A New Yorker's Thanksgiving

I have always been really lucky growing up. I have gone 20 years without every having to miss a Thanksgiving. I went to college two hours away from home, so to miss out on deep fried turkey, football, and free laundry would just be silly. As you know, I am a little more than 2 hours away, more like 24, so I had to miss the Odom family Thanksgiving this year. I spent my Thanksgiving in the Big Apple.

My week started off pretty rough. I got sick Monday after class. I knew something was wrong when I passed up the free Thanksgiving meal in the Residence Hall I live in. I don't remember much about Tuesday and Wednesday. It involved a lot of sleeping, medicine, and Grey's Anatomy. After not leaving my room for almost 3 days, I started to get a little crazy. I also couldn't help but pout about the fact that I was not in Missouri with my fiance and family.

I was determined to leave my room on Thursday. I would not spend my Thanksgiving in solitary confinement! I set my alarm for 5:45 AM and I met my crew on 6th Ave. for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I watched it every Thanksgiving since... forever so I felt obligated to see it in person on my first Thanksgiving in the city. We were standing in a space by 7 am, just in time to... wait. Finally at about 9:47 the Macy's balloons passed. I felt like I was in Disneyland for the next couple hours. We saw everything from Kanye West to the US Pizza team to ICarly. In true holiday spirit, moments after Santa's sleigh glided past, it started to snow. Now we haven't had snow at all this season, and it wasn't in the forecast to snow. I am convinced Macy's paid for the 5 minutes of snow, but I have to say, it was magical.

After the parade, a girlfriend invited us out to her home in New Jersey to have Thanksgiving dinner with her family. I had never been to New Jersey, but off to New Jersey we went. We went through Penn Station, where half of America happened to be traveling (in case we had not seen enough people on 6th Ave). Once we made it through the mayhem, we were on a train to Jersey. They lived in a cute little home, with a cute dog, and best of all: IT WAS QUIET.  We had the traditional Thanksgiving meal. I even was able to see a little but of the Dallas Cowboys game (although this would have been the year to miss that tradition).

I did learn a few things in Jersey, like the difference between yams and sweet potatoes. I have never even heard of yams until I was in the north. They taste like sweet potatoes, look like sweet potatoes, they must be sweet potatoes. I figured the people up here just call it something funny. Not the case. They are actually an entirely different vegetable, that just happens to taste just like sweet potatoes. Go figure. I also learned that it was common for many New Yorkers to cater their Thanksgiving meals, because their kitchens are so flippin small, they cannot cook in them. If there is no space to cook Thanksgiving dinner, then you know there is no space to deep fry a turkey. New York, let me tell you, you are missing out.

Overall, I survived my first Thanksgiving. I was so thankful to have a home to visit (even if it wasn't mine) and an chance to get out of the busy city, but I could help but miss the old Thanksgiving. 20 years of my family Thanksgiving, I can't just give it up, cold turkey!  he he he

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody

So You Think.

I recently embarked on quite the adventure.

I auditioned for So You Think You Can Dance.

I can't say I was prepared. I printed off the regulations and semi-choreographed a solo in my room the night before. My girlfriend and I left the next morning at 6 am. We walked up to the performance hall to see sleeping bags at the front of the line. I didn't think that people actually camped out!? We were in line by 6:30 and the waiting marathon began! We became good friends with the people in line with us, who little did we know would be our new family for the next few days. Camera men walked around to get their "waiting in line footage". After the kick-line, pirouettes, and multiple enthusiastic screams, the cameras shifted their focus from the dancers to Cat Deeley who was mingling with the line. (Yes she is as tall and gorgeous in real life as she is on TV.)

Now the night before, I was Skyping with my sister, and she made a comment like, "If you run into Cat tomorrow, have her give me a call." So I came up with a brilliant idea. As Cat walked past us, I simply asked if she would call my sister. And she did. Left her a voice mail. Simple as that. Yep, I am the greatest sister of all time. By 8 am, the experience was already worth the effort. We could have gone home right then and I would have been completely happy.

We all were brought into the theater and the producer sat us all down for a chat. He brought in some famous "So You Think" has-beens. They explained what all the audition would entail and attempted to be motivational, but I am pretty sure it just made everyone nervous.

