Ghetto Pay Betta Than No Pay

For $12.00 per hour I was able to work to cover my 3 weeks of absence from MEC Dynamics. Quite an adventure.

I got a call late Tuesday night that Stanford University's division that handles Medical student related things needed someone to come in for day or two to help prepare for their 10th annual HCOP program (Health Careers Opportunity Program) which begins on Sunday June 25th.

With very little to go on other than the room # and building, I was to report at work by 8:00am in the morning, an hour earlier than my regular job. Since the job was all the way up in Palo Alto what crossed my mind was:

1. Traffic,
2. Parking,
3. Motorcycle,
4. Hot.

Indeed, Wednesday was going to be one of the hottest days this week, hitting the lower 90s in San Jose. I used to work at Stanford so i knew that there's no place for you to park without having to pay the campus' "transportation & parking" laws. So taking the motorcycle was going to be the best mode of transportation to avoid traffic and parking fees.

I used to go to Stanford with my motorycle and parked next to the main hospital building behind some bushes near a bike rack, a regular place for motorcycles to park yet inappropriate to park on the sidewalk.

$12.00 is ghetto pay so I didn't want to spend any money for this job if I didn't have to (food, gas, etc.). I had to fill up the gas tank enough as it is so I decided to make two quick cheese & scrambled egg muffins for my lunch.

I woke up at 6:00 to get my stuff together to head to my parent's to get my motorcycle, geared up in my lightest suit, and made my way effortlessy to campus. I got to the parking lot to the building I was to work at at 7:40.

Things have changed since I was last here, as all the free motorcycle-designated parking spaces had a sign that says "Permit Required."

Well shoop, so I drove across to the other side to find perhaps another motorcycle parking space that has no permit required. No such luck.

So I was stumped. "Okay, I'll just go back to my usual parking space...even though it's across on the other side...so I'll just have to hump it to this building for work."

Upon reaching my old haven of parking, I was greeted with a sign (that I have never seen before) that basically said "No Parking on Sidewalk" "no motorcycles" "will be towed" and "enforced"

"Was this sign *always* here?" I wondered to myself. So Stanford finally made decided to make money for every vehicle that parks on their land. I'm surprised they haven't charged bicyclists for locking up their bikes on their land. Geez.

In any case I parked anyway, I figured that I can take my chances or at least perhaps when I get to the office they'd have a parking permit for me. I was correct. However, it's for a car.

Rather than let me make a parking space in one of the dirt bicycle parking lots, my supervisor insisted that I go get a motorcycle parking permit from the "parking and Transportation" department. So I had to drive across campus, stopping at a stop sign every quarter mile, until I reached the building. Luckily there was no line, however it costs me $1.50 just to get a daily parking permit.

After getting back and putting myself to work, I wanted to go online to waste time on MySpace and what not. Thing is, you need a log-in to even go online while you're on the Stanford campus. What, I can't just go online and haplessly download porn without someone from Stanford watching? I'm appalled.

I brought my laptop so that I could watch a movie during my one hour lunch. Thing is, they didn't have a log-in for me, so I ended up volunteering my laptop for 2.5 hours of work...the length of time that my laptop lasted before my battery ran out. I stood around and did nothing for an hour during my lunch.

Although I understand I am a temp, my office space assigned was literally a closet. No joke, I was sharing the cubicle with a bunch of boxes stacked high around my computer monitor. There was a printer there, so I was visited by many people throughout the day getting ahold of their printed jobs. You know, it wasn't even the size of a cubicle but rather a retangle. One might call it a "reticle" if you think about that.

I guess it wasn't so bad that my laptop didn't work and I had a closet for a work space. I spent the hour talking to my girlfriend on the phone, standing. It was too hot to sit outside and my reticle was too small for me to lean my chair back. Yes, THAT SMALL. I couldn't even open my door all the way because I had a skinny tall box behind the door.

At least I learned something today, that I don't want to go back. However duty calls and they need me to do their grunt work, so I'm recruited to work for the rest of the week in my closet.

Most interesting though was the program I'm working on, HCOP. It's a program that sophomores and juniors in college can apply for and get a 6-week intern/introduction to the medical field. As long as you meet their requirements you get an all expense-paid trip to learn. Some key things I learned:

1. They'll reimburse you for flight for you to come out to Stanford,
2. They'll reimburse you the gase money for driving out to Stanford,
3. Room and food are provided for you during the 6 weeks,
4. Only 44 are accepted out of the 200 that may apply,
5. Not many people know about it,
6. but you're with them 24 hours a day for 6 weeks.

Not too bad considering you can put down that you did a summer program with a name like "Stanford" where you learned about stuff. Applications accepted starting every November. http://hcop.stanford.edu.

The Traffic King

It's been almost a week since I started my contract job at Stanford University's School of Law, Communications Department. My job is intense as my title is basically "Content Management" for a rollout of their new rebranded website (Another blog).

Not only is parking a b**ch there, it's the commute. Since I'm driving my car this time around, it took me only 30 minutes on Monday, 40 minutes on Tuesday, and 75 minutes on Wednesday to get to work. I tried both Highway 101 and Highway 280, and either way it's 30 miles of agonizing driving.

Like a soldier, you'll need tools to combat the monster that is the highway. You'll need intel, because you need to know what you're up against.

I found some relevant websites that give you 10-minute interval reports and as low as 2 minutes. There are even some traffic cams if you need to see with your own eyes how traffic conditions are.

My favorite is sfgate.com's traffic reports. At traffic.511.org (http://traffic.511.org/sfgate) you can view a map of the area which can update traffic conditions between 2 - 5 minute intervals. It's pretty accurate and you can change the shades of the map to your interest.

Along with 511.org is SF Gate's sfgate.com/traffic/ page. Although you have to refresh the page on your own, it's a great way to see a quick summary of the incidents that have just occurred. Refreshes every 10 minutes.

FOr the cam enthusiast, Cal Trans has various cameras at probably not-so-useful angles around the area. http://video.dot.ca.gov/

Although I have learned that all the sites do is make me whine about traffic a little bit earlier in the day, it does help me select which of the two evils to go against. And to think I have another 1.5 weeks of this crap.


Cal Trans Live Cam Feeds: http://video.dot.ca.gov/

Quick Traffic Summary: http://www.sfgate.com/traffic/

2-Minute Traffic report Map: http://traffic.511.org/traffic_map.asp

My Time at Stanford

The reason why I haven't been blogging is because I haven't had a break on anything.

As I continue on my involuntary vacation fro MEC Dynamics, I've had to find ways of supporting myself and my mountain of monthly bills. Although I'm sure there are plenty of people worse off than me, needless to say if I didn't work during my leave from the company would mean I would be in the hole (I try not to touch my accounts that have moneys in them).

Other than my recent employment at Stanford's School of Medicine, I am now currently working at Stanford's School of Law...go figure.

Other than the B**ch of a parking lot, I decided to drive my car instead this time around. For $10.00 per day I was a lucky owner of a parking permit that allowed me ticketless parking in their "A" lots. I'm here all week so that's $50.00, at the employee discount rate.

