Greetings from the MIA

So I've only been MIA for God knows how long, and this blog has been severely neglected for that same period of time. I'm going to try and get back into doing this regularly, but please bare with me as my life has been somewhat chaotic of late. I'm still trying to iron things out and figure out my course which has proved difficult during the recent months.



The Christmas holiday is over, which depresses me greatly. But New Years is around the corner and I don't know if thats exciting or even more depressing for me. Because I look at where I was last year at this point in time, the expectations I had of the coming year and all the excitement it was going to bring, and I look at how severely disappointing 2008 turned out to be. My expectations were blown to hell, and I was left struggling to pick up the pieces. I still AM struggling to pick them up and put them back together.

To say that 2008 fell short of every single one of my expectations might be somewhat harsh, and reality its not completely true. I had several GREAT things come my way that I would not change for anything. However, there were many struggles and let downs that I would rather erase from my memory and leave behind with no chance for rediscovery. Lost love, anger, and resentment among the top.

But looking back at 2008 has made me put new perspective as to the upcoming year. Actions need to be taken, rather than sitting by and continuing to live the same scenarios. I know this is all very vague, but many things cannot be written in explicit detail because of several things: 1) I still can't vocalize my feelings on the subject/person; 2) the events are still too fresh to be completely separated from them and reflect objectively and 3) its not the time to reveal my thoughts.

I know..complicated right? And that I think has been the hardest part about this past year. I have always been one to figure things out and make decisions without prolonging it. However, I have been incapable of doing that this year. I continue to mull in the same spot and cannot make heads or tails of what I really want or need.

Alright - I can't do heavy crap right now. So some of the good things that have come of this year

Funks/PGN - the dance team that I joined back at the end of January 2008 has now branched out and we have now started our own group PGN Dance Co. And this group of people has been my savior throughout the year. The new friendships I have gained have helped me get through the shit I didnt want to deal with and has offered me the greatest opportunity.

My new Place - I've moved out on my own. I branched out and have stepped into the world of living in a 2 story 1 bedroom loft. And I love it. It fits me perfectly. Allowing me to be as creative as I want in decorating, live the life I want to live, with no interference. Not that there was really ever interference before, but something about getting to be in charge of everything that comes along with the apartment has been such a blessing. Its been my little safe haven.

Weddings Galore - I think I lost count after the 4th or 5th wedding. I can say that I have traveled more this year than I have in any recent years, and that was due to the immense amount of weddings/bachelorette parties/family events etc. New places that I traveled this year include the following: New York, Seattle, Philadelphia, Newark, Detroit....and I returned to San Francisco for the first time in a very long time as well. Several bachelorette parties in Vegas, holidays at Sunset Beach...its been quite intense. As well as draining on the bank account, but in the end it was totally worth it :-)

Family - there have been several hardships that my family has gone through this year. Some which we thought we had gotten past that resurfaced, and others that have been ongoing struggles for many years. But these struggles have strengthened the bond within my family. I realize more and more every day as to how much they all mean to me and the lengths that I would go to for them. They are my world, and I only wished that we were all closer in proximity. Because the distance between us is sometimes more than I wish to bare.


So thats my update for now. I have concluded the first week of my holiday vacation and I have 2 more weeks! I don't know what to do with myself. Its insane to have so much free time but I'm loving it. I've finished 3 of the 4 Twilight books within the last few days (Xmas presents which I have not put down since I got them). And I can't wait to see what the next couple weeks pans out to hold. I know I am excited to finally get a chance to go home to Vegas for an extended period. Without bachelorette party obligations. I'll actually see my friends and family. And it has been way too long for that. I yearn to have that time with them. :-)

But for now thats all. I promise to keep this more updated. If I don't I give full permission to hound me until I do. Because I will hound others who have been slacking on theirs as well!!(cough::cough::: Sister::cough::cough)

<3

Its My Birthday!!

It is officially my bday! I'm 24 years old now and I feel old. haha Not really but somewhat.

Last night I rang in the 4th of july celebration with Nat, Apes and Tiff at HOB. We had our share of drinking and dancing and that was just thursday night! The official b-day is not really even started and it has been such a good time. Maddie (my current roomie) and I had a 4th of july bbq with the Funks crew tonight and they all were there to help me ring in my bday at midnight. 

Really not sure what the plans are for my actual birthday day but this weekend has already been amazing. 

I continually say that I'm going to improve upon my last year but I feel that this is very true for this coming year. The first 6 months of 2008 have been rough. Through heartbreak, work and living struggles I haven't been able to find a footing, but I'm hoping that the second half of this year and the beginning of a new birthday year will have better things in store for me. 

luv amy

Funks in San Fran - The SockHop

Hi all! I know its been an unbelievably long time since I've posted, but between work, moving, dancing and life I just haven't taken the time to post. And there have also been a million things going through my head that I have been struggling to comprehend and writing them out isn't really a possibility right now.....

Anyway! This past weekend I was up in San Fran with my fabulous funks team!!! We had a performance at Funks SF's first annual showcase and oh goodness it was one of the best weekends ever! I love my teammates soo much and it was one of the most exciting performances I've ever done. Just to be with my team...freakin awesome :-) 

ok enough mush - below are various youtube videos of performances from this weekend. The first is of Funks SD of course :-)

And below are several of my fave performances from Funks SF as well as other groups that were there. Also there is a review from Boogiezone who is known to have really strong opinions regardless of how brutal they may be. I've only included their review of Funks SD. Check out the vids and our review :-)

"The venue was the Regency, a beautiful building with an interior that was almost reminiscent of a high school (or even elementary) recital taking place in an open hall. It was two stories, upstairs bein for the 21+ folk, which was an absolutely PERFECT idea, and enough seating with an overhead view. If you’re from orange county, think House of Blues in Downtown Disney, but older and a little more historic looking.

