After eleven years living, dancing, teaching tango, and writing in Buenos Aires, I came home to L.A. in 2014, where I'm reconstructing my life.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Blogging, Memes, Change, Shoes



Natalia, over at her ShimmyBlog, has tagged me for a meme. She wrote that she knows memes these days are "kind of trite," but she's going for it anyway: 8 things people don't know about me.

I dunno, maybe I don't fit in well in this blogging world: there are all these memes and contests and chains and things, and the truth is, I don't think anyone is interested in the last thing I ate today or what music I'm listening to right now.

Many blogs I subscribe to try to make money, and so they are full of tips about optimizing search engines and Google and Link Love and joining stuff to make more people read my blog. But making money isn't what I do (guffaw! Did you see my AdSense way at the bottom?)

Sure I sometimes promote my work with Ruben Aybar as a tango teacher and tour guide, but I want more people to read my blog because I love to write. For me the communication process isn't complete until someone reads it. That's why we bloggers love comments because it's proof that someone out there is reading and has an opinion about what we write.

I'm reading those technical posts too because I wish to heck I could figure out how to do some things with this Blogger classic template. Last week I "upgraded" and worked for a whole day trying to add a blogroll and Favorite Posts and "useful terms to know" on a sidebar, but it just wouldn't work, so I gave up and went back to this format.

I like this template--it's simple and elegant--but it's one column and I do want some other features. And I'd like to use a photo as the header. And anyway, maybe it's time for a new look. Can someone help me? (I have a mac). Hey, I'm talking to you out there who use Blogger, have a mac, and have real cool designs. Please?

But in the meantime, back to memes: I did one--it was the Me, Not Me photo meme, and I had fun with it.

OK, here it goes, I'll make it short. This is for you, Natalia.

8 Things People Don't Know About Me (and probably don't care to find out)

1. Hmmm, I'm thinking. My life has been an open book so everyone knows everything already. OK, here's one: I got hooked on French when I was 3 years old and took my first ballet class; I still remember how I loved the sounds of glissade, assemblé, pas de bourrée, jeté. It was like music or poetry, and changed my destiny.

2. I hope that in Heaven I can eat as much rucula, goat cheese, and raspberries as I want and wash it all down with Cosmos and Mojitos.

3. I cry more when I'm happy or when I see or hear something beautiful than when I'm sad.

4. I had a great relationship with my mother.

5. I was an only child.

6. If I could change one physical thing about me, it would be that I would have a lovely singing voice. I adore to sing, and I can't. I sing in church, but pray that nobody hears me.

7. I play the piano and have a big CD collection, but most of the time I like silence.

8. (only one more...) Even though I have countless tango shoes (the truth is that I'm afraid to count them), mostly Comme Il Faut, and I also still use the Flabella's that I bought years ago, I'm not a "shoe person." (You "shoe people" out there will know what I mean.)

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I also don't travel in those kind of blogging circles either. I've kept my blog for almost a year, and this was the first meme I had been tagged for. I felt kind-of honored in a laughable way. :)

tangocherie said...

Oops, I forgot to tag anybody.
Maybe someone will just do it anyway.

tonya said...

I know, I don't belong to these blogging communities either -- this was the first one I got tagged for (and it was by a new reader to my blog!) It was kind of fun though -- I'm glad you guys participated! I found it really hard -- especially since it's so open-ended. I'm an only child too, Cherie -- there are so few of us! Did ballet lead you to tango? Is that why it changed your life? I love that picture, by the way!

tangocherie said...

Hi Tonya,
So glad you stopped by! I've always wanted to meet Swan Lake Samba Girl! (What a fabulous name, and such an interesting blog.)

My first ballet classes at the age of 3 not only led me to tango a gadzillion years later, after dancing ballet, belly, jazz, flamenco, salsa, you-name-it-I-danced-it, but at that moment I fell in love with the French language and all things Franch. Which led me to France--and that's another whole story, or blog!

Anonymous said...

Hey, i went back to my old blog tangospeak.blogspot.com and changed my template to the one you're using so I can see what you're dealing with.
How come the links to your older posts takes up the width of the page instead of being in the left columns so people can read the actual post in the main body?
One thing you can try is to export all of your posts, reset your template, import your posts and then gradually start adding other things to the left column only or footer only. Would that work?

tangocherie said...

Caroline,
Excuse me, are you talking to me?
Listen, I so appreciate you and Miss Tango being willing to help me get a new "look" to the old blog!

Maybe it's Blogger or my computer, but my template is only one column. I can't put stuff to the left or right in a sidebar. That's why I just put all the junk at the bottom.

The other thing is that I've spent hours trying to upgrade to the "new" blogger, a similar template but with 2 columns, but the darned widgets are definitely not drag 'n 'n drop'n on my machine.

PLUS I want to put a wide picture as my header (like on yours), but I can't configure it right.

Miss Tango offered to come over and give first aid; maybe I need it.

Either that or a vacation in Rio!

Anonymous said...

Hah ha, vacation in Rio...I've felt that way many times!
Well, I'm a graphic designer and was a website designer for a long time. And I have a Mac. Helping with blogs is something I'm good at.
I'll be in Argentina for the month of October. Don't be afraid to ask for help while I'm there. I can help you figure it all out.

b said...

I am reading your posts.

:)

tangocherie said...

Oh Seven, you are sweet!
Your comment made my eyes mist over!
Thank you for reading.