I hate wearing high heels. I don't care that I'm short and could use the extra height. They're uncomfortable, unstable and unhealthy. Research has shown that high heels can contribute to the development of chronic knee pain, sprained ankles and back problems. It's a conspiracy of fashion to sacrifice women's health for the sake of beauty. I'll never be a fashion plate because given the choice, I'll pick comfort and health over looks. However, when it comes to wearing dresses for evening wear, I don't have much choice in shoes. But to my shock, I've just discovered one very specific case where wearing high heels may help me more than hurt me.
Last night we went salsa dancing for the first time in four years or so. We stopped because it was frustrating for Lee and painful for my ankles. Ever since I pulled my Achilles tendon playing ultimate frisbee, my puny little ankles have never been the same. If I don't have healthy ankles, knees, legs then I can't go to karate practice which would make me grumpy. In fact, I've had to curtail all dancing except for special occasions because of ankle trouble.
A couple of weeks ago, my friend Maria suggested we go salsa dancing. I figured that it had been a while since I went dancing and agreed. But I didn't have decent dance shoes. The pair I have is sufficiently low-heeled but gives me blisters and is more suitable for swing fashion than salsa fashion. So I ordered a pair with 2.5 inch heels that the internet reviews claimed was very comfortable provided you ordered a size up (which I did).
Imagine my surprise when I tested them out in my living room to find that they were quite comfortable to dance in. I had to stay on my toes because putting weight back on my heels was a guaranteed wobble. The cool thing was that because of the heels, I was taking more of the physical strain in my calves - a much bigger, stronger part of my body than my ankles. I figured out that the higher heel prevented me from flexing my foot on a backwards step to the degree that my ankles don't like.
The true test was the actual salsa club. After five hours at the club, the part of me that was sore were my toes, not my ankles, not even my calves. For a night of salsa dancing, I consider that a success of health and I attribute it largely to my new dance shoes. It remains to be seen whether we do more salsa dancing, but I think I may be back in the game if we do, thanks to high heeled shoes.
I still hate high heels for most other applications, but in salsa dancing I don't think I'll wear any other kind.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
High Heel Peace
Friday, February 5, 2010
My Top Five Video Games of All Time
That's a daunting title. I went through an entire discussion in my head why I don't need to do this (and honestly I don't except for I wouldn't have this blog post otherwise). That stating my Top Five OF ALL TIME would commit me to supporting this post for the rest of my life even if I change my mind and I would end up with a miserable existence supporting something I knew to be a lie and I would never respect myself again.
Then I took a deep breath and talked myself into a better perspective; this list is for fun. My criteria for the games making this list is whether I remember playing the heck out of the game. There are many other good games I liked, but I didn't repeatedly play it. This can be a misleading metric for me because of my obsessive tendencies. I may play the heck out of a game merely because it's the phase I was in at the time, but it doesn't necessarily mean it was good or I really liked it. Don't ask.
On to the list.
Dragon Age: Origins
This is probably on here because I'm still currently playing the heck out of this game. It's the source of ridicule from my gaming friends (and husband) but I don't care. In typical fashion with BioWare games, I replay the game because I want to see the story as a good guy and a bad guy. I'm currently replaying Dragon Age as four different characters concurrently, one of which is an exact (but better looking version) of a character I've already played through. If the 'obsessions' part of this blog wasn't evident before, here's some proof.
Final Fantasy 12
While I'd played previous Final Fantasy games (8, 10, and 10-2 specifically), this one snuck up on me. It was already out by the time I noticed it and I didn't even rush out and get it. I really enjoyed the characters, particularly one whom I consider Square's best character to date: Balthier. I had my share of annoyances with the game, but he made it interesting enough for me to finish the game. The story itself left some room for improvement. Without that, I wouldn't have been motivated to write my own behind the scenes interpretations to explain what they didn't. Perhaps I should thank Square for rekindling my interest in writing.
Dance Dance Revolution Series
Thus begins my music/rhythm game fascination. I saw these mini dance club floors in the arcades and at first thought it was silly to call playing Simon Sez with your feet 'dancing'. Then I found the home version (I didn't really want to spend time and quarters learning it in the public arcades) and played it on our PS2. Since that first game, I collected the subsequent releases with new music. I could play it to the point of injury after which Lee counseled me to put it away for my own good. It just so happened that one of those later game discs provided a preview of another game that had you singing into a microphone and dancing. Which leads me to the next entry.
SingStar/Karaoke Revolution Series
I grew up being told I couldn't sing and making people cringe when I attempted. This is why I was a band geek all through middle and high school instead. But I think I had some of my grandfather in me and I couldn't just leave well enough alone. (My grandfather would take any party as an opportunity to serenade my grandmother to her feigned embarrassment.) These games measured my pitch and timing, giving me feedback as to how far off the mark I was so I could correct myself. As a result, I could learn the right notes to hit and maybe inspire less cringing. I'm still not going to perform like my sisters can, but my car singing may be more palatable. I also played these games to the point of hoarseness.
Guitar Hero/Rock Band
I wasn't initially interested in these when they were plastic guitars only. Once they added drums and allowed a group of four to play as a fake band, I was all over it. Knowing myself, I would have played the plastic guitar to the detriment of my hands. But playing the drums seemed more ergonomically friendly and I looked forward to banging on plastic drums. And if I got tired of drums, I could switch to the guitar or bass and when I got tired of that, I could drop back to singing. Turns out I had to fight Lee for the drums, so I play guitar/bass more often than not, but it's still fun.
That's the five games. Three of which are music series. This was originally meant to be a Top Ten, but I only came up with maybe seven. 'Top Seven' doesn't ring as nicely so I'm down to Top Five with a few honorable mentions.
Monkey Island Series
This is a set of adventure puzzle games featuring an atypical pirate named Guybrush Threepwood. Adventure puzzle games have been in decline for some time because it takes a lot of resources to produce and not very many people play it. Nevertheless, I was delighted when they developed some recent episodes to visit with Guybrush again. (I still have 4 of the 5 episodes to finish).
Knights of the Old Republic
Another BioWare game and possibly the first one of theirs that I played. Again, I played it more than once. But it makes it on this list because I will occasionally quote myself to hearken back to myself playing the game.*
*Language deliberately obtuse to prevent spoilers. I guess this is only funny to Lee because he's the only one who's heard me quote myself.
And I'm done. No one hold me to this list because I don't want to have to live a lie. But I'll take cake.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Dancing Globally
When I could use a big smile, I watch this video.
The sheer exuberance of the dancers from all over the world captures the joy and magic of dancing for me. And the fact that their dancing is largely goofy, perhaps even dorky, unselfconscious and utterly gleeful is my answer to anyone who has deprived themselves of the experience of channeling the music into movement. Try it, you might even enjoy yourself like these people did.