Maxwell DeMille's Cicada Club

In all of my business of practice, email, job hunt, etc I try to get out and dance. Not just for the exercise, but for the fun!

Tonight it's all about old time vintage. Going to see the show at the Cicada Club up in LA. I'm lucky to be going with people that are friends of the singer. Whoo hoo for knowing people who know people right?

Anyway, it's going to be a fun night of dressing sharp, looking good (except on the dance floor), treating my aural senses and my optics alike. Too bad you all can't join!

Flood in the desert

Wow, it has gotten crazy all of a sudden. Truth be told I'm enjoying myself, but it never occurred to me I'd be scheduling April in February. Now it's March and I feel like I'm tripping over my own heels as I catch myself coming and going. It's all good though. I get more done when I have less time. I guess you could say I work better under pressure. Ideally I'd have some spare time to work on a few things I really want to but I think I'll schedule April so I can instead of how I scheduled March. Live and learn as they say. Still trying to get used to this land thing.

I continue to apply to music jobs overseas. So far none of them have panned out so I don't get my hopes up anymore. Don't you love knowing you're being conditioned just like Pavlov's dog? Grr. But I just don't have the energy to have ups and downs so I'll just stay somewhere in the middle and try to coast, at least for now. Maybe April will hold better probabilities.

Modeling, etc.

With my lack of a cruise contract I've been doing other odd jobs; mostly sales, but some music gigs as well. Well, I finally decided to take a new look into the old modeling career I never really had. So I refreshed some profiles on a couple website. And voila! I now have a paying shoot, a paying speaking role in a movie, and a gallery shoot with half the profits of any sales. And that's just what I've booked this past week for the month of March. I'm also going to be doing a lot of TFCD (time for compact disc) because not only will it give me lots of free new images but the photographers might then hire me for a paying gig in the future.

Speaking of the future; at the end of March I'll be headed to Phoenix for a contra dance weekend and then on to Tucson for a recording session. Finally putting together some new videos of trio and quartet work. With these in place to send out early April we can hope for work in May. Whether we get any is a different story altogether. But one can hope, no?

I've found a little niche here. I play sand volleyball every week, dance swing every week, dance contra and take a tango class a couple times a month, and am looking to start a boot camp workout twice a week. With the random performing jobs and modeling shoots and the ever present arrangement project I'm working on I've got a very full platter. But it's good. It keeps me busy and that's how I get the most accomplished.

Hoping for some friends to come visit. Perhaps in March or perhaps in April, but I'd love to have some old faces in this new place, even if for a short while.

Still in the process of losing weight. Haven't weighed myself in a few days but guessing from the lack of clothing change that I'm not succeeding. Frustrating really. Planning on booking a meeting with a nutritionalist and see if I can change anything that would help. I've been keeping pretty good track of food and workouts till this weekend of insanity at Fiddling Frog. Wow, was that crazy. I was on my feet working, dancing, and sleeping from 8 in the morning till 2 or 3 at night. Surprised I'm still here. I needed a full day of sleep just to recuperate. But it was fun. And I made friends, and memories. And that's why I did it.

I hope you are also making new friends and wonderful memories. That's what keeps your heart warm in the cold recesses of life's reality.

Button Making

Today was my first experience at making buttons by this hand powered machine. You put the back of the top part in one of the sides and the paper with the name and the plastic protector on top and the back of the button in the other side. Then you press down on the handle onto the name and then flip the bottom around and press down again onto the back of the button, lift up on the handle and viola! you have a button.

What's interesting is when I was in undergrad I actually had a button business. I designed and created my own buttons, promoted them and sold them, but had someone else actually make them.



So now it's flip flopped and I didn't design, nor will I sell. I'm just making them. It's good experience though to see the other side and I'm glad I got to do it although unless I open another very small button business I don't think I'll have much reason to do so again.

My skills are masterful however, so if you'd like to hire me to make buttons, I'm available at an all call basis. Proof of my work:

Boba (Bubble) Tea

My friend Alec introduced me to my very first boba tea ever! I'd heard about it and have wanted to try it for a long time. After a delicious dinner at Veggie Grill Alec asked if I'd ever had boba tea. Coincidentally, no, I hadn't, but I really wanted to try!!!

I order a hot tea (because it was cold outside), peach black tea. It was too sweet and syrupy for me but I did enjoy the boba and will definitely have some in iced tea again and hopefully soon! The tea did come with a cool green spoon. If you'd like to know what boba actually is, you can read all about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_tea  Granted it's a wiki article, but it does have accurate and informative data. Enjoy your read and thanks for sharing my first boba experience via my blog!

Tango Class

Tonight was wonderful. After playing sand volleyball for an hour I went to my first real tango class. I'd already watched some tango classes and have been to a milonga but never had any kind of formal training so I know the basics at best.



Now I can follow to some degree; I'm not the world's best follower nor the worst. A friend went with me to class which made it even better. The class is held twice a month at Impulse Dance Center in Aliso Viejo so it's nearby. Hopefully I'll be able to attend every class if I'm on land. I still detest land but am finding some things to make it more tolerable, like tango! :)

Now someday I wish to be able to dance tango much better and enjoy myself at a milonga. Someday, a tango just might end for me like this. The absolute picture of enticement, sensuality, submission, and passion. Wow. Dancing is so wonderful. When you can't say it, sing it. When you can't sing it, play it. When you can't play it, dance it. And when you're trying to say 'I want only you', dance a tango.

New Bedding

Things change as life progresses. That's how it works. And so I have moved my resting spot. Yes, it's a lot more cozy, but it reminds me of the ship (minus the rocking) so it makes me happy. Another plus is the girl residing where I once was is going to be a friend of mine. Not two days after we met we already have plans to go out together. I'm looking forward to a new friend.