I’ve never been interested in travel.  That’s not the same as disliking it, the way I really dislike moving.  Travel has just always struck me as a means to a goal rather than a goal in itself.  I grew up as a child of the military so would routinely move from one home to another every couple of years.  My parents would take me from Korea to Japan to Hawaii to Maryland to Illinois and back.  The trips themselves always seemed to get in the way of our purposes, which were generally to visit family.

When I settled into high school and then college in Maryland, I finally stopped moving with my family and was happy to put an end to the traveling, too.  On my own, I never went anywhere far from home.  With the onset of my dancing career, I started to travel for the purposes of getting to those dance events which were inconsiderate enough not to be in my backyard.  What I thought was that everywhere is pretty much the same.  People, places, things.  Gravity?  Yep, still 9.8 meters per second per second.  Now, where’s that venue?

It wasn’t until I started dating someone who loves to travel that I slowly began to understand a little bit of the allure.  The fact that every place is influenced by its own history and that the history of every place is different from its neighbors.  The beauty and uniqueness of each environment.  The culture and practices of different peoples.  There really are places where the grass is greener, the water is bluer, the horizon is wider, and the sky looks bigger.  There are towns where I fit in as if we were designed for each other and there are cities where I would always stand out no matter how still I stood.  The weather travels more than any of us and it has its favorite places, too, depending on its mood.

Even in that relationship where my eyes began to open, I still didn’t want to admit the fun of going to a new place and exploring it.  It has taken an overlong time for me finally to confess that the world is an amazing place full of astonishments and that all I need to witness more of those surprises is to stand on a different patch of land.

Two years ago, I started to enjoy traveling for its own sake and went on trips just to go on the trips!  Last year, I let go of the last of my reluctance and began to embrace every bit of it.  I liked the driving, I liked the flying, I liked the getting lost and the getting found, I liked encountering the people who spoke differently and ate differently and thought differently.  I sang along with the Discovery Channel commercials that declaimed Boom De Ah Dah, the world is just awesome!

I would like to go to England and Canada and Australia and Japan and the various tropical islands where people play in clear sweet waters.  I’m sad to say, though, that I am a little stuck.  I have become estranged from my sister and mother and I think that my birth certificate and most recent passport were last in my mother’s possession.  I have a driver’s license and social security card, but no way to prove… well, that I was born. My physical existence notwithstanding, I’m at a bit of a loss as to how I can show that I exist and thereafter how to get a passport as a U.S. citizen.  My friend, Soo, has given me some ideas and so I will try to see if I can get a passport this year despite the odds.  I hope that I am not deported in the process.  Damn my slanty eyes!

Even if I don’t get a passport, I’m going to stay open to the opportunity of travel.  If I see a cheap flight to Boston or somewhere in Florida, I’m going to try to go!  Las Vegas, Seattle, anywhere in California?  Yes, please!  And if there is ever a last-minute cheap flight to Hawaii, I am so there.  Hmm, I need to find a dogsitter.  Or make friends with a pilot who likes flying with dogs.  Oh, man, that would be great!

Thus, I resolve to travel to places this year not just because a dance event is happening there (although I am looking forward to New Orleans for Showdown!), but just because I haven’t been there yet.  To give myself two quick guidelines: if I can drive there in less than four hours, it doesn’t count; if it’s specifically for a dance event, it doesn’t count.  I’ll start small and aim for just one completely new place before the end of the year!  And if I manage one, I’ll shoot for a second.  And if I manage two, well, you can see where this is going.  This resolution will go hand-in-hand with my fourth resolution and I will try not to let a lack of a clear plan prevent me from moving toward that new destination.

It’s taken me a while to admit it but the world really is awesome, and I want to see more of it.  Here I come!

I purposely attempted to keep my daily entries in my Traveblogue upbeat and positive, but I did have some thoughts cross my mind that were not quite positive.  If you’d rather avoid reading subjective criticisms, complaints, and general grousing, I would point you to the rest of the series and just skip this entry.

