nirix5 | I really need to start thinking of random clever titles for these things.

First off, thanks to everyone who voted :) There was much squeeing on this end of the computer.

I finally chose Ichikoto as my professional name.

I really wanted 'ichi' to be the first character. I mean, I've never actually met Liza Dalby, but she was the first non-Japanese to become a geiko, and her professional name was Ichigiku, so going with an Ichi name was a logical choice for me. I tried playing around with the Sumi combinations for a while, but in the end I wanted something totally different than my private name. I finally settled on Ichikoto for a few reasons. First, I just couldn't go with Ichiko. I'm not that good of a dancer (YET. Muah ha ha ha.) However, Ichikoto has Ichiko in it, and that makes me happy. Second, the koto is an instrument I've been dying to learn, even more than the shamisen. Third, the way Ichiko and koto share syllables reminds me of covalent bonds in chemistry, which I love (odd, I know) and that kind of alludes to my 'every day' life in a very subtle way. So, I'm Ichikoto now!

In other news...

School is going good but I've been exhausted all week.

Yesterday was really bad- I got nailed with cramps in the middle of lab. They just got worse and worse, and I finally walked out of sociology in search of midol. Left my stuff in the classroom and everything. Guh. No one had anything, so I walked around until class ended, when I went back in to explain what had happened to the professor, who was totally cool with it and gave me Tylenol. So, happiness.

After school we went to the deli, as usual. We made a quick stop in Rite Aid so I could get some cash back from my account. Everyone came with me and waited with me at the counter, and when I was all done, the cashier was like, can I help the next person in line, please? So I started to walk away and everyone came with me- and then she had no line. She was all, "WHOA!!! WHERE THE HELL DID THE LINE GO!!! THAT WAS COOL!" It was very, very funny. For a second I felt like a famous person with an entourage. This continued when we went to the deli, where the deli people were all, "The Group's here! Clear out a table!" Star treatment in downtown Syracuse is fun, I tell you. Plus we got a discount on the french fries.

The fact that I am not currently attending classes in a studio really, really sucks. I keep thinking "I have to start lessons again" but then I remind myself that I really can't do it on top of school, at least not at this point. It's so hard to wait for summer. I also made myself put the pointes away, because I am not going to fuck with that until a teacher says I'm ready too. Also, I've decided to stop babying my feet with my gel pads. When I do use my pointes (I'm not as good at putting them away as I should be) I do so in socks and socks only. My feet have gone absolutely soft- just socks really, really hurts.

At this point all I can do is barre work in my room. I don't have enough room to practice turns or a sturdy enough floor to jump, and I'm absolutely terrified of learning something the wrong way by doing it out of the book without a teacher to correct me.

However, my developpes are coming along fabulously. And there's this great combination that I'm working on that looks very nice when it's done smoothly.

Start out on left foot, right front fifth. Demi-plie and extend right foot out in front. Rise up out of demi-plie and raise right foot to ninety degrees. Rotate to second and bend foot into knee. Open up to second arabesque in back, releve, balance. Drop down onto raised leg in demi-plie, lift left leg in a forward attitude, balance, lower left leg and raise right leg in an attitude croisee. Repeat from the back.

This is the Vagnova method, so the attitudes are slightly different from the RAD, but it's still very pretty. Tricky, but pretty.

Ugh. Off to Criminal Justice now, where I will find out if I royally bombed the test I took last week.