Aisha Hope Benson

I am so about to get on my soapbox on a few things that have been really working my last nerve, so I'm putting those things behind cuts so you can read at your own risk. As far as more lighter fare, I need to apologize to my friend Niki. I had to go out of town at the last minute to help with cheer competition in Florida, so I have been gone over a week. I have not forgotten though, your girl's day/night out is still coming! I have a few special treats planned so I guarantee it'll be well worth the delay. I'm impressed that Stone didn't waste away while I was gone. I usually have plenty of food in the apartment, but with me having to leave so quickly I didn't get the chance to do my weekly grocery shopping before I left. Poor guy is probably so tired of sandwiches he could scream, so he gets the full course dinner treatment tonight. Cobb salad, herb roasted chicken, smashed potatoes, steamed veggies, yeast rolls, and peach cobbler for dessert. The apartment smells so good he might actually put his books down for a few seconds. I'm going to have to take advantage of that because I probably won't see him without a book in his hands for the next two weeks because he'll be studying for finals.

( My home state has lost it's mind )

( Love should not be a government issue )

Lots of things have been happening lately, but since all of them are for the good it definitely has been putting a smile on my face!  So let me start with the biggest surprise ever.  MY BROTHER GOT ENGAGED TO SEBASTIAN! Now most of you may not consider it a huge deal, but seriously, it is massive!  Let me give you a little background, my brother has always been this kindhearted jock and very much into girls.  He's had more girlfriends than anyone I know.  However, he has sucked at picking decent girls once he started playing pro baseball.  He has had two faked pregnancy girls and a slew of gold-diggers.  He never managed to get with a girl that passed the Benson family test.  His last girlfriend was a hot mess, and not in the looks because she was pretty.  Well, if you melted off her make-up anyway.  So after that debaucle I kinda set him up with Sebastian.  I figured that at most, this would give him a chance to meet a nice guy and maybe he'd get his head together before dating another girl.   I know it's a really weird thing to do, setting up your straight brother with a gay man, and if I had tried to do this with Logan it would not have worked at all.  But Drew isn't a hothead, if he wasn't interested he'd just be flattered and drop the matter.  I had no idea he and Sebastian would hit it off the way they did.  What I do know is my big brother has never been happier and that makes me smile.

My dad is struggling with it all big time, but at the end of the day, Drew and Sebastian are the one's that are living this life, not any of us.  They are not hurting anyone and I support them 100 percent.  And can I also add that I am so excited to get a brother-in-law? 

On to some more happy goodness.  It is Spring!  Spring is the busiest time for the dance studio because we have the senior company working on their projects, recitals for the 4-16 year olds, wedding season, and then the prep for various concerts.  We get quite a few artists that come in with their dancers to work on routines for their summer tours, so there is never a dull moment and there is also lots of overtime.  This means more money I can put away to get my own studio.  I like being busy too, otherwise I'd sit around the house watching the Discovery channel or something. 

I feel kinda bad though because I have to get my roommate to pick me up from work tomorrow.  My brakes and a few other things are getting worked on in the shop and it won't be ready until Thursday.  Stone eats, drinks, and breathes his studies right now, and I feel bad for interrupting him and stuff.  Especially to come up to the studio.  He stays out of my dance prancey world as he calls it, which is fine, most guys don't really like being in dance studios and stuff unless they're actually dancers.  I guess they're scared someone is going to make them dance or something!   Me and two other girls are working with this group of male dancers, and yes, they are THOSE kind of male dancers.  Or they are trying to be anyway.  Meaghan, one of the dance teachers, keeps teasing she needs to take one of them out for a test drive.  She is crazy!

I think this has been enough random for the day.  Back to work!

Have you ever felt like you've bee going nonstop for weeks and then when you finally get a moment to slow down everything slams into you and you just need an emergency release button? Yeah.  Welcome to Aisha Benson's insanity ride.  So let's start of with the not so fun and end on a good not, shall we?

I have always been the cool dance instructor, but I had to become the evil one because of some kids causing trouble.  I know that teenagers are their own breed and tend to be everything from asinine to zealous, but a small little clique were taking things too far and I had to regulate.  Apparently one of the guys had been outed at school and all hell was proceeding to break lose in his home so he was spending more time at the studio, but of course there was no real reprieve for him because of the pranksters.  They were being cruel with their taunts and I had to nip that in the bud ASAP.  I had to go all after-school special on them, but at least they got the point and know not to treat anyone like that again.  If they did, I'd have to get the big guns and get my boyfriend to put the fear of the Navy into them.

