Family discovery!

Shanazel

Moderator
Me, too.

I've also thought about the DNA testing. One of my students had it done through National Geographic and was thinking about another more in depth one as well. I'm a little paranoid about it, to be truthful. Not sure I want my DNA info floating around in the universe. Still, I'm also the person who avoided tattoos because I don't want any identifiable markings on my body in case I have to go on the lam sometime. Like I don't have plenty of major scars...:rolleyes:

Are you still dancing?
 

Zumarrad

Active member
Yes, definitely. I'll probably not stop completely till I'm dead. I'm "resting between engagements" at the moment so have time to actually, you know, concentrate on it a bit again and recently a past student returned home offering some great Modern Egyptian classes that I could actually attend. I'm really hoping I can get work during the daytimes in future so I can have a life like a normal person again. Being able to attend things has been wonderful. Joblessness would be fine and dandy if I didn't need money to live etc, so I am chasing, chasing, chasing and doing bits and pieces in the meantime.

Most recently, ie a couple of weeks ago, I went to the most wonderful Bahar Bayram camp in Australia (booked and paid before redundancy!) and had a marvellous time dancing with the band, soaking in the music and generally having a wonderful dance-fuel time. This is a tiny snip of me doing so:

https://youtu.be/l1GSwdBsHdw
 

Roshanna

New member
I miss forums too. But then, I also prefer emails to IM (and letters to anything)...

Late to the conversation, but I'm mostly English. My Grandad on my Dad's side was Polish (though actually I think his mother was German), and came to the UK as a refugee during WWII, where he met my Grandma who was Cornish. Grandparents on my Mum's side totally English as far as I'm aware, though there have been some mumblings about my Granny maybe having a bit of Romany blood, maybe just because her side of the family had some very dark hair & olive skin (my Granny's hair is still not totally grey at 90, it is the envy of the other elderly ladies at the weekly lunch club she goes to!).
 

Shanazel

Moderator
I still write letters and even occasionally get one in return. Nice to know there are other letter writers out there, Roshanna.
 

Zorba

"The Veiled Male"
I also prefer emails to IM

WORD. "Instant Messaging" is another paradigm that I ignored until it went away. I also don't like "Chat" in its various permutations. It was fine back in the BBS days when you needed to ask the SYSOP a quick question; but it sucks for normal comms - especially since very few people actually know how to TYPE!

I also detest voice mail with a purple passion - give me an email please!
 

Shanazel

Moderator
Warning: minor rant

I'm not a fan of voice mail because I have a hard time understanding voices over the phone and because people are mostly incapable of leaving a clear phone number. They rattle numbers off so fast that several repetitions of the darned message are necessary and sometimes even then I can't get the number. When I must leave a phone number, I give it at the beginning of the message in a slow, measured tempo, then repeat it again at the end of the message. My mundane name is unusual and likely to be heard as "Cindy" so I make sure to add my (also unusual) last name. HATE it when "Ann" or "Becky" call with no other identification. You got any idea how many women I know named Ann? And if our relationship is casual, please add a reference to the connection: "This is Ann Morgan from The Bristol Blister Sisters Belly Dance Troupe."

Why leave a message with a generic name and an unidentifiable telephone number if you genuinely want someone to call you back?

Ahem. Rant over.
 

Zumarrad

Active member
Oh, how lovely, Zumarrad! I don't think I've ever seen you dance before. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks!

Yes, I came late to the whole sharing of footage thing because people are so judgy. Now I don't really care so much; I have a wee few clips up. I love Bahar Bayram - it's worth going for the opportunity to dance to such a great band alone! (We have very little live music here.)
 

Zorba

"The Veiled Male"
Warning: minor rant

I'm not a fan of voice mail...

I detest voice mail because you can't skim it, you can't print it, you can't do anything with it - AND - people want to leave their entire life's story on it. Tell me who you are, what your fone number is (s-l-o-w-l-y), and OPTIONALLY a 2 or 3 word subject - then HANG THE HELL UP! I really don't want to listen to every painstaking detail of your life from conception forward.

If you want to give me more detail, friggin' email me!
 

lilya

Member
I definitely echo the sentiment, although I must confess I felt just like being at the message-leaving end after missing a call from an electoral "campaign office". I called back and spoke as fast as I possibly could: "Hi, sorry I've just missed your call, if you were indeed looking for me here in Canada please feel free to call me again at [number]. Thanks and have a nice day." (They didn't.)
 
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