Thursday, March 12, 2009

Hula Girl Loves Nerd Boy

Tonight I went to my first hula dance lesson taught by Jennifer. Photobucket I went with my next door neighbor Annie, her next door neighbor Margaret (on the other side), and Celeste across the street. Annie's husband Fred dropped us off down the street at Jennifer's house. It was so close we could have walked, LOL. My hips tried really hard, but they looked nothing like Jennifer's. We learned to lele and kaholo. I didn't do too badly for a first-timer I guess. Jennifer was a thorough and fun teacher and I had fun just hanging out with my neighbors. :) Photobucket We took the day off work today so that we could go sign the contract with our remodeling contractor. After that we met with Jim the appliance guy and got quotes for kitchen appliances. Then we stopped by the plumbing store and Mark schooled us on shower heads, valves, toilets, and sinks. And we got tons of brochures to bring home. Then we met with Kim, the designer we're working with, and picked out the stone for our kitchen backsplash. Photobucket It was so fun, but overwhelming and exhausting. We walked away with so much information and sometimes even more confused than before. The tentative start date of our remodeling is April 6th. Todd had an interesting night too. I'll let him talk about it in his own words. :p The San Diego Science Festival is going on right now. When I heard they were having a presentation by author Ben Nugent about his book American Nerd: the Story of My People (book review here), I had no choice but to attend. I felt like a bit of an automaton as I was drawn to the Pacific Beach library to see what I might find. The night went about as I expected. The author was nervous, unpolished, and not well-dressed. Photobucket Nugent started by reading a few passages from the book and followed it with a much more fun Q&A. His most interesting concept was Dr. Frankenstein as the "proto-nerd." He was feared because of his mysterious technical skills. Similarly, we nerds/geeks of today wield a bit of "mystical" power. Those who don't have it become jealous and cast aspersions our way. And of course we don't help ourselves with our poor social skills. I think a lot of the audience wanted to believe the romantic-to-them notion that the nerds of adolescence will rule the world as adults a la Bill Gates (while the jocks have seen the best years of their lives already passed by.) At times it seemed that the bulk of the crowd wanted to hear that affirmation. That wasn't really Nugent's message but he ran with it a bit. It is true that there are more opportunities than ever for the technically sharp/socially inept. I enjoyed the sociological message and it was a fun and unusual evening. But after attending this event, I still am not sure if I am a nerd or not. However, my love of Battlestar Galactica is unquestioned. :p

6 comments:

  1. Oh I love the stone you've chosen - they look fantastic!

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  2. Wonderful stones you picked out for your kitchen backsplash.

    Tanks for the shots of your hula dance lession! Seems you all had much fun

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  3. LOL!! Todd's the good kind of nerd! The one that loves all those weird things, but is smart enough to enjoy other finer things in life too. I think a few of my boys are exactly like this. Love the hula lesson with the neighbors! How fun!

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  4. Looks like you are having a great time hula dancing! And so nice to get to know the neighbors, it is always good to be surrounded by friends.
    The tiles for your bathroom looks really nice! I love the ones Todd is holding, with different sizes. Can't wait to see the finished results! =)

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  5. I think Nerd is the new Cool! I remember the day I figured out that I was a nerd. I was in college, walking from the student center, when I realized that the school I had chosen was full of nerds (engineers, computer science majors, accounting majors ;), etc.) Being very aware of how much fun I was having at this school, it dawned on me that I must also be a nerd to enjoy hanging out with so many of them. Todd may not be a nerd in all things, but there's nothing wrong with being paid to be a nerd..their paychecks seem to be slightly larger than non-nerd paychecks. Just my thoughts! (You rock with the hula class and your new kitchen plans!)

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  6. O your classes how fun. Next time you go dancing you can use those new hip moves to bring it on ;-)

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