The school of law is quite an amazing place, as now I know what real money gets you at one of these private universities. My job is content management and I was hired to assist in the school of law's new rebranding of their website (Redesign) at www.law.stanford.edu.

With the rollout on July 17, they had a lot of porting to do (getting info from the old website into the new). So I've been spending a lot of time doing data entry, editing, and whatnot that involves the computer. I'm staring at the computer for 8 hours a day, straight. I take no lunches and occasionally I take a quick brake which includes a 10-15 nap in the library lobby.

I work in the basement, which means I get no reception at all down here. The world turns without me when I'm down here, I've had many voicemails from many people during the last couple of days. At least I know I'm a wanted man.

As mentioned above, I work 8 hours straight with no lunch. I do this on purpose because I'm allowed to, you don't know how bad the commute can be when you're stuck in traffic. There were only 2 days out of this week where I got to work in less than 30 minutes. The worst was 75 minutes. So I like to leave as early as possible however it's not without it's problems.

Because I have no lunch, and I'm staring at the computer all day; my eyes get tired and my body gets tired...a poor combination as it leads to bouts of dosing off in front of the computer while i'm in the office with 3 other people.

I occasionally sneak out to walk somewhere, to exercise the legs, or nap but it's still a LONG day.

I'm taking some time out of my busy work day just so that I can keep up with my readers on here (I'm fortunate to say that I'm ahead of schedule on my work load. Ahh yes, A Bui always finishes their work earlier so that they can slack off more later).

Working here leaves me with little energy left in the day after the job is over. The result has been a lack of attention to J Smooth Salsa, a little bit of weight gain, poor endurance from not dancing, and just poor eating habits.

As I sit here, thinking of salsa dancing, I can't help but wonder if the salsa community has made leaps and bounds in techniques and patterns. Hmmm, I can't be away that long.

With the Independence day week here, I am working on July 3rd (although I had a choice not to come, I could use the extra cash to pay for my room and flight to my sister's wedding) and back on July 5th for the remaining of the week. I'm hoping by that time MEC Dynamics will have the new strip design so I can go back to working there. I miss 15 minute commutes and tons of unsupervised time now. :(


What I *Did* Learn from Stanford

The School of Law at Stanford is quite an amazing place. Because I'm doing content management I get a first hand look at the information that they have available for private and the public. What I have learned:

1. There's a picture for every employee, and student, at the School of Law (with quick bio about each person and their contact information. I had bouts of stalker-syndrome.)

2. There's a difference between the words professor, lecturer, and instructor (so I shouldn't have been calling some people back at school professor, but rather Lecturer so-and-so!)

3. The air smells a lot more expensive here.

4. Everyone on the main floor, including the Crowne Library where the students can go, have one of the most expensive chairs on the market.

5. If you write a blog, and it's public and relevant to what you're teaching, counts as a publication.

6. In addition to the regular school of law, the campus runs various programs in specific areas of law such as criminal justice, pro bono, internet law, biotech, etc.

7. Stanford runs a Legal Clinic that handles cases from low-income families needing representation or legal advice. These are typically handled by students.

8. The campus is so big, it has it's own city address: Stanford, CA.

9. The campus is so big that once you pass certain security check points, it's assumed that you're part of the staff (so don't act like you're lost!). There's no ID system either!

What I Learned from James Bond

After watching "Dr. No" and "From Russia w/ Love", two of the first James Bond movies, I learned the following things:

1. When a disaster occurs, it's best to know where the exit is ahead of time (instead of running from one corner of the room to the other).
2. Know your priorities (work before make-out sessions).
3. If you hold a gun with two hands, it's less likely to be knocked out of your hands.
4. In case you are near an exploding building, run as far away as you can. Don't jump into the water unless you can swim a few miles in minutes.
5. The next time I think someone is going to go through my closet, I'll lick and stick a strand of hair on it.
6. Regardless of which country I'm in, everyone speaks fluent English.
7. It's not the size of the gun that matters, it's the man behind the golden gun.

More to come as I watch through the whole series with my dad!

Who's Better, The Leader or Follower?

When it comes to social dancing, who really looks better dancing?

I was at the Agenda last night and I observed a few couples dance for a few songs here and there. Not really thinking about anything, I spot a couple dancing where the follower was executing double turns for the majority of the patterns. One can easily deduce that the reason why the follower was doing the double turns was because the leader was leading the follower to do so.

As time passed on while I watched this couple, I began to become bored watching them dance. All the guy was doing was turning the follower here and there, crossbody lead, crossbody lead, stand in place, turn the follower, etc.

It occured to me that this guy had no real good moves to execute, he stood around in place most of the time when the follower was put into a double turn, but his crossbody leads were good.

It occured to me that in regards to presentation, it was the follower that looked better dancing.

There are leaders that do most of the attention-getting and there are the followers that do most of the attention-getting. Although one can say that each couple dances differently, I can argue that everyone has the same basis of movement going from one dance partner to another.

As a salsa dancer, I've learned that constant movement and a wide range of patterns is what makes you attract attention. If you're always moving your feet and execute patterns that don't repeat constantly, people will watch and people will enjoy doing it. As a result, my dance style focuses more on speed and variety; however my strongest handicap is that I do not lead double or triple turns.

Going back, are double/triple turns really that interesting? I can relate to the euphoria that the follower feels from accomplishing a multiple turn, but to sacrifice pattern variety to do so?

I concluded from my observations that a certain amount of recovery time is needed after the follower executes their turn. Although subtle, you can tell from the follower's eyes or how the leader pauses for a split second after the follower turns. During this pause in time the movements of both partners loses it's fluidity until the dancers resume into typically, a crossbody lead.

Some leaders will proceed into some other variety of movement while some, after only a couple of counts, go back to some double/triple turn variation.

Dancing isn't about showing off or presenting yourself to someone but rather the enjoyment received from the act; however will your partner really enjoy dancing with you when all you want to do are multiple turns, leader or follower? To me, leading or executing multiple turns all night gets old after awhile.

A Conversation Between Jose & Piranha

It should be no news that Johanna the Piranha, the bartender with curly hair at Miami's, has been out to sleep with Jose. Let's not forget that Piranha has a husband, with child. Piranha is going back to Peru for 4 weeks so the following is a conversation that unfolded between the two. She calls him to tell him she's leaving and wants to know whether or not he's going to miss him.

Piranha: "Are you free tomorrow night (Wednesday)? I want to take you out dancing."
Jose: "No I won't, I'll be in San Bruno and will be going straight to work in the morning."
Piranha: "Why are you up there?"
Jose: "I'm staying the night up there."
Piranha: "Who's?"
Jose: "Some chick I'm banging right now."
Piranha: "I'm better than her you know."
Jose: "I seriously doubt that."
Piranha: "Why?"
Jose: "I've seen the way you dance and you suck at dancing. And the way a person dances can show how good they are in bed."
Piranha: "What!?! I'm good at dancing!"
Jose: "Not at the songs that I like (salsa)."
Piranha: "Don't you think I'm attractive?"
Jose: "I'm sure you're very beautiful to a lot of guys but to me, you don't look good at all."

At this pont Jose's kids were calling so we had to cut the conversation short, and I had a shower to take. Wow, what a conversation!