Which leads me into a good thing.  I have a boyfriend.  At least, I think so.  I mean we're dating now, and it seems weird when you date someone you've known for practically 10 years, but I really like him a lot.  He completely surprised me on Valentine's Day, he went all out, it was so sweet.  But he doesn't want me to say that because you know, guy machismo or whatever, but it was still sweet of him.  He showed up in his dress whites and we went out to dinner and it was just a night of awesomeness that I will stop being all girly and squishy about now.

So what has kept me so crazy busy?  Award season.  Between spring recitals and then all the awards that need dancers or choreographers I have been running on close to empty for several weeks now.  Then in the midst of that I had a friend of my brother's that needed a choreographer immediately for a video shoot.  I was completely game for that because I had the time to do it.  Logan (my brother) failed to tell me that I'd actually BE in the video.  So yeah, it's kinda weird.  But I had fun.  Here's the video if you want to check it out.

I really think I need a vacation.  Just a few days to do absolutely nothing.  That sounds so heavenly right now.  That and a bowl of Ben & Jerry's Half Baked. 

Forewarning, I am about to do some serious whining.  I don't do it often, but I've been stressing out lately and I need to just let it out or scream my head off, and since I live in an apartment, I don't think my neighbors would appreciate me screaming out my frustrations.  So if you don't want to hear it, don't read it.

I have been losing my mind as of late and have found that the best thing to do is to keep myself busy.  We're getting ready to wrap up the winter semester at the studio, which means lots of recitals and even more practices.  I'm working 15 hours the next  6 days, which I'm sure my roommate is kinda happy about, no more having to ignore me dancing around.  He's not around much anyway now that  college is back in session and he has a new place to hangout at and eat.  Anyway, the little kids are awesome and they're excited, it's the older kids that are driving me insane.  There are at least 3 couples in the classes and they're making me sick.  The pair in the teen class are in that whole let's hold hands every 10 seconds phase and it has gotten old quickly.  The other two couples are in the professional class and they're sneaking off to kiss and crap.  Now I don't care what they do after or before class, but during my hour I expect them to work.   I'm not the only teacher that has noticed it either.  A few others that have those same kids in other classes have brought it up in the staff meetings and the only ones we can really say something to is the 15 year olds.  The other ones are old enough to know better.  If that was it I would be fine, but oh no it gets even better.

My twin brother Logan and I are not speaking.  Usually I don't hold a grudge or anything, but he pushed things over the line this time and I'm just pissed because he hurt my feelings and he knows it.  And what sucks is that I'm used to him by now, Logan doesn't filter anything he says at all.  He can be very rude and crass, but he's very endearing at the same time.  Sometimes I don't get why he things he's that much older than me, to the point where he thinks that putting me down is an okay thing to do.  And yes, I know in a few weeks I'll get over it and everything will be back to normal, but right now, it isn't.  I don't want to say anything to my other brothers either.  I know Drew will threaten to kick his ass and Stone will just roll his eyes and stay out of it.   I don't want Stone to know for other reasons either, mainly because the whole issue was about him anyway.  He thinks the main reason I've been stressing out has a simple solution, but it doesn't.  Not in my eyes anyway.  I don't want to go into a lot of detail about it here, but he pretty much let me have it and he's never talked to me like that before.

I think Valentine's day needs to be a vacation day for single people.  Seriously!  Who wants to go to work and see all the flowers, balloons, and candy coming in that are not going to be for you?  I'm not trying to be hater or anything, couples are great and people that are in love have every reason to celebrate.  I just don't want to see it all freaking day long. UGH!  I think I need to just sit down with a pint of Half Baked and then listen to some angry music.

2010 has started out to be quite the interesting year.  I guess I should recount what has led me to this conclusion.  Kinda makes it sound like I'm writing a term paper, but anyway here it goes.

So Christmas with my family is always great.  My mom cooks some of her best calorie packed food, and for a week I don't worry about being overly conscious of what I eat.  It's so heavenly I can't even put it all into words.  Ya'll just don't understand, my mom is from the south, so she cooks like Paula Deen and the Neelys.  The kids in the neighborhood used to call our house IHOB--International House of Benson, however, looking back on it, I don't know if it was so much my mom's excellent cooking as it was a jab at  our bi-racial status.  Whatever.  It's kinda funny now, but ten years can change the way you see alot of things.  On the positive side, my parents still have my little homemade dance studio in the basement.   Nothing extravagant, just a little parquet flooring and mirrored wall with a dance bar. I went down there to work out new choreography and stuff and do a little yoga to keep the body somewhat toned, even when my belly was full of sweet potato pie.  Being home is the one place you can still feel like a kid and it's ok.  And me and my brothers acted just like kids on Christmas day too.  Opening up presents, squeeing and giggling like we were little.  Stone got me the most awesome pair of footie pajamas that are in chick camo (pink & gray).  I think I spent all of the holidays in them.  Then the drama commenced.

