Learning and competing-lessons from my dance class

I have always been pushed to beat others and then myself. I would this attitude is largely imbibed by my school and also in part by my parents. "I don't care if you have got the highest in the class but is it a perfect score?"; This is something that was etched in my mind though obviously it couldn't dampen my joy of topping a paper (hehehe). Although having competitive streak has its own advantages, like being  a great driving force, striving for better, pushing ourselves to come at par etc. Quite often it can also lead us astray in many ways. This I know through experience and observation. Like instead of learning a concept, like (from the top of my head) the importance of assumptions of a simple OLS regression, we tend to prepare according to the nature of questions that we would be tested on. Though this 'intent' based preparation maybe rendered useless if the institution designs rigorous application and/or conceptual based questions. Quite often a student may also feel overburdened by something I would like to call 'phantom' stress ,caused by competition. My mind space tends to be occupied by this form of stress, i.e. you don't know how much your peers have prepared and how thorough they are with a topic; you continuously compare yourself with an unknown yardstick.

I bring up my dance class cause with passing time I find myself drawing parallels between my learning in the studio and academic learning and further draw analogies with lifestyle and outlooks towards life in general.In this blog entry, I only focus on the competitive bit of it. I have an on and off student of Danceworx and I learn Jazz. I was an extremely shy, hesitant and reclusive person in school. I joined dance with the purpose of opening up and of course cause my school had its good share of Jennifer Beals and I hoped I could strive to be one of them. Turns out I was good at the workout cause I am decently flexible and had stamina. I also got complimented on my dancing cause I could show attitude. I got promoted to higher levels and later in undergraduate was even selected in the dance society. However, all the years I never realized that I was still a shy dancer and maybe  a moody one too. I freeze in front of the mirror and my body doesn't have the groove of a typical dancer. I thought I would quickly get promoted this time too(I had dropped out for over 12 months and I have rejoined at the beginner's level). However, this time my instructor hasn't promoted me yet even though I maybe as good or marginally better than other students. She has put me up against me. And I having a tough time struggling cause I am trying to compete with the image of a dancer in my head. A good motivation as it maybe, its still not sufficient. With passing classes I realized I perform better when I tell myself "you can do it" and if I let go and enjoy the music(which seldom happens cause am too conscious too look silly...well at least when I am in the studio :P). It made me realize enjoying what you are doing is as crucial for learning, if not more, than striving to do well. So I am trying to let my hair down and just sway with the music. And I hope the number of times I am in the moment get greater than the number of times I think of the moment! ^_^

## Ain't nobody like my girl Jennifer Beals yo! Get outta here! ##
>> It's a small observation I thought I would share. Any epiphanies from you?! Comment and let me know! =)

Entertainment Dodo: Petulant opinions and pish posh

Quite recently, I was led to believe that my preferences in terms of the content of entertainment, may be becoming instinct for this world. Belonging to a fairly conservative family and being an Indian child born in the 90's, am the sort of kid who covered her eyes during the steamy scenes of Titanic.Till my late teens, I derived great entertainment value from Cartoon Network and Disney channel . Watching the famous sitcom, F.R.I.E.N.D.S. ,was like achieving a benchmark in adulthood. The frequency and casualness with which they spoke about their sexual endeavors and French kissed, was quite a leap from seeing two shaking flowers in the Indian movies. Ofcourse, the brilliant humour,direction, acting and screen play got me addicted to the show. I can watch all the episodes repeatedly and still be as amused and awestruck as the first time. Infact all the onscreen 'romancing' further added a flavour of reality to the show and I guess everybody wishes to be a 'Monichandler'.I can rant on about the awesomeness of the show but I guess a separate post on that later.
 I also watched a few seasons of Full house which I categorized as a "clean" show. It was cute,funny and endearing until it got redundant and dull.I also started watching Suite life of Zack and Cody out of my desperation for a neat show without sex as its main element.It was light and innocent comedy and I watched more than one season! Everybody loves Raymond,Happy Endings and Rules of engagement were some shows that I enjoyed too.I was also temporarily hooked on to Desperate housewives and Keeping up with the Kardashians .Two and a half men was funny too until it gave me a headache. In-fact, despite the show being based on the protagonist's promiscuity, I found it to be quite juvenile.
Prison Break was grotesque but my curiosity got the better of me and I completed the first season and then left it. However, it seemed quite benign after watching Game of thrones! Oh.my.god. That show has created a rage and everyone around is hooked to it! I forced myself to watch the first two seasons to dent my prudish tendencies. I wont deny that I enjoyed the story line, a Pottermore member, I do like a good story centered around magic, but if feeling shocked while watching a ten year old be breast fed ,women giving birth to shadows and dragons, gross forms of incest, mutilated bloody body parts strewn across the snow, massacre of babies ,et cetera ,et cetera, make me a snob, then be it!

Am presently following The Big Bang Theory ,Modern Family and Arrested Development which are in the top ten in the IMDB TV series list, so I guess my preferences are not exactly obsolete. Saw pilot episode of The Sopranos, found it catchy but I don't know if starting an entire new show in the middle of my thesis is a good idea.  

## WTF?? So basically you despise GOT? Worrrrd! ##    
>>No, am not yet a CouchPotato on QuizUp, I was just unreasonable irked by the GOT craze. Got similar views? Comment away. Got " Winter is coming" on your shirt? Go swim in a meat ball pit.

The time my phone was hospitalized:A case of butterfingers

It all happened in one swift motion and came as quite a shock. Samsung slipped and fell face down and immediately sustained injuries. I could see it was functioning but there were cuts all over it. I didn't want to strain it so I let it sleep. On returning home I encased it in a plastic bag. It was pretty heart breaking, like a murdered victim in a plastic sheet preserved for post mortem. It took days to find the special care centre,Samsung Customer Care, which was quite far from home but it was my only hope. So I drove down to the centre and filled out the necessary forms. I was immediately summoned at the reception where I gave a brief description of the accident. I was intimated of the operation cost and I nodded my head vigorously. Anything to get my Samsung back in shape. My father was sceptical about the deal and wondered if it was time for me to move on. I outrightly shot down his 'concerns'. Next, I was summoned by the specialists themselves. Donning a baby blue lab coat, he smiled at me and told me they would try their best and soon. I insisted on an immediate diagnosis and operation. The staff was patient with me and surprisingly acknowledged my pleas. They asked me if preserving the memory was important as that could be a complication of the operation. My mind flashed all the selfies that we had taken and I gravely replied in affirmative. It was a long and agonizing wait and I was worried about the complications and any further damage that might have ensued due to the tragic fall. I was pacing up and down when they called out my name. I ran to the twelfth compartment and saw my Samsung lying there,all fixed. It was attached to a life support chord as it was low on energy and was bandaged in a plastic screen guard. Soon, the color returned to its face and it was bright and active as before. I thanked the specialist for his efforts and blissfully clung on to my phone. I am happy to have it back in good shape but as a precautionary measure, I plan to get a nice rubber support. All is well. Thank you Digesus.

## WTF, did she just personify her phone in a billion words???? It is a digital apocalypse son! ##

>> Comments and suggestions are welcome =)