Dirty Dancing...

I don't know about all of you, but I go on stages. Sometimes I like certain foods and I can eat them every day for months and not get tired of them, same as reading, or walking, or listening to music, or watching movies, etc. etc. I focus on one thing from each category in my life, and I try to keep some sort of continuity. I think I do it more as an escape, an illusion of having some sense of control when my life seems too chaotic. Lately it's been movies.

At the end of my long day, once I finally rest my head on the pillow, I just like to transport myself into a fantasy world, so depending on the type of adventure I feel like experiencing, that's the type of movie I will play on my little portable DVD player. I've been going through A LOT!!!!! of big time challenges, that made me wonder how to better control my thinking, so as not to continue to attract what I seem to be attracting lately, and it was only after I watched Dirty Dancing last night, for the umpteenth time, that I decided to see the 'Special Features' and read the huge challenges they had to go through to make that movie. It reminded me that when we are going through rough waters, we just have to let go of the resistance, trust, believe, stay focused, and the the storm is sure to pass.

I paused the 'Special Features' to write down all the facts of the Making of the movie, so that you can see what I'm talking about. What is most important is to realize that challenges will continue to happen, it's how you handle yourself while going through them that matters. Some people just quit, some others begrudge going through the challenges, some fall apart, some thrive and are passionate enough to keep on going until they succeed. Which of these are you? I hope you enjoy these facts.

Hugs, xoxo @nit@

The Making of Dirty Dancing

• Movie Budget $5,000,000
• New York was too expensive for the shooting, so Kellerman's was filmed at the Mountain Lake Hotel in Giler County Virginia, but the cast and crew had to lodge there in order to make it viable.
• Record rainfall had the crew wearing hip boots.
• The clouds parted for 4 days, just long enough to shoot all exterior scenes.
• The scene where Johnny teacher Baby how to do the lifts in the warm summer lake, was done on an icy 30 degree lake.
• Throughout the production the set was plagued with bad luck.
• The rehearsal place was burglarized, heavy flooding blocked the roads, an art department station wagon destroyed the prop department van, and a set decorator fell off a ladder, injuring his face.
• The wardrobe assistant broke her toe, the second assistant director fractured her wrist, and three crew members were stricken with food poisoning.
• To add to the bad luck, the production crew was experiencing, it was soon discovered that much of the green foliage surrounding the resort was turning red, left with only one solution, they spray painted the leaves green.
• When the cast and crew moved on to Lake Lure, NC to film the staff quarter scenes, they faced overwhelming heat.
• During the filming of the final dance scene, many of the cast were overcome with heat exhaustion.
• Miraculously on October 27, 1986 production of Dirty Dancing wrapped with all involved surviving bringing the film under budget.
• Ten months later on August 26, 1987 it premiered.
• It was greeted with highly favorable reviews and a brisk opening weekend business.
• It went over to gross over $65 million in the US and propelled both Jennifer Gray and Patrick Swayze into stardom.
• As a result of the film's success, two chart topping soundtrack albums were released, a nationwide dance tour was launched, and the subsequent home video broke many records...

Wanna come White Water River Rafting with Me?

Five years ago I couldn’t figure out if my life was about to end, or about to begin. I had so little energy left to deal with the many obstacles and challenges I had ahead of me that I couldn’t seem to make sense out of the madness. But since I was still breathing, and somewhat excited with the thought that maybe, just maybe, I could still fulfill my last dreams, I decided I had to do something about the way I was looking at my life, and try to turn it into a game, an adventure.

At first I picked the game that matched the feelings I had inside, so I could make the game believable for me, and since I feel like I am living in a “Science Fiction World,” in my game I saw myself having all these extra-terrestrials sending me tasks to do with a lot of challenges, and if I didn’t accomplish the task right, or even if they were just in a playful mood, they’d throw meteors that I was supposed to dodge. In the meantime, I’m here on Earth, on the California freeways, trying to make sure the cars that drive by at 80+ mph don’t hit me, while I run across back and forth avoiding the darn meteors.

I don’t know, maybe it’s all those realistic looking video games that my son has been playing for years, but that’s the way I felt about my life at the time.

So as you can imagine, even though I was managing to move forward in spite of the chaos, I wasn’t doing it without lots of scratches and bumps, not to mention the many negative emotions like fear, disappointment, anger, stress, amongst others. So after all the mistakes I was still making, I decided I needed to change the game I was playing. It still had to be credible to me or it would feel like a lie, but it also needed to feel exhilarating and adventuresome, so that the otherwise negative emotions could become positive to help me move forward faster.

Now I’m becoming much more familiar with White Water River Rafting. I’m still not fully on the driver’s seat, but I help steer with one hand, while grabbing on with the other, and it’s definitely getting to be a lot more fun.

Once we can realize that no matter how many challenges come our way, we can only take care of one thing at a time, that if we stress it makes things even harder, and that if we trust that we are still going to stay afloat, that even if sometimes it feels that the raft might tilt, we can still get back on it, then we can see that anytime now, maybe even on the very next turn, there is a serene lake where we can just float for a while, maybe do some fishing, enjoy the sun, the peaceful setting, the scents and the sounds, until we decide what game we’d like to play next.

 'Life is an Adventure' make yours a fun one!

Hugs xoxo
@nit@