Flowers on the Wall

“Sunsets are proof that endings can be beautiful”

“Every new beginning comes from some others beginning’s end”

I have a little white board tacked up outside my office door. It was given to me by someone on my team who seemed to want to know where I was if I wasn’t in my office. The first quote is what I put on it soon after we got the news. Now, I’m down to one last week to close out my career at this place and I’m kind of ready for it to be over. The two months of paychecks was nice but it also created this little tether that kept me tied to the past and now it is time to cut that and move on.

At least that’s how I feel today. We’ll see how long it lasts.

Yesterday was the first themed party of the semi-annual pledge drive at the studio. OK, it really isn’t that but it ends up feeling a lot like those annoying pledge drives on PBS. Because you do get points for signing up for new lessons or advancing a payment on existing lessons.

As grumbly as I get about forced fun, I have to admit that it seems to be an effective tool and one of the things that the Famous Franchise does to create their atmosphere. Its not just a dance studio. We’re a strange club (or maybe cult) and this is our place for club social meetings. I mean it is hard not to bond when you are dressing up in silly costumes and playing silly games.

The game at this party was a little different. Typically, they’ve just had relay race event type things where you dance instead of running. Here, they divided us into two and we each had to come up with a line dance (only two counts of 8). They gave us 5 minutes to develop and practice it with the instructors judging based on things like how together you were, creativity and how much fun you looked like you were having.

The party was sports related so you got extra points by wearing an item from a sports team. So the two people who were developing our “choreography” kept with the sports theme. The first eight counts were basically getting into a football position, swinging a baseball bat and sinking a free throw. Then, we took the second eight count and just took turns doing a spin – 8 people so 2 people per turn for two counts. We ended with a final kick just because. Believe it or not, we ended up winning the bonus points for the game. Amazingly silly but some people really get competitive about this kind of stuff.

On my lesson earlier in the day, we worked on Waltz and Fox Trot. Not much really to say other than just doing some work on a couple of places where things still felt a bit wonky. These are probably the most ready of the patterns meaning that I know the steps but not quite clear on the timing and/or alignments for certain parts. Group class was a Swing with OwnerGuy including a double overhead wrap because he always does something that involves wrapping the ladies arm over our heads. But I did the pattern a few times at the party just for fun.

At the end of our lesson, I was watching new guy working with one of his students on what looks like a solo for Showcase. I think I may call new guy DH since that is easier. I’ll give it a shot. I believe the plan is for him to leave at the end of the summer since he’s got other plans besides dance but he’s been up front about that so everyone who works with him knows that. The student he was working with is one of our younger students. I’d guess age but I’m terrible at that (well I can’t be proven wrong so I’ll just say somewhere in the 20s). I think he’s appreciating working with someone with some youthful flexibility. They looked good. I do miss the focus of practicing for Showcase but it was the right call.

Oh and it appears my radar was off about the newest girl which is a good thing. Of course, she could still disappear after Showcase. That happens a lot. But, for now, she is still here.

So after my workout today, I went to one of the many little greenhouses that pops up this time of year. Taking full advantage of being a day person which meant I was the only one there buying flowers. It is really a terrible day for planting since it rained yesterday and turned sharply cooler today. But it just seems like we’ve had rain every Saturday and I really wanted to get something in the ground. We’ve had a couple of warm days but the dirt still felt cold so the flowers may not be happy. Put 30 in our large flower bed but that’s just the first batch. The problem is that by Memorial Day (when it is actually warmer), most of the annuals are root bound and shaggy looking so you still deal with transplant shock. That’s why you put em in now and take your chances. If they don’t make it, I’ve still got a couple of weeks to buy other things to fill in the spaces.

Also booked a vacation for August. I hate booking vacations but it always falls to me to do the job. Part of me hates locking in a date because I want to be free. And there is so much that could happen between now and August. On the other hand, if you wait too long, then there aren’t good options for flights or hotels because all the serious planners have taken all the best slots.

We are again venturing out of the country although it is just to our neighbor to the north. My wife wants lobster so we are headed to the Atlantic side of things. Now I get the “fun” of figuring out a list of things to do. Do have plans to spend a few days in one place and the rest of the time in another so we’ll be closer to certain sights and minimize some driving time. I’ve got a preliminary list of things from the official tourist site but it has to be pared down a bit. I just know that I’ll be faced every day with the same question “What are we doing today”.

Well it is another Friday and that means the Farmer’s Market tomorrow. The weather is again calling for rain but primarily in the afternoon so it might be dry. Not like last week where we were shopping in a steady rain and trying to balance the umbrella with the various bags of stuff. Not going to complain if we finally have a dry Saturday.