Author: mathdreads

Carnaval

This year’s carnaval, featuring the Austin Samba School and of course, my fellow capoeiristas and me from Capoeira Evolucao, was better than last year’s.  We capoeiristas again formed a roda around the samba performers so they could do their spectacular thing twice during the night, which had the theme of Alice in Wonderland.  I’m so happy that they made our security job a bit easier by arranging the squared off barricades near the stage so that the stage itself was the fourth side. 

After both samba performances, we had our own little show on the side. Although I didn’t play capoeira, many Evolucao capoeiristas did, along with capoeiristas from other places.  I found it amusing that guys were obviously beginners would go aggressively against Mestre Metido and how he teased and taunted them before putting them in their  place.

Just like last year, many carnaval participants were in varying degrees of nudity, most relying on painted costumes whereas some just looked like inebriated people who’d drunkenly taken off their clothes during the course of the night.  Nonetheless, what can one expect from the biggest carnaval celebration in the States?

Cupid’s Naughty Secrets

I’ll be the first to confess: I nearly spent what I pay in rent on audio equipment since Esquina Tango does not have a microphone for me to use for my first reading/book signing event on Sunday, Feb. 13th, 7 to 9 pm.  Some would be in a post buyer’s panic over the expense, but I know that I have to invest in my own dreams if I expect anyone else to follow suit. As a matter of fact, it pleases my little Virgo-controlling heart to do as much as I can to make my first time as painless as possible. Plus, now that I have my own microphone, I’m very motivated to set up other readings/book signings. 

On another note…for about two weeks, I tried converting the pdf of “Letters from Egypt” to a word document.  The finished “word” document wouldn’t copy and paste into my blog, but the document would not cooperate.  Finally, I just uploaded the pdf itself although it wasn’t the best quality and I feared that someone would get a headache attempting to read it for a long period of time.  Not one week after I posted it, Egyptians started clamoring for Mubarak to step down.  I must admit, I’m borderline superstitious enough to believe that the difficulty in converting and uploading my “Letters from Egypt” was a sign of exciting times to come now in Egypt!  The dull alternative is simply to believe that those two things are merely a coinicidence.

Inaugural Post

Here’s the day I’ve been waiting for: I’m finally writing my first post because my busybody, perfectionist self is finally satisfied that my blog is good enough to start inviting people to view it.  Plus, I’m in the mist of putting together my first reading/book signing at Esquina Tango on Feb. 13th, which is not as far away as it seems.  This has been an exciting process that actually started seven years ago when I dreamed of the first line of Tribe of One: “Life would be so much easier if I was not a gay white man trapped in a black woman’s body.” I woke up and immediately wrote that line down.  Now, I’m a self-published author, launched a blog and about to have my first one-woman show to promote my writing.

Not only did I have a tremendous sense of accomplishment seeing my book in print, but felt that 2011 would be a year with many different opportunities. One of the best things about living through the uncertain financial times of a recession is that I am motivated to pursue different interests that I may not have previously done.  I figured out a few months ago that I had all the resources I needed to be happy and successful since I am not a one-trick pony!  When the situation changes, I have enough varied interests, skills and hobbies to nurture, adapt and eventually land solidly on my feet.