intellectual properties

2/26-3/25

it’s now been a month, so here some crib notes for recent doings (work and gym not included, which has also been a lot of time/energy), some of which may or may not be expounded upon later:

2/26 – transportedSF. wow. that seems like a helluv long time ago. like, i barely remember it. it was fun though!!

2/27 – went to see Port O’Brien and Ezra Furman at Cafe du Nord, except that Ezra Furman wasn’t there. which sucked. Port O’Brien was not that awesome live. we left early.

the first week of march, i went to michigan to see my family, including my new niece, for a week. omgcold!! besides adorable niece, highlight was being approached at the university gym to have a 3some with some random girl and her BF. the freaks, they are everywhere, and i attract them.

i came back to SF and went high-end window-shopping with Miss Velvet Cream.

friday the 13th we went out and did something but now i can’t remember what except that i drank too much and woke up the next day with a hangover.

3/14-3/15 we went to wine country for a friend’s 30th birthday (sonoma/russian river)

discovered antiseptic fashion during fashion show planning mtg for Alchemy. am in love.

my back spasmed on a week ago on 3/19 and i’m still recovering.  learned that my new chiropractor is a way more helpful person than my family physician, and that the AMA is sort of evil. as soon as my body quits hurting/freaking out and i get some sleep, maybe i’ll blog more.

went with reagan to see a guru/mystic. had lots of subsequent thoughts about how much pressure it is to acknowledge that you do, indeed, have the all the power you need to create the life you want for yourself.

hottubed with jasonsays

scored tickets to both Nine Inch Nails/Jane’s Addiction (NIN/JA) and Phish for summer concerts @ shoreline

made some signs for Alchemy. you should come.

declared a long-awaited vacation.

approached to possibly teach a hooping class at the downtown oakland YMCA. it’s been long enough now that just might be into that again.

this weekend:

tomorrow: “Metamorphica” live art/drawing/fashion/music conglomeration soiree, with MVC and Bad Unkl Sista

weekend: friend’s birthday campout thingy somewhere in the woody peninsula, and then rendezvous with SFlovestory.

BAH style

there was an article in yesterday’s SF Chronicle Style section about hooping, featuring our very own Bay Area Hoopers. i’d gotten out of my hoop habit, i admit, but i’ve been going back to BAH the last few sundays, and it feels good to get out and reconnect with that community, not to mention the physical workout. while i still have little interest in being a hoop performer or professional, i’m happy to get back into it just for the fun.

see also: hooping.org

calling all bay area hoopers….

starting this sunday, 11/4, the Bay Area Hoopers will have their indoor practice space back! i’m pretty excited about this, as i was much more productive and engaged with hooping when we had the indoor practice space than when it is outdoor during the summer and more like a picnic. the summer events are fun, but i didn’t find myself really “getting into the zone” or feeling like i gained much in the way of skill. i was always distracted by sunshine and green grass and sky and trees and not really focusing on the hoop. that’s not a bad thing, but i didn’t feel as motivated to go as i did when we had the indoor space with mirrors and a kickin sound system (and a bathroom). i haven’t hooped in months (and boy do i need some cardio), so i’m really glad it’s back!

electro hooper

while i’ve repeatedly stated that i don’t want to be a live hoop performer, stage or circus style, i would totally do a music video like this. ~via

inside the hoop

since hooping.org was redesigned (with all kinds of great links to videos and articles!), they now have a interview section that highlights hoopers from all around the world, and this week, i’m in the spotlight. eek!

So how has hooping changed Amy’s life? Let her count the ways. Amy says, “First, it was a fantastic way to meet new people in San Francisco, especially after my old ‘scene’ (Phish) died and a lot of my college friends who moved here for the DotCom boomed moved away after 2001. I meet at least one new person every time I practice with BAH, and have made some of the best friends a girl could ever have because of our hoop connection. Secondly, it has also given me a lot of self-confidence in terms of performing, something I have always dreamed of doing but I’ve always suffered from self-doubt and anxiety attacks. I have had stage fright most of my life, and so have always been wary of doing anything in front of a crowd, until I found the hoop! Over the past two years, especially, people in the San Francisco hooping scene have encouraged me to perform at events and I have slowly been accepting those invitations. I’ve become much more comfortable with myself in the public eye thanks to hooping, and this has paid off both personally and professionally.”

