04/04 | Dancing
with confidence.
Wow .... I haven't updated my website for a while! That's okay though; I've
been busy! It's been a REALLY unusual time for me. I have this big confirmation
report seminar and interview thing coming up on May 3rd. Confirmation is used
to determine if you (1) have a viable PhD project and (2) you have made satisfactory
progress. For me I guess it means that I get to keep my APA scholarship and
stay in Brisbane; and yet ... for some reason ... I'm not stressing out about
it yet! How does that work?! Perhaps it's because I think I have a great project,
and shouldn't have anything to worry about ... but I also think it has everything
to do with uqdance.
Uqdance has taken up so much of my time and thought it's not funny... and
yet it has been so, so worthwhile! Last week we were forced to do an AGM,
which went pretty well, and two weeks ago I gave my first dance lesson EVER
.... I gave 120 people an introduction to salsa! I kind of wish I'd started
with a smaller step, and taught a smaller class first (like ... say 10 people),
but hey I think I did pretty well! We had some problem with the $80 microphone
we bought, but I was really happy with it; I even had people laughing at some
of my jokes, although I'm pretty surprised how long it takes to warm-up first
year students! Christ, it's like they have a stick up their bums and are nervous
about their first year at uni, and their first exams and even more nervous
about dancing with and talking to the opposite sex .... hrmm ... actually
that's exactly what I was like when I started uni too.
Ever since I finished my christmas letter I feel like I've cleared away all
of the little mistakes and crap I had to go through when I first arrived at
Brisbane. I'm at the same house and yet I feel like I've started fresh ...
and suddenly I've got a confidence I've never had before ..... or maybe it's
the same confidence I had in Cairns when I was tutoring, but lost in the first
few months of moving to Brissy. I've finally reached a stage where I feel
comfortable asking almost ANY girl to dance, at any place where they have
music. Well obviously not at a funeral - but that's kind of implied. Better
yet I don't really care if she says no, because it just means I should ask
someone else. Confidence is all about smiling and enjoying yourself; it's
about being the bubbly and fun to be around.
More importantly, for the first time in my life I've found a place where there
are an abundance of nice girls. And oddly enough, it's a place my friend Nadim
and I didn't just find, but helped to create. I have lots of female friends
and they're all encouraging me to find a girlfriend. There is one girl in
particular I like, although I really don't know very much about her yet. My
friend Michelle says I should keep my options open, and I suppose I should
probably listen (I don't know if this girl is even single yet), but I've never
been very good at that; usually always interested in one girl and block off
everyone else. I have, however, taken Alby's advice, by trying to play it
cool and not to think about it too much.
Alby and Nikki bought me two new shirts for my birthday; and Emmy bought me
one two; and the whole tight shirt is definitely something I'm not use to,
but I'm keen to finally take people's advice in "dress to impress".
Michelle says she's keen to take me clothes shopping and so is Emmy!
I'm visiting Cairns for a week between the 16th and
23rd of May. One of my oldest friends, a family friend, Jessica is
getting married, my sister is singing at the wedding and it should be lots
of fun! I was told I should play saxophone, but I don't think the song is
very suitable for saxophone; I'll just let Jenny sing instead. Oh ..... where
was I .... oh yes, although I'm tempted to do the clothes thing and maybe
buy a new mobile phone too (my old one sucks), I think I should probably wait
until AFTER my confirmation report. All this dancing and clothes and confidence
and girl who suddenly appear interested stuff is great for my confidence,
but uni should come first right? On one hand I feel like the uni would be
stupid NOT to grant me confirmation, on the other I know I should do a good
job instead of saying "that should pass".... and if they
did deny my confirmation report I'd be up sh*t creek. It's a crazy world ....
during my undergrad I spent almost every day working hard and thinking about
university work .... at the moment I work when I'm at uni, and barely think
about my PhD at all when I'm at home ..... at the moment there just seem to
be more important things to think about during my free time. Life is good.
So chill out people, and keep looking for that natural high!
