The Curse of Steph

November 16, 2008

I lost one hour. Needlessly I left without completing all the tasks I hoped to finish. Only after hearing surprised Steph over the phone did I realize that I was one hour early.

One hour later, I tried phoning Steph again only to find that I was out of credit. Fortunately she came out right afterwards without prompting. The ride to the train station etc went without hitch.

I noted that the last time I used my mobile phone to talk to someone was 4 months ago. It was to call a taxi on behalf of a stranger. Maybe using mobile phones to talk to people is becoming obsolete.

This was Steph’s fourth time at SOS. Just like the three previous occasions, SOS was moved to the South side of the Royal National Hotel. Maybe she’s cursed. Leon’s mom said that the other room was being used for Bridge.

For me it was decided a subpar SOS evening. It was bound to happen after two superlative trips recently. Make it one of the worst ones for this year. Steph had a great time though.

Liam was there too. I hadn’t seen him in quite some time. It was nice to see him too. Watching him dance a little reminded me that he could move.

The DJ was Sylvester. I didn’t have to see him to guess that although I did look to confirm after listening to first four or five songs. You can tell by heavy use of non-standard covers.

A highlight or a lowlight. As I was greeting and chatting with Amir, Miriam came by to get Amir to dance with her. Maybe 10-15 minutes later, Miriam did it again while I was chatting with Liam.

Lotsa “high-profile” people tonight. Leon, Tamambo, Susana, Inaki, Mauro, Eva, Frank, Natalie, Niko et al. Maybe they came together for Lee.

From around 10 to 10:30 or so, I had a stretch where I did not dance to 4 or 5 songs in a row. The songs were all quite fast and I was having difficulty gathering inspiration to ask anyone for a dance.

Near the end, Sylvester played Angel Canales Theme Song – probably slowed down. I started with someone new, but she seemed to be struggling from the start and bowed out due to problems with her eyes. I was keen enough to continue yet hard-pressed to find anyone remotely inspiring. I stole Steph away from Liam.

After a reasonable first 30 seconds or so, the dance degenerated into fiasco. We moved from one spot to another, then later into yet another spot. In the end trash talking with Liam became a part of the dance.

Liam was funny. He later came by to say, “You know I wasn’t laughing at you?” I know. Then, “You wouldn’t really care even if I was.” Right again. It’s not that I don’t think highly of his skills, etc in terms of dancing, but I also wouldn’t be bothered by anyone’s criticisms. I’m comfortable with where I am and where I might be going dance-wise, and I don't consider dancing ability a particularly important issue.

It wasn’t all disaster; I think some of the dances ended amicably enough, but I never felt like I ever hit a sweet spot. No unqualified pleasant dances tonight. Even the best ones came with asterisks.

I imagine I was a rather listless company for train chats. The most amusing vignettes Steph revealed was about a phone call about Tiz (on the way in) and Liam’s reaction to the Great Wall Of China (on the way back). It’s just a f----- wall.

It was doubly amusing to see a text Steph received from Liam on the way back. He told her to tell me that I have some new cool moves. I have absolutely no idea what he’s talking about.