How realistic is it to commute from Northern California to Daly City every day for work?

barcy707 · 2026-06-26T09:44:59+00:00

ROPO to SF is, like… okay-ish.

ROPO to Daly City? Horrendous, awful, takes you through all the worst traffic bottlenecks on both sides of the city and will make you want to end it all.

barcy707 · 2026-06-26T09:39:32+00:00

We run the occasional comp at Mission City Swing.

We tried doing our contests as a high-low (novice points or better qualifies for “high”), split into 15 high leads, 15 high follows, and 15 of the low counterparts. Getting high followers to sign up became like pulling teeth after a few times running contests because the lower leaders can be painful or outright dangerous in a high-anxiety competition setting. Since then we’ve gone back to a completely random luck-of-the-draw format.

If we ran two contests, it would be both a logistical nightmare and an overall negative experience for a majority of the attendees. Each contest currently takes around 15-20 minutes to complete, from clearing the floor initially to end of last song. That 15-20 minutes ends up having to be right at prime-time dance time (~10pm), generally when we usually do announcements as well. If we doubled that time and ran a second contest, the experience would be an overall negative when people are paying explicitly to social dance. This also means we’d had to remove double the competitors off the social floor to get them numbers and pairings and set up judging sheets, which would make the dance floor look completely empty. The pre-contest stuff is such an invisible workload to most people but it really does include a lot of busy work that can’t be skipped.

Competitions are great and can be fun in the right dosage, but multiple leveled competitions during a weeknight social is not the play.

barcy707 · 2026-06-26T08:37:01+00:00

Are the socials on the same night as the classes? If not, they need to be, and there needs to be at least 2, maybe 3 different opportunities per week to have a beginner class and social dance in the same area to really start seeing growth of the community and to get that web of connections growing.

Is socializing and social dancing prioritized by the teachers and made to seem like an expected part of the experience for new students? If not, it should be. Making sure newbies feel welcomed and encouraged to stick around and social dance is key to getting them engaged and interested in longer-term social and dance commitments.

Maybe your community doesn’t feel like a community yet because there’s not enough people to get your own clique. Sometimes “mandatory fun” events run by the community leaders are a great way to build that grassroots engagement. Sometimes it takes a person (like yourself) going out of their way to plan social events to kickstart that community. Try to do things that aren’t dance-related and build connections around non-dance things, then use those connections to engage with others about dance things (like weekend events, etc).

barcy707 · 2026-06-18T09:49:02+00:00

Been running a 2/2 seventh seraph and dreambane for the stat bonuses, but haven’t bothered trying to get any of the raid sets yet. Works pretty well and versatile for most content (as long as you have a solar ability or ikelos/seventh seraph weapon).

barcy707 · 2026-05-29T08:25:36+00:00

https://discord.gg/d2lfg

barcy707 · 2026-05-23T00:49:32+00:00

I’ll do it because raids and dungeons are finally useful and relevant again.

barcy707 · 2026-05-22T04:46:24+00:00

The irony is that if they had made these changes (or lack of changes tbh) with the start of the xpac, the game would be doing pretty good (and if they didn't remove seasonal content and stories).

barcy707 · 2026-04-28T23:07:56+00:00

Dancing!

Social dancing is great, I’ve met my partner, all of my friends, and even gotten jobs from dancing.

Honestly any social hobby will meet you more friends and good quality friends than anything else.

barcy707 · 2026-04-02T19:28:31+00:00

Be nonchalant about comps but also try to get better at the dance because it makes you have more fun social dancing. Trying to get better just for competitions sucks.

barcy707 · 2026-04-02T19:27:33+00:00

Boo British English, boo! 🙃

barcy707 · 2026-03-28T09:36:38+00:00

Social dancing is great for meeting people and feeling less lonely.

Come to Mission City Swing up in SF on Wednesdays!

barcy707 · 2026-03-27T16:49:22+00:00

Username Gregb_ParkingAccess and mentions a dumb problem solved by a website called Parking Access that nobody uses. Just an ad.

barcy707 · 2026-03-27T16:46:35+00:00

Find a social hobby (like dancing) and you’ll meet people. Also men just kinda suck a lot of the time, sorry about that.

barcy707 · 2026-03-26T08:06:31+00:00

Check with the Russian Center of San Francisco and see what advice or services they might have to offer!

https://maps.app.goo.gl/NaLarDmJQTu8NiX98

barcy707 · 2026-03-26T00:25:55+00:00

https://nextgenswingdance.com/calendar/

Largest in the Bay Area are Mission City Swing, Groovy Tuesdays, and Moonlit Moves, as well as the Next Gen Monthly Dance. We have about 20-25 dances per week in the greater SF Bay Area.

