I can, in fact, Salsa.

Salsa:
Going into this evening, I was greateful that this was the last class of the series. I finished up dancing on sunday slightly frustrated, and with a less than confident feeling about my dancing abilities. I ended the evening tonight feeling very confident about being a solid, intermediate dancer with a good ability to follow a good lead, and more confidence that I do, in fact, know what I'm doing out there most of the time.

I got to dance several dances with the instructors (who obviously lead well) and tonight, for whatever reason, they seemed to recognize that i was capable of doing more than just the small handfull of steps we'd gone over in class, so I got to actually really dance instead of just going over the same 4 steps over and over. But the really fun part was that - with a very few exceptions, I was able to do everything they threw at me - whether it was familiar or not - which was a fantastic confidence booster. And on the few occasions where I didn't get it, they'd just show me again, and I always got it the second time. I also think that, becuase it was a class session, it didn't feel so embarassing when i missed something.

I won't be signing up for another series of classes right away. Maybe in a couple months I will look into taking their "Turns and spins" class because that is far and away my weakest manouver, and there are lots of them, and the more advanced your partner, the more of them you have to do - but i think it's on wednesdays and that is bad timing. Also, in general, I think I'm happier just doing salsa every so often - but it was nice to end it on such a positive note.


Sleep:
11:43 - 8:20 Only woke up once or twice - TOTALLY overslept. I was dreaming -vividly - that i was awake, and trying to clean up after my wounded cat who had somehow managed to get his protective cone collar off and bled allover the house. I was relieved to wake up from that. I was also relieved to wake up from a dream in the middle of the night where the Decepticons (scarier live action movie version - not cartoons) were totally kicking our ass and about to blow us up. Apparently Daniel was having a dream at the same time of us going out to look for enormous scorpions on the beach. We were both glad that Oscar woke us up. Dunno what was up with the unusally vivid dreams, but it was good to get over 8 hours of sleep.

Food:
9:15 3 egg cheesy scramble w/veggie sausage, 12oz coffee w/2/3 cup milk.
1:30 1.5 cups cottage cheese, 2oz slivered almonds, 1 tsp cinnamon
3:03 2 oz spiced cashews
6:30 8oz chicken (some chile verde, some teriyaki, some tikka masala) from whole foods, 2 Tbs spinach paneer
9:45 turkeyburger w/ swiss & guacamole, tomato & onion - no bun sweet potato fries, 16oz beer
11:30 2 zma

Keeping it fun.

Salsa: 2.5 hours of aerobic Latin (mostly) fun.
Went dancing with Ev and Elisa @ Allegro. I can dance pretty well with the right partner. With the wrong partner I am absolute crap. I need to learn how to turn better. I think I am better at it than I used to be, but not enough to keep it together if I'm having a hard time reading the leader's signals, and/or they're not good at keeping me over my center of gravity. It's probably worth taking a class on turns and spins - but not soon. I think I need a break from salsa because I can feel my "GET IT RIGHT" tendencies surfacing. Maybe in a month or two.

Sleep:
1:05 - 9:50 only woke up a couple of times - though once was with a bad foot cramp around 2:45. Fortunately I got it to go away without having to take a bath.

Food:
10:30 am- cheesy 3 egg scramble with veggie sausage patty, 12oz coffee w/2/3 cup milk
2:30 2oz spiced cashews
3:00 12 oz milk
5:00 - 3 Tbs peanut butter on a low carb tortilla with cinnamon, 6oz coffee w 1/3 cup milk
7:30 - 1 oz spiced cashews, 1 multiv, 4 omega-3, 2 glucosamine
11:00 - 2 magn/calc/zinc

One more week of beginner salsa.

Salsa was fine today. Not exciting, not horrible. I do like my new shoes - although the snap on elastic bands are a little tight. I need to get that remedied. I've started looking forward to the class being over. I enjoy helping the confused new leaders try to figure out how to signal what they'd like me to do - up to a point. It's a lot more fun to dance with someone who really knows what they're doing though - and I'm just not going to find that at a beginner class. One more week. I'm looking forward to just going dancing, and not taking a class beforehand, so all the newbie leaders feel like they know me, so I am a safe target to ask to dance later. That sounds horribly selfish doesn't it? Well. Sometimes I am.


Sleep:

11:48 - 7:48 - woke up nearly every hour on the hour starting @ 1:42.

Food:
Breakfast: 3 egg scramble with cheese & butter, 2 strips veggie bacon, 1 cup coffee w/2/3 cup milk
Morning snack 12:20: 1 cup cottage cheese 2 oz slivered almonds 1 tsp cinnamon

Afternoon Snack 2:30: 1.5 oz Spiced Cashews
Lunch 4:2o 1 helping of Tofusagna
Dinner 6:20: 2 slices of Meat lovers pizza from wholefoods.
Post Dancing snack 9:45: 12 oz glass of 2% milk

Salsa + Cindy = pain

So tonight was 2 hours of salsa - just like last week - only this week, I did Cindy the day before, and by 1.5 hours in I was DRAGGING. I finished out the class, but by the time I left I almost felt like I was drunk just from tiredness. Also, It's too bad many of the men there feel the need to wear cologne. I might need to start showering when i get home so I don't have to keep smelling it all night.

I need better shoes. My feet are killing me from more sock issues - and I thought I had chosen well, but apparently not. Andmy legs are seriously protesting most kinds of movement (though that probably has more to do with Cindy's squats than bad dancing shoes). I am very glad tomorrow's class is presses.

I think maybe next week, if the Wednesday workout is a killer, I might only attend the last half of the beginner class instead of the whole thing. I'd rather be fresher for the intermediate class.

In other news, we tried our first Tuna steaks tonight ... with mostly good results. Fish is pretty much a totally new thing to me, too. So I am very little help in saying how it should be prepared.

The recipe's instructions to just sear it and leave it very rare inside weirded both of us out. Daniel made it through his - I had to have mine cooked a little more. But ultimately, we both feel they have promise :) I quite enjoyed the cooked parts.

Salsa!

Tonight I went to a salsa class with a couple coworkers and Ev and Robin. It's a month long class on Thursdays.

I haven't been Salsa dancing in ... a REALLY long time. A couple years, probably. It felt great to get out there and get moving again. My balance is still an issue, and the numbness in my hand is still an issue, but I think that the strength gains I've made can only help. I was able to pull through a couple double turns without embarassing myself too badly. I need better shoes.

The really nice thing about this class (and I don't know if this is representative of how it works every week - i hope it is) is that there are several assistant instructors who participate in the 'round robin' partner dancing, so you're guaranteed to get to dance with at least 1 or 2 good partners.

I am very much looking forward to going back next week.