So you think you can dance?

A couple of weeks ago, caught up in the usual spirit of 'new beginnings' that grips the world for approximately 21 days following New Year's - I decided to give something a little bit 'out-there' a try. I decided it was time to start pole dancing.

Over the past year or so, pole dancing seems to have become a completely acceptable form of exercise for many a young Jo'burg lass - in fact, being young isn't even a requirement anymore. I'd heard many reports of just how fantastic it was for improving your 'core' (what ever that is, because every new exercise technique they've come out with over the past five years has apparently been amazing for cores).

Spurred on by a friend, who even at her most wild moments is about ten thousand times more conservative than the Queen - I decided to sign up for Pole dancing 101.

We arrived at the studio in Rivonia to find what looked like a normal dance studio, if you don't take the 10 poles into consideration. The teacher was already walking around with a fistful of cash getting money from slightly terrified looking newbies. She came up to me and for a mad moment I wondered whether I should hand the money to her or tuck it into her jeans as a really pathetic joke. Fortunately I opted for the former.

The teacher, who is apparently an ex stripper who's stripped at strip bars all over the world, then walking over to her iPod docking station - pressed play and proceeded to strip down to her g-string. I was glad to discover that this was only because she was changing into her shorts - and that none of us were actually expected to follow suit.

Then she began showing us the moves - step by step - slide your left hand up to the top of the pole... hook your right knee around it... bring your left knee up and slowly...very slowly... lower yourself to the ground while spinning around the pole... until you land gracefully on your knees... No problem.

Try and imagine Demi Moore in Strip Tease..... I was the exact OPPOSITE of that. Oh. My. God.

I think watching Schalk Burger pole dancing would probably have been sexier than what I was managing to achieve. It was carnage on the strip floor.

And what made it SO much worse was that everyone else was totally getting it! My friend, the Queen, was practically supporting herself with one toe while spinning around and tossing her hair about. It was devastating.

So like some of the other experiments from former years - like scuba diving, salsa dancing and internet dating - pole dancing is just another activity that's been canned without achieving anything other than a blog post - better than nothing I guess!

Talkin' money

It's virtually impossible to have a 20 minute conversation with someone without the words 'recession', 'economic slump' or 'hard time's coming up. This has led me to ponder all things money-related. To be truthful - I'm a bit of a money fool. My brain just switches off as soon as someone starts talking about investments or the stock exchange. I can't even handle reading my bank's website for more than a couple of minutes while trying to work out what type of savings or investment account I should open. I barely understand any of the terminology - and that's after FD and my dad have spent hours trying to explain it all to me.

Thankfully, despite my complete inability to compute all things financial, I don't have a cent of debt. Knowing what I'm capable of, I've never let myself own a credit card, which has helped me to steer clear of doing too much damage. I don't even believe in owning department store accounts - which has created all sorts of problems when trying to set up even my 3G account with my cellphone provider - with zero credit history to work from.

I came across this article on women24.com - the mistakes that women make when it comes to money and found it quite interesting. There are definitely some enormous generalisations here, but I can see quite a lot of truth in it too - what do you guys think? Do you think men are just born with more of an aptitude when it comes to cash, or is it something they learn as they go along? Or do you reckon the whole lot of it is a load of crap and that women are just as financially savvy?

Yorkie-fever

Is it weird that I'm considering moving to a new apartment just so I can get one of these...??


I'm a serious Yorkshire Terrier fan. The obsession started with my first Yorkie when I was about twelve years ago. She was classic Yorkie - she would only sit in the front seat of the car and would only eat roast chicken from Woolworths (we tried Pick 'n Pay but she was having none of it). She had so many fans her popularity pretty much reached cult status. She lived until she was about 15, which is seriously good going by Yorkie standards (which might say something about the health benefits of Woolies free range chicken!)

I always knew I'd get another Yorkie - it was just a matter of waiting until the right time. Then, while at the coast this December I was quite literally bombarded by Yorkies. It was a Yorkie-fest. Everyone in the world seemed to have one except for me, and it made me start to question why the hell not? I work from home now, so I wouldn't have to leave it alone for long periods of time - and I have parents who can dog sit when I go away (they don't sound too keen on this, but they'll succumb eventually).

But a fairly significant obstacle remains - a zero pet policy at my complex. And I have the neighbours from hell that will definitely kick up a stink the first time they hear a bark. Yup... they'd boot me out even if my yorkie had a face like this...


(unthinkable..... I know)

For the record... this has absolutely nothing to do with general broodiness - this is purely about the Yorkies. So time will tell, but I'm holding thumbs that I may find myself Yorkie-friendly during the course of 2009.