nairb codex

Looking down the barrel: ‘008

// January 13th, 2009 // No Comments » // friends, life

So it’s been awhile, but I am back. 2008 was a hard year for me, with only the very beginning of the year being truly happy times for me. The rest of the year I spent slowly spiraling down into a dark existence, hitting rock bottom right around the end of the year.

In the past year, I’ve lost most of my self confidence, been consciously depressed, including pissing off most of my friends who attempted to keep in contact with me, losing about 25 lbs, and finding out I’m anorexic. I spent the majority of my time trying to make someone love me the way I wanted, even though I realized a long time ago that that would never happen, and turned out to be a rather expensive endeavor, all for nothing. I kept turning to her out of complete and utter loneliness, only for her to turn a cold shoulder every time I needed her. (more…)

Showin’ Off

// August 1st, 2008 // No Comments » // dancing

Last night, Reiko and I went out dancing to a newer place in Gardena. We’ve been there once before. One of the nice things about the place is that it’s not crowded, so there’s room to practice big moves (you know all that cool stuff you learn from YouTube).

We showed up just after the class had finished, so no one was dancing yet. It’s always a little awkward to be the only one on the dance floor, because you know everyone is watching you. We did it anyway. We pulled off some new patterns we learned at home just before we went to the club as well as a couple other tricks we know. It seemed like everything was quiet, except for the music, when we were dancing and as soon as we finished, everyone resumed their conversations. I’m not sure if it really was like that or if I was just in the moment when I was dancing with Reiko. Regardless, I had a great time dancing with Reiko and I’m already looking forward to the next time we dance together (maybe tonight?).

Bachata

// July 29th, 2008 // No Comments » // dancing

When we went to Palm Springs and took Jorge Elizondo’s class, he mentioned about a last minute workshop that would be happening at the Paso de Oro studio together with Alejondro Rey (who was one of the instructors at Palm Springs and gave an awesome bachata/salsa performance Saturday night). Of course we had to go, and I’m really glad we did! The workshop was 4 hours of instruction, switching between Jorge and Alejondro. We learned some intermediate/advanced turn patterns as well as some sensuality moves.

I definitely need to work on my body movement, but the steps and turn patterns are starting to come together. Now I like bachata a lot, whereas before I didn’t like it because I couldn’t do it well at all.

Palm Springs

// July 28th, 2008 // No Comments » // dancing, travel

Me in Palm Springs

This past weekend Reiko and I went to Palm Springs for the Salsa Mambo Festival. Prior to going to Palm Springs, I wondered why people go there because it’s in the middle of the desert. Now that I’ve been there, I’m still wondering why people go there. It’s ridiculously hot (it was 105F during the day and 90F at night), it’s tiny (~45,000 people in town / ~415,000 in the metro area) with not much more than some shopping and a few restaurants (mostly chains and fast food), and it’s hot (I know I said that already, but it was *really* hot for me). That being said, we had a great weekend, heat and nothingness aside.

We had the good fortune of taking classes with quite a few pretty famous instructors/dancers, including Edie the Salsa FREAK, Jorge Elizondo (the Bachata King), Josie Neglia, & David Nieto (2008 Mayan World Salsa Competition Champion). We also got to see performances by many professional dancers, including Liz Lira and Cristian Oviedo, as well as some of the previously mentioned instructors. One of my favorite performances was the Victor & Gaby performance combining salsa and quebradita (the bouncy one to fast Mexican polka) and all of the Paso de Oro performances (some of those kids were absolutely amazing!).

Final thoughts on the weekend, I thought I was in pretty good shape, but after 3 days of workshops and some evening dancing, my body is pretty drained. A big part of it was the fact that we were forced to eat differently, both schedule and menu. We’ve already registered for the next festival in Palm Springs over New Year’s and are already planning how we can accommodate the workshop schedule and lack of food choice.

2007 Retrospect

// January 23rd, 2008 // No Comments » // dancing, life

So 2007 has come and gone. Looking back, 2007 has to be one of the more difficult years in my life. The first third of the year I spent sitting at home looking for a job. The second third I spent getting my new life in LA together. The last third of the year I spent mourning my mother, but also creating a new life with my new girlfriend. Of all the things that have happened in my life, losing my mother definitely trumps all the rest as the most profound event in my life.

I am really happy to have a new girlfriend as she’s really amazing. She has been key in helping me get through my recent tough times. I don’t know where I would be without her.

In late summer of last year I got back into salsa. I again made a switch in dancing styles, reverting back to on1, the style I originally learned when I first started dancing more than 3 years ago. I also trained hard for two months for a performance group I was in. We performed four times just before the holidays. There is video of the performances, however I have yet to receive the DVD containing the videos, so I’m unable to share with anyone who has interest. I burned out a little on salsa after my performance, only because I was dancing nearly every day, with the final stint equating to eleven straight days of practicing and performing. I have yet to fully get back into dancing regularly, but I know it’ll come.

Now that 2008 is here, I hope this year is a better year than last. So far the start of the year has been good with no complaints.