Monday, October 27, 2008

Square Dance!

Okay, I'm going to try to blog...we'll see how it goes. I'm sick, so my head's not necessarily very clear! :p Anyway...

When did I blog last?...Oh, Thursday. Okay.

So we went to a square dance Friday night! It was in Butner, NC, which is sort of north of Durham. It really didn't take us too long to get there, we managed to hit the traffic through Greensboro at the right time I guess, so that didn't slow us down. And it's a good thing we had plenty of time, because it took a while to find something to eat.

Butner is in the middle of nowhere. As is Creedmoor, but I thought that there was supposed to be food in Creedmoor. Which there is, but it's on the next exit, even though there's a sign for Creedmoor at the top of the exit for Butner. *sigh* Okay...

So we drove to Creedmoor (apparently the wrong part) and just got further and further out in the country with no signs of restaurants anywhere. At one point Mom suddenly said "Oh, there's a woodchuck!"...."Do you want to eat him!?" I asked. :p Of course we had no way to kill or cook said woodchuck, so we had to leave him there, minding his own business. ;)

Dad finally turned around and got back on the highway and we found all the restaurants at the next exit which was also for Creedmoor. And by this point I was getting pretty tired of Creedmoor... So we ate at a Hardees that had a 100% health rating, but didn't look like it should have. But the food was good, so maybe it was just so old they couldn't have cleaned the building up any more...I hope. I'll go with that.

Then we went back to Butner and found the hall for the square dance. Wait, I don't think they call it a hall in square dancing...hmm. It was a very neat building: Soldier's Memorial Arena Anyway, we got there in enough time for me to get my clothes changed and meet a few people before the dance started. Oh, and the light in the ladies room didn't work...so that was interesting. :p

I had a lot of fun! It was neat to get to meet people I know online. The dance was organized by the H.'s church...the H.'s perhaps known better on here as the Life from the Toaster people :p (Will, Sarah, and Annabeth, plus their brother Nick who blogs on Tunnel Vision with Neil who was also there). So I got to meet all of them and their family, and also Abigail and Allison. And various other people who I'd heard of or seen pictures of, but didn't know as well, which was cool! (Wow, that was a confusing few sentences...)

Plus, one of the guys I know from contra, Peter, was there too, which was nice because that way there was someone I'd actually met in person before! And he gave me a 45-second swing lesson, which will be very helpful next time I go contra dancing, but I didn't have any use for it Friday night because apparently you don't do that in square dancing. :( Which is a shame because it's really, really fun. But now I'll be better at it next time...and I found that it helped greatly that I put masking tape on the bottoms of my shoes...makes it a whole lot easier.

The dance was a lot of fun... although to be honest I'd have to say contra is more fun, partially because we kind of kept doing the same thing every dance on Friday. But it was cool anyway! And I managed to leave a few of my partners going "Wait, what? I'm sorry!!!" by throwing in contra moves...oops. ;) No, you did know what you were doing, I was the one messing it up! *grins sheepishly* Sorry about that...

Now, pictures! Dad took some pictures, although they came out kind of blurry...I'm not sure if using the "sport" setting on the camera would have helped any or not...but I'll post a few of the slightly less blurry ones. Dad said he got dizzy from trying to focus to take pictures of people spinning around. :(

I'm the one in the bright pink skirt, if you couldn't tell.

Circle left:








Find your partner, promenade home: ...I seem to have my eyes closed.








I'm blanking on what this square thing was called....?








Right and left through:








Another right and left through...no wait, the end of a ladies chain:









Do-si-do and promenade...and I'm wondering why the square I was in seems to be the only one still moving...everyone else is just standing there.








Men star left, ladies stand still:








All four ladies chain across:...we seem to be missing a lady...








Circle left:








Do-si-do:








I'm not sure what that is...








Another circle left:








They must have been explaining a dance at this point:









Okay, so unless you were there, you probably don't know who any of those people are...hmm... I could put a public link to my Facebook album, but I don't think that would show the tags on the photos, so it wouldn't help much. Ask if you want to know, I guess! Here's the link anyway.