(quoting myself is funny.)

hoop hole

since i stopped being the coordinator for Bay Area Hoopers earlier this year, i’ve not been hooping nearly as much. in fact, i’m barely hooping at all. i didn’t even hoop at burning man – for the entire week. saturday night/sunday morning we went to an outdoor party, which meant PLENTY of room for hooping, and it was only after we arrived and the bass started vibrating the practically empty dance floor that i realized that i/we had not brought a single hoop with us. perhaps it was all the other things we were helping to look after (sound, records, lighting), but i was totally shocked at myself for not even THINKING of putting hoops in the car along with all our other standard all-night party gear. i sent reagan a message and she brought a few to the rescue, but after a few initial euphoric minutes, i got tired and then didn’t hoop much for the rest of the night.

i don’t know what it means, but it struck me pretty hard that i totally spaced on something that i previously would have NEVER left home without. am i bored with hooping? perhaps. perhaps i got to a plateau with my skills, and perhaps because i’m not into being a paid performer i feel like it’s nothing more than a hobby and not too much should be invested. should i continue hooping? by all means – i’ve not been getting nearly the amount of off-dancefloor exercise that i should be lately, and that 2-4 extra hours of hooping a week i was getting last winter on sunday afternoon really paid off physically.

i am hoping that with winter coming up, i’ll move my activities back indoor (yoga + hooping) and get out of this slump, but right now i’m feeling rather listless and disenchanted. bored, even, which strikes me as a completely inappropriate feeling considering the amount of beauty, creativity, and love i have in my life. there are a lot of things in my life for which my passion seems to be waning (blogging, hooping), and i’m having trouble seeing why or where else the energy is going. usually when i stop doing one thing it is replaced by something else, but right now i feel like there’s a hole. and while picking up a hoop might seem to be the obvious cure, i’ve tried, and it’s not working. there’s something in my creative energy diet that’s missing, and i don’t know what it is.

hoopers reborn

hey hoopers: hooping.org has been revamped as Hooping.org Magazine – check it! lots of fun sections to poke around in. kudos to philo and vera on the redesign! oh, and jay’s even got a video under hooping tricks!

and she swirls

disclaimer: hooping in an ankle-length skirt limits tricks.

i’m pretty nervous about putting a video up here, but perhaps it will help me get over my in-person stage fright if i spread some footage of me around the internet. not my best work, but whatever. enjoy!

anah’s got talent

since i’ve been gitting a lot of hits from people googling for videos of Anah aka Hoopalicious’ performance on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”, here’s the link, y’all. you can also watch on youtube. go Anah!

hooping pinnacle

in case anyone might be wondering exactly what i might be trying to do with all this yoga and hooping, it’s this:

of course, i’m not a 16 year old russian contortionist, but it’s good to have goals, even if you know you’ll never reach them, right?

it’s definitely inspiring! even to just get *close* to that kind of flexibility and grace would be hugely satisfying for me, which is why i’m so proud of my other hooper friends (like Shredder!) who HAVE made it into the circus.

the only time in gym class i EVER got picked first was when we had gynmastics. i wish that my parents had enrolled me in gymnastic or dance classes when i was a little girl. well, i guess, they didn’t really have those where i lived. i had *one* friend who took ballet, 40 miles away @ Interlochen Arts Academy.

fortunately, i have many talented friends over the age of 30 who are just beginning their performance careers right now, and so i know that it’s possible. however, this is still such a daydream. i haven’t actually put that much effort into it due to laziness. many of you have seen me sitting around hooping practice, eating and drinking coffee or know that i skip yoga to go and do other things. occassionally i get inspired and step up to the plate, but only once in a while. i sort of like remaining anonymous, on the fringe, but still noticed. i’m not really a spotlight kind of girl. however- i’m thankful for my friends like Christabel who consistently encourage me to “take it a step further”, but i’m sort of shy / have stage fright.

anyway, what’s your dream?