Thursday morning, I had a procedure on my spine that, according to my surgeon, will allow me to return to normal today. So far, so good.  I have been having some issues over the past few weeks that have become debilitating and I am tired of it.  It is nice to walk without pain or numbness. 

Next Tuesday, I will begin teaching a new set of beginner square dance lessons.  I will be using the SSD list of calls and teaching from standard positions only.  My goal is to have the new dancers graduate and join my club in 12-13 weeks.  In today’s world, no dancers are not going to allot any more than that to join any activity. I think everyone agrees that is a given.  My plan is a 12-week plan in the middle of which I will have a halfway party at our club dance. I hope to make the entire learning experience one of fun and dancing, not work.  My club is a Mainstream club and will remain a Mainstream club.  The integration is quite simple.  After graduation, over the next few club nights, I will introduce the remaining 8 calls from the Mainstream list but in a dancing atmosphere, not a teaching mode.  From that point on, the club will dance Mainstream with no intention of moving to Plus.   It will remain a Mainstream club.  During the second six months of the year, we will repeat the process.  It is my job to make the dancing enough fun to retain the dancers as club members. 

Now, I understand this approach is frowned up by the proponents of SSD as all saving solution to the square-dancing attrition rate.  Frankly, I do not care because their solution does not fit the dynamic of my area.   I have been in favor of the SSD program for years but, now that its followers have become so rigid in its execution, I find that I disagree with its implementation.   As a destination, no.  As a teaching too, excellent.   Shorter time to dancing and keeping it fun and simple.  Those are the keys, in my opinion.

 I have fallen into the same trap as so many others.  In an effort to help (I thought) I have offended people with my words on facebook.  Some very big problems with that, the biggest being the inability to take it back or explain it.  Correcting a mistake on FB is akin to walking on quicksand.:  the more you move, the deeper you sink.  In this case, the more you write, the worse it gets.

I have said, and I think rightfully so, it is not what you say but what is heard that really matters.  You would think I would be wise enough to heed my own advice.  But no.

I think it is time to stop adding any commentary to Facebook.  It has become a habit, similar to cocaine.  It is very hard to not add your opinion (s).  It is hard to realize that those opinions are unwanted and many times useless.  I think we all want to "matter" but fail to realize that sometimes we just don't.

It is time to shut up.  Boy, it is hard to do that.  I never realized how hard it is to say nothing.  I will try to wait until I am asked and then, choose my words wisely.