Lesson #2: My mom is amazing.

As some of you may know, I am in Chicago for the next two weeks, managing my mom's translation/typsetting company while she is in Europe with my dad. It's only day two, and I'm exhausted! Mom, I honestly don't know how you do it. This post is dedicated to you :)

Here's what my schedule was like starting from last night:
10:00 PM-12:00 AM: Find mouse in basement. Catch it and release it outside.
12:00-3:00 AM: Stay up with Jerry while he finishes his history project. Work on psychology research.
3:00-7:00 AM: Sleep.
7:00-7:15 AM: Check email for rush jobs from clients. 3 emails. Nothing urgent.
7:15-7:30 AM: Snooze for fifteen minutes.
7:30-7:45 AM: Throw on black cotton dress. Brush teeth. Wash face. Put hair in ponytail.
7:45-8:15 AM: Drive Jerry to school and then drive to work.
8:15 AM-12:00 PM:  Eat quinoa salad Joyce brings me for breakfast. Process and deliver jobs. Deal with angry client. Find translators.
12:00 PM-1:00 PM: Pick up Jerry from school and drive home for lunch. Call exterminator about mice in basement and wasp's nest outside bedroom. Sort through parents' mail. Eat lunch while monitoring email on Remote Desktop. Urgent job. Rush back to office.
1:00-6:30 PM: Process and deliver jobs. Deal with another angry client.  Find translators. Eat entire bag of Dove dark chocolate.
6:30-8:00 PM: Drive Jerry to trumpet lesson in Evanston. Read a book in the park.
8:00-9:00 PM: Drive home with Jerry. Eat dinner while monitoring email on Remote Desktop.
9:00-10:00 PM: Drive to Dominick's and buy groceries for the week.
10:00 PM-?: Work on psychology research.

Now let's do it again tomorrow!

Lesson #1: Never give up on the things you love.

I was cleaning out my email today, and I stumbled upon my "Dancer of the Month" highlight from when I was a dancer in the Evanston Dance Ensemble:

Having relocated from California, JENNIFER SUN joined EDE just three years ago.  However, in this short time, Jennifer has become a favorite of EDE audiences. Dancing key roles in All the Rage (2005) and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005 and 2006), Jennifer has enhanced EDE productions with her beautiful dancing and signature grace and elegance.  Of course, to be an EDE dancer, one has to be prepared to depict a wide range of characters and emotions.  In LWW, Jennifer danced everything from a delicate Snowflake, a menacing Tree, a blooming Flower and a mysterious Hag in a single evening!

Jennifer began her dance training at the Santa Clarita Ballet Academy in California when she was eight years old because she wanted to be “a pretty ballerina.” She also trained at California’s New World Dance studio and West Coast Dance Theatre. Luckily for EDE, after Jennifer’s family relocated to Illinois, her mother’s office in Evanston happened to be close to Dance Center Evanston and she found us!  Jennifer started taking classes at DCE the summer before her Freshman year in high school and later that year joined EDE. She is currently taking six classes at DCE and is both recovering from LWW’s successful, return engagement performances earlier this month and preparing for the upcoming 2007: A Dance Odyssey in March, 2007. 

Jennifer lives in Wilmette and is a Senior at New Trier Township High School. Her favorite academic subject is Spanish and she is considering a career as a pediatrician, teacher or businesswoman. 

This is Jennifer’s final year of her all-too-brief career with EDE.  Her favorite part of the EDE experience has been the professionalism of the company and the close friendships with and support from her fellow company members.  Her time with EDE has been a rich experience; she recalls exciting episodes (the overwhelming success of the premiere of LWW), favorite roles (as a “Hag” in LWW), strange moments (struggling to get her LWW Tree costume tucked into her tights each night), and distressing times (breaking her “Hag” costume during a quick change during a performance).  In the end, Jennifer states that, to her, EDE has meant “a chance to perform and to do what [she] loves best: dancing!”

And then I found video excerpts from "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," which made me smile and cringe at the same time. (Ugh, did you see my awful arabesque at the end?)

