Happy New Year!

I know I haven't posted all year; I just wanted to let you know that I am in fact aware of it. Since my last post Christmas and New Year's have come and gone. It's now 2012 and the start of another year.

I'm not really into New Year's resolutions; I think that they are mostly a recipe for failure. But I do have things I would like to do; it's just that they're not much different than the things I wanted to do last month. But, sometimes a fresh start is enough to give you the kick in the pants you need to actually start doing things.

One of the things I wanted to do was to get more active again. I feel like I've become a bit of a slug over the past few months and want to get back into the routine of going out and doing things again.

And I have. Over the past couple months, I've started going out for walks; I go out for live music nights; I even went ice skating for the first time in months. Like I said, I've starting picking it up over the past month or two, so where does the talk of New Year's resolutions come in?

Well, there's this little pub/restaurant that I go to on a semi-regular basis. And by semi-regular, I mean, pretty much once a week, every week for the past 3 years. You could say I'm a good customer.

Across the street from this place is a dance studio. On my way in and out of my favorite hole in the wall, I see this place. Every time. Being that I lack much to be desired in the body-movement-coordination arena of life, I've always looked longingly towards this studio with a mixture of curiousity and apprehension.

This longing has only grown stronger and over the past year or so I began to seriously consider doing something about my desire to be able to dance without looking like a spastic spider. Then I went to Mexico, where I learned that dancing can be very sexy, when done properly, that is. So over the past two months, my curiousity has nearly overcome my apprehension.

Last week, on January 1st, I was on one of my walks when I walked past the studio. It was closed, but I stopped to peek inside. I noticed that they had a pamphlet on the outside of their door. I grabbed one. Being the new year, they have a New Year's special. I gave it some thought and the next day, I went in and signed up for a salsa class.

The two days later, I was discussing it with someone at work; she said that she was going salsa dancing on Friday and I was welcome to come. That same day, I got an invitation for a 2 hour salsa lesson for Saturday night.

I signed up for the two hour lesson immediately, but I was hesitant to accept the invitation for Friday night; I knew absolutely nothing and wasn't sure if a club was the best place to start. A quick glance at the website showed that they provide an hour long lesson before opening the club for dancing.

It seemed that everything was falling into place. I went out to the club on Friday night and followed it up the next night with another lesson. With two night's of lessons under my belt, I feel much more confident going into my class. I think I'll get much more out of my 8 week class, then if I was a complete newbie.

Now, I'm not the most coordinated person on the planet on a good day. In fact, I can be such a klutz that sometimes walking without falling down takes more of an effort than I'd like to admit.

So, it's safe to say that my dancing skills are somewhat lacking. And that my moves, as of right now, are awkward at best. All things considered, I feel like this is something I can do. I think I can get it. It'll take practice and determination, but those are two things that I am not lacking in my life. Pure determination has gotten me many things.

Coincidently, this falls in line with being more active and going out and doing more things. In fact, after two night's of dancing, I am sore. My feet hurt. My legs, from hip to ankle, hurt. My hips and back hurt. My neck and shoulders hurt. And I feel great.

Happy New Year, Everyone!