Adventures in Bug Catching

Saturday night should have a started with a good night's sleep.

After a night of dancing at the local adventure hole, Miami Beach Club, I headed home to my apartment with my date Rosie.

My apartment has a bunch of those really fast-growing vine plants which is a haven for spiders, lots. My door has those vines to the left and right of it so I'm always, if not careful, walking into strands of spider webs spun from one side to another. That's not including the spider webs that are spun above the door near the roof.

Before I even get near my door, I could see strands of spider webs from the reflection they made from my outdoor light. With a quick kick into empty space from Rosie, we've cleared our path to my door.

As I opened the door to my apartment and turned on the lights, the reflection of an additional spider web was seen at the bottom left-hand corner of my door outside.

I've been plagued with a spider web in this area for months now. Every time I clean it out is met with another spun web days later. I've been searching for the spider that is the master of this web for a long time, and tonight I finally came face to face with it.

"Oh my god be careful! That's the kind that bites!" said Rosie. My first thoughts were of a black widow however with some inspection I realized it was a wolf spider, and really BIG one.

"I'm going to get my vacuum" I said as i ran into the apartment. "But it's going to stay alive when you do that!" she said. "It's a more humane way of killing them!" I told her.

After plugging my weapon of choice in, I sucked the spider into the tubed vacuum...or did I? Before I could look Rosie cries out "Look! There's another spider trying to get inside!"

A spider was creeping it's way across the front of the door. With a quick vacuum suck i caught this one also and proceeded to check my job through the clear vacuum receiver.

I was able to see the smaller one but I didn't see the other one. There was a brief moment where I pointed the vacuum to the wolf spider where it tried to scurry off, but it was so dark that I couldn't tell if it went into the vacuum, or it made it to hiding.

For some refreshments I make my way towards the kitchen for some water. Before i could finish Rosie yells at me and says there's a cockroach in the apartment!

I turn around and spot this HUGE cockroach at the upper wall between the window and the door i just walked in. This was no ordinary cockroach that are fat, black, and are normally found near the ground. No, this was a brown to light brown cockroach (with a light yellow tint), 3 inches, and slim!

"Those are the ones that can fly!" piped Rosie. The last I saw the likes of these super cockroaches was when I was in the very warm country of Vietnam, where I had the simply luxury of having one in my shoe as I was putting my foot inside the shoe. Let's not forget to mention to occasional flutter of the cockroaches across the room as you tried to catch it.

Panic attack occured as I moved to turn up the lights in the living room, dining room, and kitchen area before I moved in for the kill. "Be careful! It's going to fly if you get near it, I know it!" said Rosie.

"Well what do you want me to do then!?!?" I exclaimed in freaked out moment. I've dealt with cockroaches in my apartment years ago with my weapon of choice, the vacuum, but how am I going to suck one up with my little...hand vacuum!?! "Make sure it doesn't go anywhere while I plug in the vacuum" I said. "I don't think it's going anywhere" Rosie said.

"Use a plastic bag" said Rosie. "How is that going to help!?!" I exclaimed. The cockroach isn't something you can just bump into the bag like trash I wondered.

Instead of listening to her, I figured I could spray it and annoy it enough for it to fly outside the door...with my air freshener. I also grabbed a bottle of Windex (Heck, I might as well clean the windows while I'm at it).

Sprays of the air freshener only made the cockroach make it's way towards the window and into the crevice of the opened window. Squirts of the Windex didn't work either as all it did was send it into hiding.

"Use a plastic bag! It's not going to go anywhere!" "Well how am I going to do that" I said. "Like this" as Rosie puts her arm into the bag and uses the other hand to pull the bag inside-out around the imaginary bug in her hand.

"Ohhh" I wondered. I didn't think about it that way. Doing so would mean I would have to get really close to a cockroach that could very well fly towards my face. Umm no, I'm not going to risk that.

"Hit it with something" said Rosie. Well, I don't have any sticks or rods! My little money tree had branches that could act as a stick. "How about we break a branch from your plant?" Rosie said.

I gave up the plant for safety, so I gave her the okay to break it off. Thing is, my plant's branch was too short for me to feel safe to flick the cockroach, I quickly realized as I got close to my target.

"It's going to fall on your bed" Rosie said. My bed is right against the wall where the cockroach was at. So, I pulled the bed away from the wall.

So the time comes to make a decision. With all the weapons to choose I select the vacuum again. With the end of the vacuum pointed to the cockroach, I attempted to suck in the bug only to send the cockroach to the ground, to where my shoe rack was at.

"GREAT. Not this again" I wondered to myself. As I was inverting my shoes, one by one, in search of the cockroach, Rosie yells "It went over there! Near your computer!"

I turn around and pull out the rolling filer to see the cockroach behind the supports of my computer table. I continue my vacuuming rampage only to have it scurry further behind the supports.

"There! It's on the bottom of your chair!" Rosie said. I turn to the chair right next to me and attempt to vacuum the bug as it ran around the bottom of my chair. It runs off again. This time towards the subwoofer opposite of the chair.

Well, the vacuum wasn't working at all so I grabbed a plastic bag and put my hand in it. Trying to grab the cockroach with my plastic bagged hand, I miss but not without wounding it by breaking one of it's legs as it ran. I finally grab the cockroach, inverted the bag, and immediately put the bag in another trash bag in the kitchen...at which time I tied the bag and proceed to take the bag to the dumpster.

Mission accomplished! Just as I got to the dumpster and was about to fling the bag in, a cat peeks out of the dumpster, sending me a step back in surprise. The cat's also surprised, and jumps out of the dumpster. Whew, what a night!

Tales of Tailgating

Memorial day weekend was a fun time of drunks, punks, and tailgating! The following are three quick stories on the results of following too closely to the person ahead of you. The following are all true.

Rear-ended By A Cop

Jose was on his way to work and stopped at the red light at an intersection. He observed a police squad car stop behind him also. The light just turns green when all of a sudden Jose sees that the squad car lurches forward and hits his rear bumper with it's front rubber railings. Fortunately for Jose, his foot was off the brake so the impact merely dissipated.

Jose gets out of the car and the office asks "Are you alright?" Jose replies that he's fine, his car only had a scratch on the rubber piece on his rear bumper, and said it wasn't a big deal.

There was a reason why the police officer hit Jose. Behind the police car was another vehicle, airbag deployed, that had a compressed front bumper as a result from the impact on the police officer's vehicle. The driver's face was covered in blood and it was clear his seat belt was off. The officer asks him "Are you alright?"

Regaining his senses back, the driver replies "yeah I'm okay" and turns to look at the person speaking. Suddenly his face turned pale and you could tell he was scared sh**less. Apparently, he was still drunk at 8:00am!

Headlights On, During The Day

Jose was making his way to work in the fast lane at about 80 mph, with a car fairly spaced away in front of him. An unknown convertible barrels down the fast lane and decides to tailgate Jose. Although the driver must've known that there was a car in front of Jose, he continues to tailgate Jose for quite some time; probably in an attempt to get *him* to tailgate the person in front of him.

Annoyed at this tailgating, Jose turns on his headlights; thus fooling the guy behind him to think that he was braking.

