Live concert this Saturday

Some friends and I started a tango orchestra with the coolest name ever - ¡O, Gnat!
(Nick is not only the best cello player ever, but also a great band namer). This Saturday we're going to have our first public concert (the previous ones were in private residences, this one is open pretty much to all dancers). The Facebook event page is here

Milonga Especial "El Once" 11/11/11 in Newton!

Clean out your fridges and bring all rotten tomatoes to Newton this Friday as I will be performing a short choreography on stage at Milonga Especial "El Once" 11/11/11 in Newton

Update: the milonga was nice, but our choreography group decided we weren't ready yet. There were other people performing, though, and they were great

News flash

Danced tango within the crowd at the Manu Chao's concert.
Drank the Death cocktail at the Church bar (has anise in it, so doesn't taste good, but couldn't escape the symbolic meaning of taking over Death)
Had a double whammy of endo- and colonoscopy and came out clear!

Inbetween days

While the tumor marker is up, it is not up significantly.
Nothing new visible on the PET/CT scan.
The doctors are giving me 2 more months of treatment-free frolicking until the new test, so I can stop worrying about cancer too much and prepare for our "untango" performance on October 21/22 (you heard it here first! mark your calendars, it's going to be nothing less than wonderful!)

What keeps you going

What keeps you going isn't some fine destination but just the road you're on, and the fact that you know how to drive.

Barbara Kingsolver, "Animal Dreams"

Quote of the day

"to cope with inevitable loss, to face life in all its confusion and absurdity and still retain the capacity for joy, laughter, and a belief that our struggles have meaning - this is to prevail."
Gordon Livingston "And Never Stop Dancing"

Marker is up again :(
I'm getting really tired of all this up-and-down stuff. The doctors seem to be stuck at playing whack-a-mole - wait for a tumor to grow, then whack it with radiation, then wait for a new one. What's the point???

Quick update

Blood marker is way down, no treatment for now, monthly tests only

It's a win-win situation!

What does a tanguero who is trying to learn Spanish and gets treated for cancer do before his appointment? That's right, he picks up the La radioterapia y usted and starts singing it to the tune of La Cumparsita :)

Anyway, all 35Gy are now in, no treatments to endure for a month! After that - another scan. If the therapy worked, that would mean a couple more treatment-free months. If it didn't, that would mean I have a "measurable disease" and therefore, am eligible for clinical trials. Either way, it's a win-win situation!

Seven Grays, so far so good

Had my first SBRT appointment, seven Grays, so far so good.
Getting ready for the milonga at NETA tonight

Venceremos

Grand total five tumors removed
Three major surgeries and two minor ones
Three long chemoradiation treatments
Two systemic chemotherapies, which caused numbness in fingers and toes and hair loss
One life that made a complete change
Lots of small stuff like staph infection, blood transfusion, etc.
These fucking tumors keep coming!

But we shall overcome. Moar radiation will kill it. It should, so it will, right?


Hey Romale, no pasarán
Hey Chavale, Non, rien de rien
Hey, venceremos, все равно мы победим!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA0FEIqhYiM

Boston Skillshare

Boston Skillshare is coming to Simmons College again this year.
I will be teaching an introductory tango class just like the last year

Please forward this information to everybody :)

Motto

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

(from the famous Mary Schmich's article)