Overlake Terrace and the Disasters Thereunto Related
This Tuesday, I was asked to help with a late St. Patrick's Day Irish dance show at a nursing home called "Overlake Terrace" in Redmond. I said that I would be able to help, and it was a fun experience, but there were several mishaps and disasters.
I went to work and knew that if I was able to get to Overlake Terrace by 6:00, which I had thought to be the call time, I would need to be sure to leave work by 4:45 or so. I did so, and I went onto my email to get the address for the venue. When I got home, I learned that the call time had been changed to 5:45, but I had been at school or work all day and I did not know this. So, after the due panic, I managed to say, okay, if I leave by 5:20 or 5:25, I'll still be okay, as I knew that Overlake Terrace is approximately 20 minutes away.
I typed Mapquest into the browser, but doesn't it always turn out that the browser goes slowest when you need it to go fastest? Why is that? So, as I bounced up and down saying, "Come on, come on, I'm late," I decided to get the rest of the things in order as I waited. I grabbed the change of feminine supportive wearbecause one doesn't do Irish dancing in regular feminine supportive wear for obvious reasons. However, I knew that I'd have to change when I got there, as I didn't have time. I grabbed the bag that contained my dance shoes (both ghillies and hardshoes) and actually managed to realize that my Irish dance socks were still on the towel rack. Thankfully, they were dry (Irish dance socks are handwash, air dry only) and I slipped them into the bag as well.
I ran back to the computer and quickly printed the directions to the venue before returning to my bedroom. My Irish dance dress is too big. As demonstrated here:
So, anyways, I was given a new dress at my class on Friday. However, I stupidly forgot it at class, so I just had to wear this one. As you'll soon learn, this is really the least of my worries.
I had thought that I would be just fine with everything. It was raining quite heavily. And I was now running a little late. It was definitely 5:25. As I ran out the door and said, "Bye!" my mom asked whether or not I had my cell phone. I'm terrible about my cell phone. I always forget to bring it places or turn it on or both. So, I had forgotten it, so I had to run back to my room to get it. Thankfully, it was charged. By the time I got into the car and out of the driveway (four cars just had to be passing when I was trying to pulling out of the driveway, didn't they), it was 5:30. So, I knew that I was definitely pressing the time.
There is a road near my house called Avondale RD. This road has a speed limit of 40 mph and 45 mph in some spots, but really people go 50+. I keep the law, but most people do not. Because of the copious amounts of rain, people had decided to actually go the speed limit, and this backed up the road a little bit. Avondale ends as it turns into WA-522 and it was about where it turns into WA-522, that the place where I was going was 2 exits further than I had originally imagined. So, it was definitely a 25 minute drive from my house to this place. I had the phone number of the girl who was in charge of this show, and I called her up (using speakerphone, because the use of non-handless cell phones while driving is now prohibited by Washington State Law). I told her that I had had a mix-up on time, and I was coming as fast as I could. She said that it was fine and that not many people were there yet.
I continued to drive through the pouring rain, where the usually 60 mph highway was more of a 50-55mph highway because of rain. I get off the freeway at the correct exit and am about to turn onto the road which is the home of Overlake Terrace, however, I get into the left turn lane (and am in such a way that I couldn't get out of it) before I realize that this lane turns onto 151st, not 152nd (which was the street I wanted). I therefore took the turn, came back on the road and went an intersection further. No tragedy there. Just a little time wasted, but not the end of the world.
I found the place where I was supposed to be going, but it was now almost 6:00. I didn't know where within the nursing home I should be, but they had a receptionist, so that was shortly remedied. As I went up to the room where we were going to be coordinating everything to get ready for the show, I realized that this was just a plain room, like where they held physical therapy at the nursing home where I completed CNA training. I needed to change from everyday clothes into an Irish dance dress, and I even needed to change the feminine supportive devices housed underneath the chemise. Luckily, except for five-year-old Jamie, all occupants of the room were female, so I huddled against a corner and practiced the art of under the shirt changing. I then pulled the dress on over my pants and changed that way. As I slipped off my jeans, I went into my dance bag to find the pair of black shorts that I wear underneath my Irish dance dress. Unfortunately, I had not put them back into the bag after washing them last feis. It took a few minutes for it to sink in. I HAD NO KICK PANTS!
Since we were all girls (except for Jamie who's so small he doesn't count), and we were all either Irish dancers (including Jamie) or parents of Irish dancers, I figured it wouldn't be too embarassing to just say, "I just realized I have no spankies." All dancers rummaged in their bags to determine whether or not they had extra pairs of kick pants.
When all dance bags were exhausted, we began to look for anything shorter. Shorts of any kind. When none were to be found, the girl coordinating the show said, "Your dress is long for you anyways and this audience probably won't even notice. Dance low to the ground, rein in your jumps and don't do your turns too violently. Don't worry, there won't be any teenage boys or anything watching."
