Pinarama Bowling

Yeah, just the name of the bowling alley sounds like a good time, doesn't it??? PINARAMA! Woo hoo....pins for everyone!!
I have to admit that bowling is usually hit or miss with me. Either it's a really good time, or I'm so annoyed by the crowd that I swear I'll never go bowling again. I have been bowling once here in Tampa, and it was a definite miss. I liked the cosmic glow-in-the-dark bowling, but the teens, tweens, and pre-teens were a bit much for me. I tried to stay focused on having fun, but every time my friend went up to bowl, I was left tapping my feet to Justin Bieber and rotating in my chair to watch my purse and my one shoe for fear that a tween would take a dare to see if he could sneak up on me. Not happenin'.

So, I decided to take a gamble again and I ended up bowling last night. I decided to do so because my brain had been super fried by that darn project of mine I had submitted an hour prior. I was deciding between the movies and bowling, but I am really not a movie person and I just know I would have fallen asleep in the theatre. Besides, I only have free silver passes, so I can't even see anything that just recently came out. Bummer. Well, I guess I could have paid, but why would I do that when I have free passes? I just have to wait until the new movie gets old before I can see it. LMAO.

Anyway, back to bowling. I grabbed a friend and we tried out Pinarama in my neighborhood at around 10:30pm.

(Mind you I had been up since 7am working on that project and finished up around 9pm)

Way closer to my apartment than the Beiber bowling....... and way emptier too........ I was ready to release my energy!  I tried to drive by the window at Pinarama to see the hours of operation because the parking lot was so empty, but I couldn't even see anything. When we parked to walk up and check the hours, they weren't even listed. So, we just opened the door and hoped for the best. There was a teen working the counter, but he didn't bother me. In fact, he looked like he wished he worked at the Beiber bowling where the rest of his friends probably work! I kinda felt bad for him LOLOL.

Out of about 20 lanes, 15 were empty, but I was so excited about the cosmic disco bowling that I didn't even think twice about it. I liked that I could sing and listen to the music and not have to listen to tweens arguing over who stole whose boyfriend via text and posted it on Facebook. Seriously.

If you know me, you know I love music from the 70's and 80's, but you might also know that I love magazines. It just so happens that the first magazine subscription I ever purchased was back in high school (circa 1996- from the money I made working at Long John Silver's), and it was Entertainment Weekly. The reason I purchased the magazine was because the one year subscription  came with a double disc CD called "70's Dance Machine". I love the 70's!!!!

And yes, I still have the cd's and I still listen to them.

Bowling night was full of my favorites from that CD and that classic era of disco!!! I knew all the words to every song and was okay tapping my feet to the beat as I waited for my turn. I heard Donna Summer,  Diana Ross, Gloria Gaynor, Sister Sledge, Alicia Bridges, Barry White, and more. I really had a good time, and the music helped. My wrist hurt a bit from all of the work I had done on the computer earlier, so I had quite a few gutter balls, but I still won! 


Overall, this bowling trip was a hit. So, I guess I'll try it again :)

Black Arts Heritage Festival

Community service and volunteer work has always played a significant role in my life. Whether on a small scale, like volunteering at a school event, or on a large scale, like building a home with Habitat for Humanity, I have enjoyed supporting others and helping out in the community. As I have grown into the "real world", I have found opportunities to volunteer my time that are sort out outside of the "normal" scope of volunteering that I've known in high school and college. 

Opportunities that have been laid out for me in the past have quite often been tutoring, mentoring, teaching, coaching, etc. Since I have been in Tampa, however, I have found that I like more "behind the scenes" work like organizing, planning, and designing. There is a great need for support behind the scenes. I enjoy that I am still doing a part to help out - even though I am not on the front lines. 

A friend of mine came across the Black Arts Heritage Festival event and brought it to my attention. The event is held in January (this will be the 11th year), and by helping with this event, I will meet other people like myself that are ready and willing to promote diversity and cultural sensitivity. There are plenty of areas that need help to get this festival rolling, but I have zeroed in on the marketing division. 

I did miss the actual meeting this past Monday (um, because of that project I had to work on- you know with all the photos), however, through email communication, I have learned that the team has been put together, the meetings are twice a month, and I am a part of the team that will be helping with the design work.