This worked a little too well, as the convertible's driver hit the brakes at 80 mph, swerved into the emergency lane, lost control, and slammed into the center divide.

Stalked By The Tailgater

The girlfriend's brother lives in east san Jose from where I live so it takes about 15 minutes to drive by residential from Mabury and White Road. I was making my way westbound on the 2-lane road of Mabury (I only had one lane going westbound) going at about 35mph in a residential route. A blue, beat-up, 2-door metro going at 40-45 mph flies by me and cuts me off for going too slow.

Upon reaching the red light at Capitol and Mabury, I decide to tailgate him for the rest of the way after the light turns green. Staying at about a 3-person distance from his bumper I followed behind him as he decides to slow down to 25 mph or less to annoy the crap out of me. Un-fazed I continued my pursuit at his varying slow speeds as I observed that he did not have a rear-view mirror, a right side mirror, and looked like an older aged Mexican.

I guess because he only had one mirror he couldn't tell what exactly was going on in my car (if you saw a car with a woman's head on top of the driver's shoulder, that doesn't paint a picture of stalker).

Upon reaching King and Mabury he signals that he's making a left turn. What a coincidence, I have to turn left also!

He continues to drive southbound on King road while I tailgate his vehicle in the second lane. As we near King and Mckee Road I thought to myself that either way, whether continuing straight or turning right, it's still within the path of where I was going. So, I'll follow him a bit longer.

Before reaching the intersection, he changes to the right lane and I do the same at the same time. Upon reaching the intersection he makes a right turn and, from the look at how his vehicle moved, he was punching the accelerator into the second lane.

A metro really can't go that fast so it didn't take me too long to catch up with him by the next light. The next intersection was 33rd street, the light was green going westbound and the "Turn Left" light was red.

The metro approaches the intersection and signals that he wants to make a left onto 33rd and was slowing down to a halt just as I approached him from behind. At a stroke of coincidence the light going straight turns green from yellow. At this point, the metro jumps from the turning lane and heads straight! I was able to compensate and switch to the second lane going straight but not before the light turned red!

So I was stuck at the light while I watched the metro reach the next light...which was red. As I was wondering when the light would turn green so I could catch up with him, he was probably thinking the opposite way; when will the light turn green so I can escape.

Next thing you know, the guy decides he couldn't wait any longer and pulls a right turn...onto the entrance to highway 101.

Maybe he'll think twice the next time he's thinking of cutting someone off!

A Sea of Hotties

I can't believe they're were soo many attractive women at Miami's! This was a first!

The last Thursday of every month at Miami's is the male review show, so all the women tend to flock to the club to watch these beefy men dance. With the combination of school being out for most people, it shouldn't be a surprise that young, attractive girls will show up to the club. Thursday night was far from an exception.

Upon arriving to the club with Alexis I was already witnessing cuteness at the front door, a tall one with bootie that looked good to me was making her way in with her friend. Man she looked good. I should be feeling guilty for looking.

Upon entering the club I wave to the cashier, thinking it's the regular. "It'll be 10 dollars" she says. What? Me? Pay to get in to a club? I was shocked. I cried and told the front security to let me in. He waved to the second security guy to let me in.

Upon entering I witnessed a sea of hotties: tall, short, hispanic, white, bustiers, and alcohol! There was even a woman with her right nipple peeking out of her tube top. Doesn't she realize that her tube top is too small for her DD breasts? Perhaps she used to have a small bust size and didn't have time to buy a bigger tube top.

In any case Alexis took no time to get her freak on with the regular belly dancer at the club and going on stage to dance. "She can take care of herself" i wondered to myself and so i was standing around taking in the view from the second level.

A girl spots me and flashes a smile at me from the dance floor. It's the girl I danced with at The forum weeks ago! The one dance that caused me to lose my ring. I wish I had my ring.

A girl sneaks peeks at me from where she was sitting at. Cute, but a little bit too short for me.

A skanky looking woman (aka Stripper Girl from way back when from a really older blog) was wearing gold, lower knee high boots. GOLD! I didn't realize they came in that color!

Johanna the Piranha (bartender girl) was there in all her ugliness. I was standing there with Octavio and cousin, she hugged and said hi to them while I had my back to her. She didn't even come up to say hi or hug me. Good, maybe she'll realize that I'm aware of her being married with child...trying to hook up with my friend Jose....and that I think she's a hoe. Yeah that's right, a HOE.

as I was standing in the back patio area, the tall girl with the big bootie (the one i saw at the front door) was swaying to the salsa music playing. "I wonder if she could dance" I thought to myself. I wanted to ask her to dance, but I was shy. So shy that someone else asked her to dance before I even fathomed the thought of moving to talk to her. What I saw was not pretty.

She couldn't dance. It was like watching a dog wiggle it's tail so hard that it's whole backside wiggles with it. No, she didn't look like a dog, more like a horse. Big and round.

her friend was sitting by herself, so since I couldn't get the horse, I'll go with the friend. So I ask her to dance, to which she said she couldn't dance, and off we went. She couldn't dance salsa but she can cumbia dance. So I switched my dance style to that.

After a song she said she had to get back to her friend (whom by this point stopped dancing). The girl i danced at the forum says hi to me and we were off dancing salsa. That ended and merengue came on, at that point we got our freak on.

Lots of hip bumping, hip rotating, and hip thrusts. Lots of that and more...from her. I think she got excited from:

1. Being out of school.
2. Being at the male review show.
3. And perhaps seeing me, in all my hotness.

In any case, she was bumping her hips here and there and I was having a jolly time recripocating mostly because it was a chance for me to joke around. I thought of my girlfriend during the whole time funny enough.

After my dance with her and my girlfriend hadn't shown up, I made my way out the door and back home...to my 30" TV!!!

Compromise, What's That?

Jimmy + Comprising = Fatal Error. Reboot.

Being a man of no attachments, I have always done things my way without the need to keep in mind anyone else's feelings. With the exception of salsa hottie Lisa as my ex-girlfriend, I've never been serious until my recent girlfriend.

My girlfriend and I had a fallout on Thursday, things started bad right from the beginning at 6:30; someone had gotten into the store room and stole most the mints I use to sell during the class. They would've take the cases of water, but I guess it was too heavy. It was probably some kids.

I place the mints outside and returned for the water. I come back out and see a guy grab a pak of mints mint on his way out towards the back. "So you gonna pay for that?" I yell. "Oh, I thought it was free" the guy says. How convenient to say that when there's a sign that says "$1.00 for mints."

Girlfriend was supposed to be at the studio 30 minutes before my salsa class. She was supposed to assist me and she was supposed to be there at 6:30 like the other 2 weeks.

7:10 rolls around and I'm getting ready to teach or should I say, supposed to be ready to teach. She hasn't called at all yet to tell me she's late or whatever, so I decide to call her instead.

She tells me she's blocks away. So I'm pissed at this point. She's not in a car accident, she didn't call, so what the hell?

She tells me that her sister made her late. She was supposed to be ready a certain time when she came by to pick her up, she wasn't. They left, only to have the sister say she doesn't like the outfit she's wearing, and needs to stop by the other house to change.