I admitted that this was definitely true, so I simply began to practice with the other dancers. There are two major types of choreographed reels which are the Big Circle Reel and Salutations. The Big Circle Reel is easier than Salutations, but neither is particularly hard in of themselves. Each person will solo at some point in the dance and your solo can be infinitely difficult, but the choreography itself is not. Still, until Tuesday, I didn't know how to do Salutations. Still, the girl in charge put me in Salutations, because the Big Circlers were all small and she wanted to keep the older girls together and younger girls together. So, I was taught Salutations in about 5 minutes, and amazingly, that didn't fail terribly at all. However, solo right after a Championship level dancer is a little intimidating (plus the fact that she was the first in the show non-elementary school "cut 23" dancer that the audience had seen so they oohed and ahhed at her anyways).
The Slip Jig was simple as we all just went down the line doing our slip jig step, but it is in my slip jig that I have many jumps and many turns. I felt sure that I had flashed the audience, but I was later assured that I had not. Even though they were mixing big dancers with little dancers, I was asked to do the crossing light jig with the little kids. The crossing light jig can be quite confusing for the seven-year-old mind, and they need the visual cue (and the spacing judgment) of watching an older dancer, so that's why I was there with them. The small children then got to sit out for hardshoe dancing. I can hardshoe dance some dances, but some are harder than others. After awhile of hardshoe dancing, one graduates from fast hardshoe dancing into slow hardshoe dancing (counter-intuitive, but fast hardshoe dancing is actually slower than slow hardshoe dancing, because the fast and slow refer to the beat of the music, not the number of foot articulations put inside each beat). The girl organizing really, really, really wanted to put a fast treble jig into the hardshoe segment, but all of the dancers better than me had graduated out of fast treble jig and didn't remember any, and all the dancers less advanced than me didn't know how to hardshoe. So, I got to solo! Which was fine; treble jig and slip jig are my best dances, so I was fine with that. However, as I was changing back from hardshoes to softshoes (the closing, finale number was softshoe), I wasn't fast enough. I fell behind on the tying and my group went out before my shoes were tied. I therefore again had to dance with a group more advanced than I, which was again intimidating. Because I had been tying so fast trying to get my hands to move through the laces, I neglected to tie my right ghillie tight enough, and right in the middle of my step, I felt the ghillie fall of my heel!
Thankfully, I managed to keep it on my foot, but it's hard to keep a piece of leather hooked on your foot as you Irish dance.
We then had to answer their little questions: what are your names, how old are you all, are your curls all real (mine were!), how expensive are your dresses, how far can you compete, where are the world championships held (follow-up to how far can you compete), is your company sending any to worlds and my favorite: can boys Irish dance? (Jamie had gotten shy at the last minute, and since he's only five we didn't make him go on if he didn't want to and he was the only boy we brought!)
We then had to do the meet and greet thing and that was my experience. It seemed to be small disaster after small disaster, but I felt that it could have gone worse. In the end, it really was quite fun.
I went to work and knew that if I was able to get to Overlake Terrace by 6:00, which I had thought to be the call time, I would need to be sure to leave work by 4:45 or so. I did so, and I went onto my email to get the address for the venue. When I got home, I learned that the call time had been changed to 5:45, but I had been at school or work all day and I did not know this. So, after the due panic, I managed to say, okay, if I leave by 5:20 or 5:25, I'll still be okay, as I knew that Overlake Terrace is approximately 20 minutes away.
I typed Mapquest into the browser, but doesn't it always turn out that the browser goes slowest when you need it to go fastest? Why is that? So, as I bounced up and down saying, "Come on, come on, I'm late," I decided to get the rest of the things in order as I waited. I grabbed the change of feminine supportive wearbecause one doesn't do Irish dancing in regular feminine supportive wear for obvious reasons. However, I knew that I'd have to change when I got there, as I didn't have time. I grabbed the bag that contained my dance shoes (both ghillies and hardshoes) and actually managed to realize that my Irish dance socks were still on the towel rack. Thankfully, they were dry (Irish dance socks are handwash, air dry only) and I slipped them into the bag as well.
I ran back to the computer and quickly printed the directions to the venue before returning to my bedroom. My Irish dance dress is too big. As demonstrated here:
So, anyways, I was given a new dress at my class on Friday. However, I stupidly forgot it at class, so I just had to wear this one. As you'll soon learn, this is really the least of my worries.
I had thought that I would be just fine with everything. It was raining quite heavily. And I was now running a little late. It was definitely 5:25. As I ran out the door and said, "Bye!" my mom asked whether or not I had my cell phone. I'm terrible about my cell phone. I always forget to bring it places or turn it on or both. So, I had forgotten it, so I had to run back to my room to get it. Thankfully, it was charged. By the time I got into the car and out of the driveway (four cars just had to be passing when I was trying to pulling out of the driveway, didn't they), it was 5:30. So, I knew that I was definitely pressing the time.
There is a road near my house called Avondale RD. This road has a speed limit of 40 mph and 45 mph in some spots, but really people go 50+. I keep the law, but most people do not. Because of the copious amounts of rain, people had decided to actually go the speed limit, and this backed up the road a little bit. Avondale ends as it turns into WA-522 and it was about where it turns into WA-522, that the place where I was going was 2 exits further than I had originally imagined. So, it was definitely a 25 minute drive from my house to this place. I had the phone number of the girl who was in charge of this show, and I called her up (using speakerphone, because the use of non-handless cell phones while driving is now prohibited by Washington State Law). I told her that I had had a mix-up on time, and I was coming as fast as I could. She said that it was fine and that not many people were there yet.
