Notes on Cheese

Cheese. That's right, you just read the word cheese. You can't really rave enough about cheese can you? I mean, it truly is delicious. From the creamy texture to the salty twang it leaves on your palate, cheese is probably the best thing to come from a cow besides other baby cows. I generalize too much though. You can't sum up all cheese into one sentence because it comes in so many varieties. You've got your stinky blue cheese, your crumbley fetas, and your sharp cheddars, and that's only a short list, leaving out less popular varieties as the double gloucester (which I might add is delicious on a turkey sandwich). There's a cheese for every tongue. Whatever flavor you prefer, they have a cheese for you! I mean really, have you ever met someone who said, "I hate cheese! It's gross!" I know that I haven't, and if I ever do, I will tell them that they being just plain silly. Saying you don't care for cheese is like saying you like to dance naked in the snow. It's ludicrous! (Not to be confused with the vulgar male rapper) There is no way you could not like cheese when it comes in so many sizes, shapes, colors, and smells. Even that overly processed, sorry excuse for a slice of cheese crap that kraft makes has its own delicious usefulness: Cheeseburgers. Really, there's no such thing as a "nasty" cheese.

Cheese also is so complimentary to other foods. Grilled cheese is a great example. Think about how simplistic a grilled cheese is: two pieces of bread, some butter, and CHEESE. Cheese is the crux of the sandwich too. Without the cheese a grilled cheese would be very hot toast.

CHEESEburgers.

CHEESE and crackers.

What's the second thing they ask you at Subway? Think hard. It's "What kind of CHEESE would you like?" I've never seen anyone say I'll pass on the cheese. They wouldn't because it's delicious.

Cheese is even good for dessert. Ricotta cheese mixtures taste delicious with berries.

CHEESEcake.

I feel bad for lactose intolerant people...just sayin'.

My Choreolab Piece Thus Far

Texting Lingo Part II: The Hidden Meanings of Emoticons

It's that time again, folks. Yes that's right, it is time for me to yammer on about something that really doesn't matter. I promised you all a blog regarding emoticons following my last examination of the nature of the .... Well, here I am to tell you all about exactly what those little faces that get sent to you via text message by your friends, and more importantly by your love interests, really mean.

Let's start with a basic definition of emoticon. An emoticon is a series of punctuation marks that form a face expressing an emotion. In other words, an emoticon can express in punctuation what you could not describe in words. Let's face it, : ) is much more effective than, "I'm happy!"

Now that we know what exactly an emoticon is, let's talk about what they mean. It seems fairly obvious that : ) means I am happy. Perhaps you are writing an email, and you don't want what you are saying to sound quote, "bitchy", so you add in a : ) for good measure. Perhaps you are tired of replying with "lol" to your friends amusing, but menial, texts, so you decide to go with a : ) instead. If you are really fancy, you might even give your smiley man a nose :-). I personally am not a fan of the emoticon with a nose because to me a nose is for blowing and not for emoting, so it is unnecessary in the EMOTicon.

If you are more than just happy, you might replace the parenthesis with a capital D, : D. This face might tell your chum that you are particarly excited about something, like an upcoming event that you will be attending together.

There is of course the converse of the "I'm happy" face and that is the "I'm sad" face. : (. Really what this face says is "I'm downtrodden" especially in the context it is usually used. The sad face is usually used to express disappointment or general unhappiness. For example, "I have to study for my anatomy exam tomorrow : (" says that the studier is quite unwilling to do said studying and that they are unhappy about the fact that they must. If one wanted to express actual sadness through an emoticon they might add an apostrophe, otherwise known as the tear. :'(. This might be used to say you miss someone, but not as a reaction to a death. That would be insensitive. There is no "I'm sorry for your loss" emoticon. This is a case when you may have to use your words.

There are two important faces that I have left out. They may in fact be the most important emoticons of them all for they can be the most telling. First, the notorious ; ), the winking face. Accompanied by the right text message could mean your current man-crush is feeling you. If used wisely, the ; ) could make your beau a little too excited to see you the next day. The winking face says the cheesey, "ya know what I mean" with out the douche-baggery that accompanies a saying like that. For example, "I had fun last night ; )" sounds much better than "I had fun last night, if ya know what I mean". Better to leave more to the imagination with a simple ; ) than sound like a weirdo with that phrase.

