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Friday, March 5, 1999
One year ago: Animated
Maybe I should have not gone to work at all today or yesterday. I'll certainly not bill for most of the time, since I didn't actually do anything work related for most of the time. I was finally able to drive home over the 520 bridge -- what a wonderful feeling of freedom and luxury!
I did something today that I haven't done for years: I got my hair trimmed. I think that for all the time I've lived in Seattle, I've always gone to the same place for this. It's a slight step above a neighborhood beauty salon, and has existed in several locations in my area of Capitol Hill. It used to be called Millie's Place, but now is known as Salon M (like M. Butterfly?). Maybe Millie sold it, or the name change is another attempt to step up the social scale.
The building Salon M is currently in is an odd commercial building, two stories with a sunken courtyard in front. I think this is the place they were in ten years ago, then they moved across the street, then back.
I was a walk-in customer ("Walk-in's Welcome!" [sic] the sidewalk sign said) and was greeted by a guy, who, after examining the appointment book, said he could give me a trim right then. An Asian-american woman walked out of the back -- she was the one who used to cut my hair when I had it in a Louise Brooks-style chin-length bob! She remembered me, but didn't insist that she wanted to take me over as a customer. She must really like the place to still be working there. I think usually there's high turnover in such jobs.
So I got three inches or so taken off, not a huge change. It does feel different when I put my hair up in a clip, though! Instead of curly tendrils drifting down (gee, that sound more romantic-looking than it really is, I think) my hair ends abruptly, since it's all one length now.
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My plan for the evening: dancing, of course! I went to the Friday Night Practice and had fun. There were fewer people than normal because the First Friday Dance was also happening, but there were enough. The lesson was on St. Louis Shag, which I haven't done before -- fast footwork! Some of the current members of the Savoy Swing Club board were asking me to consider being nominated for the board, which I think would almost mean being elected automatically. I was flattered, but when I looked at the duties of the position they were asking me for (communications coordinator)! Being responsible for all of the flyers, printed class schedules, website, and so on, just seemed like too much right now, so I'll just volunteer and help out on an ad-hoc basis.
Mark and Holly gave Tara (a new dancer) and me a ride over to the Russian Center for the First Friday Dance. (It hardly seems like a month since Jack, his daughter A----, and I went to the last one!) There was quite a large crowd! The band, Jump Up! was fun, but didn't bowl me over.
The first special event of the night was a performance by a group of 5th graders from the Summit School, a private school in Seattle. They've been learning to swing dance since the beginning of the (school?) year. They had good spirits and energy, but maybe they've just been learning since the beginning of the calendar year. Some of the dance fundamentals aren't quite there yet.
At the end of their performance, Vi Spencer made an announcement: there would be a Jack 'n' Jill contest tonight, with two levels -- beginner (dancing six months or less) and intermediate (everyone else). The timing of the announcement meant that all the kids rushed the stage to get to the signup sheets, which wasn't what the contest organizers expected at all! Only two leads who weren't elementary students signed up in the beginners level.
The rules of a Jack 'n' Jill contest: you don't have a prearranged partner, but are assigned one randomly. I've entered such contests before, at Two-Tone Tuesday last September, and at the Century last October. It's a total crapshoot, of course, and I just enter for the fun of it.
I was paired with a young man that I hadn't met before. He told me that he lived on Bainbridge Island. I felt we danced fairly well in the first round, but I was surprised and pleased that we were picked for the finals! Only three couples out of eleven made it! We were being judged on musicality, connection, and dancing ability (in a social dance sense).
The final round wasn't to take place for a half-hour or so, when the band took its next break. I danced a few dances, but was taking it easy -- the next song would be fast. But then my partner came and found me, to tell me the bad news: his parents wanted to leave, to catch the 11:15 ferry to Bainbridge Island! Arggh! I suspected I'd be out of the contest, and I was right.
Please, if you aren't sure you'll be around for the entire course of a contest, don't enter! Even if you think there's no chance you'll make the finals. I don't think it likely that we'd have won, but in the end I didn't have a chance to try!
People were really nice about giving me sympathy for being left in the lurch. I wouldn't have felt so bad if the boy had twisted his ankle or something, but there was a later boat, I think! I just didn't have a chance to convince his parents to stay later. After the contest, I danced a few more to get myself over my disappointment, then walked home through the clear chilly evening.
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