One of my favorite pasttimes is swinging. I love to feel the wind, listen to my favorite tunes, see pretty parks, and contemplate life. I was at my parents' house last night and there is a playground a block away from our house. I told my dad at 11:00 at night that I wanted to go swinging. Since it was late I knew he would be concerned, but he let me anyway. Their neighborhood feels so much safer to me now that I can compare it to the neighborhood my apartment is in. While I was swinging, my dad was walking by and he was talking on the phone with my mom. A little bit later, a cop car drove past and a few seconds later it turned around and they shone their flashlight at me. I figured they would. Oh well, they didn't make a big fuss. I was afraid they would tell me to leave, but since my dad walked over, he told the cop that I am "older than I look" and that I'm nearly 21. Oh Dad, you make me feel like I am still your baby girl. I at least don't think I look REALLY young, do I? There was no big fuss and he left me alone. I think the next time I take a late night swing, I might have to carry my license on me.

Speaking of swinging, I went swing dancing for the first time on Thursday. I have been trying to go for weeks. I just never could go on Thursdays, when the two most popular places here do it, until my classes finished for the Summer. On Wednesday, I heard from a couple of my friends that one of my friends was going swing dancing with a group of people. I gave them a call and we actually made plans for him to take me. I was so pumped. This guy knew that I've been trying to go dancing for weeks. Well, Thursday afternoon he texted me and said that his group cancelled their plans, but I could still try to find a group to go. Yuck. I knew right away that that meant I was not going. I can never get anybody to do the things I want to. I asked all of my friends I knew on campus and even some from off campus. I could only get one girl who lives in Richfield to agree to go. At this point, I just looked up the bus routes to get there, because I knew I had no ride, but I was still planning on going. I was a little concerned that once I got there, it would only be old men and impossible to find someone to dance with. I still decided to take that chance and went out to the bus stop. While I was waiting, my friend from Richfield called and said that her car wouldn't start. "Welp," I thought to myself, "I guess I'm going alone." I missed the first bus. It passed me as I was walking out to the bus stop. I waited for about a half an hour for the next one to reach me. That bus ride was boring and long. It was the opposite of fun. I had to make a transfer, but missed that bus too and the next one wasn't coming for 45 minutes. "Welp," I thought to myself again, "I guess I'm walking there." I asked a kind looking woman how to get to Wabasha St. She pointed me in the right direction, but then aksed where I was trying to get to. I told her I needed to get to Plato St. Luckily, she was going in the same direction and told me to take a different bus, which would arrive in about minutes. Yay! My night was saved. When I saw my destination, I got so excited! I always feel so proud of myself in situations like this. This is the kind of situation where I thought there was no chance of me ever getting to go and yet I made it happen! They were in the middle of lessons when I arrived. I noticed that the boys and girls were lined up in separate lines. I didn't really have room to join in, so I turned the line into a little L. The teacher told the gentlemen to grab their partners. It was awful, I noticed that everyone came with someone. I made a note to myself to insure that I bring someone the next time I come. One of the teachers looked around and found a partner for me. He looked like he was in high school and was totally blushing. The teacher said, "I found one for you, and look, he's a cute one!" I didn't care, I was there to swing dance and I would dance with anyone. But then a girl he came with walked over and I was like, "Oh did you come with her?" and I let them dance together. So I had to practice with one of the teachers... which ultimately helped me because she was already pretty good and helped me out. When the music started, I at least thought that it would be fun to sit, watch, and listen. I love big band music even if I'm not dancing. I found a good spot and enjoyed watching. A group of college students came in. They were really fun to watch! They were really good! Then one of them came up to me leaned over, offered his hand and said, "Would you care to dance?" I smiled, said, "Sure!" and took his hand. He was cute and even more attractive since he was a pretty stellar dancer. Even though I slowed him down, he had a good attitude and it was really fun. Then I went back to my spot and watched until the next boy asked me to dance. He wasn't quite as confident as the other, but he was still a good dancer. The first song was pretty slow, so he was asking me all these questions. I thought it was a little funny that his response when I asked him where he's from was, "I'm from Ohio, I'm a missionary." And he didn't eplain it at all. I had no idea if he was a missionary in Minnesota or what he meant. I didn't care too much, because I was having fun being able to dance again. Later, I sat for the rest of the time and watched people go nutso on the dancefloor. Fun, fun, fun. My notes for next time are: 1. Wear my fun navy polka dot dress 2. Wear heels and 3. BRING SOMEONE.