Joy to the World by Three Dog Night

Let's head over to St Joseph, MO for Shane and Shelley's wedding reception.  Nick, AJ M., Matt R., and I were on the dance floor.  We may have been the only people on the dance floor as it took folks a while to warm up to the idea of dancing.  AJ is a professional dancer and choreographer and Matt doesn't hold back so it really does take a lot of nerve to be on the dance floor with those two!  Luckily they do not make you feel incompetent on the dance floor.  They even had a couple choreographed dances that they shared with us.  One is the classic Dirty Dancing performance, complete with the swan dive/jump thing.  The other is set to Joy to the World that AJ may or may not have choreographed, I never found out.  I promise you, though, once you learn it, you can never listen to the song again without these moves.  Just like the Macarena or the Chicken Dance.  Here's how it goes:

Joy to the World:  Point to your smiling mouth.

All the Boys and Girls:  Spread your arms wide, then grab your crotch, followed by your boobs.

Joy to the Fishes in the Deep Blue Sea:  Again, point to your smiling mouth, then move your hands like swimming fish.  You might also point down and then make a C with your hand (can't remember if this is part of it).

Joy to You and Me:  Again with the smiling mouth, point to the audience, point to yourself.  

Obviously it is the second line that makes this so fun, but it can be a little off putting to some people.  I tried it out at another wedding and the grandpa on the dance floor was shocked.  Shocked!  I laughed it off, toned down the grabbing, and kept on with it with a big smile.  I am so happy that AJ taught this to me and it certainly brings me joy whenever I hear it. 

Dirty Pop by N*Sync

After an embarrassing and unfortunate incident in which I broke my ribs compounded by having been on anti-depressants for a period of time, I suddenly found myself with 20 lbs of unwanted weight.  Once my ribs were healed to the point that they were no longer painful, I became bound and determined to take that weight off, so I hit the gym.  At one point I was working out 6 days/week.  It was mostly about exercise and I wasn't hyper focused on diet, although I may have been doing some portion control and limiting carbs, that kind of thing.  My gym membership included all of the Crunch and Bally's locations and there were 2 within very close distance of work and another with decent parking for the weekends.  I did a variety of classes, such as Spinning, Sculpting, and Pilates.  If I missed the class or if there wasn't anything interesting going on, I hit the cardio and weight machines.  I would run/walk for 20 minutes, followed by another 20 minutes on either the elliptical machine or stationary bike.  One location had a 15 minute ab blast so I would often incorporate that as well.  After the cardio, I would typically do 3 set of 15-20 reps on all of the various machines, incorporating all the major muscle groups.  I vividly remember listening to Dirty Pop while lifting weights.  It has a great driving beat and I couldn't help but sing along.  It made the workout a lot of fun. During this time, there was a weight loss contest sponsored by the gym.  I decided to participate and duly took my before shots, but I never took any after shots or officially entered the contest.  I can't remember why I chose not to enter, but I can report that after about 6 months I was in excellent shape at a weight to be proud of and 3 months after that, I was thinner than I had been in a long time.  Whatever I was doing, it worked!

Oh Darling! by the Beatles (and the entire Abbey Road album)

Somehow in the middle of the 8th grade, I became really popular (in the band).  I developed a couple really great friendships with a few of the 7th grade girls, notably Erica T. and Missy G.  Since my sister and I had been living with our dad since I was in 3rd grade, we didn't have a lot of sleepovers or after school friends coming over.  My dad would only host a sleepover if there was a female babysitter present, which was smart thinking on his part.  It didn't mean I felt any less left out of things.  8th grade changed everything and I was suddenly invited to lots of sleepovers and going over to Erica or Missy's houses after school.

Missy had recently "discovered" the Beatles and was listening to them obsessively.  Oh Darling! was her favorite and I had to agree that it was an amazing song.  I love all the emotion and rasp in Paul McCartney's voice.  I told my dad about them and he showed me that he actually had several of the records from his college days.  I had one of those all-in-one cassette/record player combos so I promptly absconded into my room with the records where I listened to them obsessively.  Abbey Road was my favorite.  I liked Side A better than Side B, even though I thought (I Want You) She's So Heavy was really strange and I just didn't get the abrupt, noisy ending.  Then moving on to Side B, the first 2 tracks are great, but then it moves again into some strange songs that didn't resonate with me at all.  What on earth is does Polythene Pam mean??  Something is still my all time favorite Beatles song.  I have a piano version and I have spent a lot of time trying to get it just right.  It's musically complicated, beautiful lyrics, just lovely and brilliant.

I recently watched a retrospective commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Ed Sullivan performance.  The Beatles themselves have never evoked the kind of emotions in me that they did for teenage girls of the 60s.  Let's face it, they were old and the hairstyles and clothing on the Abbey Road album were hideous to me.  They couldn't come close to the awesome acid washed denim and ducktailed dos of the fainting-inducing New Kids.  However I do think it's funny that listening to them today reminds me of passing notes, slumber parties, Ouija Boards, boys-boys-boys, and everything else that goes along with being 13.  The Beatles truly resonate across the generations. 

Good Thing by Fine Young Cannibals

We're heading back to Silver Lake, a summer in, let's assume 1989.  Aside from the Saturday Night Live spoofs, our performances also included lip syncing and both scripted and impromptu skits.  For example, Catherine and I did a "Mary the Midget" skit a couple years running.  For those of you unfamiliar with this, a picture should help  There is one person under the blanket who is Mary's arms and another in front as the head and feet.

Hilarity ensues because the person standing behind the curtain can't see what their hands are doing when they attempt to curl Mary's hair (no idea who brought hair curlers on a camping trip!!!) or put on lipstick or brush her teeth or otherwise.  Another skit I remember vividly was performed in the early 80's by the cool, older kids (Julene, Matt, my Aunt Annie, and some friends).  It was really basic, but I remember laughing so much and being so impressed by them.  They lined up in a row and each one said:  If they weren't my friends, I'd be a .... (surfer, indian, farmer, pirate, director).  Matt stole the show whenever he would "milk" Betsy the cow.  I am not doing it justice, but it was hysterically funny.

In the late 80's, I was very envious of the girls at my school who were in Jazz Dance classes.  Deborah Morgan was THE studio, but I did not take dance classes.  They performed once at a school talent show and I was beyond impressed.  Cool song, cool moves, cool all around.  I decided to choreograph my own little number for Saturday Night Live to my current favorite song Good Thing, and recruited Lauren Y and my sister Catherine to perform with me.  We practiced all week to my "choreography" and the result was..... less than stellar.  First of all, the song went on way too long.  I incorporated what was basically the Hand Jive into it, not sure why I thought that would be such a hit, which we performed during the chorus, every time.  I was way more into this whole thing than Catherine or Lauren and none of the three of us were great dancers to begin with (no offense girls!).  Luckily the only people in the audience were parents and the M kids, not the entire school.  I learned then and there that choreography was not for me.