1.15.2015

Fooled again. But I liked it.

It has been a long time since I have written anything.

But it's not because life has stopped amusing me.

Nor have I been too busy.

I just got out of the habit of writing.

Now, I want to mention that I think dropping habits is a FABULOUS skill if you use it for the power of good: you know, healthful things such as quitting smoking or saying no to dessert after breakfast. Bressert.

But unfortunately, I often will put the kibosh on habits that actually make me a better person -- Stuff like daily showering. And perseverance.

And writing.

Luckily 2015 recently happened and I am SUPER into resolutions. In other words, I'm back to writing my blog - and I plan to be consistent y'all. So get ready to re-live some of my 2014 highlights with me!

***

Like many of you know, I enjoy music. Many of my happiest memories from the last two decades involve live shows and good friends. I've had a deficit of shows in my life since moving overseas. The result of this is that whenever an opportunity arises to check out a "new" band, I jump on it.

As you might imagine, when someone told me about a salsa band that was going to be in Izmir, I began to salivate (as did many of my friends). This was double exciting because it was not just a new band to check out, but one that would also inspire dancing. Yes please.


For a few days leading up to the show, my cute little boyfriend twirled me around the apartment in anticipation -- he blasted different Latin sounds of all cadences and flavors. (Side-note: I'm kind of a terrible dancer, but he is very patient with me) We were so excited to go check out a new venue and hear some live tunes that we forgot one very important thing:

Nothing is ever as it seems in Turkey.

For most aspects of life I have learned to abide by the resolute art of keeping my expectations low (teaching children aside) but sometimes I will have a lapse in good judgment and get carried away with grandiose notions of excellence for certain events and/or experiences. This typically ends disastrously.

So with a lot of built up anticipation, me and a crew of 10 or so people went to check out the Sunshine Band. There were six singers and a swing band behind them. One singer looked like Charlize Theron. One looked like a dominatrix. The rest looked pretty normal.


They all specialized in a certain "sound" ...none of which much resembled salsa. The really skinny girl enhanced each of her songs by singing them in languages in which she clearly did not speak while the cute chick with the fro simply chose songs entirely out of her vocal range.

We were confused.



And, like, so was everyone else...


Ain't nobody was dancin'.

But it was still really fun, because the Sunshine Band did some really fascinating work. For instance, they did a rendition of Bonnie Tyler's "I Need a Hero" in Turkish. Bet you didn't know that could happen. It did and it was AWESOME. I sang along in English.



And really, once I settled into the realization that the evening was going to be completely illogical, I began to fully enjoy myself.

Isn't that always the case? 

It's like when you see a fake person hanging by a rope from an anchored ship on your evening stroll. IT'S JUST SO GOOD.


Keep your expectations low and then when you see a mannequin suspended from a boat on a Wednesday you will be surprised and delighted.
To be continued, sooner than later.