When it rains, it pours.

I was upset a couple weeks ago after I got dissed by my salsa partner. He arranged to have another girl and myself over at the same time to practice. This hurt. Not because he's practicing with other women, but that he felt it was ok to practice with the both of us at the same time. He told me that when I get tired, he'll dance with her. First of all, I don't take that many breaks. I stop, drink some water, and I'm ready to go again. Please. He left me alone in his apartment to go meet her in the parking lot. And I grabbed my shit and left. On the way out, I found him in the parking lot. And he tried one more time to convince me to stay, telling me that the other girl had no problem with him practicing with the both of us. I told him I did and left. I have no problem being the bitch in this situation.

This experience left me a little hurt. I felt he didn't really respect me. And since he hasn't called me, I must be right. So I've taken a break from salsa at Moda. Partly because I don't want to see George, but also because I have been busy.

After being dissed, I was a little bitter towards all men. Why couldn't some guy come into my life and and think I'm fabulous and treat me with respect, and (here's the catch) I like him back.

Well, I went on a date on Friday. And the guy called me at least once every day since. He's made it clear that he likes me. Hell, he came right out and told me. But there are a couple of red flags. First, all the calling. Second, he invited himself to breakfast with me.

Let me back up here and explain: My new ritual is to get up early on Sunday, stumble down to the Inn on Coventry to have breakfast by myself. It's my weekend treat that I cherish. Only certain people are welcome to join me. But when he invited himself along, I immediately started figuring out how to still go, but without him. I told him I overslept.

So he seems a little too eager.

But there's more. I went to the Grog Shop (a concert club down the street) to see a co-worker's band play. Now Mike at work is cute, stylish, but very clean-cut. We hardly talk. But in a band, on stage, he is very different. He has tatoos (hot), and on the drums, he rocks! I saw him in a very different light. And after their set, he seemed very attentive, offered to buy me a beer, gave me his band's CD's and walked me out when I left. Could he be interested? We'll see. We might be hanging with mutual friends this Friday.

Updates to come (weeks late, as usual).

New photos!

Here some web galleries from my latest assignments:

Future Scientists

Salamander Run

My Life

I was told that I don't write enough. So while I'm sitting at the laundromat, I'll do something more productive than surf the net. Work has been busy and stressful. We are redoing our website, so I have been going out in the field and shooting alot. On weekends. So I am racking up the comp time-that is time that I can take off later like vacation time. But because most of my time lately has been devoted to salsa dancing and work, I don't have time to take care of other stuff, like emailing or calling people back about side jobs that could earn me extra money. I feel like I'm slacking but I also feel very stressed out. And I'm looking at being busy every weekend from now until August when I leave for Mongolia.

Luis is coming into town in May. This is an opportunity for me to use my comp time and spend time with him. But lately it seems like he's too busy to talk to me, and I'm re-thinking this whole calling-off-work-to-spend-time-with-him thing. We'll see how things go. I have a month to figure that out.

I'm also going to move out of my apartment. Tonight I'm going to meet with a possible roommate, check out the apartment, and convince her that I make a good roommate. This apartment sounds great. I'll be sharing rent and expenses rather than paying for everything myself. Also, it is in Ohio City, so no more paying takes to 2 cities. Hopefully no more traffic or parking tickets, since Cleveland Heights is notorious for that. Yet another opportunity for me to save money. Maybe I can finally afford the toys I want. A digital camera, a Sony PSP, and a motorcycle. I won't have to fight for parking (hopefully). And kitty will have playmates. It has a porch for me to eat breakfast or drink on. And it has a yard-that I don't have to take care of! And there is laundry on-site. Do more driving down the street and paying $2.25 a load!

Most importantly, there is air conditioning, so I won't bake all summer long, and the landlord sounds like he doesn't suck like mine does now. Finally, living on the West Side puts me closer to Moda, my club for salsa dancing.

So what's up with salsa dancing? Well I traded in my original partner, Chris, for a better partner, George. Chris called me and started meeting me at Moda beginning in January. But by the middle of February he had lost interest and stopped going (and he stopped calling and hanging out with me, bastard). But the good thing is by the middle of February, I was ready to move up from the beginner class to the advanced class. I stayed in the beginner class, to be nice to Chris, who wasn't ready to move on. Once he stopped going, though, I moved up and met George. We decided to practice together. This is good , because he is a better dancer than me and I can learn alot from a good leader. Now I practice about 3 times a week and go dancing at Moda on Fridays. Unfortunately, George is going to Greece in the middle of May to visit his family, so I will be losing my partner. I'll need to find a new one. Which I may already have. We'll see what unfolds.