Bodhrán, Swing, Dance Shoes (A Day of Firsts)

After work, I drove immediately to my dance lesson. On the way, I picked up the pair of dance shoes I ordered last week. New Capezios, and they are very, very nice. I wore them to my dance lesson, and I am already extremely happy with them.

The dance lesson went well. It's my first private lesson. I asked for swing, because that's what people dance down at the Cape Verdean club on Wednesdays. I learned a lot in that short half-hour. I keep hearing how well I'm doing, but I wish I really knew how well I'm doing. It still feels awkward and contrived.

Afterwards, I drove up to Cumberland for my first Bodhrán lesson with Mance Grady. The lessons are a full hour, and he spoke at length. I'll probably end up buying a drum. That drum I held was a wonderful thing, beautiful and soft and warm. Mance himself is an interesting person. I like him.

I don't know how I'm going to do all this stuff, though. It's expensive, and a major time commitment in the evenings. I piled it all on in an attempt to move on from Heidi, and it worked, but now I have all this fun stuff I'm doing...and not enough time, or money. I may switch off every-other-week between violin and bodhrán. On the weeks Heidi goes to violin practice, I'll go to Bodhrán. The private dance lessons are going to be a rare splurge; at $55 per half hour, they go through paychecks like an industrial shredder.