She would've called, 'cept her sister's phone ran out of batteries and wanted to use my girlfriend's phone. She would't give it up even after the girlfriend attempted to get back the phone to call me.

So now I'm just fuming (I'm fuming just writing this section) at the sister for being a chronic slow ass. This isn't the first oh no, not here but other things not related to this moment.

When they finally arrive the sister is *still* on the damn phone. Fortunately this time around she had the decency to talk on the phone outside of the class, unlike last week's event when she spoke on the phone while my class was in session. Some people actually looked at her wondering when she'll get off the phone.

My girlfriend is very understanding, and she knows that I'm on my attitude run at this point. I tell her how I feel, how I'm annoyed at what how inconsiderate her sister is. I make no eye contact with the sister all night, that's how pissed I was. The only words I say to her was "thank you" at the end of the night, when she held the door open.

(Note: the sister is on my network of friends. If she reads this, good; saves me the breath of saying it out loud.)

By night's end and after venting my feelings to my girlfriend, all is well...somewhat. Girlfriend and I resume to flirting and we're on our way, with friend Alexis, to the local club.

I hadn't seen Alexis for months now, so the fact that she wanted to go out dancing meant that I was obliged to bend over backwards to get it to happen. Alexis was hungry and was going to get a bite before heading over, and girlfriend was also hungry. During a moment of quick decision the girlfriend asks if I was hungry:

"No I'm not hungry. But I have to stay with my friend."

She was upset I could tell, as she said "Fine. go with her then" and slammed the car door on me on her way out of my car. Geez.

Alexis and I decide to go to straight to the club instead. After hanging out in a sea of hotties and getting my freak on with one of the girls, the girlfriend has yet to show up. I feel guilty and sad, and so I leave the whole gang and head home.

I call up the girlfriend sometime later and we start our first major bout in arguments. She had just left the club.

After some talk she tells me that "that how you are and I accept that."

Now most guys would take this as an advantage, the girl being all considerate and compromising however I didn't take it well. I guess it's hard for me to believe anyone would accept me, faults and everything.

So I tell her I don't believe her, that she's keeping something from me. When we get down to the core, I found that she realizes that I'll always drop everything for my friends...even if it means dropping her.

You see, she was hurt when I told her that "...I *have* to stay with my friend." Giving me the "put yourself in my shoes..." bit, I could see why she was upset. From her eyes, I would rather be with another female friend then with my own girlfriend.

So wrong of me. Realizing my mistake I apologize and continuing our conversation. Rather than get into all the details I will summarize the things learned.

I have a tendency to drop things, at a call's notice, for my friends. My girlfriend has asked me to take her dancing on a few occasions, only to have me say no to her. Hours later, Jose or whatever will call me to go out on the same night...to which I drop everything and go out with them. My girlfriend has always been second to my friends, yet she's always been there for me.

She tells me that she's happy with me most of the time, except during moments such as this. I tell her I don't mean it, I'm just so used to being single.

Compromise is an interesting thing, you don't really know how strange it is until you've been single for a very long time. Instead of thinking about what would be best for me, I have to think about what's best for *us*.

The fact that she tells me she accepts me for who I am, because "that's the way you are" shows a lot however I tell her I'm not happy that she's letting me be completely who I am, without compromising. That's just unfair, and I'm not into being unfair.

So I finally come to the realization that she really does mean it everytime she says "I love you."

2 Singles & A Hitched Guy

Sometimes, singles life looks so much funner from a friend's perspective.

Jose calls me on Tuesday, days after yet another break-up with his girlfriend, to say that he wants to go out dancing to GK. Of course this is a great opportunity to go out dancing as a single (weekends are with the girlfriend so I was down for that. He also tells me Octavio is going.

For the first time in a long time, the trio is back out in force again! So Jose picks me up and then Octavio and off we go to SF. During our ride up to SF we were back on our usual banter of girls, women, sex, and salsa dancing. To be more specific, our conversations were about Octavio's poor choice in women, Jose's really really old sexcapades (perhaps he missed the old days), and my slim shady salsa dancing. The last part wasn't true by the way.

I told the guys that Ana from Miami will be there tonight. "So *that's* why you were so eager to go to Glas Kat! Because Ana's going to be there!" said Jose. "What!?! Of course not! It's just a coincidence that she's going to be there and you guys asked me to go up there!" I replied. They didn't seem to take that story.

Upon our arrival to GK the guys bought me a tequila shot and off we were to the dance floor. Apparently Octavio said there was a girl that he's here to see. No, not Rosa, some other girl.

After some hang out time I separate myself from the guys to say hello to Ana, whom was watching from a higher vantage point. After some time I returned to the guys to which they told me to check out the girl that octavio was there to meet up with.

Around this time I dance with Rosa and see that Colleen and Salvador were in the same area hanging out. After some quick dancing with her I went over to Colleen and b/f for some quick chit chat.

How convenient, Colleen took the opportunity to dance with someone while I talk to Salvador. Being the good friend I am, I talked it up with him so I could keep him entertained while Colleen had her way with her dance partner. The result was positive, as he opened up fairly quickly as i dropped in some key phrases to him:

1. "My girlfriend..."
2. "It's nice of you to..."
3. "...Cuban salsa..."
4. "...Colleen..."
5. "...what..."
6. "...funny..."
7. "That's far!"

By this point Colleen returned back to her boyfriend at the same time when I spot Jose and Octavio dancing with some women. I was teasing Jose from afar, telling him to "Hey! I want to see some turns! Turn more!"

"So why don't you show me a few turns?" said a woman next to me. Ah! A dare! So I started to dance with her, her name was Dee-Dee (aka. Didi, DeeDee, etc.)

The performances came up, one of which was Enrique and Giana. Their performance is not new to me, as they have used my dance studio to practice so I had the chance to watch them prior. "I've seen their performance before. They were practicing at my dance studio not too long ago" I tell DeeDee.

After the performances and I resumed dancing with her, she said that once she realized I was an instructor she became nervous she said, but that didn't stop us from having a good time!

After the dancing, it was time for me to take a break for the night (I danced 3 times: Jules, Rosa, and DeeDee) so I walked myself to the front and bumped into Rodney. After introductions I was invited to sit down.

It's interesting being with Rodney, as he made every opportunity to introduce me to everyone. Although I've seen many faces, none I have been properly introduced (attributed to MySpace and being a MySpace Stalker).

I was introduced to:

1. Tom? - The salsa dork.
2. Vicky - the tall Dominican who says Asians are short.
3. Bryce - The tall whitey that can dance.
4. Aries - Salsa Rica dancer and Ana's friend.
5. Rob - Big guy with a funny sense of humor.
6. Amy - the one with the asian husband.

Other than them, I saw a few other faces that I wasn't introduced to, or knew ahead of time:

1. That one guy that was one of my students.
2. That one girl that's friends with Bryce, you know, the one that's tall and came with Bryce.
3. Jules.
4. Ronaldo.

After some time I went back to the dance floor to check out what was going on, at this point I see Octavio dancing with the girl that he came to see, whom had a really nice upper body. The kind that looks like she hits the weights at the gym.

