And again More Dancing

The best routine of last night's episode...

Something lighter

I confess that I have been somewhat obsessed with this dance routine lately. I have probably watched it at least twelve times in the past 48 hours. I'm not sure why it moves me so much. There is an inkling of relatability in it for me, but I suppose it's just an exceptionally danced piece of choreography. As much as I would know what exceptional dancing and exceptional choreography is.


Checking out the So You Think You Can Dance website recently, I found that each of the top dancers are showing, in a video on their section of the site, their "signature move". For the ballerina, it's an intricate collection of swirls and on-point moves that she is showing and teaching in her video. For others, it's fancy footwork and complicated collections of counting stepping and swinging. That's why I found Kupono's so hilariously refreshing. Especially considering the intense dance he did in last week's show.



Now, I'm sorry but that's just funny shit.

Cape Clean-up

My uncle Billy cleaned-out the shed at Scott's End in preparation for my Dad's arrival. Then, the two brothers and my Mom went through everything and determined what should be kept and what shouldn't. Lots of little details to shoot, plus things not in the shed, too.

More Dance

Since I spent a chunk of time last night finding videos from dances/choreography that I thought were great, I figured I'd post them. I recommend double clicking on the box so you can go to YouTube and watch it in full screen view...



And because their solos were so awesome last season...



And this one won Mia Michaels an Emmy for the choreography. Rad!

Addiction

From Wednesday night's "So You Think You Can Dance". Kupono is the addiction and Kayla is the addicted.
Freakin' amazing. Double-click on it so you can go to YouTube and watch it full screen.




Here's another one I loved from last season. Mark and Chelsea. He's going to work, she doesn't want him to go...





Also from last season. Joshua's off to war. Katie's not happy...

My Neck Hurts

photo

More Fun in the Cape

This past weekend was very nice. My parents and I headed to the cape and invited friends to join. I was especially flattered that Naomi and her (new) husband Jeff drove all the way up from NJ just for the weekend.
We played played games and whatnot but mostly just lounged around. I'm kind of surprised at how good I have come at doing that. Lounging, I mean. I feel like when I am at home, in front of the computer, I am constantly moving and learning. Looking into pricing, mucus usage, tax info, etc online. When I'm in the cape though, I get better about walking away from it.

My shoulder is getting better and better every day. I asked my PT how different our sessions would be if I didn't have frozen shoulder. "Completely different," he told me, explaining that we would have made a lot more progress by mow and that 90% of the time is spent working on the frozen shoulder. I found that discouraging and told him that coming to him was like a full hour of playing "Uncle".

While in the cape, Bootsie cut herself in her romping and exploring. I sat her on the bench next to me to investigate. She flinched so dramatically that I flinched, throwing my bad arm out to the side and pulling back my shoulder. Imagine someone taking your arm and twisting it up behind your back. Then, imagine them jerking it up even harder. Then holding there. That's the kind of pain I felt when my reflexes made me jerk back away from the dog. It hurt so much I didn't know what to do with myself. I grabbed my arm and hugged it to me and started to walk around, kind of like when you stub your toe and can't sit still. Only with the shoulder, it takes a good thirty seconds before the massive pain subsides. I burst into tears, telling my friends, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm totally fine. Because I'm sure it would have freaked me out a bit.
It sucked, that's all I'm saying.

Breakfast chat.

Naomi! We met when we were working at our first job, The Citizen, in Auburn. Eight years ago?!

Mom's strategically placed bluberries.

Michael Jackson

When I was eight years old, I could moonwalk like Michael Jackson. Or at least I thought I could moonwalk like Michael Jackson. I had a poster of him on my wall from the Thriller tour. I had a baseball t-shirt with yellow sleeves and Jackson on the front. When I went down the street to play with my best friend Andy, I always begged him to let me watch "The Making of Thriller" video just one more time. I was devastated when I wasn't allowed to stay up late to watch him perform at the Grammys the year he introduced the moonwalk.

When my dad told me today that Michael Jackson had died, I was in shock at first. On the forefront of my brain was the more recent things; the fact that he never left the house without a mask on and he made his children do the same, the fact that in the middle of his trial he got up on the top of an SUV and did a little dance move for his fans. The fact that he clearly had a plastic surgery obsession. I thought of the strange things he's done.

Mostly though, I felt sorry for him. For this man who worked his whole life and never really had a childhood then proceeded to be a complete weirdo by attempting to never have an adulthood. I wonder where it went wrong. Where was it that someone could have said (but didn't), "Y'know Michael, having a pet chimp and carrying Webster around on your hip could snowball into more unusual things and before you know it, you'll be grabbing your crotch as part of a dance move, have a collapsed nose from too much surgery, hire people to give birth to your children, and you'll have to move to Bahrain and sell your amusement park home in America".

