orngesodalampst

There have been a lot of frustrating things that have happened this month, so let's just focus on the positive. Career: I've been offered a project coordination role with UW-Madison. Finally, someone who actually sees my potential in project management Regardless of if I take the position, I was able to negotiate my first salary and successfully. It was really hairy there for a moment, but they came back and offered me $5,000 over their original offer, which I was not expecting. The fact that they were offering me a starting at $55K in the first place really threw me off, but compromising with me at $60K knocked me on the floor. Seriously. I've never negotiated before, so this was a double win. AND the salary range started at $42,000, according to what Briony saw online. Holy crap. I made another great connection in the experience design industry - my coworker's brother Retirement: I saw my last pay stub today and didn't even realize that apparently I h...

This is the silliest post, but last night in lyra class I impressed myself. I had slid out of the hoop and was hanging from the top bar when I realized I needed to get back up. My brain immediately thought, 'Too late. You're going to have to drop down.' But I tried pulling myself back up and holy shit - I could do it. Effortlessly. I realized that it was a pull up I had just done, and those are what I've been practicing at home. Holy shit - I could actually do them now.

Well, I haven't posted on here in a while. I just needed a place to vent about something minute. A new girl in trapeze class today was bragging about how she does pole (telling me she has all kinds of pole grips I can borrow, etc.) but shit, she couldn't invert at all. She had to gerry-rig her feet up the trapeze and would slam down to the floor every time she got off. I get it: you've taken pole classes. You have a ton of grip options. That doesn't mean that you "do pole." Especially don't act like you know more than me when you can clearly see I have more experience. And for the first time ever, I see now why some instructors are very anti-grip. The girl can't get upside down but has a million grip aids. That's not helping you.

Quick little post to say that last week I advanced to Silks 2 at Turner Hall, which is their highest level for the advanced students. It turned out to be less difficult than I expected, although equally as intimidating; and the other girls struggled in much the same way I did, which made me feel much better. I'm pretty proud to have moved up to advanced silks in less than 6 months, a feat I attribute to all my pole training. Speaking of pole, I finally found another studio to practice at. I'm still not sure how I feel about it, but I'm taking advanced pole classes (and a performance-choreography class) at Blush in West Allis. At first, it started off as a spinning pole class with Chelsea; and then because I had no place else to practice, I asked the owner if I could try out their advanced class. The format is very much like the elite class was at Studio Phoenix, where you just learn whatever you want to learn and the teacher gives you 1:1 guidance. I'm not sure if I...

I think I figured out why trapeze is my favorite today. I do indeed enjoy being so high in the air, but that's not it. It's that it feels just like a giant, super high swing. Once I realized that, while sitting on the bar, listening to instructions, it made complete sense. I love swings. They've been significant in life for as long as I can remember. The became so integrated in my well-being at one point (around college) that I had to wane myself off them. But they've always provided me with a poignant sense of calm, of self-reflection. They were my self-care. Trapeze is like that, but not as stigmatic And I don't swing on it (yet), but I get to play on it in much more interesting ways. <3

Today I graduated from the beginner level skate dance classes. Unfortunately, there's no intermediate level, just beginner and advanced, so the learning leap is pretty big. But the instructors and students are all super helpful and encouraging, so I think I'll do okay.

I don't think I've written a post since I started taking classes at Anna Aerial inside Turner Hall. I started off with silks, then added some lyra, and just recently, dance trapeze. Trapeze is by far my favorite. I've always wanted to try trapeze but have been pushing it off, even longer than silks and lyra, because of my shoulder. But my instructor felt I'd be fine given that I can do lyra and silks without too many problems. I never would have thought that of the three apparatuses it would be my favorite, but I started to suspect it would be after I had done more silks and lyra. I'm still not sure how I feel about silks and lyra. I definitely enjoy doing both, but none of them have stuck a powerful love in me like pole did and like trapeze is starting to, although I suspect what you can do with trapeze is more limited. I do love lyra the most for it's beauty. It's the only apparatus I've been on that's actually made me feel pretty. Pole makes m...