Epsilonte dances through life

[Epsilonte]

Hello dear fellow assassins!  

 

I'm Epsilonte and I'd love to join you for this challenge!

 

A bit of background: 

I'm a poledancer (started taking classes in 2013, teaching since 2016), also dabbled a bit in aerial hoop and silks, love to try to do handstands (my headstands are quite solid, but handstands without a wall or pole scare me to death xD), overall I think life is better upside down.

 

 

In 2018 I also started tribal style bellydancing and fell totally in love with it... My big dancing goal is to do some kind of Tribal Pole Fusion some day...  

 

 

In short: I'm a dancer.  

 

My "normal" life also took quite a turn in the last few months - I quit my fulltime day job to go back to school to become a physiotherapist (hopefully some day specializing in dancers ). Super excited about this!! School starts on Monday, so it will be a big part of this challenge for me. 

 

 

 

 

My goals are:

 

1. Survive school - for me this means getting used to studying again (I finished my bachelors degree in physics in 2012, and never finished that masters degree at all, so it's been a while... xD). Anatomy is the first big exam we will have at the end of October, so all my focus lies on learning all those bones, muscles and joints till then.

An assassin needs to know their anatomy to know where to strike, right?  

My goal are 30 minutes a day, I expect to do more than this, but I want to keep it managable for those days when nothing works... Once I start, it's easy to keep going and everyone can do 30 minutes, right?  

 

2. Go to sleep - Did this for my first challenge here and omg it helps soooo much!

My deadline for going to bed is 23:30. For most of the last challenge it was more like 22:30, but I need that extra hour for the days when I'm teaching classes and just home come at 22:00 or later... Earliest I have to get up is 6-6:30, but most of the time it will be around 7:30 to 8:00, so this should work out quite well. 

 

3. Dance every damn day - this is super important to me, since it keeps me sane. xD

Doesn't matter how long I dance in a day, I just need to do it. If it's a quick 5-10 minute tribal freestyle to one song, that totally counts. Taking classes as a student also counts. Teaching classes just counts if I do at least a little bit (15 mins) of dancing/training for myself before or after class (after warming up of course).

 

Bonus: mobility and mind - I like to do a quick (15-20 mins) waking up full body mobility routine in the morning, I'd love to keep doing it, but I'm not a morning person, so on those 6 am days this will be hard. xD I also like to start my day on a positive note and meditate, but again, on some days this won't be so easy. I'd also love to keep doing my stretching routine 4-6 days a week (I'm working on my middlesplits right now, I really finally want to get them... started stretching almost daily during quarantine/homeoffice and it really got me some amazing results, but I doubt I can keep this up now with school starting), but since the day only has 24 hours, this won't be my first priority in the next weeks. Maybe on the weekends...  

 

So all in all: it's a lot. But challenges are there to be challenging, right?  

 

Thanks for reading so far. Let's do this!!  💪

[cd667]

Magnificent! You can do all this stuff!

[WhiteGhost]

Hello and welcome!  Life is totally better upside down!   

 

Going back to school after working sounds like a rough adjustment, all the best of luck to you.

[Mad Hatter]

Welcome, lovely to meet you! I also love pole and handstands (though more of a dabbler) and completely agree that being upside down makes life better.  Oh and I was also a physicist in my previous life! 

[raptron]

Sleep is totally underrated! Good luck on the return to school. 

[MezzotheLefty]

Oh wow, I knew you were headed back to school but somehow I didn't realize it was coming so fast! How exciting!!!

 

Following along and cheering you on!

[Epsilonte]

12 hours ago, cd667 said:

Magnificent! You can do all this stuff!

 

I will! I hope... xD

 

7 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

Hello and welcome!  Life is totally better upside down!   

 

Going back to school after working sounds like a rough adjustment, all the best of luck to you.

 

Yeah, I'm a bit worried about it... But I got started today with learning those bones and so far it's quite fun and ok.

 

3 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Welcome, lovely to meet you! I also love pole and handstands (though more of a dabbler) and completely agree that being upside down makes life better.  Oh and I was also a physicist in my previous life! 

 

So many coincidences!!  What are you in this life, if you don't mind me asking? Need to find your challenge thread...

 

3 hours ago, raptron said:

Sleep is totally underrated! Good luck on the return to school. 

 

Haha it was, when I was younger than 30... Now at 32 it's kinda essential.  [ETA: nevermind me, I read that as "overrated" instead of "underrated". I should go to sleep... that might help. xD]

 

2 hours ago, MezzotheLefty said:

Oh wow, I knew you were headed back to school but somehow I didn't realize it was coming so fast! How exciting!!!

 

Following along and cheering you on!

 

Great to have you here! Yeah this year everything moved a bit faster due to Madame C... Normally the entry exams are in March for the school starting in September... This year they were in August, and just 3 weeks later the semester starts. xD

 

 

Thank you all for the lovely welcome, I already feel right at home here!

