Hi Everyone!
Here it is as I have promised, the post of my adventures at a major swing camp/competition down in LA. A few things first though, all names have been changed except names of prominant people (namely instructors and prominant dancers) in order to protect their identity (actually more so to protect mine [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] ). I will be updating five times for the five days that I was down in LA. So without any further ado . . . .
<font color=red> Thursday August 1st
Flying Down
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With 45 minutes to go before my flight I decide to duck into the bathroom and apply SOE to my arms and neck applying my ususal total of 12\". Well here\'s to hoping that I get placed next to a cute girl. . . . (about 20 min later after I get to my seat) Uh-oh. Looks like they placed me in between this older gent and lady both in their early 70s. After getting getting seated I turn to the lady and ask, \"So why are you headed to LA . . . .
(About two hours into the flight) \"So Jim, what did you think of the lavatories? My dad was on the design team for the 757 lavatories.\"
\"Hmm. . . tell your dad that there isn\'t enough head room.\" (We both laugh) During the several hours long (we pratically talked the whole flight) I learned that the gentleman sitting next to me, Jim, was headed to LA to attend his daughter\'s studio\'s open house. The lady, Betty, was headed onward to Mexico City to be with her grandchildren. I also got some interesting history from both of them about the Lindy Hop scene in Seattle in the 1940s.
After saying goodbye to Jim at the baggage claim I head for the LAX Marriot shuttle. After I get settled on the shuttle I look at the shuttle\'s other occupants. Oh wow! One of rider\'s is a very cute petite blonde, late teens early twenties. I wonder if she\'s going to the swing camp too. I look away for a second, turn back and we both catch the other checking the other out. I wonder if the SOE is still working. When we get to the hotel I get up and gesture to her that she can exit before me.
She blushes then shyly says, \"Thank you.\" I wonder if I\'ll see her again this weekend. (After resting in my room for about 15 min I decide to head for the concergie for info on what I can do before I can meet up with Amanda, my best friend/girlfriend from high school. I decide to head out for Venice beach on the #3 and #2 bus. Trip there and back is pretty uneventful since I didn\'t reaply any SOE.)
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Touring LA with Amanda
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After my side trip to Venice Beach and before meeting up with Amanda, I reapply 12\" of SOE on my arms and neck. Right after I get out of the bathroom I get a call on my cell phone, \"I found that Carl Jr. that you were talking about. I\'m parked close to there next to the . . . um. . . Live Nude Girls sign.\"
I laught then reply jokingly, \"Mon Dieu Amanda! You have such a dirty mind. I\'ll see ya in a few minutes.\"
In the following hours Amanda takes me on a driving tour of Hollywood blvd., Sunset Strip, Beverly Hills, and West Hollywood. All the while we catch up on each others lives. The entire time I notice that she seems very confortable and chatty. She hasn\'t been comfortable and chatty around me since my junior year in high school. Ususally she has been quiet and tense around me since we broke after my senior prom. For dinner we go to Ed Debevic\'s a 60\'s diner which their motto is \"Good food. Fresh Service.\" The weird thing is that the waitress pretty much left me alone the entire time that we where there. Amanda even said that the waitress today was less insulting than usual (SOE effects).
After Amanda and I part ways (she\'s headed for New Mexico for a weeklong conference) I go to my hotel room to prep for the Opening dance. Before the dance I apply 8\" of SOE to my arms and 1/2\" of RM behind the ears. I notice nothing out of the ordinary during the dance. I did notice that the cute blonde girl that I saw on the shuttle at the dance. Unfortunately she always seem to be dancing with someone when I\'m free.
<font color=blue> Preview for tomorrow\'s installment: First day of clases and The Hunter and Huntress: Sniffing out a female member of this forum at the dance.
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