....And Do The Harlem Shake

I will dance to just about anything, and just about anywhere.  This is likely no surprise to those that personally know me.

I was the "inventor" of dance parades and dance parties at my hospital.  The main focus of the project was to get patients out of bed, to have fun in a hospital setting, and to see their doctors, social workers and nurses boogie.  I won a nation wide award recognizing my care for my patients, and the entire unit threw me a dance party to celebrate!  The dance parties have become known hospital wide, and it even made it onto the local news (I'm still working to get on Ellen!).  I am not claiming to be a good dancer, I dance to have fun. 

The more absurd the dance, the more I gravitate to LOVING it.

For example, remember that time I did the Gangnam Style (horribly) in the middle of a park in St Louis?  In case you may have blocked the images from your brain, let me refresh your memory....


Then the Harlem Shake came along, and it was even more ridiculous, and more approving of my horrendous dance moves.  It was a dance that encouraged outrageous and discombobulated movements to form a successful dance.  Wikipedia has an entire HISTORY behind the Harlem Shake (...and I don't know about you, but Wikipedia is most definitely a reliable source in my book...like ALWAYS). 

After watching what seemed like 873 versions of the Harlem Shake I decided that I needed to do it.

We had some time to kill in Abu Simbel, Egypt, and with a laptop in hand, I somehow managed to get my guide to log onto You Tube to watch the Harlem Shake.  He became obsessed.  We both looked at each other, and then looked around to find our future Harlem Shake victims.  Muhahahahaha.  Victory is mine!

My group was not difficult to persuade, partly because we were all nuts that were void of any ounce of attention growing up, and now we were seeking attention from anyone and everyone.

I mean, just look at us.....


Our first Harlem Shake attempt was on the Nile River on top of our support boat.  The "support" boat had the least supportive side rails ever created.  The side rails would probably fail to protect a gnome from being pushed overboard.  Somehow during the dance I found myself surrounded by three sweaty, shirtless men bouncing in every direction. It almost sounds like the beginning of a kinky porn flick, but think more horror flick.   I started screaming "DON'T PUSH ME GUYS!!!!!!!"

Thankfully I didn't get pushed into the Nile, but I'm sure that would have made for a good video.

Our second Harlem Shake was while we were heaps drunk at our resort on the Red Sea.  We had been to Cairo the day before and practically cleared out an entire bottle shop! We had two days to drink our entire alcohol stash before leaving on a boat to Jordan.  Our livers were aaaaangry with us those two days.

Because we were beyond intoxicated, we were a little off on the timing of our Harlem Shake.  None of us were even remotely sober enough to even recognize.  Oh and yes, I call the guy humping the pillow, and subsequently beating it up, my friend.

It was ridiculous.  It was fun, and it made some great memories with new friends.

How many of you guys can say you did the Harlem Shake on the Nile River?  How many of you probably would never want to (admittedly) say you have? 

Date Accomplished:  March 24th, 2013