Back in 1986, Paramount decided that on the back of its wonderfully successful set of Star Trek movies, it was time to revive the franchise as a series – partly because the original actors were demanding a huge slice of the action. But how on earth did we end up with the characters we ended up with?
I’m going to bet that it went down a little like this…
I’m pretty well known in some circles (such as The Atlantic Wire, Google search engines, and other random places) for my hangover cures. In fact, one of the proudest moments of my life was getting a note from a restaurant crew saying that they’d laminated my advice. And I know how much those guys drink… sooooo…
You might think that having posted that blog post (was it really 8 years ago? Daaaamn!), I’d have given up on hangover cures, and started to cure other things. Well, sure, my interests have wandered a little… but you know what? I still drink alcohol now and then, and despite my advice, I still get hangovers. Except there’s a missing step in there – the drunk part.
We’ve all been there. After a big night on the town, you’re settling down for the evening, and ok, sure, you’re not really that drunk… maybe a little unsteady, but nothing a little sleep will fix. So you lie down in bed and close your eyes and… great. The room’s spinning and you feel a billion times worse. Well, damnit. Open your eyes again. The room stops spinning a bit. Maybe if I lie down next to the toilet at least I won’t make a mess of the bed. Fine.
And so you settle down for a night with your new dance partner with alabaster skin and a porcelain persuasion. Yep, you’re curled up ready for a fitful sleep with your arm around the john. Just when was the last time you cleaned it again? Great. Just great.
Well, that sucks. So let’s see what we can do about that. This post will teach you a neat “stupid-human-trick” that will help you stop the room from spinning next time you get drunk – and a little of the science behind it. Handy, huh?
As a dancer, I’ve pretty much got two left feet. Always have. (If my DNA source code is anything to believe, it’s partly because I’ve got a slightly worse motor cortex than most, making it harder for me to learn that kind of thing… I’m not sure whether I buy that or not). Although I’ve always had a blast making a fool out of myself on the dance floor, provided I had poured enough alcohol into myself to ignore the jeers, and the fact that I’d never be able to pull based on my “moves”. (Fortunately, my lack of coordination and finesse appears to be relegated only to dancing).
Last week though, I was playing Dance Central 3 with my wonderful wife Darci, and she said one of the most amazing things ever… (in between mocking my lack of skill). This is the one piece of information that totally clued me into what I was missing about dancing, and why she was more easily able to ape the dancers on the screen than I was. It was mind blowing, and has completely gotten me over the hump.
What was it?
So a few months back, I decided to try playing Dance Central to lose weight, and for the first two weeks it worked like a charm! I lost a fair bit of weight (close to 10lbs), and checking on my electronic scale it wasn’t all water weight. Pretty awesome! What’s more, it proved out my theory that if you’ve got a lot of fast-twitch muscle fibers, dancing is a pretty solid way to go to get exercise – about the only thing comparable might be interval training.
Now, I’d be lying if I said I was able to keep it up long term. I got a cold, and unfortunately, after a couple of days out of commission, I just kind of forgot to get back on the horse. Well, now I’m back and dancing again… and it’s time for an update on what I’ve learned in the interim.
Er…. ok…. hmmmmmmmm….
I’ve decided to start writing up the stories I come up with for Lexi when I’m putting her to bed. Here’s the first one…
Once upon a time, there was a turkish princess who lived in a yurt.
If you’ve never seen a yurt, it’s a large round tent, filled with pillows and rugs.
The princess decided that she wanted to live in a room filled with light, so in her yurt one day, she gathered one thousand candles, and set them up in a spiral around the room.
