MsdeMeener aka Rosminah

Right, a proper introduction, inspired by Spiralx who said hi to me in a different forum.
I'm Rosminah, sometimes called Meener, or Minah or Pashminah, or Bean. I'd vaguely been aware of poi spinning for some time but it didn't really grab my attention until I saw it close up at Burning Man 2001. I have to admit I wasn't *all* that impressed at the beginning because my first serious viewing session was of a novice doing fire. naked. It was on the Playa in front of a big crowd. It wasn't pretty watching him double over in pain on a relatively basic move.
But later that night I saw a small group of enthusiastic kids off the playa playing with glow-stick poi. The moves were by no means complex, but they were incorporating these simple spins with body movement, they danced, cheered on their friends and they were clearly having fun. That's what did it for me. I thought, "wow, if only I could just do forwards and backwards, that's all I'd EVER need."
But I left for England to go to grad school at Reading just a few days after Burning Man and I was marooned from that lifestyle. I desperately wanted to learn poi, but I didn't even know what it was called at that time. Meeting some London spinners would have been perfect, but I was clueless and had to concentrate on my studies anyway. In any case, it's nice to make the acquaintance of some UK poiple here, albiet a bit late.

So, long story short, I'm back in US. In Feb 2003 I run into Orbit at an art car workday in the Bay Area. He'd returned from Thailand with a number of practice poi and I beg a pair off him. And that's the beginning of the end. All that basics I've learned are attributed to him and some solitary time in front of a mirror with the HOP lessons repeating in the background.
I enjoy spinning a lot, but it's not an all-consuming activity for me. I hula hoop too, and have vague wishes for a fire hoop or fire fans. My poi are accessories to dancing and moving to music. I think fire is pretty and I know people are mesmerised by it, but it's not terribly important to me. I enjoy using tails or glowsticks because I can wear what I want and have a more relaxed body and thus flow better with my poi and music.
I'm not terribly technically advanced, but I feel I have a good balance between spins and body movement which make for a nice overall "package."
And that's me. It's nice to virtually meet you all. I will be at Burning Man this year, have plans to attend at least one day of the Pismo Fire Drum event in mid-April, and might be at Lake Merritt Easter Sunday in Oakland. Time to wrap this up. Ciao!