Just Call Me Ellen!

Ellen Who? Why - Ellen DeGeneres. Not because I am not a lesbian or a talk-show host or even consider myself all that funny. But have you seen the commercials where she "dances to the beat of a different drum" -- you know those ads that she is dancing around and the music keeps changing and you really think that maybe it is an ad for an iPod, but it turns out it is American Express, and then you think what the hell does Ellen dancing around have to do with American Express.

So, you are wondering why I am asking you to call me Ellen - well, it is because I am a dancing fool. Andy & I just finished about 32 minutes of DDR2 and I basically sucked at it. (DDR2 is Dance Dance Revolution 2, it's a game/workout game using a pad you step on that is through the PS2.) I didn't trip of anything; I'm just not very good at hitting the arrows (steps) when I am supposed to. I think I just dance to the beat of a different drum (hence, Ellen.) Andy was a dancing pro. It is amazing how well he does on it. I think the years of marching band really paid off for him.

My time served having to march in band was served in the middle of the row so that I was not really seen. I didn't care much for keeping in step; I cared more about not stepping in the horse shit from the float that was before us. I wasn't exactly all that talented in my musical instrument playing either. I was in band because my friends were, I enjoyed pep band, and frankly just enjoyed music, as well as being a kid liked the positive attention I got from my grandfather who played the same instrument. Remember those days when you were young and tried hard to impress your parents & grandparents, but then we grew into the teenagers that tried hard to pretend we didn't want to impress them anymore and just wanted them to leave us alone, and then into the college students who were so far away and didn't want to be alone, and then into the adults that turned out (even though we swore as teenagers) to be just like those parents.

I am not sure that I feel confident in saying that I did anything in high school because I was "talented" in it. I did things either because I found them fun or I wanted to be social or a combination of the two. Any talents I had or had developed kind of fell second to being social. I was pretty involved in high school. It was a small high school and it was hard not to be in many different things and for me, it was hard not to be involved in everything because it all presented an opportunity to be social (band, cheerleading, FHA, volleyball, Speech, EVERYTHING!).

Back to the out of step thing. I got to say that I hate when people REALLY want you to do some line dancing at a wedding or whatever. My body just wants to move when & where it wants and it doesn't always exactly coincide with the rest of the coordinated dancers. I love to dance, but I could never be one of those back-up dancers, well, maybe for Rod Stewart. His backup dancers just move from side to side. Their dancing ability is not exactly what is on show, it the long perfect legs, long blond hair, and large hooters. So, maybe I can't be a backup dancer for him as well. I guess it is jus as well that I went into a profession where I sit on my ass listening to people.

Now, back to Ellen. I found this quote of hers, "Friends will write me letters. They run out of room on the front of the letter. They write 'over' on the bottom of the letter. Like I'm that much of a moron. Like I need that there. Because if it wasn't there, I'd get to the bottom of the page: 'And so Kathy and I went shopping and we--' That's the craziest thing! I don't know why she would just end it that way." I think it is funny, because I remember as a teenager writing my friends (probably even as a college student) and putting over with the little arrow at the bottom of the letter. Was I passively trying to insult their intelligence? You know, I am really not so sure that I don't still do that today, although with the blessing (usually!) of the internet I very rarely have to whip out the 'ole quill and ink.

Crank up the tunes!