Wish me luck!

Photo Shoot-My Apartment

  
   If there's one thing I can say about myself, it's that I love to do everything on my own. It's not pride that keeps me from asking for help, but it's just that I think I'm capable of doing whatever it is I need to do on my own. A lot of times, I find myself not even welcoming the input of others because I want to figure things out myself. This could be seen as a bad thing, you know, because by not letting others in, I am really doubting their expertise. I mean, they could know more than I do about something but I would never know because I choose not to let them in. It really boils down to me not being able to decipher what information I receive is worthy versus what is just bad information. I am learning that I can still figure things out on my own, even after I ask for help or advice, and just because I ask doesn't mean I am completely ignorant or that they are 100% correct! I can take a little from here and there. (This will make sense in a moment).

   Yesterday (9/18) I submitted part one of a three part assignment in my "Making Ideas Visible" course. That one part took me three weeks to complete. These are the pics you see here. The idea of the project is to show 50 ways that someone can see a particular object. I chose a sneaker, whereas some students chose a paperclip, water, penny, etc. The technical stuff (lining things up, color, font choice) was the most difficult, however, finding images was pretty hard as well. The new policy is that we cannot use any internet or other images that are not our own. We can take other images and combine them with ours to create one image, and we must really think outside of the box to come up with 50 different images.

    I am pretty much a digital art gal. I can sketch and draw stick figures, but I am truly a beginner when it comes to photography, painting, drawing, etc. After spending a week bouncing ideas off a couple of co-workers, I realized that photography was going to play a major role in this project, and I realized that my cute, little digital camera was not going to do the trick.

Here's where my intro paragraph to this post ties in..........

   One of my coworkers is a videography/photography student who actually does videos for our company. He's pretty good. He has all the fancy lighting and zoom lenses that I know would work well, but at first, I didn't want to ask him if he could help me because I just wanted to work on things on my own. You should have seen me in Best Buy trying to figure out what $1000 camera I needed to buy to make my pics look like what I needed them to look like! I had no idea what I was doing. Anyway, after about 5 days of trying to work with horrible shots taken from my digital camera (and a few tears), I realized that I needed help. But, did I ask for it? Nope. I pouted and got frustrated and had a couple of sleepless nights trying to figure out how I was going to pay for that fancy camera at Best Buy.  My coworker (the videographer) happened to stop by and ask how school was going. I told him how much trouble I was having with the photography and that I had no idea what I was doing. At that moment, I just had to ask if he could help me figure out what I was doing wrong and how I could fix it. Again, notice how I didn't ask for help! I asked how I could fix what I was doing wrong. Geez louise Monique!

My coworker did more than tell me what I was doing wrong. He offered to take some pics for me and he gave up his time on a Sunday- while he had projects of his own to work on- to show up wherever I needed him to to help me out. Wow. I was super surprised. But, why was I surprised- I wondered?

  How have I come this far thinking that people aren't willing to help? I help people all the time. But turn the situation around, and I am very quick to think others are too busy to help me. Is that really it, though? Or, is it that I have a fear that what I am doing may be critiqued and I am afraid that my work isn't good enough or that my skills aren't up to par. That's it.

 Crazy huh? I am one of those people who thinks that if I don't do something well the first time around, that something is wrong with me. Why can't it just be that I am learning.....why can't I just learn!?

Well, I am learning. I am learning to give myself time and space to develop my skills and to understand that I do not know everything and if I did, I wouldn't need anyone. But I do need people. I love my friends and family and I am learning that we all have a lot to offer each other.

To my friends and family, and future friends and family...... thanks for the love, advice, and support and KEEP IT COMING!!!!

Still Counting!

Hi! I hope you didn't think I've fallen off the 30 day wagon! Last week was one of the most hectic weeks I have ever had. Work was crazy and my school projects had me working from sun up to sundown. So, bear with me as I try to catch up with myself and post these activities........

Jazz Dance Class

Hello all!

I just walked home from my new jazz dance class. Yes, I have been searching for a jazz dance class since I moved to Tampa, but all the studios were either for kids, had ballroom dancing only, or were located 25-30 minutes from my home. The last thing I want to do is go home after work then drive 30 minutes-or longer-in traffic.....no matter how badly I want to dance!