I finally left the audition at 11:30 pm. With a handful of papers, saying I had to be back at 7 am the next day, wearing the same thing I a wore for 17 hours today. gross...I also ended up signing my life away in confidentiality agreements. Ok so maybe not MY LIFE away, but enough to prohibit me from telling you the details of the audition process. I was kinda pissed because I had plans of putting my blog on the map with an awesome "Tell All" of SYTYCD. So I guess my baby blog will remain a baby blog.

After getting a whole 3 hours of sleep, I headed back. Dejavu all over again. Same people. Same time. Same story.  Back in a line, but this time not with strangers. We are all family now. We survived the world's longest day and are about to embark on another one. Here is a link to a Brooklyn local website I was photographed for that morning, too bad my photo didn't make the cut, but my family did! http://fort-greene.thelocal.nytimes.com/2010/11/17/so-you-think-you-can-dance-auditions-at-bam/

It was an insane two days in Brooklyn. I met some incredible people, saw some incredible dance, and learned so so much. By far one of the most incredible experiences in NYC to date.

The Weekend I lived at the CIty Center

Lets just start this blog with this statement:
I spent 2 of the last 3 evenings at the New York City Center.

The amount of incredible dance I watched this weekend should be illegal, especially when you add the fact that I spent 25 dollars on tickets.

Lets start with Saturday. I have been planning on seeing Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake since I saw this fierce advertisement on the subway the first weekend in NYC.

Like true starving artists, the girls and I purchased our nosebleed seat tickets for 25 dollars. This was the only stop of the Swan Lake tour that was even in America, we HAD to go. For those who aren't familiar with Mr. Bourne, he is one of those groundbreaking, line pushing choreographers who will be in the dance history books someday. For example, his swan lake has an male cast of swans, and his black swan wears leather pants in the second act... just saying.

The show made me want to be a male swan. No joke. The men would breathe in unison on stage (as if the choreography wasn't hard enough on its own). It was so loud that we heard them from the rear rear rear rear rear mezzanine. I was so enthralled that I forgot entirely about my crappy seat.  Here are some photos, so hopefully you can get a jist of how INSANE these men were.

Tonight I was lucky enough to return to the City Center.  A company called Career Transitions for Dancers was hosting their 25th anniversary gala tonight. They work with Joffrey so they gifted the school with a small amount of tickets for the trainees. We lucked out, scored the tickets. Ran out of the school today like we had won the lottery, because we kinda had.. just wait.  We get to the City Center to be brushing shoulders with women in gowns and men in tuxes. We quickly ran back up to our rear rear rear mezzanine seats that we are used too. Then sat down for an experience of a lifetime. Here is why:
*The cast of 42nd street performing the audition scene

*Alvin Ailey Dance Theater performing "Sinner Man" from Revelations. -In a nutshell, Revelations is Ailey's most loved piece. Its an honor and a rare opportunity to just see it, and not read about it in a history book.

*THE Joffrey Ballet performing the Pas de Deux (Duet) from Light Rain. -This was cool because its the first time I have seen Joffrey perform since I joined the school. Loved it, makes me feel like a part of history.

*American Ballet Theatre performed the Act 3 Pas de Deux from Don Quixote -American legends, no explanation needed as to why they were awesome. I did find the need to give the ballerina a cheeseburger.... or two.

*All That Jazz by the cast of Chicago.

* And finally my favorite piece right now. "Caught" by David Parsons. I saw it performed in Bryant Park early in the fall and blog about it. It was performed by Miguel Quinones, who I am currently obsessed with. I fell in love with it the first time, so I was thrilled to see it again. It is the most innovative, athletic piece I have ever seen. The dancer performs on a dark stage, dancing in and out of simple pools of light. Near the end, the stage is dark and the dancer has a strobe light controller in his hand. As he dances, he clicks the strobe on to create the illusion of him floating across the stage, when in actuality he is doing multiple jumps and clicking the strobe at the peak of each jump. I put a link to the dance. WATCH IT. and it you are super impatient, just watch the last minute of it.
This version is performed by David Parsons himself, you should feel honored. Watching this Youtube video will make you a better person. enjoy :)