I continued to drive through the pouring rain, where the usually 60 mph highway was more of a 50-55mph highway because of rain. I get off the freeway at the correct exit and am about to turn onto the road which is the home of Overlake Terrace, however, I get into the left turn lane (and am in such a way that I couldn't get out of it) before I realize that this lane turns onto 151st, not 152nd (which was the street I wanted). I therefore took the turn, came back on the road and went an intersection further. No tragedy there. Just a little time wasted, but not the end of the world.
I found the place where I was supposed to be going, but it was now almost 6:00. I didn't know where within the nursing home I should be, but they had a receptionist, so that was shortly remedied. As I went up to the room where we were going to be coordinating everything to get ready for the show, I realized that this was just a plain room, like where they held physical therapy at the nursing home where I completed CNA training. I needed to change from everyday clothes into an Irish dance dress, and I even needed to change the feminine supportive devices housed underneath the chemise. Luckily, except for five-year-old Jamie, all occupants of the room were female, so I huddled against a corner and practiced the art of under the shirt changing. I then pulled the dress on over my pants and changed that way. As I slipped off my jeans, I went into my dance bag to find the pair of black shorts that I wear underneath my Irish dance dress. Unfortunately, I had not put them back into the bag after washing them last feis. It took a few minutes for it to sink in. I HAD NO KICK PANTS!
Since we were all girls (except for Jamie who's so small he doesn't count), and we were all either Irish dancers (including Jamie) or parents of Irish dancers, I figured it wouldn't be too embarassing to just say, "I just realized I have no spankies." All dancers rummaged in their bags to determine whether or not they had extra pairs of kick pants.
When all dance bags were exhausted, we began to look for anything shorter. Shorts of any kind. When none were to be found, the girl coordinating the show said, "Your dress is long for you anyways and this audience probably won't even notice. Dance low to the ground, rein in your jumps and don't do your turns too violently. Don't worry, there won't be any teenage boys or anything watching."
I admitted that this was definitely true, so I simply began to practice with the other dancers. There are two major types of choreographed reels which are the Big Circle Reel and Salutations. The Big Circle Reel is easier than Salutations, but neither is particularly hard in of themselves. Each person will solo at some point in the dance and your solo can be infinitely difficult, but the choreography itself is not. Still, until Tuesday, I didn't know how to do Salutations. Still, the girl in charge put me in Salutations, because the Big Circlers were all small and she wanted to keep the older girls together and younger girls together. So, I was taught Salutations in about 5 minutes, and amazingly, that didn't fail terribly at all. However, solo right after a Championship level dancer is a little intimidating (plus the fact that she was the first in the show non-elementary school "cut 23" dancer that the audience had seen so they oohed and ahhed at her anyways).
The Slip Jig was simple as we all just went down the line doing our slip jig step, but it is in my slip jig that I have many jumps and many turns. I felt sure that I had flashed the audience, but I was later assured that I had not. Even though they were mixing big dancers with little dancers, I was asked to do the crossing light jig with the little kids. The crossing light jig can be quite confusing for the seven-year-old mind, and they need the visual cue (and the spacing judgment) of watching an older dancer, so that's why I was there with them. The small children then got to sit out for hardshoe dancing. I can hardshoe dance some dances, but some are harder than others. After awhile of hardshoe dancing, one graduates from fast hardshoe dancing into slow hardshoe dancing (counter-intuitive, but fast hardshoe dancing is actually slower than slow hardshoe dancing, because the fast and slow refer to the beat of the music, not the number of foot articulations put inside each beat). The girl organizing really, really, really wanted to put a fast treble jig into the hardshoe segment, but all of the dancers better than me had graduated out of fast treble jig and didn't remember any, and all the dancers less advanced than me didn't know how to hardshoe. So, I got to solo! Which was fine; treble jig and slip jig are my best dances, so I was fine with that. However, as I was changing back from hardshoes to softshoes (the closing, finale number was softshoe), I wasn't fast enough. I fell behind on the tying and my group went out before my shoes were tied. I therefore again had to dance with a group more advanced than I, which was again intimidating. Because I had been tying so fast trying to get my hands to move through the laces, I neglected to tie my right ghillie tight enough, and right in the middle of my step, I felt the ghillie fall of my heel!
Thankfully, I managed to keep it on my foot, but it's hard to keep a piece of leather hooked on your foot as you Irish dance.
We then had to answer their little questions: what are your names, how old are you all, are your curls all real (mine were!), how expensive are your dresses, how far can you compete, where are the world championships held (follow-up to how far can you compete), is your company sending any to worlds and my favorite: can boys Irish dance? (Jamie had gotten shy at the last minute, and since he's only five we didn't make him go on if he didn't want to and he was the only boy we brought!)
We then had to do the meet and greet thing and that was my experience. It seemed to be small disaster after small disaster, but I felt that it could have gone worse. In the end, it really was quite fun.
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