Jose on the other hand, I noticed was with the friend upstairs dancing or whatever. It looked like he was interested in her from the way they were acting together. So there I was, alone with no one to dance with and no one I can couple with. Oh well.

I was thinking to myself, "If *I* were single I'd hook up with someone right now." How silly, how the heck am I going to hook up with someone if I don't have to guts to ask anyone to dance? How silly of me.

After some time Jose finds me and comes over to talk to me. Around this time a woman heads straight to me and introduces herself.

"Hello, it's so nice to finally meet you in person and not on MySpace! ....my name is Michelle."

Michelle from MySpace. The one that is going to SJSU in Aero something and will be done next year. The one that isn't on my friend's list and restricts all her blogs to her friends. I don't think she even realizes I'm not her friend's list.

Jose backed off around this time and later Ronaldo comes over and asks her to dance. So there I was again, alone and sweaty.

By closing time, I met up with the guys to head home and for some post-game talk.

Acting like a man and talking to Octavio: "You should hit that *ss! She's got the body and I'd do her!"

"Here I am, going slow and keeping the friend busy, while all Jimmy has to do is stand there while the women come to him! (in reference to Michelle)" said Jose.

"Yeah yeah I'll tap it, but y'know I'm not gonna rush it." said Octavio.

Jose and I looked at each other and said to Octavio "You? Not rush?" Now that's wierd to hear from Octavio.

Oh How I Miss You, 30" Widescreen TV

For the firt time, I'm anxious to go home to spend time...with my TV.

So I bought myself a 30" widescreen, slim-fit LCD screen. Samsung, with a black color scheme. This baby cost me almost $900 which will be paid off in 18 month installments of $50.00 per month, no interest from Sears.

After bringing it home and plugging all the cables into it on Monday, I was privilaged to something cool...HDTV.

I never knew what HDTV was until I got my TV. Being a person with no cable, HDTV can only be appreciated by those that only have an antenna. Apparently, HDTV is a clearer version of regular TV, but comes through the radio waves. My nights of watching 3 blurry channels has been replaced with 3, super sharp channels, in widescreen!

I also learned that some shows, like Jay Leno and Conan, come in as widescreen over HDTV. News shows and 30 minute shows came in at 4:3, but even that was still enhanced by the TV.

The next morning I went to work and all I did was think of my TV. 30" of pure ecstasy. I was thinking about my TV so much, I went online to find pictures of it.

So I finally reach home, and course the first thing I turn on, before the lights, was the TV. I sat there, taking the whole thing in, while I watch Family Guy in widescreen. Family guy in widescreen by the way, is a lot better than 4:3.

Unsatisfied, I left for work the next morning and also, thinking of my TV at work. One of things I wondered was...if I were to watch porn...would widescreen make the guy's ding dong longer? Hmmmm, quite a question.

I come home, ready to spend a whole night with my TV, only to be interrupted by Jose telling me that I have to go to GK.

I wanted to stay home, and would have had Jose not said he was stopping by. Damn him and his stopping by, now I can't stay home with my TV!

A Moment in the DJ Booth

For the first time, I got to be in the DJ booth while a DJ spun his CDs!

I got the opportunity to teach at Carribean Gardens on Fridays with Ruby because her partner was out of town. Ruby informed me that the owner knows I was showing up so it was easy to introduce myself when I got to the club before Ruby.

Although the lesson was from 8:30 - 9:45 no one showed up for the lesson. Not letting time waste by, I took the opportunity to connect my laptop to a machine with a bunch of dials and sliding switches so that I can play the music I had.

With the software that already crossfades the songs automatically, I was adding songs one after another for quite some time. Ruby informed me that the DJs wouldn't show up until 10:00pm anyway so playing my own music would be a good idea if anyone shows up early.

The club has two DJs, one that spins Salsa/Merengue music and the other Hip-Hop and Reggaeton. They showed up at 9:00, earlier than expected, however they said I didn't have to move out of their way on their account.

Playing with the knobs (High, Mids, and lows) were probably the best thing for me. I found from the DJs that Highs are for the voices in the music, lows are bass, and the mids well are...mids. I think they told me what it was but I didn't hear them correctly.

The DJs complimented me on my music and asked why the music was coming in sharp from a laptop. Laptops, I'm told, are really crappy in sound delivery to a club sound system; because they have a hissing sound and/or there's not enough power behind the music. They also told me a story of how a DJ was invited to spin music at the club one time. He started with CDs but later switched to music from his laptop. He was kicked out of the club right there that night after a couple of songs.

My first laptop was a Sony laptop that cost me $4,000. I used this laptop to teach at my dance studio with really poor sound quality. The audio never came in clearly and the bass was very low. After that laptop was stolen, I bought a Compaq laptop at Office Depot for a mere $700 after taxes.

I instantly had a bunch of compliments at my dance lessons from the regulars, congratulating me on improving the sound system (I had talks of upgrading the sound system at my studio). I informed them it was my laptop, and from then on I realized my laptop had very good sound quality.

Although the sound from my laptop was clear, I wasn't sure whether or not it had the power behind the sound because I didn't pump up the music up loud until the very last song; a song that I hadn't approved for quality yet.

All of the salsa music on my laptop go through a sound quality test as not all music ripped to mp3 are the same. Some are low, some are hissy, but some are very sharp. All low grade music gets put in a separate section for me to edit in the future. The Reggaeton song I played I never got around to.

Anyway, I don't have the ear for being a DJ yet but I have a better idea than before! I learned some interesting things though from them.

I found that it's great having two DJs because one can take a break while the other spins. DJing the whole night takes a lot of work, and the better DJs will be sure not to play songs in the same order every week.

Some DJs bet with one another on their music selection. If they start spinning some salsa music and a few couples show up, and they plan to change the music to say Hip-Hop, they'll bet with one another on whether or not the switch will kill the crowd or bring more out.

At 2 minutes a song and a club that will open for over 4 hours, that's a lot of music to mix between. That's about 120 songs per night!

It's rare to find a DJ that is strong in all genres of music. Some DJs are strong in just salsa and Merengue, while some are strong in just hip-hop. Having two DJs in each genre makes a big difference.

So, now I know for sure that my laptop can hold itself up at a club. Whether or not it can properly crossfade or blast the music I'll find out next Friday when I teach again.

A Night Out as A Single

Finally, a chance to go out dancing without the girlfriend! As usual, blogs are funner to write when there's no girlfriend! Wednesday is the the only night out of the week where I can go salsa dancing without the girlfriend, as I see her every weekend so far. Octavio called me to say that it's his birthday this week and he'll be celebrating all this week and next week for his big 30 age change. I asked him:

Me: "So do all Mexicans celebrate their birthdays for two weeks?"

Octavio: "Of course buddy!"



Octavio and Felicia
So after a nice gym workout I was so tired that I wanted to just relax at home. With the motivation in my head that this is my rare chance to salsa dance without the girlfriend, I somehow had a surge of energy to go, so off I went. I also knew that because of the dance troupe competition in San Francisco, the place was going to be less than pact...which means plenty of dance space for me. I got excited even before I got to the club!

