The Comfort Zone Experiment Blog

Vegan soul food dining experience

thecomfortzonex — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 05:44:35 +0000

During my experiment of going vegan for a week in a previous post (I feel like chicken tonight), I mentioned a vegan soul food restaurant I went to but ended up eating somewhere else because the inside smelled like a wet mop. Recently, some friends wanted to go to the restaurant again and I decided to give it another shot. My friend said the food was good and had eaten there several times. I was up for it because I know some of the biggest dives have the best food. Shout out to Robertito’s in Fresno…dive restaurant but great Mexican food and they serve late-night. Good stuff! This time the restaurant didn’t smell funky but the inside had a homeless cafeteria vibe. Not because the people there looked homeless but the building itself. It was like a small mission and had a long counter that maybe was once used as a buffet line at some point. Then the kitchen was separated by a window curtain from Big Lots perhaps and seemed as all the food was made on one hot plate because the service was so slow. The coolest part was the live band and paintings on the wall of jazz/soul musicians. The place was packed and figured the food had to be decent if so many people were there. Another perk was you had the option to order your food and have it delivered to the punk bar next door. We did just that and got a beer next door. The guy at the entrance to the punk bar had a sweet mohawk and wore a lot of leather. He checked our I.D.s and we got a drink and sat outside. It got too cold and there was no seating inside the bar so we went back to the restaurant. At this point, an 40 minutes went by and no sign of our food. We sat and listened to the band and as they played Ain’t no Sunshine by Bill Withers. The singer began to sing the chorus…..I know, I know, I know a million times and with food on my mind, I thought to myself… do you know when my food is coming? A server passed by us a few times and thought it might be our food. It had been so long I tried to remember what I ordered. The guy served us our food and it was cold. I had BBQ tofu with potato salad. The tofu was covered in a pool of BBQ sauce and the potato salad was stacked a mountain high. I was so hungry I ate it and half way through realized that cold BBQ tofu isn’t that great. It tasted okay but the texture of cold mush in my mouth grossed me out, the potato salad was tasty. Afterwards, I felt fine but worried I would regret it later and hoped I wouldn’t have a stomach ache. Luckily, I was fine but my friend got a stomach-ache from her sandwich. My friend captured a photo of a sandwich that was part fried tofu and part BBQ tofu. It appeared good but not sure exactly how it was prepared. It was unfortunate because my food would have been good if it was hot and waiting an hour didn’t help things. This was a strike two for this place. Who knows, I may try again because I like soul food. In the meantime, I’ll leave the vegan soul food for the real vegans to enjoy. I’ll be at the punk bar. Cheers! :)

Taste of Summer: Kayaking

thecomfortzonex — Wed, 26 May 2010 04:41:31 +0000

Summer officially starts next month but I got a head start on a summer activity recently and went kayaking. The weather was nice and went to a nearby lake with a friend to hike. We decided to kayak instead at the spur of the moment. I went kayaking once before in a reservoir but this time was different. Unlike the reservoir, power boats were allowed in the lake and tend to shake up the water. It was hard to know what to expect and the oncoming wind was questionable too. The lake by no means was like kayaking in the rapids but a step up from the reservoir. The kayak sat two people on top so our legs were not enclosed. I figured…what’s the worse that could happen? If it tipped over at least our legs would be free to swim. To keep track of time, I brought my cell phone and camera, to capture the experience for this blog. Yeah, I know bringing electronics on a kayak was sketchy and bound to get wet, but I did anyway. The instructor gave about as much instruction as the guy I mentioned in my post on parasailing in Tahoe. In 30 seconds he explained how to paddle and said to make sure the hand drawn happy faces on the ores always faced us. Then he pushed us off to sea. Okay, really was not a sea but you catch my drift. We took off to the left and my friend told me the instructor said not to go that direction to start because was more difficult to come back against the wind. We pressed on anyway and navigated around some cool alcoves. All was well until I noticed the bag my phone and camera were in was soaking wet at the bottom. I panicked for a second and my friend took over paddling while I checked out. After I looked in the bag and saw everything was still dry I admired the beautiful sights. As I captured pictures a boat passed by and sent rippling waves towards our kayak. The waves looked rather small and the impact surprised me. The kayak began to rock side to side with force. Ahhh, I yelled. I overreacted. It wasn’t that serious. I calmed down when I realized my stuff was dry and began to take pictures of a broken tree. At the time I failed to see a large tree branch was about to hit me in the head until my friend told me to watch out. I ducked and managed to miss getting whacked. Not as dramatic as it sounds. The pace of the kayak was slow enough to have plenty of time to dodge the branch. Shortly after headed back to shore. Once on shore I had to walk on a gravel rock beach barefoot and felt like nails piercing through my feet every step I took. It was painful and probably looked like I had ants in my pants by the way I walked. All in all, kayaking was a lot of fun but don’t think I’m ready to kayak in the rapids just quite yet and probably won’t bring my camera and phone next time.

Coming soon: Vegan soul food dining experience

Adventures in Pole Fitness: Tricks are for Chicks

thecomfortzonex — Mon, 10 May 2010 01:31:04 +0000

Pole fitness and vertical fitness are common phrases used to describe the art of pole dancing. It seems like overnight pole fitness is becoming more mainstream with infomercials like Flirty Girls, a DVD on how to pole/chair dance, and poles themselves popping up in more homes, lounges and clubs, even gyms. From city to suburb wide the ongoing trend of pole dancing is spreading and women of all ages are taking part, including grandmas’. All the hype caught my attention. While I like to dance, I have never danced on a pole before. Danced with another person, sure, swung around a stop sign, probably, danced with a fire hydrant even, (yeah, that’s another story), but never a pole until recently. I heard about a pole fitness studio through my work and decided to take a class with a friend. The entrance to the studio was at the back of a nail salon and we told the salon workers we were there for pole fitness then walked down this long hallway to a door into the studio. The set-up reminded me of a speakeasy.

