free dance lesson...

Tomorrow we have another dance lesson, and then tomorrow night we have another practice session. And we are bringing my friend Dale to the practice session. He gets to come for free as our guest and gets offered 2 private half lessons for $40 (1/2 price) and a group lesson and a practice session for free. Its a good deal! If he signs up for that we get another free private lesson, which would be great, practice makes almost perfect; and the lessons are just flying by and we are going to miss them. But we will continue going to group sessions as long as we can!

Marks Her Territory!

So, last night we went to a beginner's dance class where we learned a couple of dance moves to go with the basic waltz steps. I learned how to spin Alexandra and how to do the balance step. We also learned how to rotate, but that is kind of natural for me now because I learned it in the rumba. So the class only consisted of 4 of us; Alexandra and me and then another guy and gal. I thought they were a couple at first, but then I realized that they were not, he was married, but his wife was out of town.

From the start I was doing much better than the other guy, which made me feel good. I still don't see myself as a "good" dancer because its kind of out of my element. I started out dancing with Alexandra, but the girls had to keep switching partners. After I danced with the other girl for the rotating move, she danced with Jeff, the instructor, to help show the next move. While she was dancing with him she kept making awkward eye contact with me, A LOT. Alexandra noticed this and immediately took charge by holding my hand, touching my arm, and brushing things out of my eyelashes. It was funny and cute. I am hers and she is mine and I love that and it will be that way for ever and ever. I love you sweetie!

Pre-Cana

This past Saturday my fiancee and I attended Pre-Cana class in Beaufort, SC.  This is one of the requirements we have to meet in order to get married.  I had to get special liberty from work, and although I only asked for 1 day, I got 2 days so i could make an attempt at readjusting my sleep schedule for mids shift.

The drive to Beaufort was nice, lots of trees and backroads, not much boring interstate which was nice.  When we got close the GPS and the mapques directions told us to turn right and go .2 miles to the church.  Well, unless the church was inside Hardees, the directions were wrong.  So we drove around for awhile and then Alexandra spotted a sign for a restaurant that she knew was across the street from the church, so we followed the sign and arrived at the church.

We parked and then realized we don't know where the class is going to be held.  So we started wandering and testing doors to see if they were open.  There was a school and a church there so there were quite a few buildings and doors to try.  Then another confused couple showed up, followed by another and another.  You'd think there would be signs...but there wasn't.  We found an open door however there was no one in the room...we found out a little bit later that we were in the right place, but everyone was in the room next to the empty room.

So class began, It consists of 6 talks, each of which has a little booklet to read and answer questions.  So we listened to a 30 minute lecture from the couple hosting the class.  Then we broke apart and filled out the questions individually, and then we got together with our partner and discussed the questions.  Then we did the same thing again for 3 more lesctures.

Lunch time!  We got 1 hour and 20 minutes for lunch so we went to Fuji, a chinese restaurant recomended by Alexandra's maid of honor, Shawn.  It was really good.  For dessert we had mochi-icecream.  It was a small scoop of ice cream wrapped in some kind of sweet dough.  It was really neat and tasty.  We had 3 different flavors, Sweetbean, peach, and vanilla.

After lunch we had 3 more lectures, and then it was time to go home.  The questions we had to answer for the lectures were designed to make sure you and your partner were on the same page for everthing and Alexandra and I had nearly identical answers on everything and we have already discussed all of this.  We have great communication.  Some of the questions were just checkmrking things that we have not discussed yet and have concerns about, we didn't have any.  So we are 1 step closer to getting married! 

Group Dance Practice

Last Friday Alexandra and I went to our dance studio for a group beginner class where we learned the basic steps to salsa, cha-cha, swing, waltz, rumba, and foxtrot (rumba and foxtrot we are already pretty skilled in)  There was a couple other couples there also.  One of them is from NWS like me, and turned out he was actually going to be working on the same crew as me starting on sunday.  Its a small world.  

So out instructor, Jeff, showed us each dance then we practiced it with our partner and switched partners 4 times.  I was a little bit nervous about this at first because I was convinced that I was incapable of dancing well with anyone but Alexandra, but I did ok.  My downfall was talking, I would get the hang of it and then I would start talking and completely lose my footing.  It was fun though.