I got to the club at about 9:00, the time that octavio was there with Felicia and her mom. He almost bought me a shot of tequila to celebrate however I was fortunate enough to dodge the bullet. After the salsa lesson was over I stood around wondering if I will be able to dance. I spoke to Felicia's mom on whether or not she could dance, but she said she wanted to learn. Stupid me, that was a hint she wanted me to dance with her! However I never took the welcome! Instead I danced with Felicia after Octavio was done with her.

One might say I got sloppy seconds but no no, that phrase doesn't exist in salsa. I observed that Felicia was pretty stiff so I told her to "relax." "I'm sorry, i'm just really nervous dancing with you!" she says. She's never danced with me before so I can understand.

Afterwards I danced with a stranger that kept looking at my direction. There were two of them, a cute one and a okay one. The cute one had a lot of guys approach her for the odd 10 minutes that the floor was open to dancing, but rather than ask her I asked the friend.

I got the usual line of questioning: "How long have you been dancing?" "Are you an instructor by chance?" "Where do you teach at?" "How much is it?" "When is it?" etc. etc.

She asked for my card and luckily I had a couple to give. After giving my card she says "I heard of this. I tried going to it a couple of months ago!" Ahh, the work of J Smooth Salsa. People know the organization but not the man behind it! Just how I like it.

Anyway, so afterwards I was standing around again and saw that RubyRumbera was standing by herself. Since she was the one that requested a friend request here, I figured it'd be nice to make some small talk with her.



Ruby

After some talk Ruby tells me she's looking for someone to substitute her partner Edmundo for the next two Fridays at Carribean Gardens on Fridays, because he's going to be in LA. I told her sure, I have no plans. After some thought, this would be a good way for me to get to know the staff at the place and have some time away from the girlfriend on Fridays. Yes!

So she runs off to teach some folks Bachata while I hang out. In from the entrance was this one woman that *always* dresses really nice in a style that is unique at Agenda. The thing is, this is the same woman that masticates her gum constantly while she dances. She still a hottie though.



Gum-Chewing Hottie & Ruby
I danced with her a cha-cha and a salsa song. She does pretty well following, but she wasn't chewing when I was dancing with her. I guess she chews early in the night.

I was wondering whether or not I would see Esmeralda or not, as she tends to frequent the place. As for Sandra, the one that caused a wedge between Esmeralda and I, called me two weeks ago I think to see what I was up to. I had thought they stopped talking to one another but I found that they both went to Agenda the Wednesday before the Cinco de Mayo weekend. Good thing I didn't go.



Esmeralda and Sandra
However the person I *did* see was frickin' Bartender girl. When you look at her, I realize that she has a face that's long as a horse. Jose likes to call her Piranha because of the way her teeth points outward when you look at them. Ew. No need to put her picture here.


 
Sketch of Bartender Girl
I was watching her dance Merengue with Octavio and she tends to lift her knees up, kinda like she's marching or doing the Mariachi. Either way, it looks ugly.

Continuing to sit down, a bit tired from standing all day, when all of a sudden I saw this really hot girl in white jeans and one of those tops that covers the whole front but not the back, dancing on the right side of my vision. She kind of reminded me of Vanessa, a girl I had a crush in colelge, from the way she had her brown hair tied back. I was watching her hips move when I should've been looking at her face. However when I did I realized that I know this person...except in black hair:



Ricardo? and Rosa
It's been awhile I suppose since I've been dancing. Now that I know it's Rosa, I remember that Octavio had a huge interest in her and they were talking and such more. Why was Octavio hanging out with Piranha instead of her? Rosa looks so much better than Felicia or Piranha.

I spoke to Jose about this on Thursday morning, to which he told me that he has observed that Octavio is afraid of committment, because he was burned bad once from his break-up with his ex-wife (no kids fortunately). So I guess he surrounds himself with non-standard women because if they reject him, he won't feel bad.

Anyway, funny thing is Rosa actually came up to me and said hi...then again I'm never at the club so i don't see her very often. So I ask her to dance and we dance for two songs and she's actually really good at keeping up. I've never danced with her before either, however I've watched her dance when I frst saw her months ago and she was only so-so. She actually did well keeping up with me.

She also looked right at me when we danced. Usually when I dance someone I've never danced with before they either look down at their feet, or they're concentrating so hard they don't even notice me. However, I could tell that she was focused on me...maybe she's interested in me? Oh wait, I have a girlfriend! I can't be thinking like that!

After thanking her for the dance, I told her she's gotten better. "Little by little" she responds and off she went.

By 11:10pm rolled around I didn't see anyone else I know roll in. I figured it was time to head home. Before I did I had to pick up Jose's DVDs from Martine, whom was standing in the back near the restrooms. One my way towards that area three girls by the bar turned to look at me while I was going back. I kinda smiled and continued on my way and spoke to Martine, to which he went off to get the dvds for me. While I was standing there, one of the girls turned and was looking at me while talking to her friends. So, I turned around to see whether or not there was a TV behind me or anyone else behind me...nope. So I guess I still got it, even if I have a girlfriend! Yay!

Reminiscing On The Single Life

Being in a relationship has been hard for me to swallow, maybe harder than some people.

I've been single for a very long time and I have not been in search of a relationship. Most people can relate that something like this only happens if you're not looking.

Now that I have a girlfriend things have become very interesting. The weekends are the only times when I actually have free time now, because the week is spent going to work, to the gym, cooking, winding down, and teaching. The girlfriend is also only free on the weekends so naturally she wants to spend it with me.

I had a full life before my girlfriend. I had mom and dad to visit, my partying friends to hang out with, and my personal time consisting of video games, bootleg movies, and porn. Ahh yes porn, always there when I need 'em.

I find myself having little time for any of the above things now...now that I have a girlfriend. No it's okay that porn is of little use. Nay, it's the time spent with my friends Jose and Octavio and my parents that I miss.

As I was at the club last night with my girlfriend I told Jose I was going to be there with girlfriend and sister, so maybe he can be there so that he could entertain one of the two at least. Unplanned, the sister actually left leaving me with just the girlfriend while the boys were busy with their drinks, catching up, and dancing with the various people in the crowd.

My friends came by every so often to show me some attention by massaging my shoulders or pinching my nipples like brokeback, however it wasn't the same as hanging out with them and laughing all the night away. No, I had a girlfriend, and damn if I leave her by herself because she'd be unhappy if I did.

I will say that I have attempted to make plans to go out with just the guys...MANY times during the 6 or whatever weeks i've been with my girlfriend. Each time was met with sadness from her....sad that I would rather spend time with my friends than with her...because my friends, in her head, are more important than her.

WELLLLL SHOOP, what's a guy gotta do? One can say I should be mean but nay, I am not. One can say be a man and do what you want to do but nay, I have not. It's not easy having a girlfriend that always want to spend time with you. Perhaps it's my chinky eyes and my odd tall height for an asian that has her not getting enough of me...I'm sure of it.

My friends have been missing me I can tell. I get a lot of brokeback voicemails now from them. "You don't love me anymore!" or "Hola mi amor. Como estas? Besos?" Or the classic "Don't you forget. You were *my* bi*ch first."

