I really haven't written since last year?

First! Oh, guess that doesn't apply on a single-author weblog.

But seriously, January is already about gone and that seems crazy. So far 2008 has been pretty decent. A couple weeks ago I got together with Angie, Sheryl, and Shawn to celebrate Angie's birthday. We went to Kincaid's, a nice steak house up in Carmel. It was a bit pricy, but totally delicious and worth it. I had Mahi with ginger creme and red pepper sauce, and asparagus. They had this amazing bread with a hint of Rosemary (I think that's what it was) – not good for my diet as far as sodium goes, but I had to have a few pieces. Afterwards we went to D'Vine, a wine bar with a cool vibe and chill music. The whole night was a lot of fun.

Since then, it's gotten bitterly cold in Indiana (zeros with negative wind chills), and I think it's taken a bit of a toll on me. Working at home – and then avoiding going out due to the weather – leaves me feeling a bit isolated at times. I take whatever opportunities I have to get out and spend time with friends, but coming home afterwards makes me feel lonely, particularly if it's a weekend and I realize the next 5 days will be spent mostly in the house. I really need to be more productive with my downtime, get a to-do list down and actually do it, read some more, and write some more.

The biggest news of 2008 for me, if you have not heard already, has to be that I went swing dancing last night for the first time. I have turned down multiple opportunities over the years. I am generally outgoing, but dancing is one of those things I definitely am shy about. That might seem odd since I'm generally such an outgoing goof, feeling little embarrassment. It made me nervous because I was pretty sure I would be clumsy at it, which is not as easily controlled as acting goofy. As with most comfort zone issues, though, it's not as bad as you imagine it will be once you just do it.

Mind you, that doesn't mean I did well, but it was fun and I generally felt at ease. I might even try it again. We went early for the basic lesson, and my nerves were alright for a few seconds until they said, “Don't get too attached to your partner, because we're going to rotate you.” Great. Learning swing dancing, with random girls. This isn't nerve-wracking at all. Again, not as bad as I imagined. Most of them were total newbies like me, and apologized for not getting the steps right. I apologized for my freezing cold hands (refer to Indiana weather above). On the plus side, I did get to hold hands with several pretty ladies and dance a few steps with them. That includes the turn called the Cuddle (or Sweetheart). ;-] The lessons were certainly helpful, but being the analytical person I am and not having the steps/rhythm as a habit yet, I did pretty poorly at actually dancing. I had to keep thinking about what I was doing, so could only keep the basic step going, at best. Adding a turn or anything interesting would throw me off. I danced for 2 songs, the first one I did alright with, but it was a rather short song. The second was a bit faster and I could keep the rhythm for only a couple steps, then lost it if say, I started talking. The consensus among my friends was that the band was better last time because they played fewer slow dance songs and were more fun to dance to.

So yeah, I can say I have been swing dancing now. Go me.

In other news, I recently checked my older email account and realized that my wife application was sending to that address, and that I actually had some for the first time in a while. I also realized that apparently spambots have found it and are submitting every so often, which I find quite humorous. Among them though, a couple of real, actual girls applied! I think I will post some excerpts soon. I do have plenty of them dating back several years now, and am considering updating the application itself. Feel free to apply, ladies. Remember, I can swing dance poorly, now.