Immediatly following that, we had a practice session.  It was a pretty fun and relaxing environment.  The instrutors put some music on, told us which song it was and then we danced.  Halfway through each song they said "switch partners"  sometimes we switched, sometimes we sat down, and anytime it was the foxtrot or the rumba we continued dancing because we wanted practice together.  I didn't get to sit very much because everytime I tried someone wanted to dance, especially our instructor.  So mAlexandra and I had very little break time where we could sit together, if we weren't dancing together atleast 1 of us was dancing with someone.  It was a fun evening and we will go again sometime.  

This Wednesday we have our 3rd of 5 private dance lesson, I'm excited about that, I'm hoping we get some practice time before hand just to review a little. Then after the lesson we have a beginners class to practice some more dancing.

The funny thing is that when we first signed up we had the intent of doing 1 45 minute introductory lesson and now we have basically done more than 4 hours of lessons and group dancing and we aren't done yet.

King Cake

So, yesterday Alexandra got a king cake in the mail from her family. WAIT, lets back the truck up to last year...

Alexandra got 2 king cakes last year, however, I wasn't around to try it for a few days and it had already started becoming stale but it was still pretty good...

So this year I was there for the cutting of the cake...FRESHNESS...and it was mmm...mmm...good.

and you may not know this, but king cakes have a little plastic baby baked into it. So i was determined to get the baby (even though finding the baby means you are supposed to buy the next king cake) so i was cutting myself and Alexandra pieces while we were playing ingenious.

I cut myself a piece and then I cut her a piece and saw the plastic baby's leg! so i quickly switched plates and declared I found the baby!

Dancin Fools

We have had 3 dance lessons now, and we are pretty awesome! I enjoy it and it's really fun now because we are starting to put everything together. The entrance is neat and elegant and then i think its really fun to transition from rumba to foxtrot, even though it changes the beats we dance to. There's plenty of room for improvement, but we (more specifically just me) have come a lot farther than I thought we would have by this time. We are going dancing again tomorrow, but it isn't a lesson. I'm excited and so is Alexandra. The only worry I have is being able to stay on beat and recover if I lose the beat...oh and starting out on beat without the instructors guidance.

WARNING...To all owners of "NICE" cars!

BMW's suck! lol. Well, maybe the cars don't but the people who drive 'em do. Atleast they did yesterday! First I went to the library downtown to find a parking spot. This is where I usually park, but it was full. Then as I was about to leave to find a new parking spot. I noticed a BMW roadster parked on a parking spot line...half the car in one spot and half in the other. It also had a parking ticket stuck to its windshield which made me happy. I would have given it 2, since it was in 2 spots.

I understand that it's a nice car and the owner probably didn't want any damage to come to it. Like at Target when someone parks their nice car far away from the crowd and walks the extra distance, that is perfectly fine, and more power to them. But when you're in a small parking lot, and it is very full, either use you're allotted 1 spot, or PARK SOMEWHERE ELSE.

This is a warning to all "nice" car owners. If you take up 2 spots in an effort to protect your car and I notice...I will park my truck so close to your driver side door that you can't even squeeze ur body next to your car, much less get in. So either park farther away in 1 spot or take the risk of a scratch. There's you're warning!

who are you?

Have you ever searched for your name online? Well, I discovered that I was once in the civil war.
Check it out

More Dancing!

Yesterday Alexandra and I had our second dance lesson. It was fun, we learned some new groovy moves and I even got to do a spin! It's pretty much awesome! lol. Today we have another dance lesson, and after we are going to see the movie NEW IN TOWN. I'm excited, and I hope she is as well.

Comfort Zone

Well today was day 7 of swings. Now i get 48 hrs off, back to work at 2330 on wednesday night. I stood my 2nd ELT watch today. I think I'm learning so that's good. I need to get more out of my comfortable zone though. I am too...(whats the right word...careful...) I need to step out of my comfort zone and do things that need to get done without being prompted. Sometimes I guess I just feel like I don't know what has to be done, or how to figure out what needs to be done. Which is where I need to just build up some confidence, take a big step out of my comfort zone and use my knowledge and a little common sense. Wish me luck!

Valentines Day

When I got home from work last night about 12:15 (0015) I did my usual routine. I put my lunchbox ice pack in the freezer...