The second emoticon is reserved for people who either want to stick their tongue out at someone or perhaps as Trey Songz (full name Tremaine Aldon Neverson) would put it, "I send that little face with the tongue cuz I'm nasty" (See song "Lol :-)" off of the LP Ready) The face Songz is referring to is the : P. The first use of this face as mentioned above is juvenile, but may be necessary at times. I would advice reserving this face for immature arguments, when you're really feeling like an ass hole. The second use is in fact quite nasty as Songz notes. Paired with the right words this emoticon could be suggestive to say the very least. I could give you an example, but, well... ; )

For More Examples See Emoticon Lexicon Courtesy of Jenna Trimboli:

:) happy
:( sad/downtrodden
;) wink wink; i'm feeling/want you
:,) tear
:-) nose!
>:( angry
:0 surprise/shock
:p sticking tongue out
:D excited
:* kiss
:x sick
:-/ perplexed

Negotiations

I must give credit to my mom for this idea, however, I put it into action.

Texting Lingo Part I: On the Nature of ...'s

My next few entries will be in regards to texting, and my thoughts on the particulars of the subject. In my current musing, I'm going to discuss the ambiguous nature of the punctuation that has become a part of our daily texting lingo. I'm talking about the infamous "..." Those pesky dots sneak their way into both your sent and received texts, and do you really know exactly what they mean? Let me answer for you, you probably don't. The truth is that the ... is mostly just really ambiguous, and I'm here to straighten out what the ... means and hopefully prevent further ... situations from happening. Before I go on, I must give Kate Manley her credit. This topic is one Kate and myself often discuss, and many of her ideas will probably be listed here. I'm going to go along like they are my own, and expand on them, but just know that half of the stuff is hers. Cool.

First, allow me to clear the air. Does everyone know what the ... is? When I type ..., I mean "dot, dot, dot", but continually typing "dot, dot, dot" is a pain in my ass, so I'm going to write .... from now on. Moving along.

The ... is probably the most irratating piece of punctuation that one could use in their response to a text message or that one could use to tell a tale of epic proportions. Let me give you some examples to illustrate why it is such an angering piece of puncutation.

Susan: So did you and (insert male's name here) smoosh last night?
Catherine: Yeah...

At this point, Susan is thinking to herself, okay, Catherine's assent says that they did it, but her ... says there's more to the story. But should Susan ask what else happened or is Kathryn going to provide more information right away? Or is Kathryn using the ... to signal that something more happened but that she isn't willing to share that information with Susan? Now, Susan must deliberate about what the ... means before responding appropriately to Catherine. Susan may first think, fuck you, Catherine, and decide not to respond to her. However, after closing her phone and tossing it aside, Susan will decide that she cannot bare to not know what happened. She will sigh heavily, resolving to pick up her phone to ask, "And...?" Here Susan is using the ... as both a signal that she wants the rest of the story and as a way of showing contempt for Kathryn's original .... From here their conversation continues as usual.

There is another distempering situation where people use the ... in a dubious manner. That is when two people are in the middle of a heated discussion usually regarding something that is of little importance. Another example will illustrate the evasive manner in which the ... is used, and might I add abused.


Catherine: I just feel like you don't like (insert male name here). Every time I talk about him or bring him with me, you act like you're disgusted by him or something. Do you not like him?

Susan: I mean, he's not my favorite person. I get a bad vibe from him.

Catherine: What gives you a bad vibe?

Susan: I don't know...


Here we can see that Susan is using the ... to avoid saying what is on her mind. In truth, Susan doesn't like Catherine's current beau because she suspects that he is two-timing Catherine. Regardless, Catherine doesn't know how to respond to Susan because the ... says I'm not willing to say exactly how I feel, but it also says that there is definitely more to be said. Catherine sets her phone aside and calls her boyfriend, who may or may not be a douche, to ask him to come over and comfort her.


