The Fling! And yet another blogfest!

Well, I took part in the Whoops! Blogfest, hosted by Laurel, and I think that it was a lot of fun! I enjoyed reading the other entries and also (quickly) writing my own.

And now, I have yet another blogfest to admit to have joining! (I sure hope I remember all of the ones I've signed up for, now.) Jon Paul is hosting a Drunk at First Sight Blogfest! And I signed up! And, of course, I have nothing to enter...

From his blog, here are suggestions for taking part.
2)  Write a new scene or short story, or dust off an old one, about a love/relationship situation that also includes one or more of the following elements:
     ---St. Paddy's Day as important event or setting
     ---Use of Ireland or anything Irish as a setting or prop
     ---An alcohol related event (party, hangover, cocktails, AA meeting, etc.)

You know, I just had a thought of something I could use a scene from...

Anyway, the other big news in my life right now is that I will be learning part of the Highland Fling. Seriously. Via Youtube. Oh, dear.

You see, it started because a gal at work and a guy at work made a deal with each other that one would do the Fling if the other would play the bagpipes...and I got sucked right in. Because they know it's easy to suck me in, I guess. And because I love to dance. And to learn new dances, thank heavens! Because I certainly don't know how to do any Flinging, other than of my arms up into the air and sometimes, of small, harmless objects at other people. Only occasionally, mind you.

But hey--if I can belly dance, ballroom dance, and teach a hip-hop exercise class (though it's been a while, and I had some help with the choreography), I can totally learn to do a Highland Fling...right?

So, I guess we are all set up to do a SCOTTISH Highland Fling for St. Patrick's Day!

Life in general

I think about life in general quite a bit, which is sort of strange, I guess. Like, what is the meaning of life? Except that the question doesn't bother me so much as it did those philosophers years ago and probably even today. Why wouldn't there be life? Maybe I sound cocky, but I can't help it. I feel we're here for a reason, too, but aside from making the world a better place, trying to figure out what our role is and working it to the best of our ability, I feel like life just is. So. Period, end of subject?

No. I'm afraid I'm much too verbose for that. Even though the darn "E" key keeps sticking on me.

It starts off and on. I think of life cycles, you see. I go to a funeral, I go to a wedding. That combination has been happening a lot, for me.

The most recent funeral was for a friend, an old co-worker, who had was 29, had been married a week before, was in the prime of her life. The most recent wedding, for two friends who I had known separately, who met after both had met me, who will be experiencing life and death together in such a different capacity than I would have thought. Living with each other, probably having children, growing old--like their parents have, like mine are. The circle of life continues.

Not for me--not yet.

There is a great little video circling the Web, of a couple who danced in during the wedding procession. The bride planned it all out. It's been called viral, it's so wide-spread, these days. I saw it, and fell in love.

My family didn't like it so much as I did.

"It's a metaphor," I told them. My brother looked at me blankly, while my parents laughed.

"They're dancing is their life. Their dance brought them circling closer and closer together. Now they'll dance on into the future." It might not have been worded as well as that, but isn't that the beauty of writing? You can go back and reword what you said, so that in the future, the past is as pretty as a poem.

Perfection isn't life. But the process of attaining it--perhaps that's a part of life that we don't consider all too often.