flirtayangel

For once, I'm not going to posting a new Squidoo/Hub Pages article!  Are you excited?

So, here's the latest and greatest from my life.  I've been revamping a ton of things with regards to my, myself, and I.

1st: I started a new full-time position working for a company called Urban Diversion located in San Francisco.  It's been a blast so far working with the people here.  They're all super nice and minus the occasionally computer flakiness, it's a good environment.  The company is a Social Activities club and so far all the members with whom I've interacted with have been pretty awesome.  I'm really excited to host a Salsa event at the end of October!  I mean, I get to dance and it counts as work!!!  Anyway, I'm basically their social media person as well as helping boost some of their SEO and helping out with random events.  I've been doing a ton of graphic design stuff for promotional material and it is so much fun to be playing with that again.  Personally, I think what I've done is pretty shnazzy, but I'm not going to bother posting that on LiveJournal. Ask if you really want to see.

If you want to check out the company further, swing by Urban Diversion's Website

2nd: I should be moving at the end of this month, beginning of October. It's a big step (despite it only being a town away from where I am) but it is a great place (I'll be in dire need of furniture) and it's got an amazing pool. So call me up if you want to go swimming! I don't know the temperature so it might be polar bear style if you're interested. :)

3rd: I'm taking more time for myself, catching up with those that I've lost touch with in the past year, and therefore if you're one of those random people who I used to be close with, look me up, I should have more free time!

That's about it on the update of my life. I love you all!

--Shannon

Not really sure how this works,  but I figured why not!  So y'know one of the HubPages articles I posted earlier?  Apparently it is in the top 6 newbie ones of the week and might get more exposure.  But I need votes ?  Like I said, don't know how it works, but here's the link

http://hubpages.com/topics/entertainment/637

And it's title is "Why We Dance"

With that said, I completed the second part of my road trip photo adventure! It covers Flagstaff, AZ, Grand Canyon, and Joshua Tree.

http://hubpages.com/hub/On-the-Road-Not-the-Jack-Kerouac-Version-Part-2

I would say that "Karma is a Bitch" except for the fact that I was due GOOD Karma, not bad.  Let's just say I was pushing my plans aside so a whole bunch of people could enjoy their plans and gave a ride to a co-worker, and stuff.  All-in-all, doing a whole ton of good.

Hepzibah got into an accident...with a Hummer none-the-less.  My first accident.  Hopefully my last.  Oh, and the best part: The Hummer doesn't even have a scratch.  Is it wrong that I don't want to think of losing Hepzibah (despite her not really being MY car) and that I keep thinking "Hepzi-baby" and feeling rather dejected about it.  *sigh*

Moving on, my work is now having me explore some other places beyond Squidoo, so I have a couple brief entries (us figuring out how it works) on a place called "HubPages".

So here's the two entries:

Part 1 of my Summer Road Trip last year complete with pictures: hubpages.com/hub/On-the-Road-Not-the-Jack-Kerouac-Version

and

And article on "Why we dance": hubpages.com/hub/Why-We-Dance
Oh, and work has released a new webpage: Stocu.com

If you're interested in an invite code, just ask and I'll be happy to provide you with one!

This one actually got started awhile back. And I couldn't resist after seeing the articles on all the weird marriages. So I looked some stuff up and had fun. While my mother is happily married to a REAL man, I still dedicate this Squidoo article to her.

http://www.squidoo.com/Love_by_People_For_Things

So, as aforementioned, Dealspl.us has me at it again.  Really, it's more like stuff here has slowed down since the holidays.  We'll be releasing a new redesign which is great and I'm really hoping it will give an opportunity to help rejuvenate Sazze.com again.

Anyhoo, so here's the latest in Squidoo articles.  Although I am hard at work on another already just due to some of the news articles I've noticed in the last couple months!

Shoe Savings to Make You Smile

I did get a little lazy with it, so I'll probably go back and fix it up soonish. But I'm enjoying the new post too much!

So, we all realize that the economy is not what it used to be.  My job at DealsPlus definitely reminds me of that with the amount of deals and then the people who still complain about pricing despite unbelievable markdowns.  So, here's probably the first of shopping advice squidoo articles.  Yay for work helping me with it!

http://www.squidoo.com/handbag4less

If you have advice on directions you think I should go, columns to write, or suggestions on improvements I'd appreciate it all!

