A piece of my mind and a peace of mind

I admit. I don't like being alone. Mind you, after Herräng, I thought every moment alone was great. In the beginning. But now, I find myself in holiday - work limbo. I don't really want to work, but I want to go back to the routine of dancing at least twice a week, exercising, doing certain things at certain times. I love being off too, but I find myself in a state of restlessness.

I would really love to be able to enjoy loads of time alone. I know alot of people who do. I'm not one of them. I love to talk to people and just sitting in a café listening to other people is great fun.

Projects. I like having loads of things to do. It seems to be a hectic but fun fall of activities at Cats' Corner, where I'll be more active than before. I will also do 2 intermediate courses - one in Malmö and one in Lund.

Speaking of projects, I'd better get off my butt and do something productive.

Monday Night dancing

Dancing yesterday was fantastic. I had so much fun, and I must say it went quite well.
Funny how good it feels to buy a pair of shoes sometimes. I also bought the bookshelf online. Hope someone can help me assemble it...

Ready, steady, organize!

Yes, my bedroom is a complete disaster. It's because a) I'm not very good at putting things where they belong and b) some of my things don't belong anywhere. I must deal with it now. A good, cool unit would do, for boxes and stuff. There I can keep papers (Thank you GRANIT), and other stuff that I just have lying around. I also want to build a simple ladder with rounded bits of wood and paint it shiny black. I can put it against the wall and hang clothes on there. Nifty and charming. Yes OK, so far so good, but what about my chest of drawers. If I do this, it won't fit. Hmmm. Must think of a plan.

I intend to have loads of nice dinners in my place this fall, and my kitchen table is one of those modern, fancy-pancy IKEA things where you sit on bar stools (table fits 3). I have had really nice dinners for 7 people on my balcony, but what about in the winter? My aunt has this awesome bright red creature of a table in Stockholm, that I'm thinking of bringing down here. May be hard to fit in, but worth it probably because it can take more people.

I feel inspired to organize my place up a bit. The cables, oh how I hate cables. (Don't all girls hate them?). OK, so I challenge all my friends to invite themselves to my place for dinner so I can get my ass off the wagon and do something about this minor mess / state that I now find myself in a little less than a year after moving in. Time to act!

Malmö, here I come

Looking forward to going home tomorrow. One of my dancing friends is coming over for "fika" (as Lennart would say), and I'm going dancing. Life couldn't be better really. Oh yes, and the sun is shining on top of things.

Home alone

Photo was taken here in Åkerholm on the way up to Herräng.
Yesterday I went to Oskarshamn, my home town, 45 min drive from here, to see my friends Mia and Tina and their boyfriends. Had some nice whiskey with their dad.

This is my second day alone this past month. I've constantly had lots of people around me in Herräng, and when I came home, I met up with friends and family. I'm looking after the cats and chickens today. Very quiet and peaceful. I love it, truth be told.

I may be cynical, but today I just don't believe in love. I seem to fall for the guys who don't like me back. What's up with that? That should tell me something. Right now though, it seems like too hard work.

Total silence

Photographer: unknown Location: Herräng Marina
Sometimes that's not a bad thing. I need to recharge my batteries, and apparently so does my cell phone which died on me today. Weird feeling to just sit and watch the sea, listening to the sound of the waves without any duties. I guess it's good for the soul. Or something.

I miss my friends. I miss dancing. I miss Herräng. *sigh*

New goals

As summer turns to fall, I will make sure that I have some goals to look forward to. As for dancing, I want to keep it fun. I will take "higher levels" in Malmö, and maybe in Lund as well. Will try to work on the advice I've been given and I also want to work a bit on a few more figures as well as footwork and styling.

As for excercise in general, I will go to the gym and take Bosu class once a week. Maybe some spinning too, but I don't think it will be necessary. I think lifting weights would be good instead, I just wish it wasn't so boring.

In my social life, I will try to throw a party or two and attend a lot. With my darling dancing friends, there always seems to be something happening. Will try to go up to Stockholm for a weekend of dance with Charles, Jessica and see Gunnar and Lennart up there. Washington DC awaits at the end of October. I can't wait to meet Tom in real life. We know each other very well by now, and I'm so looking forward to seeing him face to face and also - yes, dance with him. Oh hallelujah!

Paradise and Wäästerwiiik

Once again I find myself totally relaxed. Swam in the sea, 18 degrees. Very nice. Just taking it easy here at the moment, talking walks, pondering about life's mysteries. I know one thing: I MISS HERRÄNG! A few exciting things coming up - Gothenburg Lindy Xchange and a friend's birthday party in Båstad.

Post-depression

Photo by Gunnar A.

I woke up this morning and felt fantastic. My own bed. Mmm. My own shower! My own HOT-water shower. Clean sheets. Fresh fresh fresh.

After a few hours though, I had a bad case of cold turkey. I started to feel as if I was dancing again, and started moving to music in the store downtown. I called Lennart Westerlund today, and he always cracks me up. He said "Oh you don't have to worry, we don't do anything fun here at all. Just dance all day, it's really boring." I loved working with him backstage for two weeks and they were all really good to me. I loved the structure of things and the fact that everything was very well-organised during the evening meetings as to who did what.

I miss the whole Herräng concept already, and I haven't even been home for 24 hours.

