I have MOVED!

To a new place on the internets. I am really excited about, will you be excited with me and come visit? I sure hope so! You can find me at:

jilldickman.com

So exciting, right?

It's still all me, all the time, just in a different place. 

If everyone knew about this but me I'm gonna be pissed that no one told me.

I have a new favorite thing.

That thing is my newly downloaded app called Songza. 

This is my new friend, he picks music for me.

Am I late to the game? Probably. I don't have very many apps on my phone. Most of the space is reserved for auditory pleasures like music and podcasts. I play Solitaire on my phone, but that's about the only game - all my other apps are for pictures or watching shows/movies. However, I realized yesterday that there was a lot of space being used up by podcasts that I'd already listened too but hadn't deleted yet...so I cleaned house and found room for a new app. I picked a musical one because I'm slightly obsessed.

So, there are a ton of things you can pick from on this thing. It's way more fun (to me) than Pandora, and I don't think I've listened to a single playlist for longer than 10 minutes because I'm just so curious as to what else is on here and I want to find out all about it RIGHT NOW! A few minutes ago I was listening to a playlist called "Freaks like me" - bands who were eccentric, but not outsiders, I am currently listening to "New Artists to Watch" - indie bands posed to take the scene. Last night I listened to "It's Thursday night, play music for unwinding" - you can pick the day/time of day and then what sort of mood you're in - from there you get a few different options of playlists. Seriously, it's never ending.

I'm obsessed.

Coconut Dreams

Remember when I mentioned last week that I had started a new thing called "oil pulling"?

This is the kind of oil I'm using

I said I'd update if I started seeing any benefits, and besides whiter teeth I have had other big and exciting result. I have started sleeping through the night without the aid of a sleeping pill. For a long time I have not been able to sleep without help. Falling asleep has always been difficult for me, staying asleep has been the bigger issue though and if I wake up in the middle of the night it's almost impossible for me to fall back to sleep if I hadn't taken a sleeping pill before going to bed. I'm not talking about a hard core pill, just unisom or zzzquil, over the counter sleep-aid but it's always done the trick. However in the past week I have slept through the night, or been able to fall right back to sleep after waking up, four times. The only thing I've been doing differently is the oil pulling, so even though it seems like a sort of strange side-effect, I believe that it's responsible. I could not be more thrilled. I'm still surprised how quickly the twenty minutes goes by. Now, every morning before I even have my first cup of coffee I've finished twenty minutes of cleaning - of both my body and my house.

I can't handle it

Do you know what I love doing at the end of the day? Watching TV. Do you know what I hate while trying to enjoy my television? Previews of scary, demon movies.

They should not be allowed. I mean, seriously, they are terrifying and if I don't turn my head fast enough I'm haunted by the images. There's no way for me to turn down the volume fast enough, and even if I wanted to I'd have to turn my head back towards the TV to grab the remote.

I might have to start doing what my parents used to (and STILL) do and mute, or turn off, the TV during commercials. They mute/turn off the TV to avoid seeing things like: Victoria Secret ads, or other such scantly clad humans...I don't care so much about that, in fact I quite enjoy ads like that - they are great motivation for my personal fitness goals.

Still, I wish there was some way for me to set a PG rating censorship on my commercials.

I have a hard enough time having dreams that aren't nightmares, I don't need images and sounds supplied to me on a regular basis.

I bet you wish you had been around to see this..

Today was a strange day. I don't set my alarm clock very often, especially not on a Monday...but today was a holiday/no school day so, we had earlier practice and then I had the afternoon off. I still needed to teach my regular class at the studio tonight so as I was walking to the bus stop I went over the choreography in my head. I thought I might need a few extra phrases of choreography so I started thinking about what I already had, and what made sense coming next. I was going over it again, and again, when suddenly I realized my review had stopped being only in my head. I was doing full on arms while walking down the street. And it was contemporary so it was all slow and heartfelt. Plus, I was on a busy street so there's that added bonus piece of the puzzle.
I wish I could say this was the first time, and I wish I could convince myself it would be the last. But, those would be lies, and I do my best not to be a liar.

Life on Shuffle

Random picture of a sunny, winter day.

When I leave my house, before I'm even to the end of my driveway I have my earbuds in. Mostly, as I walk I listen to podcasts, sometimes I'm doing choreography so I'm listening to one song on repeat and trying to visualize a dance in my head, other times I'm obsessed with a certain artist or song so I listen to it on repeat and sing if no one else is around, I hardly ever just put my music on "shuffle" and let it be because I feel like my i-tunes has a really hard time getting my mood right so I wind up hitting "next" over and over until I find the right song. However, yesterday I was feeling adventurous as I headed out to the High School to prep for today's competition so, I decided I was going to put it on "shuffle" and not do any skipping, I was going to listen to whatever came on. And it was like magic...so magical in fact that I felt the need to take note of the playlist and share with my friends on the internets. I'm posting the songs with links in case you want to take your ears on the same musical journey mine went one.

The Cure - Tegan and Sara
Breakthru - Natasha Bedingfield
Kiss with a fist - Florence and the Machine
I'm not your hero - Tegan and Sara
Elements - A Fine Frenzy
Watering hole - Missy Higgins
Arrow - Tegan and Sara
Primadonna - Marina and the Diamonds
I run empty - Tegan and Sara
Dancehall queen - Robyn

As you can see Tegan and Sara was on heavy rotation, those songs were exactly what I needed yesterday. Somehow my shuffle knew, I might play that game with myself more often and see if it can do it again.

Things that make me happy and then really, really sad...

So this week for podclub we listened to a new podcast for me, Our Hen House, and while I enjoyed listening I don't think it's going to make it into my regular listening. The first, and final, portion of the program  was primarily about their wedding and I loved it. I thought the way they talked to each other, and about their day was adorable and sweet and it made me so very, very happy. However, the middle of it they talked to Dylan Powell about Marineland's cruel treatment of animals and I think I almost vomited while simultaneously crying on the bus. How do the people in charge of Marineland, or any other zoo/animal park, get to the point where they allow such things to happen, turn a blind eye, and support such treatment? Have they brainwashed themselves into somehow not feeling, not caring, or does it go so far that they actually believe they are in the right? It makes me sad, and it makes me mad, but it also makes me glad that there are people out there who are standing up against them and trying to change things. Dylan Powell was very well spoken, he was passionate and driven...animals need more people like him to help them out. For my part I do the best I can to make sure my two animals are very well loved and taken care of...and I think I do a pretty good job since most people think they are spoiled.

Elliot likes to lay like this...but do not be mistaken, he does NOT want his belly rubbed.
Emma is such a lady, and she would ALWAYS like her belly rubbed.