As a child, he was pushed by his father to lead the famous Jackson 5. He went on to "invent" the moonwalk, amaze us with a sidewalk which would light up when he walked on it in "Billy Jean", produce the longest music video ever in "Thriller" and it's fourteen minutes of creepy zombie dancers with killer choreography, and introduce a new special effect in which one face would morph into another and so on in the video "Black or White". And I'm not even talking about the massive musical contribution.

How does a man like that, a man who, let's be honest, is part of American history, morph into what we knew him as in the last decade of his life? I don't know. I do know that I even when I would go "clubbing" just a few years ago in Florida, I always hoped to get a reprieve from the Usher and NIN songs with a little "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough". I will always be listening for that song to be played. That's the stuff I prefer to remember, the ABCs and the 123s.

Physical Therapy

I watched "Love Actually" this morning and it made me cry. It always makes me cry!

I went to a physical therapy session and got a case of the giggles. While my PT, Andy, was torturing me.

"Are you OK?" he asked me.
"Yes, I'm just envisioning myself screaming I DON'T LIKE YOU! I DON'T LIKE YOU!"
He laughs at me, "There is a sound-proof room in the back for patients like you."

He worked my shoulder hard and while it was very unpleasant, I can't help but feel good about getting my arm above my head, even if it is being forced by someone else.

He told me as I was leaving that he was going to change things up for my Thursday session.

"Like what?" I asked.

"If I told you, you wouldn't come on Thursday."

Homes

Every once in a while, I like to abuse myself by looking on craigslist for available homes and daydream about the day when I will be making a living enough that my living will include my own actual living space. Today, I want to move here, to this condo in Swamscott. The irony is that by the time I can get my own place, the market won't be any good any more. *sigh*

Holy Moth, batman!

He was on my bedspread when I came in tonight. Yikes!

Healing

I went to see my doctor on Monday. A two week check-up after my surgery. I'm kind of sorry I asked for a copy of the xray (see June Masthead), as I am now all to aware of the metal in my shoulder, accompanied by the massive screws.You'll see that the plate bends at the end, on the right. The bone on the tip was too small to attach normally to the plate, so the surgeon had to wrap the tip with the metal and then run that massive screw back through the small piece of bone.

When I saw my physical therapist today and we chatted before he started torturing me in an effort to help get rid of my frozen shoulder, we talked about the massive screws. How do they get those big screws into the little bone. They make a hole with a drill first. Yikes. Again, 'not sure I needed to know.

So, my PT was very unpleasant today as I spent much of it on my back with Andy, my PT, gently bending my arm back to create an excruciating pain like no other. I almost cried, I kid you not.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"No, it hurts." I answered.

"On a scale on one to ten, what is it? A fifteen?"

Well, at least he knows the pain I'm experiencing.

The interesting thing is that once I got home and the soreness of the session subsided, I felt a lot better than I have in weeks. My shoulder gave me the least amount of trouble today.

Last night, I watched the documentary called, "Young @ Heart" about a Massachusetts choir of older folks who sing rock songs. Pretty rad actually, but as you might guess, with older people, sad things come. Like dying. I was in need of a good cry I guess 'cause once I got going there was no stopping, it seemed. And the rendition of Coldplay's "Fix You" was no help.

That's the other thing. My mood. I'm finding myself wanting to be more reclusive and that makes me nervous. I took a nap this afternoon and when I woke I was so groggy, I didn't want to go anywhere. I mean, not that I could, the doctor told me I cannot drive for another month. I forced myself to walk into town to run and errand.

Although I have booked another wedding to cover in September and someone has come forward with interest in me photographing the birth of their son in the fall, I am feeling like time is simultaneously passing me by and not moving at all.

I will be grateful when this not being able to move and being uncomfortable at all time business is in the past.

Spoiled Dogs

Our Dogs Are Spoiled from C.M. Scott on Vimeo.

Festival By The Lake

Saturday was a nice day. I set-up a booth at the festival this year. It had rained all week long, so we were a bit nervous, but come Saturday, it was a beautiful day!

I had fun chatting with people and answering their questions about what I do. Because I didn't have any idea how functional I would be with my shoulder as it is, I asked for help. My friends were great and kept me company, too!

Donna signs-up for a purchase.

Meg

Lots of people liked the Happy Blowfish.

My neighbors and friends, Amy and Xander!