Numbers

This morning I rifled through the mail and cleaned up the kitchen a bit while I was eating my cereal. I'm doing this before getting dressed to head to the studio for ballet (whoot!).

It appears that either the Waltham property tax rate went down, or it was lower than I thought it was. I opened our bill to find that the residential rate is $9.89 for every $1k. Wow, that's lower was reported for Boston on NPR the other day! Waltham's tax rate is so low due to the high amount of commercial development (the commercial rate is higher than the residential one). It was one of the things our realtor stressed us to take into consideration when figuring out 'big picture' costs in different communities.

I received the annual report for the Simmons campaign. This past year was the first time that I donated to the college, and it was neat to see my name printed in the list at the back (those of us peons giving less than $25,000 - if only I had that kind of money to give away). Its not that I couldn't afford to donate before, but it hadn't struck me yet how important it was for me to contribute. I owe my experience there to generous donors, because most of my tuition was paid via need-based grants from the college (the rest was in Stafford Loans in my own name, and some cash from my parents in years 1 and 2 - years 3 and 4 were so poor for them that they didn't have to foot any of the bill, it was all scholarships/stafford). This booklet I have details the money that was raised in last year's campaign. $69.3 million dollars (or $20 million more than their goal)! This money provided (they say): 191 more scholarships and awards, 5 new faculty chairs, dozens of classroom renovations, creation of afterschool activities for 1000 Boston kids (through a Community Service Center that was established), moving Library Science professionals to war-torn countries, supporting tuition for 3300 undergrads, blah, blah, blah.

Numbers can tell interesting stories. I think its neat that my career is a part of that. :)

Class One

First off, I never took French so I don't know how to spell in it - what's typed below is from sound and is probably wrong. :)

Staring at yourself in a large mirror really shows you how you've gotten out of shape. I tend to gain wait at the top of my thighs (inner and outer) i.e. probably one of the tougher parts of the body to work. That will change over time, but for the meantime, I'll just try and not look there.

Wow! What a workout! And how poor my tour jete was! I've lost a lot of flexibility but it was nice to work the muscles.

Needless to say, I need to take a hot bath.

The choreography is really neat - a combo of ballet and jazz.

The class ended with bows - grande reverance. They put on some song to do this to that was about losing someone, but knowing they are out there, and with you. I nearly lost it. I also nearly lost it watching some of the choreography that I've done with Peggy before.

Everyone applauded Peggy-Ann (Peg's daughter - a spitting image, only a lot skinnier) after the class and someone presented her with a holiday card from the class. They took up a collection to get her something to thank her for being willing to teach (its on order, a fancy music box that's got dancers dancing on it). And she cried, of course.

It will take some time for us to not be so emotional, I think. Still, its nice to be back!

Off to soak with a Lush Bath Bomb :)