OMG, I’M IN!

So, I have/had this bucket list, right? And I’m slowly trying to knock things off of it sort of as part of the five year plan. Not that I couldn’t crush things off the list in Mexico (and not that actually making that move happen isn’t a huge deal), but I need to get it done. I’m sure that in an older post somewhere, back towards the beginning of the year, there’s actual notation of that list. I’m fairly certain that one of the things was the 52 week savings challenge, which I am rocking by the way. $406 put away as of this Friday and $1378 at the end of the year, which I was thinking of blowing for a mountain weekend for either my birthday or Christmas, but instead will now go towards, what else, the five year plan. There’s nothing like an almost seven grand (plus interest) cushion to sit on when you leave the country.

Also on that bucket list is to do one pole competition. Now that I’m over 40 and I can compete in the Master’s division, I figured I would go ahead and throw my hat in the ring. Well, I threw my hat in the ring along with I’m not sure how many others, but my hat ended up being one of the five that are still in there. Shit, you guys! I’m actually competing against (performing with) four other highly talented ladies and I am going to have to train my ASS off just to not look like a fool up there. What have I gotten myself into?!?!

Let me tell you what I’ve gotten myself into. Or what I’m going to get myself into – which is the best shape of my life. I have no other choice. I have to reach both maximum strength and maximum flexibility. Of course, strength will be easier than flexibility. It always has been for me. Nevertheless, the regiment has already begun. Cardio, strength training, yoga, stretching, repeat. Of course there’s pole training as well. Yes, I am considering barfing just thinking about this. But I also know that I can do this. The judges’ feedback tells me that I can do this.

More often than not, when I’m dancing publicly, I’m trying to tell a story. There will be points in the dance where I’m really feeling something and I want to get a point across. Or sometimes I just like to hit a move that coincides with the music/lyrics. I can’t even explain how exciting it was to see the feedback and to see one judge specifically point out one of those moves. Something else I am noticing is that the big, deliberate movements that I think make me look like a spaz apparently do not do that as I was complimented on those movements too. Don’t get me wrong. The feedback wasn’t all unicorns and glitter. I do have things to work on, but they’re also things that I already knew I needed to work on. Things that don’t come naturally to me because I’m not a dancer. Grace has never been my strong suit. I’ve always been more of a brute force kinda girl. Don’t believe me? (If you know me, I don’t see how you couldn’t.) Ask my Club Med first season co-GOs. Especially the circus ones. I still fly like a beast, lol. A muscular, non-toe-pointing, grunt it out, beast. This. Is. SPARTA!!!

Now begins the choreography. I am promising no one but myself that I will give it my all. I will not slack. I will get up there and at the end of my performance, when I collapse to the ground, whether by choreography or from exhaustion, I will know that I rocked it. I will be proud of the work that I put in. And I will gladly cross this madness off of my bucket list with a smile.

See you on the pole in September.