tomclegg.net |
Dancing standards at the Calgary Stampede Posted July 11, 2004 Last night I was accused by two girls (who were not in cahoots) of being a good dancer. One of them was convinced that I take country dancing lessons, even after she saw my very first attempt at line dancing. The attempt was pretty feeble. There is obviously some predetermined stepping pattern which I wasn't quite able to learn before the end of the song. Most of the people who talked to me turned out to be from Thunder Bay or Ireland. Today, I didn't check their origins, but even more people were excited about my dancing. I even had a man approach me in the bathroom to tell me that "some girls were talking about you, because you're a good dancer." He was too drunk to find them, though. I came up with a few excuses. I was probably the only one dancing by myself, which increases freedom of movement. I was perfectly happy to make a fool of myself, which also increases freedom of movement. I had spent most of the week in an excessively air-conditioned computer lab, which increases desire for movement. Finally, everybody else was way loaded, so they had to stay calm to avoid falling over, and it didn't take much to impress them. Perhaps it was all because of the hiking shoes. In other news, I spent $63 at the Stampede: $11 to get in twice, $30 for a silly cowboy hat (already featured in a couple of photos with random tourists) and $11 for two cans of beer. I guess it was worth it: I got to keep the cowboy hat. (On the second day, I remembered to booze up before going in to the stampede grounds.) Wearing a hat like this, I have to stay further away from other people. Especially other people with cowboy hats. It's like having an umbrella attached to my head. I also have to look out for walls. Being upside down is dangerous. It's a fun exercise. It might be true that everybody looks good in a cowboy hat. Maybe I should get a real one too. |