green Show during the day, and the day-time classes were well-attended.  Even my mother took a couple of the classes!  She attended Magdalene’s Belly Dance Basics class and Ashiya’s Greek Dancing class.  I signed up for Calliste’s Gothic Belly Dance class and had a blast – she’s such a fun teacher. J  I think a couple of the Divas will work on a Gothic number for the next hafla, so watch out! J 

The Spotlight Show kicked off with the Diva Soma girls twirling their day-glo canes lit by black lights.  My Fish – whack!  No one got injured, so I’d call it a success. J  This was followed up by a very cute number choreographed by Sapphire Phoenix and Pelagia to the James Brown/Hakim duet “Lela”.  It was an incredible start to an amazing night of dancing – performers that followed included Basharaat, Whorlwinds, the Athenian and Aegean Dancers, Della and the Hathorian Dancers, Karavan of Dreams, and the women of Metamorphosis Studio.  

Can’t wait till next year!

 

Divas on TV!

Watch or record the Channel 6 “Heartland Focus” on Saturday, March 17, at 12:30 p.m.– the Diva Soma corps will be performing to promote the Nebraska Belly Dance Spectacular.  See our website for more info on the NBDS – Saturday, March 24.

 

mushy gushy emotional junk

Man, I am having some issues this week.  Having a very hard time keeping the waterworks in check.  I was finishing the book “It’s a Long Road to a Tomato” last night (essay from an organic farmer in New York State – I highly recommend it), and had reached the part where the farmer’s faithful mutt gets run over by the tractor and dies. Ryker was sitting by me, whining ‘cause I wasn’t sharing my dinner, and I looked at him and just lost it.  Tears streaming down my face and splashing on the pages of the book.  I can’t imagine losing my dog, or any of my loved ones; it’s such a heartbreaking thought that they won’t always be with me.  

And today, “Ask Annie” printed “A Dog’s Plea” for a man who recently lost his dog.  Same effect.  Man, I better get myself under control.  I’m not usually so weepy, but let me read anything about fathers or dogs and I just fall to pieces.

http://www.dogstop.com/heart/dogplea.htm

 

Another busy weekend - Daylight Savings Time edition

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that I’m more exhausted on Monday mornings than any other day of the week, despite having such “relaxing” weekends…

I’ll start with Thursday – not quite the weekend, but we did go out, so it counts, right? J  Lowell and I went to the Shelterbelt Theatre for the opening of “I Am My Own Wife”, a one-man play staring Nick Zadena.  It was wonderful.  Nick played 40 characters and did it flawlessly.  The play is based off a true story about this transvestite in Germany that survived the Nazi’s and the Communists despite the fact that many gays were persecuted during that time.  It was funny and sad, and just wonderfully entertaining.  I highly recommend it.  As new Theatre Arts Guild members, Lowell and I got to see it for free this time.  Well, mostly free – we did donate $5 each for the TAG scholarship fund.  But between the discount we got at last week’s play (“‘night, Mother”), and this performance, we’re already recovered the cost of our membership.  

Friday I dashed home, finished cleaning up the guest room for my parents (they stayed over after a wedding in Lincoln that night), took my old prom dresses and some other clothes to the Jumble Shop for donation, and then make it to HDR to catch a ride with Ticha and Amanda by 5:30.  We ate at Jazz (Cajun restaurant) on 15^th & Harney with Meghan before heading to the Orpheum for the opera.  The opera, “Wakonda’s Dream”, was…interesting.  Not great, but being my first opera experience, I wasn’t really sure what to expect.  I didn’t really buy modern-day folks from Niobrara, NE singing in operatic-style.  The story would have taken 5 minutes to tell, but they managed to drag it out.  Superb actors, mediocre story.

Saturday I hung out with my parents for a little while before going to the Jr. League American Girl Fashion Show.  This was the 13^th year they’ve put on the show.   It was a huge, elaborate, and very well-organized event, which seems to be what the Jr. League does best.  I had a great job – I got to sit along the side of the catwalk and smile at the little girls and help them down the stairs.  

