Shiny!

The team now owns another trophy, and I, yes me, own my own little ballroom dance trophy. Paul and I were so excited! OK, but first things first.

So, the UCSD Dance By the Shores Ballroom Dance Competition was yesterday. Paul and I had planned on competing individually, and the team was going to compete as well. This was all well and good. Paul and I decided we needed a little more practice before we left though, and we ended up practicing until about an hour before we were supposed to leave. And then ended up leaving half an hour later than I had planned, because there's just no way that you can shower, do your hair, do your makeup, and put costumes and such together in under an hour. Sorry.

But, it was fine, I had planned on leaving earlier than we would really need to. What I didn't plan on was getting lost in the UCSD campus. I had directions to the campus, but after that all we knew was that we were supposed to be going to the gym. Sandor actually flagged down a police officer in a car, so that he could give us directions. It was a little insane. But, we eventually got where we were supposed to be going, and fortunately they were running late too!

When we walked in, Paul and I took one look at the floor and were a little worried, it was a lot smaller than we had expected. A Lot smaller. And one of the things we had been working on was travelling, which meant that we were going to be moving far too far for the little tiny floor they had set up for us. But, we got out and practiced, and it worked alright, although we were worried that floorcraft (not running into other couples while you're dancing) was going to be deathly, but there was really nothing we could do about it.

So, we got ready, and got out there. There ended up only being one round, as there were only 7 couples on the floor. But six other couples proved to be quite enough. Our waltz was fine. It went pretty well, nothing too special. Our foxtrot was fine too. Then we got to the quick step. We had decided to start with our charge (our very fast running piece that goes across one entire side of the floor) on a whim, and that worked well because we were out and moving right away, which is always good because then the judges watch you. The only problem was at the end, when we ran into another couple, and then had issues getting started again. Fortunately, the music ended just shortly after. But that was bad. But Chris and Jessica and Sandor came right over and told us we were wonderful. I certainly didn't believe them, and I got the impression that Paul didn't either. It wasn't as good as we could have done it. But Chris said he would have placed us second. Which I thought was crazy. But he did say that our dance position was much better, which made me really happy because I've been working really hard on fixing it. Anyway, Chris was right. We did place second. And the couple who placed first also placed first in the level above us. So they were dancing down. But we were soooo excited! We have little trophies! We placed! I couldn't believe it.

We competed formation later that night, and I wasn't sure how it had gone. The routine started with Dan trying to kill me by throwing me over his shoulder, instead of shoulder-sitting me like he was supposed to. I didn't actually fall, which was kind of crazy in itself, but, it worked which was a good save. Then Paul and I missed hands at one point, and I kicked Can in the slash, so none of it seemed fabulous to me. But I was not having a great performance night. But we won! We beat UCSD. By a point or so apparently. We have won back our pride from SF two years ago. Not that many besides me remember that at this point. But, we are awesome!!!

So yes, pictures:

Not the greatest picture of everyone, but hey, it's us and the trophy.

Stephi and I really like our trophy. :)


This is my own little trophy. I have discovered it is much harder to take good pictures of trophies than it is of ribbons. Not that I'm complaining. At all. Shiny is what makes it awesome!