i just ate too many olives

i'm going to miami for wmc in a matter of days. i can't wait.

this time i'll try to avoid getting a sunburn. i always thought i was exempt and/or excused from that kind of thing...until last year in miami when i slathered on body butter and fell asleep for hours in the sun. i suspected nothing till i took myself a shower and felt my arms burning up and started flailing them away from me yelling "....aaaaaaaarrrrr...what ISSSS THAAAT?!?!" but then i was fine after that. i'm sure that was just the tip of the iceberg of what people with real sunburns feel.

roj took some pics at tribal cafe.

things i love right now:

i found these huge juicy greek olives marinated in sicilian spices. i got them from the beloved olive bar at whole foods. i...can't...stop...

i am a meat eater, but i've never been one to order steak at restaurants often. but there's this ribeye steak prepared in a certain way where it's called tagliata. it is so damn good.

red wine. (with steak)

the watson twins. you can hear some of their songs on myspace.

jenny lewis, too. the watson twins are touring with her (they're on her album). they'll be at the recher theater on wednesday and then the birchmere on thursday, but dang i have plans on both of those days. jenny lewis and the watsons just did a live segment on kcrw's Morning Becomes Eclectic (my favorite radio show). what always sorta bothers me is that once i hear an artist play their songs live in the studio, the cd sounds like crap to me. my favorite song she sings is "secular" towards the end of the session.

the movie "wet, hot american summer". dang that's funny.

carpaccio.

chirashi. (though i think i've overdone this a bit and need to abstain for awhile)

more dancing more...

This past Sunday I performed at Tribal Cafe at Asylum along with Summati and Romka. It was loads of fun. The crowd was large and very warm and supportive. I danced hip hop fusion to Akon's "Bellydancer" (again) and a new peice to "WindowLicker" by Aphex Twin. Gianma is a big Aphex Twin fan and suggested that I dance to it. It's inspired by Asharah's style. Me and Gianma were blown away by the 'ping pong' song (another Aphex Twin number) that she did at Tribal Cafe last summer. So this song has plenty of beeps and twiddles in it that I tried to reflect with my movements. At one point while I was rehearsing Gianma was standing in the corner with my bellydance cane in his hand and started waving it at me and saying "you missed that noise! there was a noise!". It was seriously funny. The day before the show at Asylum I was feeling like the spooky, drony part of WindowLicker was getting lost on me, so I started experimenting with this pause...rewind...fast forward effect with my movements. People really liked it. I wondered if it was noticeable but I got a lot of positive feedback on it. So, I'm gonna work on it some more. Summati was awesome. I couldn't beleive they were doing ATS, it looked so seamless and Romka kicked ass too. They did a choreography to I Cash Raadi. There were some SERIOUS hip drops in there, very nice.

It's been hectic...

Yesterday: 3 hour workshop with Jillina, perform at the Bellydance Superstars show

Today: 3 hour workshop with Bozenka, perform at the Bellydance Superstars show

Tommoro: catch a plane to Toronto and meet up with Raqs Sahara

Saturday: 4 hour workshop with Aida Noor, perform in Gala

Sunday: 4 hour workshop with Aida Noor, fly home

Monday: teach class for 3 hours, choreograph hip hop peice for Raqs West

Tuesday: teach hip hop peice to Raqs West

Wednesday: choreograph new peice for Saturday show?

Thursday: choreograph new peice for Saturday show?

Friday: Raqs Sahara rehearsal, choreograph for B2 performance class

Saturday: teach for 2 hours in the morning, perform in "A Celebration of Bellydance Fusion"

p.s - Sharon Kihara's belly must be made out of water.