Dance Lifts and Graduate Schools

So what do all these have in common? Erm... that's my life right now.

Grad school first. I have completely applied to, so far:

1. Duke
2. University of North Carolina
3. Michigan State University
4. Ohio State University
5. University of Michigan

I am *almost* done with:

1. University of Maryland

Which means up next is:

1. University of Virgina (Dec 10)
2. University of Tennessee (Dec 31)
3. Indiana University (Jan 2)
4. Miami University (Jan 10)
5. University of Maine (Jan 15)
6. University of Nebraska (Jan 15)

And then here are the deadline outliers:

1. University of Cincinnati (May 1)
2. University of Louisville (July 20.... but April 1 for fellowship applications? What?)

So once I keep completing essays, I'll be good to go. That's what's catching me up. They all want different essays, different number of essays, etc. So they all have to be informationally different. If informationally is even a word. Act like it is, for the sake of conversation.

I also worked on these damn things all during break. What a fun break.

Dance class!

We tried doing lifts LAST Monday, but there were more girls than guys interested. And I didn't get to try any lifts.

Well, today I did. And I hurt! The boys tried. They really did. But I kicked someone in the head because he didn't duck my feet (apparently I can hyperextend my back... and it's not my fault apparently, but I feel bad. I didn't want to hit him in the head. He's a nice boy. Other people I might not have minded as much.) I stepped on feet because they didn't put me down well. I fell several times, including right on my hipbone. I pulled several muscles in my upper back trying to keep from hurting them and to stay in position. We'll all be sore tomorrow.

It also doesn't help that, unlike my skating dance partners, I don't have much trust in these guys. They're not my boyfriends. They're not even good friends. Or instructors. So I don't trust them blindly NOT to drop me, so that makes me tenser than I should be, which means I screw up more. And these guys have never lifted a girl until last week, or for some, like my second partner, today.

But needless to say, even when I took a few hard falls on the gym floor, they DID help break the fall and in some cases came down with me. Their backs will hurt. My back, shoulders, arms, and hip all hurt. We all hurt.

HOWEVER. It was fun. Not as fun as when my dance partner used to twirl me above his head. (I miss Sean. He was amazing. Just amazing. And a good dancer.) And there wasn't much trust or confidence. But it was fun. Very very very fun.

We laughed a lot.

There was a LOT of apologizing. A lot of that going around.

More apologizing.

Some actual completions of flips, spins, and twirls. That didn't hurt. And that they weren't digging their fingers into my hip instead of using their arms. And I didn't fall. And I didn't twist anything. And I landed on balance.

And then. Then... it was really really cool. Amazingly so. Flips are fun... when everything works and no one is falling.