Don't get me wrong. If I didn't have a heart or didn't care about my girlfriend I would've been long gone by now, back to the single life of dancing with various partners like a salsa dancing orgy. I enjoy my time with her, and she's been very good to me in a lot of ways....in a lot of ways.....VERY similar to the relationship between my mom and dad.....I may have some sort of mother complex that I don't know about...oh heavens no I hope it's not true.

Challenges of Being a Instructor/Boyfriend

You'd think that I would've learned from my mistakes from my first dancing girlfriend. I'm still learning to understand that not everyone is going to be able to dance at the same level as me.

My dance partner on Thursdays is on vacation for the next three weeks so I was in need of a substitute until she returns. Instead of hiring a temp instructor for the next three weeks I opted to go for cheap labor and request the services of my girlfriend.

She is nowhere close to where I am in salsa dancing. Unlike myself she has taken no former classes in dance nor has she really dance with the likes of guys like Ronaldo, Rodchata, Enrique, and such. Her dance partners have typically been cumbia dancing men or cuban style such. The slot was unknown to her until she met me.

I warned her ahead of time that I have high expectations for my instructors and even though she's my girlfriend, for her taking up that role still meant that she's an instructor. I also told her that I'm going to be very short and stern when I'm showing her what we need to cover in class, and to not take it personally.

I spent all day thinking about what pattern I could teach that would be easy for my girlfriend to pick up. By the time 6:30pm rolled around I had an idea on what to cover and show her, step by step, on what to do and expect.

She did fine however I got annoyed, I wasn't trying to but I did. I got annoyed of all things... the way she turns.

Rather than get technical for all the non-dancing readers, I'll go as simple as possible...she doesn't turn the same way as I was taught...therefore I was annoyed...even though I shouldn't have.

She got a lot of the information down quickly, although there were some quirks that I could've let slide by but didn't...I wanted her to be perfect and I grilled her for not being so.

If it had been my last dance partner girlfriend, she would've gotten upset and would probably have yelled or something. yet this girlfriend seemed to handle everything pretty well.

The worst part during the night was that I was so stressed from teaching both parts the whole night (my regular instructor would talk on the women's steps whil I focus only on the men's) that I was pretty stern with two of my attendees. The sterness wasn't justified however the reasons were, because why are you here practicing your own moves when you should be practicing the patterns that I'm teaching?

Anyway so the whole teaching bit was over and the girlfriend and sister wanted to go out dancing. That wasn't so bad until the salsa music came on and we danced.

I was still in teaching mode, so much that I was so annoyed that she wasn't getting the turns and steps down that I wanted to stop dancing with her. I even told her, when we should be having fun, that she's not keeping up.

Calmly she told me "You have to be patient with me. The music is too fast." I rolled my eyes and kept dancing and When the song was over I told her I wanted to stop.

As we were sitting down, with the music from the club still blaring salsa music, it was about time I needed some air. I also wanted to talk to her outside where it's quieter about what I was feeling but she said she would rather stay inside. So I went outside by myself.

Although I met some people and I was chatting away, Jose comes up to me and asks what was up. "I had a fallout with the girlfriend" I told him. After some explanation he told me flat out "Look, you're really good at dancing but you can't expect everyone to be where you are at. Sometimes you gotta give in, relax, and bring yourself down to a level that she can handle. Aren't you happy when you're together? Wouldn't you rather be happy with her than to force her to be at your level?"

Sometimes it takes a friend to flat out turn things around on yourself. So yeah i felt bad, I figured by this time she would be dancing with someone else but no she was still sitting where I left her at. I went over and apologized and explained what I was feeling. All she responded was "I know. You just expect a lot. It's okay baby."

My Very Short Salsa Hiatus

I didn't last very long during my hiatus however this is a log of my thoughts during the whole even. Officially the whole hiatus lasts only 31 days.

Day 0 - Tuesday. My last day of salsa dancing was at the GK. I don't recall dancing at all that night. A great way to begin my hiatus.

Day 4 - Saturday. I visited the Tech museum and played with a machine that played salsa music. Coincidence? It does not phase me however girlfriend thinks it's a sign that I should be dancing tonight.

Day 6 - Monday. I start wondering whether or not it was a good idea to stop dancing for 8 weeks.

Day 8 - Wednesday. A friend calls me and says she just found out that I won't be salsa dancing for 2 months. She says she wants to dance with me and asks what she can do to pursuade me to break my hiatus. I tell her if I told her it would ruin the fun. She comes up with nothing and so I dodge the bullet.

Day 9 - Thursday. A coworker asks what salsa dancing is so I show him some salsa videos from the Mayan Competition. He also asks me to play salsa music all day so he can have a feel of what salsa music is. I am now distraught and was close to doing a double turn in the office kitchen.

Day 10 - Friday. Girlfriend says she wants me to go salsa dancing tonight or else she'll be the third wheel with her sister and her boyfriend. She also says she can't believe I'm saying no to her. The reality sets in for her that I'm not going dancing with her for the next 7 weeks.

Day 11 - Saturday. I'm anxious to salsa dance and I'm doing my best to hold back. Girlfriend says we have to go to a baptism party of of her friends. We enjoy eating and Banda music for most of the day. Later in the night the DJ plays one salsa song. I dance my heart out, almost knocking girlfriend to the ground due to my ecstasy. I satisfy my salsa craving without breaking the rules I gave to myself.

Day 17 - Friday. I last through a week not too interested in salsa dancing. Girlfriend tries to seduce me to get me to take her out salsa dancing. We discuss the possibility of lingerie to motivate me. her hopes are lost when I tell her I'd rather be at home playing video games. She calls me names, one of which is I'm a big baby.

Day 19 - Sunday. I'm over at the girlfriend's house and by chance watch some show on telemundo on dancing like dancing with the stars. I wonder why I haven't gone out dancing this weekend. I keep my thoughts to myself as to not give girlfriend ammunition to bring me out of my hiatus.

Day 25 - Saturday. A break in my salsa hiatus. I was hoping my break would be a full blown ecstasy with different partners for every song however all is lost when I realize I am with my girlfriend that won't le me dance with anyone else yet. I go home satisfied but without the multiple salsa orgasm I should have gotten.

Day 30 - Thursday. My first attempt at salsa dancing without the girlfriend. All is lost when the girlfriend say will be at Miami's anyway. Night was actually good. Jose dances with her and her sister, giving me the breathing space to socialize and dance with someone other than girlfriend. I leave satisfied.

Day 31 - Friday. Hot Salsa Friday. Had a discussion with girlfriend about how she's not happy when I go out with other girls to salsa dance, or plan to. Informed girlfriend that I will be going out dancing by myself and select Dance Spectrum as my venue of choice. I haven't been here since 2004 I think. I actually dance with strangers, one of which was a really tall girl that looked like she was one of those dancing monkeys with the symbles, from the way she did her basic steps. Ronaldo finds me outside and says he wants to watch me dance. A person conventiently asks me to dance while Ronaldo was busy with another person. Almost had a salsa heart attack with this person. Later danced with a hottie name Samantha that had an outfit that reminded me of lingerie. I wonder, at that moment, if single life would be better or not. I end my salsa hiatus, finally satisfied with multiple salsa orgasms that night.