[Mad Hatter]

8 hours ago, Epsilonte said:

So many coincidences!!  What are you in this life, if you don't mind me asking? Need to find your challenge thread...

I'm a software developer, but I'm in desperate need to to switch it up 180! I just don't have a clue in what direction yet, which makes it rather challenging.  I love that you're going back to school, it's very inspiring. Were you a full time pole dancer teacher or did you do something else before quitting? 

[Epsilonte]

Hahaha @Mad Hatter, been there, done that, didn't even get a t-shirt... xD

While I wasn't a real software developer, I made e-learning software. The tecnical "here you have a storyboard and graphics, now make a functional package out of it" part, not the didactical part. So more like tool assisted web development. xD And while it was fun for a while (I also got to edit some photos and videos and all that neat stuff), it morphed into some kind of "answering tickets from clients" and "doing trainings with clients" and I haaaaaate that. xD Plus it was just some job I started during university and ... got stuck there, nothing I wanted to do forever. Physiotherapy was something I had at the back of my mind for years (ever since hurting my shoulder due to too much poledance and needing a therapist myself ), always as a "It would be so nice... but the school is full time and I can't afford that". Well I still really can't afford it, but I wanted at least to try to get in and see what happens. So I took a leap of faith at the beginning of 2020, signed up for school, prepared for my entry exam and... corona hit and pushed everything back a few months. xD Some time in May I got enough of my old job and quit (very smart move during a pandemic when you don't have something new lined up yet...), worked till the end of July and have been home since the beginning of August. On 20th of August were the entry exams and much to my delight I actually got one of the precious 127 spaces (out of about 1600 people trying for it). So after all it was the right decision... xD I hope. xD

 

I'm very lucky to have a partner that fully supports me in my adventures and offered to take over the whole rent, so I just have to do enough pole dancing classes to have some spending money and everything should turn out fine. It will still be a major challenge, since they really mean it when they say it is full time... But life would be oh so boring without challenges.

[Manarelle]

On 9/9/2020 at 4:10 AM, Epsilonte said:

1. Survive school - for me this means getting used to studying again (I finished my bachelors degree in physics in 2012, and never finished that masters degree at all, so it's been a while... xD). Anatomy is the first big exam we will have at the end of October, so all my focus lies on learning all those bones, muscles and joints till then.

An assassin needs to know their anatomy to know where to strike, right?  

 

I hear you on this, studying is a habit that's easy to get out of. Good motivation for learning all that anatomy though!

[Mad Hatter]

Aww man, not even a t-shirt? What a ripoff!

I'm thrilled for you that you took the plunge and made it in. Exciting times ahead.  

[Epsilonte]

Mad Hatter, I'm sure you will find your way out too!  Sometimes it's really all about taking a risk (easier said than done). 

 

Week 0 so far was quite successfull. It's not quite over yet, but I'm a bit proud of it so far, so I want to share.  

 

School: I did 90 minutes on Wednesday, 135 yesterday (plus about 2 hours of mandatory "before school begins" online stuff) and 155 so far today and am starting to see some patterns regarding the latin names of stuff (I did learn latin for 5 years at school, but well, it's been a while... xD). Funnily enough english helps me a lot with this too, since you guys seem to use the latin words (or something pretty similar) for most of the bones, so yay, not everything is completely new and unfamiliar (all the things also have german names as well, that sometimes don't seem to have much in common with the latin ones, so connecting all the languages is pretty fun as well. xD). Right now I just want to get a general sense of everything, no need to worry about all the little details just yet. 

In short: I can see the progress from day to day and am super motivated to keep going on.  

 

 

Dancing: Did a bellydancing online class (I follow this awesome lady (beware, not all her instagram posts are very safe for work xD) on patreon since she does all the things I love - poledancing, floorwork, bellydancing and twerking. Win. xD) and a bit of pole-tribal-freestyling and later a mobility class, Wednesday I went to two pole/chairdance classes at my studio, yesterday was mobility and bellydancing class (real life this time) again and today I'm going to teach pole and plan to get there earlier to train a bit for myself. Tomorrow is restday. I hope. Well mayyyyybe some light bellydancing... xD 

 

Sleep: is so-so... I think I need to do even a tiny bit more, so that I'm totally wiped out after the classes and not energized and hyped... xD This week it's not so bad if I stay up a little bit longer since I get to sleep in, but I really want to keep a healthy sleeping time... 

 

Mind and mobility: Meditating after getting up was easy this week so far. Mobility stuff (apart from the classes I did) most of the time as well. I'm using this a lot during study breaks so I get up from my chair, move a bit around and feel a lot better instantly. Love it.  