~*~Me

So, as mentioned in yesterday's post, I've started at squidoo AND I'm a magic princess.  SO I devoted a post to it.  I have some of the funny stories listed and I'll make more and I collect them all!  I get new ones each week.  I just am limiting myself with each post.  :)

http://www.squidoo.com/MagicPrincess_Stories

They're cute and funny, so if you ignore the rest of the post that's fine, but if you want updates on my life, read about the kids.  :)

~*~Me

Gasp and Gadzooks!

Anyway, I haven't updated in forever and a day and this is not a post suggesting that I'll be making a habit of updating.  In fact, it's going to let you know what random things I'm doing in my life which are going to keep me from updating!  :)  But there might be some overlap.

Anyhoo, I just got back from teaching in FRANCE!  Yup, you heard me, in France.  "But Shannon," you may ask, "You're not a teacher."  And I would stare and you, tilt my head back and laugh.  Okay, so I don't teach-teach and you won't find me standing in front of a room full of desks anytime soon (yay for graduating) but I DO teach dance.  I just finished teaching at the first Blues Exchange in Toulouse with Lucky!  It was so much fun, got so many compliments, and I can't wait to start teaching at events like that more.  Now I just need to convince people they want me teaching...  But I am officially an international dance teacher.

Moving on, I have a job!  A real job, that pays me!  Actually, I have two (apart from dance).  First: I am a magic princess.  I entertain kids and have a blast and am badass at facepainting.  You know you totally want your face painted now.

Secondly: I work at a tech company.  "Say what??"  Yup, you heard right, a tech company.  And y'know, it's not half bad.  Actually, I always wanted to work at a tech company but what was I going to do, actand pretend that my theatre degree was really a Computer Science degree?  Psh, not likely.  But hey, somehow it worked.  I'm even re-learning what little html I used to know.  In short, I do Content Management, Web Design, and PR/Marketing.

The two companies are:  dealspl.us and sazze.com.  We have some others, but those two are my focus.

Right now, I'm doing a lot of PR for Sazze, but I'm not actually going to preach about it here.  Rather, I get to do some super fun stuff that seem so unrelated to work but are a blast!  I've made an account on Squidoo and I get to write "lenses" which are essentially mini blogs.  With that said, I will have my posting time taken up by that rather than livejournal.  But, you are welcome to check out my first one!  I'd love to get ideas for future ones to write.  I'm already going to make a Magic Princess related one and a dance related one and a facepaiting related one but I totally want more.  www.squidoo.com/CuteSexy_BacheloretteGifts

~*~Me

So, I’ve been thinking that I ought to start the practice of a Christmas news letter, not only to thank people, but to give them a head’s up on my life as well.  With any luck, I can keep it up on a yearly basis.  Lately, my life can be grouped into two “categories”: Summer and School Year, so I will just start this summary at the beginning of Summer.  I will also apologize ahead of time if I write of things that are uninteresting, repetitions of things you already have heard, or leave aspects out.  You are always welcome to email me to catch up further and I will do my best to respond. 

Anyhoo, this past summer was spent mostly working and dancing.  For the past few years, dance has become increasingly important in my life, taking up a great deal of my time and resources.  Definitely worth it!  So, when summer started, I promptly began my stay-true job working at a fashion store called CHICOS.  It’s generally geared towards women older than myself, so it was a great way to save money!  This year though, it became taxing on my nerves as I began to become aware of the not so ethical practices that some managers and co-workers were doing.  Ah well, one must find out about the real world somehow.

In the earlier part of summer, I also got to attend prom!  That dance where you get all schnazzied up and everything!  Obviously, it might have been deemed a tad odd if a soon to be senior in college went to a Junior/Senior highschool dance.  My date was a teacher/dancer friend of mine from San Francisco who taught at the school.  I was going to be teaching with him for a two-week swing dance course at the school: Oakland School of the Arts.  Granted, it was a little awkward to be chaperoning “children” not much younger than myself, but the class went fabulously and it was a lot of fun teaching the students.  They are fantastic kids and I made some good friends while I was there.

The summer also marked my first whole year of being a blues dancer.  In case you’re interested in learning more about blues dancing, here are a few videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdEBh8FEjQI

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PGlbbyGPe0

 

And: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzOAK7tS9F4

           

Side note: All people in the videos (girls included) are people I have danced with.

The very first dance exchange I went to last year rolled around again this year, and it was a great way to catch up with old friends and meet new ones.  For those who don’t know about dance exchanges, here’s a little trivia: In general, a dance exchange consists of two parts: workshops and dances.  The afternoon will be filled with 6+ hours of classes, and then the evening will have an early night dance and a late night dance often creating 6+ hours of straight up dancing.  I generally only attend both the dance portions of the nights, and sleep during the class schedule.  As expected, the experience was exciting and wonderful and worth every bit of sleep I missed out on.