How could these situations be righted? It's a daunting question, I know, but there is a simple solution to this problem. Instead of using the ... in the first place, just say what you want to say. In our first sample, Catherine could have just responded to Susan with something like, "Yeah, we did it, I'll tell you more about it when I see you in person." Susan won't have to wonder whether Catherine wants to tell her about her nighttime escapades. Instead, she'll just have to anxiously anticipate the telling of Catherine's story. The second scenario is much more difficult because it will undoubtedly be hard for Susan to tell Catherine how she really feels about her man friend. What Susan should do, however, is leave out the evasive ... and tell Catherine how she feels in a diplomatic manner.


I would like to point out that there are times when you can use the .... One instance might be, when you feel you need a pause in your statement that is longer than just a comma. Perhaps you want to say something like, "I don't know what to do...maybe I'll just go and make the best of it." Here your ... is not at all ambiguous. It clearly indicates that you are not sure of what you want to do, and so you are hesitating before you express a solution to your predicament. Another time you can use the ... is if you want to trail off at the end of what you are saying in order to insinuate something that you feel may be inappropriate to type outloud. For example, you may be talking to a potential mate, and say something like, "Well, we could go out to dinner, or maybe we could just hang out at home. Order food and watch a movie or something..." In this case, the texter and textee both know what that "or something..." means, but it seems crude to say it outloud. The ... alludes to something else, and both parties know what that something else is.

There it is folks. My musings on the .... Please let me know if you have any thoughts that you'd like to share about your experiences with the ...

Stay tuned for the rest of my series on texting lingo. Next time I'll be discussing the hidden meanings of emoticons.

2 Weeks of ADF Left

There are only two weeks of ADF left. It really is hard to believe how fast time has gone by. With the festival nearing its ending, I am overwhelmed by both the excitement of going home and the sadness of the good times of dancing coming to an end. I'm going to miss the people here. It's going to be odd to go back to school, and not have them there to talk to about class. I must admit, I will miss remarking on the beauty of Jesse Zaritt's body, and the beautiful oddity that is Tatiana Baganova and her bald companion. But what I'll miss most of all is the friendships that are based on the commonality of dance. Afterall what would saying, "And, go, and go, and churn, and go, and stop, and leg, and go" really mean, if there was no one there to laugh with you about it?

I'm going to miss getting up each day and devoting myself to dance. Although, I feel like after these six weeks I will most definitely need to take the time to digest all of the knowledge I've been given. As these next two weeks begin, I'm going to make the most of my time here. I'm going to focus on myself and really take the time to improve upon my art. I'm going to soak up everything that I can, and everytime I'm practicing, I will be sure to apply that knowledge.

Even though ADF has been a tiresome experience, (when I say tiresome...I'm not joking...it's exhausting) I really appreciate my time here. I'm glad to have a family that supports me, that wants me to succeed, and who stands beside me.

For now, that is all. I'll try to leave my readers (all 2 of you) with something humurous in the next two weeks, I feel it is best to end ADF on a funny note.

I've been putting a lot of thought into what I'm about to talk about, and while it may seem like a trivial subject, after reading this post, you will find that it is in fact not. You may even find that my most recent musing will shorten your time at the check out counter as well as help you in a very important decision-making process. The topic to which I'm referring is that of candy bar selection. Everyone has been in this situation: It's nearing 8pm, and you've had a fairly normal day. You just finished dinner, and you're sitting down to watch So You Think You Can Dance. To your great disappointment you sit down and turn on the light beside you only to have the bulb emit one last burst of life as it flashes just before it burns out. You sigh, looking at your phone to see the time. It's 7:50pm, and you figure you've got just enough time to run up the road to the nearest pharmacy, such as my personal favorite CVS, while still making it home to see your favorite prime time television. You get to CVS, and everything is going well. You've got your light bulb, and you walk up to the counter calmly, ready to make your purchase. Then, you see it in front of you, all of the candy neatly laid out so that you may choose one to have as a tastey television-watching accompaniment. But what candy should you get? You panic, glancing up at the person in line in front of you; they're sliding their card through the cardreader. You must make your decision with only minutes to spare. The situation is a difficult one my friends, I know because I've been in it one too many times. But, fear not! I have a solution to this problem that will have you picking your candy bar just in time to set your lightbulbs down, reach down for your choice, and lightly toss it on the counter in time for the cashier to scan its yummy little barcode.