Travel to the event was flawless, but here I am in the airport on the way back facing a rain delay.  Whose fault is that?  If it’s anyone’s fault it would be mine.  I could have chosen to take an earlier flight home, but I wanted to give myself time to eat, get cleaned up, get lost, and return the rental car on time.  So, that’s fine, I chose a later flight for the best combination of cheap and later in the day and I’m stuck here for it (although I’ve gotten to chat with Naomi Uyama and Mike Legett, which makes up for it).

The car was as good a rental car as I could have gotten.  I highly recommend the Hyundai Sonata as a temporary vehicle if you ever need a cheap one.

The hotel, Holiday Inn RiverCentre, was pretty great, except… I think all hotels should offer some sort of breakfast refreshment in these days of competitive marketing.  A nice hotel can offer a nice breakfast, or a lower tier hotel can offer orange juice and pastries.  Okay, they did give me one free Quizno’s 6″ sub, but still.  Also, the hot water was sporadic in the bath/shower.  It would rapidly alternate from hot to cold for no apparent reason that I could figure out.  I got back at the hotel by splashing water everywhere.  If I ever stay with you, have extra towels on hand for the first time I take a shower because I have a tendency to flood bathrooms with splash water.  I don’t know why it happens to me and not others.  Do other people not dance around under the shower stream waving their arms?  I find that provides the best coverage, personally.

Jimmy John’s is a great place.  No complaints.  Likewise Target.  Okay, maybe they could have a larger men’s clothing section.  Taste of Thailand was a little slow, but the food was great and the Tofu addition was welcome.  It was a tad expensive, but again tasted great.  SuperAmerica markets are not that super but they’re okay.  I would like to complain about the prevalence of young adults going in there to buy cigarettes and chewing tabacco, but I’m not sure to whom I should direct that. Their parents? Society? Al Gore.

Now, the event.  Here I go.  …  Yeah, I got nothing. Wait…

Oooh, okay, the competitors could have been more numerous… but that’s partially my fault since I didn’t put together a team or showcase entry.  Oh, the venue was freaking hot and humid.  I mean, it was hundreds of people squeezed into a relatively small space, but couldn’t there have been more air conditioning?  Maybe drop the temperatures down really low between events?  I dunno.  I hope the New Orleans venue isn’t any worse, but I fear it may not be any better.  A lack of water fountains was also dismaying, but at least they had purchasable refreshments.

Okay, looking back at my list of complaints about Showdown, I see that I haven’t got much.  Oh, well.

How about my complaints about myself?  I had some items on a mental wishlist, all of which were quite optional, but still desirable.  I would have liked to lose weight and get exercise (one combined goal), to enjoy the Soul After Party, and maybe to get my flirt on with some lovely dancer. Oh, and to get reinspired about my own dancing.

I don’t think I’ve lost any weight, but I feel pretty good about my intake versus my activity.  I’ll find out when I get home… Maybe after Jam Cellar after I get home, since I plan to eat during my homeward trip and airport food isn’t exactly health food.

I tried really hard to enjoy the Soul After Party, but I just couldn’t get into it.  I don’t think I was there for more than 15 minutes or so. Soo would know.  In that time, I heard one older soul song that I liked but the rest of the music did not appeal.  I heard that the music got better later in the night.  When I watched Peter and Skye moving to the music, they looked good, but they moved in a way that I…don’t generally feel like moving.  I saw many leads leading what looked like a mangled Lindy Hop, which I very much didn’t want to do.  So I felt that I would have been lost even if I’d wanted to dance. That is, even if the music made me want to move to it.  And I hate to say this for fear of repercussions but… I don’t think I like soul music.  Jerry Almote once wrote something along the lines of “If you don’t like soul music, there’s something wrong with you.”  I guess he was talking to me.  Well, when I was talking to Soo at the beginning of the Soul party, I came to realize that I was being a downer and I didn’t want to bring anyone else down so I took off.  I hope everyone else there had oodles of fun, but I think I would have lessened it for some poor people.