I’m also working on getting rid of my TMJ (Temporomandibular joint disorder) and have been doing some minor physical therapy as well as getting a splint for my mouth.  It’s a painfully frustrating job to speak, and as far as I can tell, the only good that has come of it is the fact that it is having me grind into the plastic rather than my own teeth.

As per usual, the end of the Summer for me also marked the week in Ashland.  My family and I always drive up the week before school starts in order to conserve the amount of driving.  It is always sad when I go there due to the lack of dancing in the area, but the plays make up for it.  It was strange seeing just how many things had changed.  The restaurant that was a favorite of ours, Monet, had had its owners retire, and several stores had changed as well.  The very first show we saw was definitely my favorite though, a western almost musical rendition of Comedy of Errors.  A simply fantastic production.  I met a few people during my stay as well, and am doing my best to keep in touch.  While I did not turn 21 during our stay (I would be 21 during the drive up to Washington), my family and I still had a nice small celebration.  I’m legal!  Not much has changed actually in that regard, and I had a nice quiet evening with my folks and a performance of Macbeth to close us out.

School has been a year of surprises as it nears the end.  My suitemate got removed from the school due to bad grades, and so I was left in a suite by myself and more room than I knew what to do with.  While the quiet was nice, and the amount of space was also very enjoyable, it did get a little bit lonely.  I am now living with a sophomore Jenni, who had to leave the house she was living in due to the combination of allergies/asthma and mold.  We get along great, and it looks like the house will not be fixed before the end of the year, so we’re staying together.  She’s a cross country runner and a painter, and we both share a penchant for cooking.

I also rejoined the top choir at our school, the Adelphian Concert Choir.  I had originally done it my freshman year, but did not get along with the director and so refrained from joining for the past two years.  Last year, Dr. Yonkman was unable to secure tenure, so a new teacher was instated: Dr. Zopfi.  I actually popped my head into his office to see if he could use a spare dress when he asked why I had not auditioned.  So, I came in later that day during the men’s callbacks and sang for him.  It turned out that it was good I had held onto my gown, as I am now singing Second Alto in the choir.  Already, we sound so much better than we ever did under Yonkman’s direction, despite half the choir never having sung together (a LOT of changes were made).  I am actually quite thankful that I took part in the choir, or else I would not have met my boyfriend, Ian.  We connected during the choir retreat and started hanging out a couple weeks later which turned into a lot of time spent with each other.  This resulted in, when a friend of his backed out last second for a trip to Santa Barbara (his home town); Ian asked me if I could come along.  So, I took a 32 hour train ride down to Santa Barbara with him to meet his friends and family.  We met some crazy people and two really sweet girls who fell madly in love with him.  Only a 6ish-year old can get away with the line, “I’ll follow the train tracks until I find you!” and not have it sound cheesy.  The trip went fantastically, featuring climbing the rafters on a dock in the wee hours of the night/morning, a sunrise at the top of a hill with clouds covering any sign of civilization, and a visit to his old highschool.  Ian is a great guy who is addicted to geography and traveling and pushes me to teach him how to dance. So far, everything is great in that regard. 

School itself is going well.  I am mostly finished up with both of my majors: Theatre Arts and Communication Studies.  I already did my Senior thesis in Comm last term, and it leaves me open to devote more energy to Theatre.  We put on four shows in a four week period, each show getting a week and each person being heavily involved in one of the four productions.  The show that I am involved in is a modern “family drama,” a comedy by the title of “The Gene Pool.”  I play the part of Claire, the “man” in a lesbian relationship.  All in all, I am looking forward to the production.

The other bits of theatre that I have done include directing two musical theatre pieces from Disney for the club UPSstageM of which I am Publicity for.  I directed a version of the “Siamese Cat Song” (from “Lady and the Tramp”) where I had to re-write some of the music to add harmony and make it longer for my actors, as well as “Won’t Say I’m in Love” from Hercules.  I am completely enamored of that particular song.

The only other real thing to note is I am currently working on applying to law schools.  I am hoping to do an internship this summer and preferably for an entire year, but that depends on who I end up working for.  It would be great to have that year to determine if what I am doing really is what I ought to be doing.  The schools I am applying to are all in the bay area, and I am eagerly awaiting my LSAT scores.

Halloween brought excitement.  Random pictures of it that I’ve accumulated are as follows:

I think they’re awful cute!  And it did set some people into a state of shock (mom is not discluded from those people).