The hardest choice comes first, but once you've taken this step you must not look back because it will leave you in the same predicament in which you originally found yourself. You must first decide what kind of filling you are in the mood for. Is nougat a must for you? Or are you more of a peanut butter fan? Perhaps you will opt for no filling at all. In this case, your choice will be simple. You only have to decide between a Hershey's Milk or Dark Chocolate Bar, a chocolate bar of the Cadbury persuasion, or perhaps the Nestle variety. This is a decision you must make for yourself, but I would suggest either Hershey's or Cadbury, simple because Nestle just doesn't compare to these two brands. If your looking for just a little bit more than this, might I suggest the Nestle's Crunch Bar or the Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar with Almonds?

For most of us our choice will not be so simple. Let's look at some samples in order to illustrate my point.

Let's say you are in a nougat mood. First of all, I'm not sure who would crave nougat because in my opinion it is this weird, ambiguous "stuff" that is used as filling in our favorite candy bars. Can nougat even stand alone? Has anyone ever eaten just solely nougat? Does anyone even know what nougat is? Putting that aside, if you just want pure nougat and chocolate, your choice is both easy and low-fat. The Three Musketeers Bar is of course the appropriate choice. Now, if your craving something with a little more punch you might want to go with the Milky Way, where your nougat will be slathered in caramel. Want a little crunch with your nougat and caramel? Snickers.

More of a peanut butter person? I know, me too! Unfortunately, the peanut butter fans don't have it so easy. I suppose you could just get a Reese's Peanut Cup, but are you willing to sacrifice the satisfaction of consuming a log of chocolate? For the true peanut butter fan the answer would be yes. However, must of us aren't willing to abandon the idea of chomping down on five delicious bites of chocolate covered goodies formed into a bar. Are you in the mood for peanut butter with a crunch? Well then your choice is simple. Butterfinger or 5th Avenue. Personally, I'd go for a Butterfinger. The 5th Avenue isn't that well known. It's one of those candy bars everyone always points at and goes, what's in that? If it's not popular, chances are it might not be as tastey as the more well known variety. If you're interested in a more Snickers meets Peanut Butter Cup variety you might want to go for the Nutrageous or the Take 5. Take caution with the Take 5 though because it's got a lot of shit packed in it, and not everyone can take that kind explosion of flavor in their mouths. Maybe you like peanut butter in its purest form: the peanut. Payday? Baby Ruth? Both of the varieties will do. Payday is a caramel log coated with peanuts (a personal favorite), and a Baby Ruth is a Payday with a chocolate coating.

There are some choices that stand alone, and if you're in the mood for one of these choices than your decision will be most timely. Let's say you had some chili for dinner, and you want something minty to get rid of your spicey breath. York Peppermint Patty. Coconut fan? Almond fan? Easy: Almond Joy. Want to skip the almonds? Monds. English Toffee fan? Okay first, weirdo. Second, Skor or Heath bar. For some reason the Heath bar strikes me as being more of an everyday, average toffee whereas the Skor is a little bit more uppity. Want wafer drenched in chocolate? Kit Kat. (You can even get a giant version if four smaller pieces doesn't float your boat, although this does ruin the whole "break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar") Is a candy bar not enough for you? Are you one of those people that can't decide on just one desert? Well luckily for you, the Twix bar contains not only caramel but cookies too. Nevertheless, I would argue that the main selling point of the Twix bar is that the package contains two bars instead of one.

One category remains and that is the category of M&Ms. Candy covered chocolates that don't melt in your hand but in your mouth. Truth be told, if it's really hot they do melt, and usually you chew on M&M's not suck them. So the slogan is a falsity. Putting this aside, if you are a candy-covered treat fan then you just must deside, do you go with original, the peanut variety, or perhaps you want to go with the newest experimentation of Mars, Inc and try the coconut M&M. I personally go with the Peanut M&M's at all times. There's just something about popping one of the big suckers into your mouth and crunching down, knowing that you are destroying that carefully printed "M".