 

We will see if I can keep all this up. This week was easy... Next week will be more interesting. 

 

My plan for tomorrow is: Sewing some more facemasks (I already started this yesterday with cutting the fabric and ironing everything, just need to actually sew them xD) for school (a lot of it will be online via zoom, some things have to be in person and starting today we have to wear masks at school, sooo I will need them sooner or later), do some light mobility stuff and maaaaybe light dancing and finish the chapter on bones in my "easy" anatomy book.

[cd667]

You are smashing this! Great progress!

[MezzotheLefty]

 

On 9/11/2020 at 9:43 AM, Epsilonte said:

School: I did 90 minutes on Wednesday, 135 yesterday (plus about 2 hours of mandatory "before school begins" online stuff) and 155 so far today and am starting to see some patterns regarding the latin names of stuff (I did learn latin for 5 years at school, but well, it's been a while... xD). Funnily enough english helps me a lot with this too, since you guys seem to use the latin words (or something pretty similar) for most of the bones, so yay, not everything is completely new and unfamiliar (all the things also have german names as well, that sometimes don't seem to have much in common with the latin ones, so connecting all the languages is pretty fun as well. xD). Right now I just want to get a general sense of everything, no need to worry about all the little details just yet. 

In short: I can see the progress from day to day and am super motivated to keep going on.  

 

 

 

 

Nice week 0!  I'm glad you're finding familiar connections in your school work.

 

Also great gif. Is it Miyazaki's The Wind Rises?

[Epsilonte]

4 hours ago, MezzotheLefty said:

Also great gif. Is it Miyazaki's The Wind Rises?

 

I have to confess: I don't have the slightest clue. Might be. xD Just wanted a nice gif and this one conveyed my feelings well.  

 

Yesterday was quite awesome again. 

Woke up, did my mind and mobility stuff, did a few hours of studying, went to the polestudio, had a blast on spinning pole, got home exhausted. xD Then Pizza. Great day all together. xD 

Today I'm a bit sore... 

 

So the first day of the actual challenge will start rather harmless and soft. Already did my mind and mobility stuff, I plan to do some light studying now and probably Guildwars afterwards.  Or finally finish those Witcher 3 DLCs. Or something else. But today will be spent relaxing and gaming mostly. 

Tomorrow school starts with one hour online lecture (I think this will be more a "hello everybody, here is how the next three years will go" than anything else). I have a training date at the pole studio comig up and two bellydancing classes, so the evening will be full of dance. The day might be filled with more studying.  At least that's the plan.   The first week of school is rather light, this will change soon though. 

[Mad Hatter]

On 9/11/2020 at 5:43 PM, Epsilonte said:

Mad Hatter, I'm sure you will find your way out too!  Sometimes it's really all about taking a risk (easier said than done). 

Thank you, much appreciated! 🤗

 

On 9/11/2020 at 5:43 PM, Epsilonte said:

Dancing: Did a bellydancing online class (I follow this awesome lady (beware, not all her instagram posts are very safe for work xD) on patreon since she does all the things I love - poledancing, floorwork, bellydancing and twerking. Win. xD)

Those are all brilliant things, and you make me want to try too.  I checked out some of her performances and she is indeed very awesome!

[Epsilonte]

3 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Those are all brilliant things, and you make me want to try too.  

 

 

 

 

 

Soooo today was the first day!! It started with a big cup of tea and my morning mobility/mindstuff, then we had one hour on zoom at 9am (it really was "welcome people, have fun, here is what we are going to do because of corona"). Tried to study again (did about 2 and a half hours), but I was very easily distracted today, so those 2,5 hours took me most of the day in real time. xD After finishing the chapter I went to bellydancing classes (currently have 2 on Mondays, that adds up to a bit more than three hours of class/dancing on Monday xD) and now I'm happy and home. 

 

Our government is slowly upping the security measures for Madame C again, day after day something new comes along, it almost feels like March again.  I really hope we don't have to close the pole studio again, that would be awful... We will see... Bellydancing will survive, those classes can be easily done online, with pole it's more difficult. xD

[raptron]

Alllll the dance classes -- fingers crossed you guys can continue to operate for as long as possible! Glad school is off to a good start so far. 😁

[MezzotheLefty]

On 9/14/2020 at 3:25 PM, Epsilonte said:

Soooo today was the first day!! It started with a big cup of tea and my morning mobility/mindstuff, then we had one hour on zoom at 9am (it really was "welcome people, have fun, here is what we are going to do because of corona"). Tried to study again (did about 2 and a half hours), but I was very easily distracted today, so those 2,5 hours took me most of the day in real time. xD After finishing the chapter I went to bellydancing classes (currently have 2 on Mondays, that adds up to a bit more than three hours of class/dancing on Monday xD) and now I'm happy and home. 