My oldest brother, Drew, has the worst taste in women.  Let me take that back, I don't think it is his taste in women so much as he doesn't know how to weed out the less than positive prospects.  He newest girlfriend was named Tiffani.  Yes, with an -i.  She had dyed red hair, with extensions.  Green contacts, fake boobs, and enough collagen in her lips to float several small children.  The fact he brought her with him over the holiday was dismal enough, but then her behavior took over and it was pretty much the writing on the wall for me.  She never was seen without make-up.  Seriously, she had to get up at 5 in the morning to be ready by 7.  And then her wardrobe consisted of the following items: heels no less than 4 inches, skirts or dresses with a hemline barely long enough to cover her ass, tops with v-necklines, push-up bra.  Now I am not one to judge someone's fashion preference because I wear whatever I want, which is usually my dance shorts and a tak top and my knee high socks.  But those heels were ridiculous! She actually wanted to take me to get a make-over as a Christmas gift, I declined.  Of course when Stone came over, things got real interesting.

She had no interest in Stone whatsoever, as she shouldn't, until she found out he was going to school to be a doctor.  Ten she tried to find any and every opportunity to sit next to him when Drew wasn't around.  Yeah, that wasn't going over well with us, so Stone told her she needed to go.  And I accidentally spilled my tea on her too.  Well she went  whining to Drew, and then all hell proceeded to break loose.  Within 15 minutes she was in a cab headed to the airport and I was in my room brushing my hair from where she had pulled it.  Not exactly a shining moment, but at the same time, we're family.  We aren't going to let someone with less than honorable intentions get their hold on us.  We have each others backs, and in the end, that's the way family should be.  When you're wrong, we'll read you the riot act, but that doesn't mean we love you any less.

New Years was pretty quiet, celebrated with some old friends and as always I was the designated driver.  One day I'm going to shock everyone and get drunk.  Just because.  Of course knowing me I'll have one drink and just faceplant.

I really am not feeling this holiday airport crowd insanity. This is the first time I've had to fly home for the holidays. Before I was close enough to just drive, and right about now I wish I still was that close! I was kinda expecting the lines, but it's even worse because people that are flying over to the East Coast are having major issues with canceled flights and such. Not to mention I am with TweedleLogan and TweedleStone. I love them, I do. And separately I am fine with them, but when they get together they bring out the 16 year old boy inside each of them and they lose their collective minds. My brother managed to get 4 phone numbers for him and 3 for Stone, in the security line. Seriously? I'm not hatin' on him or anything, it just amazes me more than anything. Stone just nods his head, but I think he tosses the numbers. He doesn't work with females the same way my brother does. Stone is one of those guys that a girl would have trouble approaching directly. It would be like seeing a cute guy that works for the Secret Service, you'd have to know someone that knows him and try to pass along the message.

So yes, I am currently sitting in the airport with my handy netbook, writing in my journal. The boys have gone to mess with the electronic trinkets in one of the shops, leaving me alone. Some slightly creepy man keeps looking at me over the top of his magazine. First of all, he has got to be in his 50's, definitely not trying to hook up with a guy in my dad's age range. And on top of that his wife is right beside him! Are men born with the dog mentality, or do they just mature into it over time? I know, not all guys are dogs. And don't get it twisted, I'm not trying to guy bash or anything, but c'mon! My mom suggested that I try speed dating, but that just isn't my scene. The minute I tell a guy that I'm a dancer, they go to all the wrong topics. Usually they think my job involves a pole and pasties. That's when I tell them the date is over. Oh well, one less person to get a Christmas gift for! LOL

And speaking of gifts, my secret Santa is off da' hook! I got some of the best gifts and I thank you so very much! I am officially the coolest dance teacher at Millennium with my kick ass socks too! Stone does not understand my sock love, especially since they're so long on my short self. They're cute damnit, what else is there to know! Well it looks like we'll be able to board soon, so I'm out. Everyone have a safe and happy holiday!

( when I move you move, just like that )