Salsa! Week two.

Before I give the lowdown on salsa class last night and in honor of my post a couple of days ago, I gotta thank my friend Allison for sending me the following link to a song about cube life: http://www.mix969.com/timages/page/media/songcubicle.mp3. Funny thing is, I don't like the James Blunt song this is based on, but that makes this spoof all the better. Thanks Allison!

Oh, and as a shout out to the universe for last week, here's a little somethin'. Okay, one more. Okay, one more. Last one, I promise.

Allright, salsa class! First let me say that I'm doing much better than I expected! I think maybe my choir directors and aerobic instructors conspired over the years to squash my confidence in my ability to do organized dance. Because I'm kickin' it! Of course, this is only the second class, and I haven't actually danced with anyone who wasn't shouting out to me the next step...that could be part of my success. But I'm getting the steps! Next week, we're heading out to a club after class to test our skills in the "real world." I may have an entirely different take on my abilities after that.

Rico was back. You knew he would be. And he seemed giddy about being there. I think we all like a happy person - no one wants to be around someone who brings you down. And I admit - I'm a smiler. I'm a pretty happy person in general, and I smile a lot. But Rico was just this side of giggling. He was also wearing some odd cowboy shirt - bright blue with red piping. And long sleeves. Have you been outside, Rico? I don't know what that was about. In any case, he was back in form. At one point, we all stood still quietly listening as the instructor talked about...something...I couldn't tell you what because I was distracted - while he was talking Rico was doing dance steps. By himself. Again.

This time, Angela was standing right next to him, which meant she had to try not to laugh. This was made difficult by the fact that Julia and I were not standing next to him and could laugh without it being obvious why, and everytime we made eye contact with Ang, well...she had to try to stop looking at us.

This week, I had the glory of dancing with Rico. He informed me in an excited voice as we waited for the music to start that, "I'm going to work on my hips!!" That's great, Rico. Just keep them a safe distance from mine, kay?

I also got to dance with The Hunkster this week. I didn't mention The Hunkster last week because I actually never really noticed him. Angela and Julia told me about him later. They'd both danced with him and he made quite an impression. The Hunskter is a buff, model-type guy (I've already addressed my preference for guys who are muscular because they're...oh, I don't know...Scotsman soldiers...or firemen, or athletes or something like that, as opposed to guys who oil themselves up and watch themselves work out in the mirror - The Hunkster is the latter type). He's taking the class with his young, pretty girlfriend, and this would be all for the good if we didn't all switch partners throughout the class.

See, The Hunkster thinks he's the shit. Last week, Ang and Julia had to dance with him, and they said he tried to stare intensely into their eyes as they danced - like this was serious seduction time and they WOULD fall before his model feet in adoration! Salsa!!! Of course, we're all strangers, so staring intently into anyone's eyes mostly just makes the other person uncomfortable. But The Hunkster thinks he's giving you a thrill. I'm pretty sure that's what he thought when I danced with him this week and could barely keep a straight face and would only hold eye contact for a few seconds at most. I think he thought I was unnerved by his beauty. He doesn't know me. I wasn't.

First off, when I was paired up with him, I noticed there was something all over the front of his shirt - spray of some kind. A half-second later it hit me what it was: cologne. Hunkster had doused himself with a liberal shot of cologne before coming to class, and it had stained his shirt. Hard to imagine that he didn't check himself out in the mirror before leaving the house, but he didn't seem to know he was walking around with the shadow of a splash all over his shirt. That amused me, what with him thinking he was so hot.

Then the eye contact started, and I almost started laughing. I couldn't look at him. It was just too funny. And I tried to make light small talk and joke about missing a step, and of course, he had to instruct me on how I should, "Just follow my hand" and then demonstrated what he meant by pushing and pulling on my shoulder blade with his fingers. He stopped just before I shouted, "Got it! Stop violating my scapula!" Since I refused to stare at his face, that meant I stared at his shoulder. It was then that I realized he has no body hair. The man shaves his body. I think I actually did snicker then, and I didn't know where to look. I was so relieved when we could finally move on to another partner.

Luckily, the rest of the people in the class are normal, and I think we're all doing pretty well and having a good time. I wore flat, rubber-soled shoes again, and that was a mistake. We started learning some spins/turns this week, and I couldn't spin very well those shoes. Next week, it'll be time to bust out the heels. My feet might be tired before we ever make it to the club, but you know what Fernando says, "It's better to look good than to feel good." No, it's not.