Everybody Dance Now!

Or maybe not? This song was actually played. And it was a welcome relief from the other techno-infused never-ending crapola that was being played. And I don't even like this song that much. But at least I recognized it. Which was more than I could say about all the other stuff that got played.

So last night I went with a small group of people to a dance. A church dance. A "young single adult" church dance. This would be my 2nd one of those in my life. And it was not really any better than the first time I went, which was in Tuscaloosa right after I moved there. I went to that one in Tuscaloosa because I was lonely and new to the town (like 2 weeks new) and hoped I could maybe make friends with the YSA group there. I left that awkard dance and thought, "Gross! I'm never doing that again!" It was just one ball of awkward. I know of no better way to say it. It wasn't fun for me. And my goal of trying to better acquaint myself with the people in my ward who were in similar situations (ie single and in Tuscaloosa for school) was not really met by going to this dance. I'm not a person who just gets out in the middle of the floor and dances. It's just not me. I feel far too self-conscious. And that's the fast songs. The slow songs -- unbelievably -- are even more awkward. So anyway, I have studiously avoided those dances ever since. But I got invited to go last night, and I figured, "Eh, why not?" I figured maybe something had changed. Let me attest to this: the only thing that changed is that the music got worse. Hahaha. Oh, and there was a disco ball. Oh my gosh. I forced myself to just be out there bouncing to the techno music in the big groups. And it was survivable. And once the guy who invited me to go showed up from Seattle, it wasn't so bad, because he and I can laugh and talk (even if that requires screaming into each other's ear to be heard over the yuck music). I danced the only slow song I was in the room for (needless to say we didn't stay long) because I made the unfortunate mistake of making eye contact with some guy there who then gestured to dance. And our small talk went something like this: Me: "so have you always lived in Washington?" Him: "well my family moved around a lot. Military." Me: "oh that's cool." Him: "So have you lived in Washington all your life?" Me: "no, i was born in Panama." Him: "Oh is that in Canada?" Me: "no. It's in Central America." Him: "Oh, sorry. I'm not good at geography." Me (in my head): "yeah, no kidding." Hahaha. It's a great story though. So even though 4 of us rode down together and were joined by a 5th, we ended up splitting up on the way back and I rode with the guy from Seattle and another guy. And the car ride was fun enough. Just chatting. So I guess it wasn't the worst thing ever. Conversation was fun. It was something to do. I have more stories to tell in my one-of-these-days memoirs. Hahaha.

In other less humorous and awkward news... I walked with Lea two days this week. Walked with Sue 3. I've lost 5 pounds. I'm happy about that.

Oh and check this! So I went to get my permanent crown in last Friday. I was all set to pay $500, since that's half of the crown (my insurance was to pay the other half). Well it turns out the insurance company says a crown isn't worth that much to them, and they will only pay so much. So the dentist agrees to only charge twice what the inurance pays. Plus I got a discount for paying the day of service. And my grand total came to $365! I was stoked, to say the least. That was like ka-ching! Money in my pocket!

My apple crisp came out yummy. It was devoured at work. I will be making another one tomorrow (I went out and collected more apples and peeled and sliced them -- that's a lot of work when you are cutting away bad parts!). That's the dessert I'm taking to Lea's for our Monday dinner. We are having some sort of pork chops with pasta salad (using another cucumber from the garden) and something else and then apple crisp with vanilla ice cream for dessert. Yum.

Oh and my garden... I have well over 100 tomatoes growing. It's a wonder. I went out and pruned the plants back this week. That is supposed to help the fruit to ripen since the plant will put nutrients and energy into the fruit rather than into growing new branches and leaves. We shall see how it goes, since they really only have the rest of this month to make it or break it. Then the colder weather will set in. Today was the first rain we've had in about 5 weeks. Which was a bummer only because it prevented me from working in the garden like I need to (it needs hoeing in a bad way). But I hear this upcoming week is going to be hot again. In the 80s. And the only way the 80s is cool is if we are talking about the most awesome decade ever ;).