This new studio, called Joni Marie Dance Academy, is literally a block from my home. It is a very small studio that has only been open for 3 weeks. As a matter of fact, I am the only one that showed up tonight for the adult jazz class and it was SUPER AWESOME! I received one-on-one personal attention without the price of a private lesson. Yes! I scored sweetly today!

Joni informed me that people have been coming and she is trying out various days and times to see what works best. I told her I would be glad to be a student, as I used to take jazz dance a few years ago and LOVED it.

Have you ever had one of those moments where you just knew something was so right for you and you had been searching and hoping and praying and finally your moment had come?? Well, when she turned on the warm-up music and it was Michael Jackson's "Beat It"............I thought I had died and gone to Heaven. If you know me, you know how much I love my Michael. Then, she taught me dance moves to Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi". I really had to pinch myself on that one. I am goo-goo for Gaga!

After 15 minutes of toning with weights, tummy crunches, push-ups (yes, I slipped once...), and stretching my body in every angle, I spent the rest of the hour practicing turns and other moves I can't remember the name of.

Joni said she could tell I had taken dance before and that I was a born dancer. She was really impressed by how quickly I picked up the steps. I told her I had only taken a few classes, but dancing has always been at the top of my list of things to pursue intensely. I am, however, taking it one "kick ball change" at a time.

So, you can see I have found one thing that I will be keeping up with! Go T-A-M-P-A! (I guess)


**P.S. Apparently, I will be dancing like the silhouette above by the end of my classes Joni says!**


Summary:

Fav: the rockin' music!

Least Fav: I learned the moves so fast that we had to keep doing them over and over. She has to make up the rest of it for next week for me. I still loved it.

Advice: Um, maybe stretch everyday so your legs won't shake when you get to class!!!

Found out about it: Driving by on S. MacDill

Change of Events

I am spending Labor Day weekend in Tampa.......and here's the story.......

For the past few weeks I had a recurring bad feeling about driving to Atlanta for Labor Day weekend. This overwhelming feeling was something that I just could not put my finger on, and it was a strong gut feeling that I should fly or just stay in Tampa. EVERY single time I started to think about making this road trip, I would get this bad feeling. As I searched for tickets online (@ 300 bucks each way), I decided to ignore my gut feeling and pack up to drive to Atlanta anyway. I did my normal road trip routine (getting plenty of rest, packing snacks, charging my phone, checking the oil...and this time, updating my blog) however, when I started out on my road trip this past Friday, that bad feeling came back again- stronger than before.

I'm definitely not an Oprah fan, but Cherie, my mom, and a few of my co-workers reminded me that the feelings I were having actually meant something, and I should consider not making the trip. I was forced to think back to the time that I was robbed in downtown Atlanta......I had a strong, similar feeling.............that which I obviously ignored.

I got about 30 miles north of Tampa when I called Cherie to tell her my bad feeling came back stronger than before. She looked up last minute flights, but came up with nothing. I ultimately made the decision to just go back home. Normally on my road trips, I am able to time myself very well and visualize at what point I will hit every city on the route, but this time was different. I was drawing a blank and started to not be able to visualize the end point of my trip. I was almost confused. I honestly could not see myself making it to Georgia. I know, it sounds weird, but something was definitely telling me not to continue.

As soon as I turned back around to head home, a rush of tears came down my face. Where was this coming from?!  I still have no idea. All of a sudden I was relaxed and drained at the same time, and that made me just want to curl up in my bed- which I ended up doing when I got back home.

Unfortunately, I missed seeing my younger sister and my niece. But, they came up with the great idea to Skype me! That made me happy :)

Turning around was a blessing in disguise, as I am using this rainy day to work on my design projects. You know, because I am really a nerd.

Thanks for reading and listen to your gut!

September is jam-packed!

I will be away from Tampa this holiday weekend, so stay tuned for September activities to come! Fall semester started for me yesterday, and I am already swamped with projects to get started on. I have 6 events/activities lined up so far for this month, but this will be the first time in a long time that I have had a school life and a social life at the same time! Now, I have a full-time job sandwiched in between. I am one of those students that just likes to focus on my work and that's all that I do. However, I feel like I cheat myself by shutting out the outside world. I miss everything when I do that!
So, have a safe holiday weekend and I'll be chatting again soon!