Dance/life: Fundraiser WCS workshops and party by Jeanne and Barry/ Weight management

On Saturday (7/23/2016) there were WCS workshops and party in Tulsa. They were fundraiser events to defray $4000 veterinarian cost for saving Jeanne's dog Beau, who had a GI tract problem followed by a near-death cardiac arrest. Barry Jones and other instructors showed up to provide workshops, and Ruth Gilbert for DJing. It was nice of them.

[Link to the Go Fund Me page.]
Beau's Code Blue Experience

I went to the party. There were many participants, even from Dallas, Springfield and St. Louis. I saw the event raised over $3000. Good for them.

[The dog Beau in the middle]

Now, about my weight management.

To tell the truth, beginning some time back, I found difficulty while dancing and exercising. It was a cardio issue (occasional arrhythmia). After some exams, my cardiologist did not find any serious problem in the heart itself. At first I thought it was because of some sort of stress, as the worsening coincided with my divorce. I tried some dietary supplements (e.g., antioxidants, taurine, L-arginine) and cutting off caffeine, with not-so-much success. 

This summer, starting May, I tried to lose weight to see if it helps. 

The methods were nothing fancy; just old-fashioned combination of lower-calorie diet with near-zero amount of starchy food (like bread, pasta, cereals, and rice), and 30 min/day walking/exercising. In 2.5 months I've lost 15 lbs. 15 lbs is about the same weight I slowly gained over past 10 years. Think of 15 lbs of meat. It is a lot of meat. 

I am happy to say, the cardio issue is (almost) gone. Apparently, my 100%-made-in-Japan body permits only limited amount of extra load for the frame. With less weight to haul around, I feel like being able to dance WCS much easier. So the party was fun.


My partner dance experience allows me to feel the (new) partner, to do some diagnostic work on the spot if necessary, to adjust the way how we dance, and to enjoy the dance. 

But dancing is a physical activity, and no amount of experience or knowledge helps if I cannot move my own body properly. Dancing is an ephemeral art, and physical conditioning is an important part of prolonging the fun of the art.


I'll continue working on the weight management for the rest of summer (and maybe longer).

Dance: Argentine Tango workshop by Hugo Patyn and Celina Rotundo in OKC, 2016 July

Hugo and Celina were visiting to OKC and having two 1 hour workshops on Sunday 7/17/16. So I went.


For the first hour, leaders and followers separated and had different exercises. Starting from warm-up, we worked on basic body usage with walking, pivot, spin-on-axis, giro footwork, etc. To lead well, we need to be able to move well by myself. In the latter half, we team up with another leader, and worked on how it should feel like to follow.

It was a well-designed class.


With traveling to Japan and being busy on work, I was out of practice for a while. That "out of practice" is something you can notice, and that can show. Losing balance in pivot is noticeable. Basic exercises like these really reveal how well you practice the dance, or not.


I personally believe that getting good at Tango is actually simple. Take it like Basketball or soccer football, and work on basics you use. Fancy moves are like dunk shoot or overhead kick. You don't use them 98% of the time, and without good basics they won't work. It makes better sense to practice to have good balance on your axis, smooth pivot, good grasp on how your partner should place her feet and dance, etc.

In other words, I should do these exercises in the workshop daily, like 20-30 minutes at least, to be really good quickly. That will get me prepared.


Stage or social, professional dancers teach and spend much time, like hours per day, on practicing themselves. Few non-professionals practice that much. That should show, too. Basic practice is a numbers game. You get it right and you do it many times, and you'll be good at them.


The second class was for both lead and follow, and we did partner work. About 4 sequences were presented and practiced.

I had a little bit of difficulty in one of the sequences. But once I came to a short command to myself, "open to the right, then left", I got it.

I usually use tricks like, "watch and copy","move along","both side moves/lead&follow" to pick up a partner dance move. I should add "describe/command to self" to the trick list.

It helps to have methods that work for you.



With George and Jairelbhi Furlong, they will be having a Tango show ("Shades of Tango") in Dallas on 7/29-30 weekend. Maybe I should go for a road trip.

Life: Back from Japan, and thoughts on healthcare systems in Japan and in the US

I took off for two weeks (6/23-7/6) to visit Japan. One purpose was to take care of one-year anniversary ceremony for my father's passing. Another was to see how my mother is doing and to make sure she is well taken care of.

Japan is a quickly aging society, and more than 25% of the population is over 65 years of age. That is not necessarily a bad thing. They are in need of building an aging-people friendly social infrastructure. So they have established a healthcare system in which a "care manager" is overseeing aging people with health issues, working with family members, helpers and daycare facilities. My mother is a beneficiary of the system.

In terms of healthcare system, Japan is taking the national healthcare approach. All citizens are covered and their medical expenses are subsidized through tax and other national revenues. Although there has been an argument that aging population will eventually bankrupt the system, no drastic measure has been taken, and current situation is an unprecedented social experiment. 

In fact, I like the fruits of the experiment. At least for now, I do not have to worry about my mother or other relatives go bankrupt by medical expenses.


America is taking different approach of the for-profit healthcare system. There are plenty of horror stories, but we tend to ignore them until we get sick or injured when we are out of insurance or when the coverage is denied.

Obamacare is ideologically aiming at a system similar to those in European countries and Japan. But I am not sure how Obamacare will fare in practice in the US. Anyhow, I will have to keep an eye on my own insurance situation. 

Contemporary nations have to provide many functions such as military, healthcare, infrastructure maintenance, and education. The functions are mostly performed by the government and the costs are covered by taxation and other revenues. For-profit private companies don't have these as primary functions. To my eyes, libertarian, religious, and some right-wing Republican ideologies fall short in taking care of the citizens. They function like a club for elite, and provide little benefit for the people outside of the club.


American system is deeply affected by capitalism. Although capitalism-minded people claim national health care is socialism or even try to brand it as communism, the other end of capitalism is a Dickensian world with few rich and a majority of the poor. 

Personally I prefer a society that provides more basic protection than the US currently does. But the US is a mixture of so many societies, claims and ideologies, and it is easy to think in the us-or-them manner. It will be bound to be difficult. It is another social experiment. 

Thinking about insurance led me to think about a person's value. A branch of capitalism and economy is specialized to evaluate something that is hard to evaluate, such as cost of Mona Lisa or price of an 8-years old boy's life.

....this issue is a little larger than what I want to take on with my jet-lag influenced mind. I'll do some research later.



I'm back in the US and I've got to do what I can. I like being a scientist, because it is easy for me to find a meaning in what I do.

I attended a nice Salsa party yesterday, and slept well today. It should help to get rid of the jet lag.