 

Our government is slowly upping the security measures for Madame C again, day after day something new comes along, it almost feels like March again.  I really hope we don't have to close the pole studio again, that would be awful... We will see... Bellydancing will survive, those classes can be easily done online, with pole it's more difficult. xD

 

Sounds like a great start to the week!  It takes time to find a study/school rhythm. I use lofi beats tracks and movie/video game soundtracks to help me achieve a flow state at work.  As long as there are no lyrics, I'm good!

 

I really wonder how COVID is going to affect us all long term. My office won't reopen until January 2021 at the earliest, and they are talking about going mostly virtual permanently. We are in a downward trend right now in my area, but when that happened in May people relaxed too much and we had another spike so I'm not hopeful that the downward trend will hold. 😕 

[Epsilonte]

On 9/14/2020 at 10:28 PM, raptron said:

Alllll the dance classes -- fingers crossed you guys can continue to operate for as long as possible! Glad school is off to a good start so far. 😁

 

So far we are still open, I hope for the best.  Even tough Vienna now counts as "risky region" for some countries in Europe... It's not sooo bad, they are just very careful and implementing safety mesures a lot sooner than in the spring... 

 

14 hours ago, MezzotheLefty said:

 

Sounds like a great start to the week!  It takes time to find a study/school rhythm. I use lofi beats tracks and movie/video game soundtracks to help me achieve a flow state at work.  As long as there are no lyrics, I'm good!

 

I really wonder how COVID is going to affect us all long term. My office won't reopen until January 2021 at the earliest, and they are talking about going mostly virtual permanently. We are in a downward trend right now in my area, but when that happened in May people relaxed too much and we had another spike so I'm not hopeful that the downward trend will hold. 😕 

 

Oh yes, I love music without lyrics for concentrating! Also used this for working, now I just use the same tracks for studying. Especially love the Witcher 3 and Guildwars soundtracks. xD They always put me in a good mood. 

 

I like the going virtual and homeoffice trend. I really enjoyed working from home (though my former company went to a "one week at home, one week in the office" plan in June and as far as I know they still are doing things that way... This is find rather annoying. Ah well, doesn't concern me anymore. xD). School is also done virtually wherever possible, this saves sooo much time. Yesterday we had our first real live day, mostly to get to know the other students and a few teachers, that was fun too. All the "getting to know people" stuff is a bit weird with everyone wearing masks, but still it was fun and I feel a bit more connected to those people now. xD 

I'm really curious how this will progress during winter time. In December we have quite a few anatomy in vivo sessions, those kinda have to be live, but December is always a bit more difficult with the normal flu and stuff and now with corona on top... We will see. xD

 

Dancing works pretty well so far. I do most of my learning if possible during the day, so I have the evenings for dancing stuff. Tuesday I did a little bit at home (stretching and some dancing), yesterday was pole day at the studio, today are bellydancing classes again... So far so good.

[Epsilonte]

New week!

 

So to recap the last few days: Thursday went well, Friday as well (had two massive lectures that took most of my day, did some learning in between and also 1,5h of stretching just to counter the whole day of sitting in front of the computer). Saturday was a bit meh, I did my half hour of learning but not much more... Was in a bit of a grumpy mood because of some health insurance troubles (sorted those out today, phew. xD). Went to the pole studio for some training in the afternoon and then played some Gwent with a friend (she got me actual real life Gwent cards - the mini cardgame from Witcher 3 - for my birthday. xD Even though it's constant mental arithmetic, it's a lot of fun, though I doubt I could play this after a few beers... xD). 

 

A little snapshot from Saturday, I call it "Spinning Pole and Happiness". xD Haven't done anything on spinny for a long time (due to lockdown and stuff - I have a pole at home, but not very much space around it so spinning is not really an option xD), and I missed it sooooo much. Have lost a lot of my strength, but it's slowly coming back.  Video doesn't have much going on in the sound department, just added some random youtube music. xD

 

 

 

Sunday was chill day - no learning, but I spent the afternoon teaching pole and then took a mobility class via zoom to finish the weekend. Afterwards I got selfmade pizza and we started watching season 2 of the umbrella academy. So all in all very nice. xD

 

Today is real life school day again, but just 2 hours. I plan to spend the afternoon learning and then I'm off to bellydancing class in the evening again. Life is good. xD 

[Mad Hatter]

Haha personally I wouldn't equate spinny with happiness (🤮) but you look lovely on it, such smooth transitions!

 

 

 

 

[raptron]

Ahh, I love your flowy movement. And you do seem so happy to be spinning.  

[Manarelle]

Very cool video - you look quite natural and comfortable doing all that. Glad school and dance are going well for you, and here's to avoiding a second wave of pandemic. 

[MezzotheLefty]

Awesome video, you are so graceful!

One day I want to be that cool too. 😊

 

Hope this week is going well!