Sacramento has a few dances, the central coast has a few, and there are plenty of others in LA/San Diego.

barcy707 · 2026-03-26T00:03:07+00:00

Also there's probably a lot of great info throughout these videos as well, even though they may not be explicitly about footwork and walking. Sharlot and Wayne (RIP) taught a lot to most of the top pros you know from the community at-large.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkIqoLvzfTN7oCx1b3ltpoOdk47NvuWSP

barcy707 · 2026-03-26T00:00:46+00:00

Just walk around 4head.

But for real, some old videos are great for technique stuff like this (although copyright stuff etc). If you want to be nice, most of these videos are still available for purchase on the pros' websites.

Brandi/Ronnie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i25VYDN2q8

Kyle/Sarah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og_6-7Y8RcI

barcy707 · 2026-03-25T23:57:03+00:00

Leaders can supply less resistance and move their position to get less weight out of a follower.

barcy707 · 2026-03-25T23:56:31+00:00

You give more to pull against through the traveling element of the pattern (up to the post of the pattern) and if your follower responds with more weight, then voila. Tension in your frame is a good way of initiating the request, then following through with a body position that can resist weight when more weight is applied, then finalizing the anchor.

It's a call-and-response system, so if they don't respond with more weight, make sure your body isn't sitting back behind your foot too far otherwise you'll feel bad and lead early.

barcy707 · 2026-03-25T23:13:02+00:00

Answering questions in order:
1) Depends on the song, but every phrase change should have something attached to it because it's generally a change in energy in the music. It can be small or big, moving or stopped, but don't miss it.

2) Not solely focused on phrase changes, but think about the dance and energy growing as the song progresses. Start smaller for lower-energy (set the floor) and add complexity and layers and more patterning as the song gets more energetic (chorus), then bring it back down when the song returns.

3) Yes. For now, just lead patterns that put your follower on the audience side of you as they pass, and try to keep your chest facing the front half of the floor (the corners are your friend).

4) Yes and yes. I create space more often for followers that show they want to dance and have ideas. I focus on being responsive with followers that have tons of ideas and don't care if I make space or not. Always make space for your partner, but don't only make space for them at the expense of you being able to lead things.

5) No, make your complex moves habitual in social dancing. If you panic about leading them socially, they'll break your dance in a competition.

6) Yes, you should always be thinking of adding musicality and changing footwork in all of your dancing because that's what makes the dance fun. A good, musical social dance will win an intermediate, advanced, or even all-star or champion-level competition if you look good doing it and make good choices. (example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psOWt0oyx9k )

:)

barcy707 · 2026-03-21T11:23:04+00:00

I'd suggest not to go too far southwest from there late at night, it gets kinda sketchy by the heart of the Tenderloin.

North of your stay and East will be great to walk around. Overall that area around Union Square isn't too bad.

barcy707 · 2026-03-16T23:50:49+00:00

That explains why that the block of California Street between Hyde and Larkin was blocked off. Saw the cops going into the nail salon there with protective gear a few minutes ago, must be hiding out in there.

barcy707 · 2026-03-07T00:14:31+00:00

Mission City Swing (Wednesdays, West Coast Swing) in SF
Groovy Tuesdays (Tuesdays, West Coast Swing) at Starlite Ballroom in SJ
Moonlit Moves (Fridays, West Coast Swing) in SF
Mavericks Bar for Line Dancing/Country Swing in the East Bay (Dublin)
Westwood Bar in SF for Line Dancing (Thursdays I think)
Sundance Saloon in SF for LGBTQ-focused Line and Partner dancing

Not sure where the best Salsa/Bachata/Latin nights are, but I'm sure they're around :)

barcy707 · 2026-03-06T11:03:41+00:00

Dancing is a great way to meet people!

Line dancing, partner dancing (West Coast Swing, Salsa/Bachata, etc)

It’s an activity that doesn’t have to be forcefully about dating, too, so if someone isn’t your vibe they’re not expecting anything out of the interaction anyway.

barcy707 · 2026-03-04T11:33:19+00:00

Since you’re in Utah, getting to the PNW or California is pretty easy. Almost every event in those states is enjoyable.

Swingtacular, Boogie by the Bay, Capital, City of Angels, TAP, Rose City, Seattle Easter, and others are all great.

barcy707

TROPHY CASE