In high school, I danced every single day. Ballet, pointe, modern, and jazz. Two hours on weekdays and eight hours on the weekends. School, dance, homework, repeat. I never slept over than 5 hours a night, but I loved it. 

But when I started college, I got so busy with school and clubs that there simply was not enough time in the day. So I stopped dancing. 

I didn't realize how much I missed dancing until senior year when I organized a series of free dance workshops as part of the LSA's theme semester "What Makes Life Worth Living." Once a month, I invited a different dance group on campus to perform and then teach a lesson on anything from ballroom and swing to hip hop to modern/lyrical. I spent my own money to provide refreshments, and I spent hours posting posters (often only to have them covered the next day). I put my blood, sweat, and tears into planning these workshops, and in the end, I made them happen.  

On a good day, we would get upwards of 50 participants, and I would be ecstatic. On a bad day, however, we would get no more than five, and I would get extremely discouraged. I'd cry and call my mom, and she would tell me that it didn't matter how many people came as long as I was able to share my love of dance with just one other person. So on those bad days, I would dance my heart out and then walk over to the undergraduate library with all the leftover food to hand out to hungry students. (Seeing someone happily gobble down a cookie in one bite always made my day a little better.)

So my dance events didn't go exactly as planned, but I hadn't felt so happy in a long time. It felt amazing to dance after not dancing for so long, and I promised that I would start taking classes again.

Fast forward a few months...I still hadn't gone back to the studio. I made up a handful of excuses. I needed to study for finals. I needed a new leotard. I couldn't find my dance shoes. But the real reason: I was scared. After not dancing for four years, I had most likely lost all of my technique and flexibility. I could barely touch my toes. It was embarrassing.

In the end, it took a painful relationship break-up to force me back into the studio. During that period, dance was the only thing that kept me sane. I wondered how I had survived four years without dance in my life. All the times I said I didn't have enough time...well, nonsense. There are only 24 hours in a day, but there is always a way to make time for the things and people I love. Lesson learned. 

Since then, I've been taking at least one class a week, and on some weeks (like this one) I'll go crazy and take seven. So thank you, Mom, for forcing me to take that first ballet class and encouraging me to stick with it through the years. 

I recently had a dance recital, and it was amazing to perform for all my family and friends. Thank you for those of you who were able to make it! But in case you weren't able to come, here are the videos from the performance, in case you're interested :)

With You: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfFsYVq-CFY

Without You: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v8EpUw7l-U

The Dance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vs6Hs8QvQI

Babylon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_elMGIkBu0

Royal T: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZmyaVueCEE

Whitney Houston Tribute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxqh9FtL0A4

So until next time, I hope you dance :)

Love Always,

Jennifer

A New Beginning

So I've never been very good at keeping a diary/journal. I remember trying multiple times but always failing because I'd write an entry, read it a few days later, decide I was being completely ridiculous (Did I really write that?), and then rip out the pages and throw them in the trash. So in the end, I was just left with the front and back cover and no pages inside. Very sad, I know.

But now I'm about to start medical school, and I've decided that I want to document the ups and downs of this crazy journey we call life. I recently found my old xanga (remember when those were super cool?), and I spent several hours laughing about what my melodramatic, high school self thought was "the worst day EVER." Maybe I'll look back on this blog a few years later and do the same thing. Who knows? 

Anyways, here's the premise of this blog. Every time I post, it will be about some kind of lesson I learned that day. (I'm sure all of you who know me well are probably rolling your eyes, thinking "She would think of something incredibly cheesy like that.") But what is the purpose of life if not to learn and grow each day? I'm only 23, but I've learned a lot of lessons so far, and most of them I learned the hard way. So now you get to bear witness to the mistakes I make in love, life, and everything in between (Thus, the title of the blog). 

Also, this will be a good way for you, my friends and family, to read about the meaningless details of my day. Aren't you excited? So regardless of whether you're across the ocean in Africa, across in the country in Oregon, or just across the state in East Lansing, you can know what's going on in my life :) 

(Warning: My posts tend to be ridiculously long.)