Then to my surprise...













I had a Card and a bear from my sweetie!

Thank you Alexandra! I Love you!
Happy Valentines Day!

Late for Work

Aww, what a beautiful day, the sun is shining and the temp is around 70F and I am on "swings" shift so I dont have to be to work 'til 3 pm (1500 for you military folk) So why not roll the motorcycle out of the garage and wash it up real nice...and then I'm going to ride it to work, because the weather is the best it's been in awhile.  So its now 2:15 so i get set to go, got my military ID in my riding jacket, lunch, and cover.  So, I pull up to the guarded gate on base, and pull out my ID and the guard asks for my "abc" card.  I am confused...apparently starting on Feb 1st a new motorcycle rule is in effect,  and base access is denied to anyone without this card.  It should be wasy to attain, however it is now 2:30 and I need to go back home and get my truck, because I dont have time to mess with this ID business.  So I haul butt back home and then haul booty back to work and scan in on time, but make it to quarters late.  I walk in while quarters is happening and assume I will be questioned by a lot of people about my late arrival, but not a soul asks.  Oh well, life goes on.

2nd Day On The Job

So today was my 2nd day on crew.  Not too bad so far.  I have yet to get a checkout (one worth more than 3 pts).  But today wasn't too bad because the lead elt told us we are on staff ours.  We can feel free to do more hours as necessary to get the job done, but it's our call unless we "goof" up.  That made me happy, makes me feel like I am being treated as an adult.  So I guess so far so good.  Oh, I also found out that the day to day routine isn't going to be very routine, things will change with no notice so that should be fun, not!

OH and I had to "provide" today.  (provide=urinalyisis=pee in a cup) I went to the bathroom right before quarters went down and was then informed at quarters that I had to "provide" so I had to start chugging water so I could do pee in 15 min! it was a BLAST!

25 Things You May Not Know About Me

1. I am excited to get married next year to my beautiful fiancee Alexandra who is AMAZING!
2. I Love Waterfront Park
3. I will eat anything edible
4. I secretly enjoyed my dance lesson (and signed up for more)
5. I like riding my motorcycle
6. I love going to movies
7. I want to be a mechanical engineer
8. I often feel like I can't do things right, but usually prove myself wrong, but the feelings still return
9. I text a lot
10. I love weekends
11. I love instant white chocolate pudding shaken not whisked
12. If I grocery shop before supper I buy everything
13. I like walking in downtown Charleston with my Fiancee
14. I like cuddling.
15. I like my apartment to be clean
16. I like cooking rachel ray's recipes
17. I got an awesome new leather jacket
18. My gauges' backlights are nonoperable in my truck
19. If I had time I would become a pediatrician
20. I am superman! shh...its a secret
21. I like hockey, football, and nascar
22. I like bowling
23. I love lasagna
24. Alexandra has a bigger vocabulary than me
25. I live in a highly secure gated community.

The Beginnins of ELTness

So, I qualifies as a mechanic at prototype, and then decided I wanted to further my education; so i requested to attend ELT school. I have now completed the first 5 weeks and am moving onto the "Crew" portion of training, shiftwork. The first 5 weeks was lectures and chemistry kind of things. Now I will be doing "on-the-job-training". I'm a little nervous about it, just because it is something I haven't done, but I'm sure I will be fine. I thought my 1st day of crew was going to be pretty normal, study, get a checkout, meet the staff, etc. but then today I got a call from work saying I have my first training watch tomorrow followed by a training event which has homework that has to be completed beforehand, so now I have to go into work an hour or 2 early to get my homework done. It sucks, but oh well. I love you Alexandra!

Dance Lesson....lesson(s)

Today I took a dance lesson with my fiancee Alexandra. I was skeptical because I am a "manly" man. But it turned out to be fun and I picked it up pretty quickly. We agreed to do one lesson to learn a few steps for our song at our wedding reception, but then...I decided we should get the Wedding Package since I don't want to halfass look like I know how to dance, I either want to know it or don't! So we are taking 5 more private lessons to get this thing nailed down to an art. And we are going to do some group dance sessions just to get comfortable and hopefully be able to dance to other random songs at the reception, not just our song. I love you Alex.