Although the blonde is terribly adorable, I don’t think I could ever give up my hair to that extent.  Besides, photographers love it too much. 

            That brings me to another point.  I’ve also been doing a number of modeling shoots for the last couple years; I even have another in two weeks or so.  If you want pictures (and if I happen to like any of the results) feel free to ask and I’ll forward the ones that I receive.

            This year has also had a lot of dancing tossed in with the school work.  My prom date organized the big exchange this year in San Francisco: San Francisco Lindy Exchange (SFLX), and when he heard I wouldn’t be able to justify spending the money to come down, he made a deal that if the exchange managed to get itself out of the red, he would pay for my attendance and flight.  The exchange sold out…COMPLETELY!  So, I was plopped onto a plane and got to spend a lot of good time with a lot of good dancers.

            The other big exchange this year that I budgeted in was the Emerald City Blues Festival up in Seattle, November 14^th-16^th.  The really exciting thing about the exchange was that I would be competing in a partnered division with a friend of mine from Boston.  He’s a phenomenal dancer and we both dance really well with each other.  The twist is, both of us can lead and follow, and so we switch off during every dance with each other.  Normally, I refuse to compete, but I have often said I would compete under a couple conditions: If he was my partner, and if we switched lead/follow during the competition.  So, when he asked me to compete with him, I readily said yes.  (In general, most competitions are Jack and Jill, where you get randomly paired with several partners.)  Although we did not make it to finals, we were given a lot of compliments from the judges who informed us that we were good enough to be competing against those who made it to finals!

            And I suppose that brings me to the holidays.  Decorated cookies with Ian, and then later when Sunny and Justin arrived, I made some with Sunny!  The house has not really been devoid of our sugar cookies for most of the break.  But in our household with the artsy background mom provides, it is a several hour endeavor to create that type of yumminess.  I’ve also been asked to sub in for teaching at a 4 day live in blues workshop/camp thing if one of the teacher’s hip doesn’t heal quickly enough!  It was quite flattering to be asked since it’s being done with some of the top dancers in various states.

But, the drive back is probably the epitome of excitement though.  Mom drove north to pick me up from school so I could take home a significant portion of my room.  My goal is to only have one car-full of stuff for the end of the year so we’re not paying ridiculous shipping fees or something.  Luckily, I was completely packed and the filling of the car only took 10 minutes or so.  By the time we set off, the snow was falling hard and traffic on I-5 was a tad iffy.  But we kept driving, and driving, and driving.  It took awhile into Oregon before we found that we had actually outraced the storm.  Our snow chains were never required, and no serious accidents were had by us.  Yup…I’m sure that was an exciting story, but you’ll have to forgive me for not putting it into literary suspense format or something along those lines.  For some reason, I feel that it is okay if one does not provide their best work in letters, I’m not being graded!  (I hope!)

            Anyway, I hope all of your holidays went well, and that this letter reaches you in good health!

                        Much Love,

                                    ~*~Me

Definitely a rollercoaster month, one with many ups and downs.  Currently, I'm in a down-up moment. 

Disclaimer: Shannon has not slept in over 24 hours and has been through 2 rigourous rehearsals since that time as well as several hours of class.  She takes no responsibility for grammar errors and misunderstandings that occur due to her updating livejournal at this time.

Down.  My asthma returned over spring break and I haven't been breathing properly since.  If it weren't for the fact that I NEED to be able to sing and sleep, the coughing would probably be manageable.  Since that is not the case...yah.

Up. Portland Lindy Exchange was amazing.  Albeit, a few mishaps along the way, but I feel like I learned things about myself, others, and I met a ton of great people.

Down. Classes are getting difficult with the barrage of emotional and physical trauma stuff I'm going through.  I spent 2.5 hours today going back and forth between the health services at school, pharmacies, and a hospital.  Nothing has been fixed.

Up. I taught another blues class over Spring break which was AMAZING!  It went well, and I've figured out a way that all group classes must begin: with a game of tag!  If you use it, you MUST say you got the idea from moi.  I'm totally "copywriting" that idea to the best that a dancer can.

Down. I messed things up big time, kinda like I normally do...but ran away, and now things are in a pretty messy craptastic state.  One can only hope for the best.

Up. This weekend should be amazing!  The show will be finished with (not that it isn't good or anything) but being a boy while sick is taking a toll on me.  It is fun being a guy, and a rather cute one at that!  :)  And there will be blues and I'll get to hang out with Ben and probably eat more oranges the way they're supposed to be eaten.  THAT was fun at Kermit's.  Okay, I'll shut up now.

~*~Me