I Actually Have a Life Outside of Homework Now

This week went by so slow, yet so fast. On Monday, I went to an informational meeting about a group (not UofM offliated) called the Society of Creative Anachronism, or SCA. They are a world-wide organization that strives to recreate all the fun stuff during the Medieval and Rennaissance periods. I met so many people during that first meeting and learned that there are so many opportunties to learn something new under the guidance of an expert (that won't even charge for his or her services!). There's singing, dancing, fencing, swordmanship, equestrian, weaving, sewing, painting, calligraphy, etc. There were a lot of demonstrations for each skill as well as explanations of how to become a part of the experience. The costumes were simply amazing. With the exception of only two people, everyone made their costume themselves. There was this one woman who just moved up here from Georgia that had the most beautiful Elizabethen outfit that she sewed herself. I was shocked. It looked like something that came out of a movie. At the end of the meeting, we all learned a medieval Italian dance and then spent time going around to the people to just talk or ask questions. That's when I met these two girls in Middle Eastern garb nicknamed Fatima and Halima that specialized in weaving and bellydancing. The bellydancing intriqued me, so Halima gave me her phone number and e-mail address.

On Wednesday, Halima picked me up and drove me over to her house where Fatima and this other girl named Crystal teaches bellydancing. Surprisingly, there were two middle-aged men who were learning it as well. We did a half-hour crash course on the most general movements and then the rest of the two-and-a-half hours was spent sitting in the basement decorated like a Persian lounge area, playing with the dog and two adorable cats, and talking about all sorts of things. The discussions went from plans for the group to what it's like at a SCA event and from freaky medical conditions and fetishes to the most darndest things kids say. I just had so much fun. Crystal even told me that next week, she's going to bring the costumes that she has made but is trying to get rid of since she doesn't have the space for them anymore. Since we are about the same size and height, she actually wants me to have some!

Today, I decided to check out what the SCA singing choir was like, so I took the bus to North Campus to go to the School of Music. I've never been there before, but once I looked at every corridor from the first to the third floor trying to find this group, I'm now an expert at the place. I really liked the instrument collection/museaum that they had at the bottom. But anyway, twenty minutes later, I finally found the group and was quickly introduced to everybody. There was only one other person who was completely new like me, so everyone told me to just look at the music sheets and try to follow along. I was a little apprehensive at first because I haven't been in a choir since elementary school. In fact, when one girl asked me what type of singing I do (as in soprano, alto, tenor, etc.), I said that I didn't know and that I couldn't really sightread music with my singing voice. But the people were really nice and supported me, and I ended up in the soprano group because the oldest member there happened to be a soprano and if I ever needed help, she would be the one to go to. It turned out that I did better than I had originally thought I would. One woman even told me that I was great at sightreading (better than her herself) and ended up asking me how to sing some of the parts. And another girl said that I had a good set of lungs. Yay! Lungs! So that made me feel really good about coming. And the songs are so beautiful, especially this one French tune called "Belle qui tiens ma vie." I think for the most part, I'm going to stay as a soprano because even though my voice range is more suited for alto, there are just not that many sopranos ( I think there are only three compared with the four or five in the alto and bass sections).

The funny part is, I'm not even tired. Trying to balance these activities as well as all my homework meant that I was only getting about five hours of sleep each night, but I still have so much energy left in my body. I think it comes down to the fact that when my brain is active, I'm active, so lots of activities is good for me. It makes sense considering that when I was growing up, practically everyday was devoted to both school and an activity afterwards, whether it was ballet, tap, gymnastics, the bowling league, ice skating, or volleyball. The best part of all, though, is that this fun-filled week isn't even over. I'm going to be doing a lot of great things this weekend, but I'll save all that for the next post. :P