Thursday, August 23, 2007

I am now a resident of New Haven

Just a quick note, as I am using the computer at the library....

Dad and I made it safely through three days and nearly 2,000 miles from Houston to New Haven. After having loaded the truck in 105+ degree heat, the cold front here made unloading nice - around 70 degrees! Wow - what a change. I can't believe this is August.

So, I am almost completely unpacked and the apartment is taking shape. I hadn't seen it before arriving, as one of my roommates picked it out. However, I LOVE it. The apartment is half of the first floor of a beautiful old house in a gorgeous residential part of town. We are caticorner from a small grocery and coffee shop. People and families are out running/walking their dogs and strolling all day and everyone seems to know each other. It is wonderful!

I'll post some pictures once we have the Internet up and running in the apartment.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Moving Day

Well, as of today, I have officially finished the first quarter century of my life!!! Sounds a bit crazy when I put it like that. However, I could not be more excited about beginning this next chapter of my life.

This week has been busy - packing, sorting, packing, giving away and more packing. I don't know how I had so much packing to do after having most of what I own in storage for 3 years. But, alas, I do have a knack for building up things to pack!

And today I will finish packing the moving truck with everything I own. Tomorrow morning before the sun comes up, dad and I will hit the wide open road heading from Texas to Connecticut. I'm glad we're getting out of town before hurricane Dean hits land. We'll spent 2.5 days on the road - arriving in Connecticut sometime on Monday.

And the next chapter begins....but more on that later!

Friday, August 10, 2007

SALSA!

I've always loved Latin dancing. I've taken a couple salsa classes, but somehow the music just seems to be in my blood. Houston has a great Latin dance scene, so I try to take advantage of it while I'm here (and have time!). This past week has seen not only several fun nights of dancing, but I also learned about the origins of salsa music and dance.

Believe it or not, salsa actually comes from Puerto Rico, Cuba and Spanish Harlem (NYC) with a strong African influence from the Caribbean. It essentially came about in the 1970s and has developed since that time. "Salsa" is a Spanish word meaning "sauce" - showing that this type of dance is a combination of several styles, both music and dance.


Recently, the movie "El Cantante" was released - starring Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony. It's certainly not the best movie I've ever seen, but it was an interesting look at the life of Hector Lavoe - one of the men central in the Salsa scene of the 1970s. LaVoe (played by Marc Anthony) came from Puerto Rico and quickly became on the of top singers in the New York Latin scene. His life was filled with drugs and misery, but he was an amazing musician.


One reason that I enjoyed the movie so much was that a friend of mine had exposed me to the roots of Salsa and "introduced" me to LaVoe's fame and music. I had heard some of his music before, but never knew who he was. It has been a really neat lesson on Latin music, culture and SALSA!!!

So, of course, I had to get out there and do some dancing myself after seeing the movies and hearing the music! I met up with a friend of mine from Elementary school(!!!) at Skybar in Houston. Thursday is their Latin night. We had a great time together!


My Peruvian friend (who taught me about Hector LaVoe) also came. What fun we had.

Ole!