The Rules to Fighting

On November 14, Miguel and I will celebrate three years of dating, and by "celebrate" I mean we will probably Skype instead of our usual phone conversation. No worried, we have never been in the same city for any of our anniversaries. We don't really know how to even "do" anniversaries.  We have been doing the "long distance thing" for a little over a year and a half now. Its never, ever been easy, but I will say, it gives you incredible communication skills.
Now with three years of togetherness, we have argued a few times. Ok, we have argued a lot. You think getting into a fight with your loved one sucks? Try getting into the same fight a thousand miles away from each other. Really NOT fun. Last night, we laughed when we came to the realization that over the years, we had developed a "fighting code". Unspoken and unwritten rules (until now) that we both follow, so I thought I would share the rules and regulations of our arguments with you today. enjoy   :)

The Rules of Fighting:

1.  No name calling. Focus on the situation at hand. No one thinks clearly in a fight, so don't say something you will regret later, because you will.

2. Try to not cuss. Sure it happens, but you run the risk of violating rule number 1.  I understand you are heated but, tread carefully friend.

3. Under no circumstances do you hang up (or walk out of the room). If you violate rule number 3 then you forfeit the game, and lets face it, the kid that has to forfeit gets made fun of. If your going to play the game, stay in it.  Don't be THAT guy.
  -On a side note, timeouts are completely acceptable. Embrace the awkward silence mid-fight. They typically allow you to think clearer.

4. An "I love you" must always, and I mean ALWAYS be returned with an "I love you too". Stupid rule huh? You know they love you and they know you love them too. Not a stupid rule. Withholding an "I love you too" can be used as a weapon and is a clear violation to a fair fight. No weapons, fight clean.

5. Don't bring up already resolved, past issues. This is also another weapon and a clear violation. Bringing up past issues will guarantee that the fight goes into overtime. Why? Because now you have to re-fight about the past issue and still finish the current one. Know your stamina.

**6. Finally the most important rule. Know that there is no winner. There is no loser. Don't try to win. You are actually both on the same team. It would be kind of silly to try to defeat your teammate. Keep your head on straight.  Don't be dramatic (ehhemm ladies). This isn't the fight of all fights. It too will be resolved. Tomorrow will come. He will text you to remind you to bring your sweater because he checked the weather where you are, and you will love him even more.

Village Halloween Parade

 I have never really been a big "Halloween person". Mostly because of the insane schedule I always seem to have. I usually work or sleep. My favorite Halloween to date, was last year. My roommate, Shanna, and I were exhausted from the dance department and Halloween happened to be the first night off we had in weeks. Celebrate? Not exactly. We waited in line at Chipotle dressed in foil (because that is what you have to do to get a free burrito on Halloween). We happily brought our free burrito bowls back to our apartment where we dusted off our never watched television and watched 20/20. It was simply an awesome night.

Well this weekend, some of our girlfriends in the program were hosting a Halloween party for the other dancers. We haven't had a chance to hang out, outside the dance studio so I was really excited. We also had plans to go to the 38th annual Village Halloween Parade. My roomie read somewhere that this parade was on some list of "100 things to do before you die". Ironically the parade was the wost part of the evening.

We arrived an hour early, which apparently is too late to get a spot to see... anything. We did see these cool skeletons, but unfortunately that's about it. This photograph is literally all I saw of the parade.

Others were more determined to actually see what was going on. Like this man.

Just wait, it gets worse. Now obviously this parade is crowded. Very crowded. We are in a group of about 9-12 so being super crowded wasn't too uncomfortable, at least we weren't hugging strangers. At one point in our huddle, a mini parade of small children tried to cut through to reach the street. Since they were small children, we all shuffled and rearranged for our friends passing through. I ended up on the outside of the huddle, pinned very closely to a man behind me. I didn't think much of it. I got distracted by the kid dressed as Michael Jackson. Then I noticed it. The guy behind me was rocking? What the heck? Then I felt it. His (ehhemm) friend? Needless to say, I freaked out. Thank goodness my friend Jon was stand right next to me. I grabbed his arm with a death grip and demanded to trade places. The mysterious humping man realized he was busted and disappeared into the crowd.

I'm emotionally scarred. I had plans to go to the Thanksgiving parade, but I want to avoid parades for a while.

This weekend didn't quite top my Chipotle Halloween, but it was an adventure for sure. Also made for some hilarious photographs.

Happy Halloween Everyone