After all that, went to Sam’s Club and the library, worked on my latest sewing project (costume for our next show), baked muffins, etc.  Lowell and I went to see Zodiac that night – great movie, but very long.  Then we stopped by a friend of Lowell’s house for a going-away party for another friend.  We didn’t stay very long – I was really tired and it was very smoky in the house.  Of course, instead of saying “Oh, Aimee’s tired, we’re going to take off”, Lowell saw me yawn and announced to the room that “Aimee is bored, so we better take off.”  Fortunately I think most of the crowd was drunk enough not to notice. :P

Yesterday morning, I met Meghan and some other running club members at Lake Zorinsky for a Keep Omaha Beautiful trail clean-up.  Then we attempted to stop by our friend Amanda’s house to take her muffins and mimosas for her birthday, but her mom forgot when we were coming and they weren’t home.  They called when they got home, so we went back over, saw her for a while, then went to Hancock’s, bought a bunch of fabric and went to my house to sew the rest of the afternoon, until we had dance practice.  Phew.  I guess that’s it. Oh, and I danced for several hours last night. 

 

Famous relatives...

I was listening to NPR’s story of the day from Feb. 24^th (I’m a little behind) on my way back from the gym. The story was about this man, “H.M”, who underwent an experimental brain surgery in the 50’s to correct his severe epilepsy. The procedures caused him to lose his ability to produce new memories, leaving him unable to live on his own. The name of the physician that performed the procedures (and later advocated to have it banned from use) caught my attention:

William Beecher Scoville

Here’s another relative that got off the farm and made a name for himself. When I found the article below, I sent it to my Grandma Scoville, who tracked this man down. Turns out he’s my great-grandfather’s cousin, and in their youth, he dated and almost married the woman who became my great-grandmother! Fortunately for me, THAT didn’t happen!

Merritt Scoville

And of course, we can't forget about Wilbur Scoville, who invented the Scoville Scale.

Snowed in... Well, at least I WAS snowed in...

I wrote the below post Friday, but apparently it got stuck in the snow, too, and bounced back to me. Huh.

From Friday, March 2, 2007:

Omaha was hit with the worst blizzard we've seen in well over a decade yesterday...and the rest of the country didn't fare any better, with the  destruction ranging from snow storms to tornadoes.  Fortunately working at the weather agency, I had early warning about the hazardous conditions and took some work home with me Wednesday evening.  I was able to get in half a day yesterday before I decided that I may as well enjoy the snow day.  Now I'm in Day 2 of my snow-in - my husband has decided that it would best for me not to drive.  I'm not so sure this is for my own good as much as everyone else's...I'm a horrible winter driver!  But the road conditions are brutal from what I hear - in addition to the snow-packed and icy roadways, there are wind gusts over 40 mph.  Yikes!  I'm perfectly happy to stay in and be warm...

Me likey sushi

For Christmas I received a “Sushi for Dummies” book.  I highly recommend it.  The directions for the sushi rice are as perfect as I’ve ever seen, and the authors cover the art of rolling nori and shaping hand rolls and finger sushi wonderfully.  There are some excellent recipes for the novice sushi eater (California rolls – can’t get much more basic than that!) as well as the more adventurous types (a sushi birthday cake, anyone?)  

This weekend I spoiled a few lucky friends with a fabulous array of sushi rolls.  We started with a salad of Asian pears and greens, topped with wasabi vinaigrette.  This was followed by a large platter of nori sushi rolls – California and Caterpillar inside-out rolls and Tuna Cucumber rolls with Zuke sauce – and a smaller tray of Spicy Tuna hand rolls.  This was my first experience working with raw fish (the tuna) but it was excellent and I will definitely try more in the future.  The Caterpillar rolls were made with barbequed eel – this was my second attempt at these, so it was not new, but definitely tasty!  

Making sushi is time-consuming and slightly labor-intensive, and you have to figure out where to track down all the various ingredients (if you’re like me that is and have never ventured into an Asian grocery) but it is well worth the time and effort for such a satisfying treat!