As for flirting: I wasn’t trolling for anything, but I know of many instances when people have gotten together, either for something lasting or for something fleeting, at large events like this one.  I’m single now and I’m interested in new romantic encounters, so I tried to be open to that this weekend.  I think I felt some sparks here and there but frankly, I had no idea what to do about it in the circumstances.  There were always so many other people around and there was no easy escape location and I generally wanted to attend the next scheduled event more than take time away for flirty mischief. Maybe if the event had been in a place where there was an attached or nearby “away” space where people could duck out to do non-event things, I might have tried harder. Like a convention center or a hotel+ballroom. “Hey, wanna go chill out in Ballroom D for a while?” just seems more likely to lead somewhere than, “Hey, feel like walking out in the rain to my rental car and then driving no less than 10 minutes to somewhere away from fun events we might miss in order to chill for a while?” I suppose it may also have helped if I’d actually done any of the social things that the other attendees did, like eating together or… talking to each other or… being around each other.  Hmm.  Oh, well.  I met and got reaquainted with many attractive and interesting women and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that.

And for my own dancing? I’m happy to say, I think I got my groove back. I definitely danced with a few dancers where I got the “nice!” or “that was cool!” comments, and the live bands certainly played music to inspire. I’m feeling good about Lindy Hop again. I hope it sticks. Maybe I should dose myself with a daily regimen of Lindy dance clips from various international events to keep the juices flowing. It would be like a swing dancing vitamin. Or the hair of the dog.

I’m planning to go to Jam Cellar tonight and I hope I’ll keep on attending these dance events that I’m so fortunate to have local to me. I hope it stays fun.

I’ll work at it.

It was very sad getting up and out the door this morning without spending time with Dru (my dog) first, but I’m sure she’s happy at the Preston Country Club for Pets.  In fact, I didn’t do most of my usual routine since today’s also a fasting day.  I did drink a great deal of zero calorie antioxidant water.

BWI was not too crowded and I got from the baggage check to my departure gate in about thirty minutes.  Ah, I remember the days when walking through an airport while carrying your ID in your mouth and putting your belt on would have raised some eyebrows.  I got another zero cal drink and then boarded the first of my two Airtran planes.  I almost took advantage of the “give up your seat for free round trip tickets” offer that happened, but I wasn’t sure how well I’d do since it was the first of two flights.

Stopped at ATL, got a Freshen Low Cal Smoothie (90cal).  Started reading a book I’d downloaded to my computer from Books on Board. On this leg of the trip, I got to sit next to a pleasant young woman named Miranda, a teacher from Dallas who was going back to her hometown in MN for a friend’s wedding.

MSP was pleasant enough and it only took about 10-15 minutes for my suitcase (really a duffel bag +) to come out. And then I picked up my rental car from Hertz. It’s a Hyundai Accent and I like it. Silver, sun roof, XM radio, and a USB port for my iPod. Rad. I brought along my Navigon GPS which worked perfectly and guided me right to the Holiday Inn RiverCentre.

The layout of this hotel is L-shaped, a little peculiar, but I got a nice room on the 7th floor (#723 – come visit if you’re here this weekend). It’s got wifi access (hence my blogging), an ironing board and iron, a wardrobe, a mini fridge with complimentary Dasani waters and a Quizno’s small sub meal (sub + cookie). The sandwich was a club sandwich so I tossed that out, but I may use that cookie for a sugar rush later on. I have a history of passing out from dancing too hard (yep, just that awesome), so I can’t go entirely without food today because of the possibility of hurting myself. Jimmy Johns came to the rescue! I ordered a delivery of a Gourmet Veggie Unwich with no cheese. Basically, the ingredients of a nice veggie sub including avocado spread, wrapped in lettuce. Good stuff, even if it did fall apart in my hands. But then my hands were delicious.

