GOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!!!!

  As I mentioned in a mobile post, Saturday I tried a Latin Fusion aerobics class. This was my first group fitness class of any kind since '08.  I used to be the aerobics class queen (not to mention a former cheerleader and dancer) but I was so nervous that those days were long gone that the idea of taking a class again was really giving me anxiety. 

  I was so afraid of being bad at it (dancing well is a stereotype we Black people actually like) that I forgot that this was for recreation aka FUN!!! There was no audience, no judges panel, no random bucket of water to pour down on me while I danced sexy in a chair - Who cares if I was terrible?? Answer: No one.  I had to tell myself what I used to want to tell Paris Hilton when I would see her around Hollywood: Get over yourself! No one cares!  And you know what. . . who cares if they did? I was going to try something new. 

  I took a deep breath and planted myself in the back of the room, far away from the exit.  Was my subconscious trying to keep me from walking out if my nerves got the better of me? Or was it hoping that I would just blend into the wall if things got too humiliating? What if Shakira was wrong and my hips do, in fact, lie? Or worse, what if they don't say anything?

  The instructor, Luis, looks JUST like Billy Blanks and he sounds like Antonio Bandaras.  I'm serious.  I don't know where he's from but he made everything sound exotic.  I think I could listen to him recite the phone book and it was just what I needed to make me forget how nervous I was.  Imagine Antonio Bandaras saying the following: "Grapevine", "mambo", "Shake it!".  Add some music with bongos and lyrics in Espanol and you can't NOT (someone please go check on Mrs. Bowman. She may have just passed out with that double negative) smile and  have . . . GASP . . . fun!

  In 60 minutes I went from being scared stiff to shaking it like Shakira  Beyonce  Britney . . . . well, somebody different than the scared girl that walked in.

  I did it.  I tried something new. And I did have fun. Was I perfect? No. Is the Alvin Ailey company gonna come a knockin'? No.  But I did score points with myself because I tried something that I would never have tried before.  GOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLL (Was I reaching with that reference? Who cares. How many other opportunities am I going to get to quote Telemundo futbol announcer, Andres Cantor? Seriously)

Anyone care to join me for kickboxing class Tuesday night? I'll be the girl in the back of the room, far away from the exit.