[MSN Spaces] Confused? Holly?

I thought about this the other week while on the phone with Holly. I'm happy to see it actually come about!

Instead of me writing up an entry, this time around I have a guest author. After a bit of gentle poking and prodding (I hear you sniggering in the back. Stop it!), and waiting for final exams and projects and other events to conclude, an entry was born. Take it away, Holly!

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For a while now I have been learning to lead during the lessons at Swing City. There are several times during the lesson that we split into groups of 'leads' and 'follows' which is classically 'guys' and 'girls' and that tends to be how it is instructed. "Guys on this side; girls on that side." So, I often get some strange looks as I walk over to join the 'guys' side or when I try to find a partner again. I reassure them that they are in the right place and that I'm not confused by saying something like "I'm learning to be a guy." (Okay that might not assure them that I'm not confused.)

Learning to be a guy is intriguing, some things that are quintessential to being a girl have to be unlearned. For instance, left actually means left and right actually means right. This has probably had a positive impact on my ability to follow driving directions, though my substitution of 'driver's side,' 'passenger's side' has always worked without fail. I am also noticing that I have a greater appreciation of cars, but I think that might be due to my habits as a follow (Wayne slows down while walking and his eyes follow a nice car) as most of my car classification still falls under 'old,' 'new,' 'sporty,' 'big,' 'shiny' etc.

Not only that, but learning to be a lead is a great way to meet girls! Those of you who do partner dance should have a good idea of what I mean. Oftentimes when you dance with someone you chat a little bit and all those little bits add up and you get to know people over time and they are who you gravitate to when you sit down between dancing. Of course, leads do meet other leads and follows do meet other follows - often through someone they know from having danced with them. But this doesn't always mean you get to meet the new people! Lessons are where you meet new people! Every few minutes during the lesson everyone switches partners - it's like speed dating, only the emphasis is on learning how to dance with people who have different styles and can teach you different things - not meeting someone to date - and you get to chat with the new dancers who are trying out swing! So, just in learning to lead I have increased the number of people that I know at swing! and have hugely increased the number of girls I know!

But don't worry! As intriguing as learning to be a guy is it also reminds me that I like being a girl! [*sigh of relief* -ed.] There are multiple reasons that I'm glad I am a girl: way more versatility in clothing (pants, skirts, shorts, capris not to mention a million styles of shirts) and wearing guys clothes is quite acceptable; chocolate can make everything better; gay waiters don't hit on me; no fighting off cougars (the older female variety that Matt attracts); I can tell my friends that their butt looks good; and last but definitely not least, I couldn't be Wayne's girlfriend if I wasn't a girl! [ - ed.] (Besides, I don't think I'd ever quite get the hang of leaving the toilet seat up.)

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This may bite me in the ass, but I'm open to more guest authors. If you'd like to contribute, send me an email with your writeup! If you don't actually know me (and therefore don't know my real email address), send me an IM using the email in my profile. So assuming I get more guest authors, any entries titled "Confused? <INSERT NAME>?" will be written by others from now on. You have been warned.

That is all.