It’s about 6pm now so I’m going to pause this blog for now and go off to ULHS’ Friday Night!
…
And it’s now 12:30pm the next day. I blearily checked my cellphone as I stumbled into my hotel room and it said something like 4:00am so I scribbled something onto my notepad that looks vaguely like the name, “Sam” to remind me the next morning.  Sam did the trick.

It didn’t take long; I’m already having a blast!

The biggest problem about waiting until the next day to write up my experiences is that it’s all kind of running together in my mind, already, as a blurry-thrilling-exhausted smudge of happy memory.  I’ll try to use the ULHS published schedule (hahahahaha) to help me put things together.

I was not the first to arrive by 7:15pm (it took me a while to decide what clothes to bring and shoes to wear before I left last night), but it was still pretty empty when I got there:

Pretty much from the moment I climbed up the stairs to the upper hallway that overlooks the ballroom floor, I started feeling a happy anxiousness. The venue itself seemed charged with anticipation, swelling greater and greater as every additional dancer came through its entrance.

Quickly enough, I was greeting friends both from home and from far distance places with exotic names like “Seattle”. After I had warmed with with a few DJ’d dances, the first band of the night, Hot Swing combo, began to play (sample):

Sean Morris, the event’s Master of Ceremonies, would tell the band regularly through the night just how awesome they were. If Sean had been wrong, that repetitive statement would have grown irritating. As it was, I felt like thanking Sean for conveying those thoughts on my behalf, every time.Hot Swing Combo began playing around 8pmish, which is when the competitor’s meeting was supposed to have happened. “Supposed to” Around 9pm, Sean came out to announce that the Jack ‘n’ Jill contest was about to start and began his comments by saying that there would be no competitor’s meeting because that’s how they do things at Showdown (paraphrase).That example may illustrate my favorite part of Showdown: there are no rules. Well, that’s their catchphrase. I personally translate that to mean: The first rule is to have a fantastic event and that trumps all other rules. There’s a linear order to the schedule, sure, but things happen when they do. There’s a guideline for the competitions, but things happen however the circumstances require. There’s certain criteria for judging placements in each division, but each judge can choose the ordering they like. I’m sure there’s behind-the-scenes truths that would show some serious organizational skills in play, but that’s how Showdown comes across to me as an attendee. And it’s frickin’ awesome!Take that first competition, the prelim Jack ‘n’ Jill. There’s just one level for entry, so we could potentially see rank beginners paired up with World Champions (not hyperbole, by the way), and occasionally do. But the ridiculously high proportion of competitors being champion level makes this Jack ‘n’ Jill the only exciting one I’ve ever watched. Sure, I’ve seen others where a move is exciting, or maybe even a dancing couple is exciting. But the Showdown JnJ is just full-out thrilling through every heat. That’s absurd! And true.

After the JnJ’s, there was social dancing to more excellent music by Hot Swing Combo, in addition to some DJ’d music by Reuben Brown. Sometime between the end of the JnJ prelims and the midtempo prelims, I think I did a drink run. I got some more zero calorie drinks, a 90 calorie powerade, and an all-fruit Acai Berry smoothie. I’m sure the smoothie had quite a bit of natural sugar, but again I was hoping to stave off physical calamity.

Then there was the Revolution (midtempo) competition. I have to admit, I don’t remember the details very well from this one, though I do remember enjoying it. Damn you, sleepy Paul from last night and your poor memory!

More social dancing to Hot Swing Combo and DJ’s music. Then came the Jack ‘n’ Jill finals and I remember this really well, starting with the fact that the lineup sounded as impressive as, or better than, an Invitational Champion’s Jack ‘n’ Jill from any other competition.

Before the comp began, Sean was lining up the competitors and Alice Mei (adore her dancing) ended up without a partner because the fellow who was supposed to be the last leader (Kenny) wasn’t there. Sean did some very funny South Park/Cartman towards Kenny imitations while the judges consulted their rankings and declared that without Kenny, the next up would be Skye Humphries. As Sean began joking about how rare it was that Skye would get into finals by forfeit, Nell (sp?, also a fun dancer) was able to get Kenny on the phone. Sean, hilarious guy that he is, had an impromptu conversation with Kenny over the mic, after which he directed Kenny’s friends in attendence that they should all approach Kenny with the following admonishment (paraphrase): “Kenny, you BEAT Skye Humphries… but then you fucked it up!” Fantastic! I hope that happens.