Last day in Herräng

Oh, my. I just slept for 26 hours. I was supposed to have a private with Shane and Ruth, but I had to just sit and watch. It's kind of cool the way your body really tells you when you've had enough. I may find the energy to dance a few more times tonight, but if not, I'm still very happy with these past three weeks here. The classes have been good, I've met many new friends and I've learned alot. My favourite moments have been my private lesson with Hasse & Marie, working with Lennart backstage and some of the dancing.

I will definitely come back next year, maybe for 4 weeks, but will do it a bit differently. Probably a week of classes, then a week of just hanging around, work for a week, then maybe another week of classes. I would definitely sleep more during the day, had I known how important it is.

Looking forward to seeing all my Malmö/Lund people again though. Home sweet home, as they say.

Hamburger, Dawn & last day of volunteering

Today I did my last day of volunteering, and will work next week with the meetings with Lennart, if I get the opportunity. Today I ended up down the road at the little hamburger joint. Dawn didn't have anywhere to eat so she came along. Boy, what a great 2 hours!! I just wish it would have taken less than 1 hour to get our food... Yesterday's theme party was "Home of Happy Old Feet".

Props & Sound

It's been great working this week. I'm on the so called Tech Crew. It's very easy and anybody can do it. I get the sound systems going in the tents in the morning and take them down in the evening. During the day, we just check that the batteries to the headsets are okay. My evening part of the job is really fun, I must say. Last night's meeting was very busy and planned out well in advance. I had to have all the props ready to go and helped Lennart on stage with stuff that needed moving around, in or out. For example, I had to take part of his clothes off backstage. Never thought I'd be doing that in Herräng... After the show, he usually likes to chat for a bit asking for feedback. Yesterday we talked about Västervik where he is from, and as blues night started, we were standing behind closed curtains talking about all kinds of things. He's promised to introduce me to a guy from Västervik next week, which should be fun. Apparently this guy travels up 300 km or so to Stockholm to dance once a week - that's passion for you!

Other than that, the infamous Herräng flu is all over the place. I'm feeling feverish, but blues dancing works anyway. Normal lindy to fast songs needs to wait for a few days. Treo is king today, I tell you. However, this is a wonderful place to be, despite illnesses and whathaveyou.

It's like a marathon

A marathon of dancing. There was a midnight marathon here last night, but we didn't participate. I was working until midnight so I started dancing straight after that. The photo was taken on the way home at 4 in the morning. It's a very short walk, quite refreshing, although I wouldn't mind some SUN now. Where is the bloody summer? Had some really nice dances yesterday. Generally, things ran alot smoother than the day before, when I think my body was too stiff, and I was exhausted. I feel the infamous Herräng flu coming, but I will do what I can to fight it. Now... sleep for a few hours until 7.30 meeting starts.

The madness continues

On Friday we had a theme party. In the photo you see the old timers outside Folkets Hus with Shane, the teacher. It was really amazing, and everyone looked very sharp. We danced and danced. Alot of the Lund/Malmö friends came here on Saturday, and I've danced with alot of new people but it's nice to dance with people you know too, and I kind of missed them last week. My favourite teachers last week were Shane and Ruth from Australia. They named us the Herräng Tigers. I created a Facebook group by that name, and both Shane and Ruth have now joined it. :) I work now as a volunteer here, doing sound on the tech crew during the day - this is quite easy, just checking sound in the tents helping out with trouble shooting in classes. In the evenings I work with props on stage, so I have a headset and communicate with Gunnar, the producer of Lennart's daily talkshow / meeting. I give Lennart what he needs there, and do the backdrop etc. It's really fun. Tonight the Carlings will play here. Oh boy, no sleep then either. Who wants to miss that?!

Me and the old timers

Love them, wow wow wow....

HDC - limbo...

What day is it? What time is it? What year is it? All I know is that I'm in Herräng - and everything is everything but normal. I slept at 11 last night. I can't sleep during the day. I mean, how can you possibly wind down when you've had a one-on-one conversation with Dawn Hampton about how it feels inside when you hear good music? Or when you've danced with Skye Humphries after class and he shows you how to reverse in swingouts? Me!! with Skye!!! Or having a private lesson with Marcus.. Impossible. I've met so many people here - Jack from DC whom I'll catch up with again in November when I go, Mike from Cambridge, and Eric from ... Malmö. Lots and lots of people, and it's great to dance with really good pros as well as people in my group. Tonight is theme party, some gangster / mob thing. Below you can see Skye and Frida - the best dancers in the world, according to some. Well, was cool to dance with him...

Blues Night

Last night was a night of slow blues dancing. I danced for a few hours, but, honestly, I got bored. I can't dance it the way it's supposed to and neither can most men that I danced with. It's more like a slow foxtrot. It got me yawning, so I went downstairs to do lindy instead. Gettin' later and later here, got home past four. Zzzzz... it's really bright outside when you walk home from Folkets Hus, a 2 minute walk from where the school is. The photo was taken in what we call the "russian kitchen", next to our dorm, where thr Russians sit and drink vodka sometimes. Last night, however, was pre-party for our little crowd of people.

This morning after breakfast I had planned to go back to bed. Instead, I ended up in one of the tents. It was full of sand. We started jumping around on it, and before we knew, someone was there teaching a jazz routine on the sand! As floor polishing. Did about 1,5 hours of that.... oh lord.