A Dancer's Life For Me

Last night we went to Bembe at The Duplex. New party and venue (to me) and they were both tops. We got there early enough to enjoy a relatively empty dance floor. This is the only way for me to start the night; I love having the physical space and time to really warm my body up and get into the energy of the music. There were a couple of really great dancers that I would imagine had the same idea and started cutting up the floor early into the evening; this is another good way to start the night. I love sharing the floor with people that both know how to dance and love it.

There's something that happens usually between 24-40 minutes of being out on the floor and it's fucking magical. Basically, everything melts away and what is left is the rhythm of the music, my feet, legs, hips, arms, torso, head and ass - all moving as one in every motion and combination imaginable. No thought. No talking. No nothing. Just that. I become one with the music and the rest is history.

DJ Sabine from Brooklyn started her set just as I was hitting that spot. And she started things slow and deep. Nearly cleared the floor from the outset but after a minute I got what she was doing. She was clearing our pallets like a nice piece of ginger after some tuna sashimi. And she took her sweet, sweet time.

My friend Chien Chi and I faced each other and played out the slow, deep grooves as robots from another planet landing on earth. Or at least that's what I thought it looked like.

There were two kids dancing next to us and the way they moved their feet was incredible. One of them never actually had both feet on the ground, but he never lifted either of them very high. The grace and ease he moved with could only be described as natural.

As Sabine just went deeper she also began to bring things up (interesting contradiction) introducing more complex, faster hitting rhythms. At this point I was ready to really get into my own footwork moving through the rhythms as fast and furious as they were pumping out of the loudspeakers.

There are only a few other activities I can liken this whole experience to - one of which is actually playing music and the other is sex. There is a selflessness and egolessness that I can reach in all of these activities and it is pure bliss.

I thought for a minute about how as I get older I just seem to enjoy all of this more and more and that makes any hint of worry about what the future holds just melt away.

Immunizations HURT!!!

Okay, I fess up, I hate shots and having blood drawn. I'm a big pussy when it comes to those delightful events. So when I went to the San Francisco Department Of Health's travel clinic to get immunized properly for my trip to Nepal and Bhutan I wasn't in the best frame of mind.

Thank god I live in a country in which we have the *option* to get immunized. Truly. I am blessed.

But holy smokes - yesterday I got stuck 3 times for 4 reasons (polio, tetanus, hepA/hepb combo and thypoid meds are in the fridge). The injections weren't too bad. I was a pro as was the nurse. "Deep breath in, deep breath out, prick, done" - times three.

I decided to walk home to the mission, grabbed a grilled veggie burrito on the way and called it a day. About 30 minutes into the walk I felt feverish and tingley (and not in a way one might hope!). 2 hours later I was zonked. I passed out on my couch around 7:30pm and more or less slept through the night if you don't count having to roll over to switch sore arms to sleep on.

But again, in the end, grateful we who get to benefit from modern medicine should be.

Traveling To Asia

I am going to Nepal and Bhutan in February! I leave the 21st and return March 7th.

It's true.

16 days or something like that.

For those of you who don't know already I'm pretty psyched.

My mom is coming with me, good traveller that she is.

So if anyone has experience traveling in this part of Asia my ears are open.