If you've noticed, I've left out every candy variety that does not include chocolate with the exception of the Payday (because it is a bar and it's delicious). The reason is because things like skittles or Reese's pieces, while delectable to some don't really count as true candy. There's something about them that feels contrived and fake. It's impossible to taste the rainbow! Rainbows fanquish so quickly, and look at how high they are in the sky! You'd never get there in time to actually stick your tongue onto a Rainbow particle. Even if you could, I highly doubt that a rainbow would taste like nasty, flavored sugar. It would probably taste like air. Reese's pieces are somewhat tastey, however, they don't contain chocolate, but it seems as if they do. Fake. Next. Twizzlers are alright...if you want to be constipated! It just seems like a bad idea to put something that is so hard to chew into your body. By the time it gets to your intestines...okay, nevermind. Mentos, gum, and Tic Tacs are for another time and another place. I'm also disregarding all of the varieties of "bars" that Hershey's has put out as a spin off of the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Don't play with magic Hershey, okay? Your spin offs are nasty and/or forgetable to my taste buds. If your going to make a new candy bar, be original and give it its own name. Don't use the Reese's Peanut Butter cups' fame just to sell your lackluster treat.

Regardless, I hope my latest musings will help you with your delicious, evening treat selection. Please, share your feedback, let me know if I've opened doors for you or if you have any thoughts on my thoughts.

What I've Learned Thus Far at ADF

How do I begin...well, I suppose I could say that ADF is giving the biggest emotional/physical ass kicking I've ever had. They start you out with this preview week that is so exciting but at the same time so rigorous. And, everyone is so excited to be there that on that first day everyone, including myself of course, is putting their all into it. Then when it gets to audition time, everyone's still putting their all into it...no, it's more than their all...it's unexplainable really. Everyone's eyes have this hunger for dance; everyone wants the part as much as the person standing next to them. It's so hard to get noticed because everyone is trying just as hard as you. You can't really see the choreographer because everyone is crowded behind them. So, your not sure exactly what their choreography should look like. All you've got is a rough estimate of what it is. All that being said, learning the choreography is hard, but not impossible. Impressing the auditioners on the other hand, is a whole different ball game. It's a race to get to the front, and if your in the back, you better hope you look damn good. Sometimes, I steal a glance at the auditioners, and they are looking in the opposite direction of me, and I think, "God damn it, look over here! Look at me! Do you see me?"

So, what is it that I'm taking away from these past few days of rigorous work? Well, I need to get better at auditioning. I need to push my way to the front. Let the choreographer know that I'm there. I need to be present when I'm doing the choreography. It doesn't need to be so perfect. I think they'd rather see a presence than an automaton going through the motions. But there's something bigger than all of this that I've learned. And that is, that I need to be working to my fullest potential everytime I step foot into a dance classroom, rehearsal or performance. I need to be running at maximum capacity all of the time. There needs to be sweat running down my body, my muscles need to hurt the next day because I've pushed them past their limitations. There cannot be a moment when I think to myself, "I've got this". There will be no more going through the motions because there are people out there who are far better than me because they are always pushing themselves to the next level. If I'm going to go to these auditions and have a shot at getting in, then I need to be the best that it possible for me.

I usually like to keep my blogs light...comical almost...I have witnessed some hilarious things here at ADF, but I shall have to save those things for another time, another blog.

These Guys Need to Find Something Better to Do

So, I'm not sure if anyone else is familiar with these videos where five black males try to "dance" to "seduce" the ladies. They are quite funny. They aren't really dancing though, it's more like thrusting and gyrating at inanimate objects and/or the air. I don't know how these guys take themselves so seriously. But trust me...they are serious. Everything is completely and obviously prechoreographed, although there are some sections of improve involving a mirror. Please, watch this video if you need a good laugh.

To Blog or Not to Blog

Creating this blog is a weird thing. I'm not really sure why I'm creating it because I'm not sure I have anything particular to say. I have a lot of things I could say, but I'm not sure whether I should share them. I also feel like if you have a blog you should have a purpose. You should want to share something specific with the internet world. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to share my musings...not my inter-most emotions, just simply my musings. We'll see what happens. Knowing me, I'll probably get bored quickly and move on from the blog.