Hip Hop Heaven

Last night our dance troupe, Daughters of Zion, performed our dance to Toby Mac's "Irene" during a concert at Beth Yeshua. Remember the little bit that I taught you, Kristi? We haven't done that particular dance for a year and a half, so I felt a little rusty. We're on our knees a lot, and we wear knee pads to make it a little (well, a lot) more bearable. We got there before the concert to practice, so I put on my knee pads, and then afterwards, I didn't want to take them off but they're a little tight, so I scootched them down around my ankles. I realized they were still there about 30 seconds into our performance! I don't know if it was more the fear of damaging a knee cap, or the dread of looking like I had elephant ankles, but the whole dance just wasn't quite the same! In any event, we had fun. Here are some pictures...


Erin & Martie are in the foreground, I'm clasping hands with Rosa behind them, and Christine and Stephanie are on the floor behind us.


In mid-kick.


This is Stacey, my friend from Staten Island. She reminds me so much of you, Mom!


Katharine is from Washington, and we discovered each other when her friend, Rachel, came to visit and I recognized Rachel as a friend from Multnomah. Small world!

Linguistics Nerd - Fact #1

Peter Ladefoged was a linguist at UCLA who wrote one of the textbooks that we're using in my Linguistics class, Sound Structure of Language. This was the guy who wrote the transcriptions and recorded his voice for the recordings that Henry Higgins plays over and over again in the movie, "My Fair Lady." I bring him up because Ladefoged passed away yesterday on his way to India to do fieldwork. I've been pretty intrigued to read his book, so this was sad news. If you want to read more about an eccentric linguist, here's his home page:
http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/ladefoge/

Not Again!!!

Yesterday morning, I found myself trailing after a 10-year-old boy (let's call him Michael) down the halls of the UPenn Dental School. My dentist referred me for a consultation with the Orthodontics Department to see about addressing several of my mouth woes. Based on my observations of the waiting room demographics, I've decided that there are two kinds of people who seek orthodontic treatment - those who are young enough that their parents will pay for it, and those of us who have finally made it to the point in our careers where we are able to afford it (kind of).

Michael and I got our X-Rays together and then we were ushered in for our "screening" - the part of the show where about 10 students hover over you and confer about things like whether or not your face is symmetrical (thankfully mine is), if you have good hygiene (thanks to being reamed by my dentist recently, I do), and if you have a recessive chin (after all my ragging on Carolyn about her chin, it turns out mine is slightly recessive too!). It was all pretty unnerving, but in the end it looks like I will be going through the whole orthodontics process... again!

The bad news is that I will probably be sporting braces at some point in the next year. The good news is that they think they can address several things that have been a nuisance to me (and many of you) all of my life - like my lisp, teeth grinding, jaw clicking and all that good stuff. We'll see... but for the first time, I feel like someone is telling me that something about myself that I thought would never change is really not set in stone. It gives me some measure of hope!

You know you've been in school too long...

...when your professor brings up an old Saturday Night Live joke, asks if anyone in the class is old enough to remember it, and then points at you and says, "Oh, well you are!"

I've been in school too long!

Fun Boots and Break-Dancing

There are three beautiful girls in Washington who say that I don't write home as often as they would like. So Charity, Kristi & Mimi, this blog is my attempt to be a little more on the ball. Here's a little glimpse into Kelly's world today...

I've been in classes for a little over a week, and I spent a solid week now of keeping to my schedule and getting up early to go to the gym before work. Well, I realized something was a little different today when Cady shook me awake at 8:30 this morning. Oh dear. Well, there was still after work. So I headed to work a little later than normal, then to class, back to work, and off to another class. After class, I ran to the library to drop off a book. Remember those fun boots I bought in Seattle while I was visiting? Yeah, the ones with the 4" heels. Cute, but not so much fun coming down a cement flight of stairs on a dark night in the rain. Thankfully, I didn't take my tumble until I was a few steps from the bottom of the stairs outside our library. No matter how old you are, it's never fun to fall on your face in front of the other "kids" at school!

When I took my little tumble, I was on the way to the gym for a hip hop class. My hand and knee were skinned and my leg and wrist were a little sore, but no biggie - I went anyways. Didn't find out 'til I got there that the kind of hip hop we would be doing was break-dancing. Oy. Thankfully, I was able to do everything (although at the moment I can hardly walk!). Even better, though? There are absolutely NO PICTURES. Yes, the ones in your head will have to do.

I do have some other fun pictures, though, from my trip home. I'm so glad I got to spend time with all of you!


April and I skiing at Trillium Lake... so much fun!


Modeling the shirt Miriam made for me... thank you, Miriam. You're "amabzing"!


Happy Hanuakkah! Here's Kristi, Ashley & Charity, modeling... socks?