I had the song "Mountain Music" by Alabama stuck in my head all weekend, because they played it at the dance. :p

And after looking that up, I realized how many songs by Alabama I used to listen to when I listened to country more...
The Closer You Get
I'm In A Hurry (and don't know why)
Song of the South
If You're Gonna Play in Texas

Um, anyway...if you can't stand country music, just ignore all that... :p I hadn't heard those songs in years though...wow...

Colin had a lot of fun at the dance too, although he didn't dance. He ran around with a bunch of other little boys and got so tired he actually fell asleep on the way home! Right before we left we rounded him up and he flopped down on the bleachers and I didn't think we were going to be able to get him going again. :p

On the way home Dad was getting tired, so I drove instead, and Mom kept asking me if I was awake, and I kept telling her that YES, I was awake! ;) I'd been moving all night, I was wide awake!

Okay, I think that's everything... and now I'll see if I can get to sleep. I slept a lot yesterday, which is why I'm posting this at 2-something in the morning! :D

It was nice to actually meet you all! *waves to blog readers she met* :)

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm glad I got to meet you in person! :)
I had loads of fun Friday night! Square dancing is all I've ever done, so I think I would like to try contra sometime soon.

Oh, I think the square was just called the "grand square."

Jessica said...

I see you danced with Nicholas while he was wearing his infamous "pimping hat." I'm sorry...! :P

Looks like fun! We can just all remember that I was the first of the "bloggy people" to meet you. *nods solemnly* And I can't stand country music. It's okay to square dance to, but that's as far as my toleration extends. Nickel Creek doesn't really count anyways.

N said...

Ah yes, grand square! Thank you, Abigail! :) Yes, you should try contra, I think you'd like it!

Ha-ha! I don't know, I liked the hat. :D Makes it easier to point someone out among a bunch of fairly tall guys too when you can say "the tall guy with the hat". LOL! :D

Yes Jessica...you were the very first bloggy person I met and we will not forget that. *looks solemn...bursts out laughing from being so solemn...* :D

Yeah, I hardly ever listen to country any more! :P

Jessica said...

There were a lot of tall people there? *shakes head* Usually Nicholas is the ONLY tall person. I'm glad you liked the hat though...he paid $30 for it!

N said...

Yeah, although he was probably the tallest. $30?!!

Beth said...

Of course we had no way to kill or cook said woodchuck, so we had to leave him there, minding his own business. ;)

If only we had brought your Uncle Jim with us...

Anonymous said...

Do I count as a "bloggy person"? :P

N said...

No. You're a cousin.

*waves at cousin* :D

I wish you guys were going to be here over a Tuesday for a contra dance in November... :(

Amanda A Gordon said...

Sounds like your Hardee's experience was better than some of my Hardee's experiences... However, you could have eaten that woodchuck whether or not you knew it! :)

I'm glad you had fun... Square dancing does seem different than contra dancing, and I recognized someone from contra dancing in your pictures.

N said...

Oh, I didn't have any doubt that woodchuck was edible! :P ...I take it that woodchuck would have been better than some of your Hardee's experiences? ;)

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Sarah E. said...

Hello, Natalie! Pleased to 'meet' you! :)

A friend of mine tagged me on HER blog, which finally hauled me back online to check on MY blog, which finally led me to discover YOUR loverly comment. Always a delight to meet a fellow contra dancing homeschooler! I only wish you lived a little closer -- your description of throwing people off at the square dance reminds me of myself at the Old Farmer's Ball, and I think you'd enjoy it. *grins*

I had fun reading your most recent couple of posts! You have a very enjoyable writing style yourself. Oh, and you totally have my sympathy on jeans shopping... My current favorite pair were a lucky garage sale find, and when I went to check the tag and see where I might find a second pair, it turned out they were GAP. Darn.

Thanks for stopping by to say hi!

Oh, and I've gone ahead and tagged you as well. Happy randomness!

- Sarah