2015-10-16 - 10:37 p.m.

I am SO HAPPY that there happen to be a few good dancers that regularly go to the dance spot I have found that works with my schedule!
Taking dance classes has been on my TO DO list for years. I finally found a local place I can just go dance, without having to pay for lessons which are really not in my budget. (That is simply as once one has children priorities truly do change. Lessons for the kids become more important at this stage of my life! I figure only a few more years of nurtuing them and I can invest in my own creativity all I want!)

It makes it MUCH easier to accept the fact that the one man I have found very attractive in a long time is NOT someone I would choose to have a relationship with when there are a FEW REALLY GOOD and NICE LOOKING MEN available to whirl me around a dance floor once a week!

Seriously, this spot I discovered is so much fun!

I just finished up a seven week session working as a model for a sculptor and a couple of painters that happened to be at an art studio in town where the dance spot is. So for the last month and a half I have been going out right after my modeling gig once a week to hear live jazz. I even sat in and sang one night (which was absolutely AWFUL as the key of Ain't Misbehavin was not a good one for me... after I killed that tune in the bad way I recalled my music teacher had transposed it into a different key for my voice; however it was STILL AWFULLY FUN. And hey, after a rough start I was OK on the last verse. My range is not as good as it was then, and even then as written it was just not a good choice for my voice... the highs were a stretch).

The second night of the week after I got off work at 9pm I then have had the pleasure of going dancing!

It has been so lovely! Last night Pocohontas came running to my car just as I was leaving! She arrived then saying "YOu can't go home NOW"

It was around 10:30 and I had already stayed out later than planned. (I always plan for one hour of dancing...and it is often a little later.) I danced another forty minutes or so with her and her entourage (she is always good for bringing a group out) , I was home and getting settled around 11:30, asleep by midnight which was later than intended, but well worth it.

The only trouble is that I went running a few times over the past few weeks, getting ready to go run a 5K which I always enjoy doing each Fall, and between that and dancing LAST Week non stop for about three hours, I seem to have a shin splint in my right shin.

I THINK that is the trouble. Its one of those weird things as it hurts intensely ONLY WHEN I SLEEP OR am absolutely still; which was was problematic when I modeled this past Tue. I had shooting pain during that session but just did my best to ignore it. I had to shift just a bit here and there however as it was too painful to not move once in a while. I typically hold the pose for 20 min, but I had to move subtly a bit more often than that on Tue evening. It did seem to get better the past couple of days. When dancing one of the guys tried to give me a tip- that I shouldn't bend at the knees so much . I think he was trying to help as I darn near lost my strength during the merengue which was an intense workout of the calfs. Seriously, I had been dancing for a good hour straight when a gentleman who is a really great dancer was leading me , whipping me around in the merengue, when suddenly I hit this point where I felt THE WALL. It was JUST LIKE that wall when running a really long run when you think you can't go any further. The difference is this time I had a PARTNER relying on me, and the pressure of a room watching . (This is a TINY dance spot. I mean there are all of 20 people there- and at that point I think we were the only ones dancing seriously so the room was watching.) I had to think to myself "This is just like a run, and I always can push through that wall... I got this...I can keep going..."

But it was really intense for a moment as I seriously thought my legs were resisting and feeling the push so much that I thought I might not be able to move them again.

I pushed through long enough to make it to the end of that song and said "WOW That was an intense workout!"

I realized when the other guy (figures, that one is an engineer so he TRIED not to give a critique and give pointers... he TRIED really hard to be polite , but when he started and stopped himself I told him I was open to constructive criticm, and I could see the relief that he could share his expertise... ha ha... I knew that dude was an engineer before some old guy who drinks at the bar there actually engaged in conversation and asked him what he does...) Anyway, I realized when the guy who couldn't help himself but to give me some pointers said to not bend at the knees so much, that I was doing so in order to shift pressure ONTO my calves and away from the shin. It worked pretty well as I was able to dance without exasperating my shin too much.

A couple of Advil and I slept OK.
The shin seems to be healing. I also think wearing heals has contributed to that pain and pain in my right knee as well.

I am concerned about my ability to run this upcoming 5K. That is in a few more weeks. I felt like I should be training for it, however with the shin and knee hurting I decided to not run at all this week and just dance that one night. I am giving it a rest and will do so for the next week and then get back into running a bit before the 5K.

I am happy to be running this with my Marine friend. HE is fun to run with and it will be nice to visit with him. I so hoped some college friends would be joining us, but that doesn't seem to be working out for this race.

What's funny is that he just ran a race right here in D.C. (Army 10 miler), which I couldn't get to as I had to work that day.

I am still working at the retirement community and so enjoy that.

Work at the full time gig is also going very , very well. I am happy to be taking that federal contract mangement exam tomorrow to get that finally accomplished! I had a 98 on my last practice test taken a couple of weeks ago now, and have still continued to study more details. I wish I had passed that a month ago so I could shift study to the BAR topics... but I don't want to shift gears until I pass that CFCM and get it under my belt.

The good news is that I am actually learning quite a bit about the financial sector and a bit about property and real estate law in my current work. The things I am learning might actually be relevant to my understanding of real property which is a tested area on the BAR Exam. I was only 12 points shy of passing on my last VA BAR attempt, to I feel like the working knowledge I am gaining is itself helpful.

It's funny as I hear some of the folks I work with joke about how they should go to law school as they deal with legal issues all the time. They have to consult the lawyers of course, but after a while they do gain keen understanding of the legal issues that arise in their regular course of business. Hopefully I have picked up a few things that prove helpful come exam time!

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