The competition was terrific! That’s right, a Jack and Jill Final was terrific!
Immediately after that came the midtempo final. Which was exciting! What? That’s right, EXCITING!

On both of these competitions, they used a modified jam style, which I think went like this: First, a full chorus all-skate. At the end of the first chorus, all the couples aside from the first couple would fade back to the stage while the first couple did a second full chorus. Then, the jam style rotation where each couple fades out as the next couple comes into the middle of the jam space. After all couples are through, the first couple does their spotlight again, but for only half a chorus, leading into another jam rotation series. After all the couples are through for the second time, another all-skate happens. The competition method was fun, but the most fun part to it was how Sean explained the couples fading back after the first all-skate — and then watching the couples do it. Naomi, in particular, was hilarious.

Then came more social dancing to DJs and a bit more of the Hot Swing Combo. As the band wrapped up, I was standing near someone (Soo? Alicia? Freakin’ sleepy Paul, I hate you!), who wondered if they’d be there for the next year in New Orleans. Man, I hope so. Robert (?), on guitar, and I guess the bandleader, has been involved with ULHS at least since the first year at the Varsity Ballroom (which I think was the fourth year of ULHS). I remember watching him on the stage back then when a bunch of swing dancers were doing an impromptu series of musical jams with their various instruments late, late, late into morning. Man, I miss that place.

Anyway, around midnight, the band switched to Loose Marbles who began by playing for the Solo Blues/Jazz dance competition. I watched Ramona Staffeld, Ronni Creel (I think), and Naomi Uyama. There were many other competitors, and some were amusing and some were trying very hard, but I pretty much came back to watching those three.

I can generally sum up the goal of most Showdown divisions like this: be the most badass. I’m sure the same is true of Solo Blues/Jazz, but there is also an element of sensuousness involved. I don’t know if that’s purposeful or incidental. When I think of blues dancing, I certainly think of a dance style that’s intended to convey a welling of emotion. Just like the Blues conveys a sense that the singer/songwriter was so full of emotion, he had no choice but to let it out. The music that I think of as Blues conveys a deep dispair, even when it’s humorous. You have to cry, or you have to laugh to keep from crying. I think that spontaneous dancing generally conveys joy, but not necessarily. It’s again a welling of emotion that pours out into an artform. I think Solo Blues dancing is like that, but after having been studied and performed more carefully and purposefully. So emotions -> sensory -> sensual, that makes sense to me.

The Solo Blues/Jazz prelim was fun, but as an all-skate, it was too crowded for my taste. SEVERAL HOURS LATER (I don’t know how long actually, but it was very late into the morning), we got to see the final Blues-off between an Asian female whose name I don’t recall, the hiliariously awesome Grizzly Adam Boehmer, Ramona, and Naomi. I mostly watched Ramona and Naomi. And then just Naomi. And then just….DAMN. Anyway, Naomi was full of win and eventually everyone agreed.

I wanted to stay and dance to Loose Marbles. I REALLY did. Unfortunately, my nervous system declared that it was time to turn off. I realized this when I was watching the Blues final and one second it was Adam and then after a … really … long … blink … it was Naomi. Yeah, time for sleep. I went home and turned in for the night at the aforementioned Sam.

I wrote this up the next day. I believe that yesterday I danced with: Michelle Searle, Amy Lambert, Tracy Kerchkof, Soo Clark, Alicia Mazzara, Jes Kolongowski, Cole Allen from Seattle, Alice from MI, Chelsea from Chicago… more follows whose details that damn Sleepy Paul has kept to himself. I met and/or greeted several more follows with whom I plan to dance today.