The Boogiezone table and banner were placed in the back corner on the 1st floor, next to the sound engineer, the rest of the vendors and the non-alcoholic concession stand. Our table also served as our seats for the show since the event was COMPLETELY SOLD OUT, even without havin to sell any tickets at the door!!

On with the show, Gina and Emerson (Exec. Director/ Exec. Artistic Director, respectively) semi-hosted the show, since they only introduced the first performers in the beginning of the show and after the intermission, and each performance thereafter went back to back. So here’s how it went down:

::FUNKS SD::

Same set as fusion, except whatever changed from then made it look 200x better!!! These guys stepped it up like no other: clean clean clean opener....great staging and formations... it flowed so much better! And the energy...WHOOOO the energy! It made all the difference... not to mention the eye candy kept me a little distracted...yeah, the stripes. Lol...the “take you down” piece...ummm..... it’s a jaw dropper!!! overall I loved the whole routine because they covered all the bases and lived up to the funkanometry name...THATS how you put up a show! It’ll be a youtube favorite, no doubt.

FUNKS AT FUSION!!

CHECK IT OUT!! FUNKS AT FUSION 2008!!

not the best quality but hopefully a better view will be available soon!!!

Wake up Call

So I definitely have fallen behind on the blogging lately. And it isn't even because I've been all that busy. Ok thats a lie. Things have been busy. But it hasn't been busy because of just work. Which makes me happy. Its been busy with a whole lot of dancing too.

There are definitely a few things that I've come to realize lately. The first and most important thing is that I am in desperate need of some adventure. Now how did I come to realize this little fact? Could it be that I spend at least 10-12 hours a day locked away in a cubicle doing stupid testwork and typing up memos? Hmm..it could be. How bout that my sister just got back from her belated honeymoon in Hawaii and the pics make me want to jump into them they're so beauitful? OR could it be that my mom has gone off to flee the country and go to Chile for a week and a half? It could also be that looking back over the last year, I have not taken a single trip other than to see family.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm unbelievably happy that my sister had a fabulous time on her honeymoon and that my mom has actually stepped outside of her norm and is off enjoying a spur of the moment vacation. Both of them absolutely deserve to have some carefree time. I also love being able to take time to make visits to see my family. All of this is great stuff. However, I have not taken a single trip over the last year to a new location. To some unknown spot and just gone to have a relaxing, fun filled adventure. And I'm pretty sick of it. So my new goal is to plan a random trip to somewhere I've never been. Maybe even more than one trip.

This is going to prove to be pretty hard during this year because I've actually got a lot of traveling to do. Next month I'll be going home for about a week to visit with mom and also for my friend's bachelorette party. Two weeks later I'll be heading back east for my cousin Josh's wedding. Beginning of June I'll be in LA for a week for job training. Then in Mid-June I'll be making my way to the Bay Area for Funkanometry's 1st Annual Showcase! (more on this below) August I head to Michigan for my cousin Matt's wedding, and then in October I'm off to Columbus for my Cousin Ashley's wedding. All of this doesn't even include a possible trip that I want to make to Seattle (the sister moves there next month), and then a possible trip I'll be making this coming weekend depending on where our men's and women's team get placed in the tourney (again, more on this below).

So there you go. Definitely a lot of traveling this year, but somehow about 90% of it is to places I've already been! How is that possible??? Oh well, guess I'll have to try and plan a combo trip when I make my way back east to visit family.

Other news in my world:

USD Men's and Women's basketball are WCC Champs! Oh hell yes! Our basketball teams pulled off an amazing double victory at the WCC Champsionships. And now they are both heading to the big dance! The last time that the mens team made it to the big dance was my freshman year of college. And that was such an amazing experience. The game, the trip up to Spokane. It was a once in a lifetime type thing. But now my girls will get to experience it and I'm so happy for them. To be able to step outside the small world of WCC and into the world of real college basketball is going to be such an adventure for them. We'll find out today and tomorrow as to where the teams will be heading and who they will be heading. And based on this information I will find out if I'll be need to head out with them to chaperone my dance team girls.

Funks news! I had my very first performance with Funks SD last weekend and it was such a fun time! It has been quite awhile since I've actually performed with a dance team, and even longer since it was on a theatre stage. It was definitely nerve wrecking but now I've gotten my first performance under my belt, and we're busy prepping for more shows. Fusion is in less than a month and this is a huge show. This show will dictate our invitation to other showcases and so the pressure is definitely on. Not only do we have this show, but as I mentioned above, we are having our first ever Funkanometry Showcase up in the Bay Area. Funks SF is organizing it and Funks SD and Funks LA will be helping put it together. Its the weekend of June 20-22 so mark your calendars and make your way up to the BAY!! :-)

Work is well....work. I'm forging through it and hoping to come out of busy season relatively unscathed. Hours have definitely not been as busy for the last few weeks, but we still have a lot of work ahead of us. And whereas most peoples busy seasons are close to the end, I feel like round 3 of my busy season is just gearing up!

I'm trying to keep my head up and thoughts of my 'new year, new hope' strong, but unfortunately things seem to keep bombarding me and things/people that I thought were going to pull through have slipped away. But I'm trying not to let my spirit fall, but its been proving difficult. Hopefully I'll be able to find a new way soon because the path I've been on is looking to be really rocky.

Thats it for now. Going to rest some more before Funks rehearsals tonight :-)