Tip of the tongue, tips of the toes

I personally think that my blog title is quite clever, but it might need some explanation.

First and foremost, I'm a linguist.  I'm a PhD student in linguistics, studying phonetics and phonology.  Just a few hours ago, I was writing a brief lab report, and I couldn't remember the name of the bony protrusion behind the ears.  Mast-something process--masticatory?  Masticle?

After writing an email to my labmate I remembered: mastoid process!

I'm sure everyone reading this has experienced this problem at some point, where the word is at the tip of your tongue but you can't--quite--spit it out.  Linguists like to call this "tip of the tongue syndrome."

I changed "tongue" to "toe" and giggled because, of course, toes are important in ballet, particularly when we are dancing on the tips of them, en pointe.

So that's me: nerd, geek, dancer.  I also add equestrian, fishkeeper, novice knitter, and baker to the list.  I'm writing this blog because I've recently restarted ballet in a fairly serious way, venturing back to pointe shoes for the first time since I was 15.  I make it sound like it was eons ago--in reality, I stopped just 7 years ago.  However, as I have been discovering, seven years is plenty of time to lose muscle, coordination, and confidence.  But onward!  And importantly, upward!