Inside pole fitness studio

The instructor greeted us and one other woman was there for the class. I felt weird at first because the instructor is associated with my work and was awkward to say the least, to be business like one minute and next minute I’m bumpin’ and grindin’ on a pole in her studio. Her bubbly personality and friendliness made it less uncomfortable. She was in her late 40’s maybe with a body of a 20 year-old and a grandmother of 8. On her t-shirt said Tricks are for Chicks with a picture of a girl on a pole with her legs spread open. I knew then we were in for some real fun. The class started off with some basics like how to approach your pole and check to see if it’s slippery. I learned you don’t just walk up to a pole; you seductively stroll up to your pole and caress the pole to see if it’s slippery. Then if it is, you slide your body up and down the pole to wipe off the residue and gently move your hands down your body. I was dying and trying to hold back my laughter because it felt so unnatural. Then we learned some basic tricks known as the prayer and the fairy. Both were similar but the leg positions on the pole were a little different. Every time we landed the instructor would say to come up pretty, which meant stick your butt out and roll your body up while holding onto the pole. She said the word pretty in Gollum’s voice from Lord of Rings and was hilarious and creepy at the same time. After some tricks we did a little free spinning. At the base of the pole there was a pin and once removed the pole spun freely on its own. I quickly realized how fast the pole could go and got a little dizzy as I spun around. It’s pole 101 not to appear dizzy to others and was taught to do a sexy pose or dance move until I regained my balance. Forget some sexy pose or dance move, I just wanted to see straight again and grasped onto the pole with my butt sticking out.

My friend climbing the pole

The instructor challenged us to climb the pole as high as we could. This was the hardest thing to do and I didn’t make it very far. My pants didn’t go up high enough and the material kept slipping on the pole. My friend was in luck because the instructor had some boots in her size and she got to try them. She almost made it to the top of the pole and the boots really helped. FYI – She gave me permission to post this pic. Go girl! All the rope climbing in gym class at school paid off.

The end of the class we had to perform a routine including everything we learned in front of the instructor to the sounds of Bringing Sexy Back by Justin Timberlake. The routine came together well and I managed to pull off all the tricks and moves. My thighs were hurting at the end of the class and felt like I rode a horse for a few hours. I later realized my thighs were covered in bruises from the pole. After the class ended the instructor told us personal stories about her students that have beat cancer and other illnesses and take pole fitness for therapeutic reasons. Who knew pole dancing could be inspiring? While the class was fun and a good workout, I’m going to leave the art of pole dancing to the professionals. I’ll stick to dancing without poles, maybe a chair on occasion . The experience gave me a new level of respect for those who work with poles on a regular basis, its no joke and requires a lot of strength both mentally and physically. Twirl on girls, twirl on!

Coming soon: Kayaking and vegan soul food dining experience

Zip line, eh!

thecomfortzonex — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 03:48:51 +0000

Canada is home to many famous people, the 2010 Winter Olympic Games and zip line. Zip line? Well, zip line may not be home to Canada but I recently heard an urban zip line was set-up in San Francisco to promote tourism in British Columbia. Funny, because when I think of Canada it reminds me of the movie Strange Brew with Rick Moranis about two hosers working in a brewery in Canada. Classic 80′s movie! Alright, back to the story. Zip line is on my list of things to try and and decided to check out. The zip line was in Justin Herman Plaza across from the Ferry building and the tower stood 80 feet high – ran 680 feet long above concrete. It was free and around for a limited time. My friend and I boarded BART early on a Saturday morning in hopes of beating the crowd and arriving when the zip line first opened at 10:00 a.m. As we approached the plaza we soon realized 500 other people had the same hopes. It was insane and unorganized chaos. The line made so many curves it was hard to see where it ended and took us a few minutes to find where to stand. Within minutes people sailed over our heads on the zip line, some upside down, some grasped on for dear life and some did acrobatics. A man in a British Columbia t-shirt approached us in line after maybe 10 minutes and said the cap is 500 people to ride the zip line in one day. He pointed out where the line roughly ended at 500 and we were past the point by far. It became clear we wouldn’t get to do. It was advertised the zip line went until 7:00 p.m. that day but 15 minutes after they opened full capacity was reached. It was crazy! And they offered no such incentive to return, just come back another day and wait in line again and maybe you’ll get on. I was disappointed but decided to make the best of it since in the city already. My friend and I watched a few more folks do the zip line then walked down to Pier 39. Then after the pier we walked up to Coit Tower. I have been to the tower before by car but was too young to appreciate and thought it would be cool to walk. My friend was game after some minor convincing and we made our way up some 400 steps. No, I didn’t count; I later went on google to see how many stairs. Along the way, I noticed beautiful gardens and unique houses, something you wouldn’t see if you were to drive up. The highlight was seeing a flock of parrots on the way up. They were flying around a few different trees and a couple that lived nearby said the parrots live in the neighborhood. While I stood there trying to capture them on film I hoped they didn’t poop on me. They didn’t. Shortly after we reached the tower and took in the sights. As we made our way down the stairs it got pretty steep and you really had to watch your step. Some of the stairs were concrete and others were wooden built years ago. After that, we ended up meeting up with a friend and checked out some local watering holes. We walked down by AT&T park and it was at the 21st Amendment where I tried watermelon beer for the first time. It was quite tasty. I highly recommend anyone going to a Giants game to skip the overpriced beer at the stadium and stop by 21^st Amendment on 2^nd Street for some watermelon beer. We went to some other places and ended the evening in the Haight-Ashbury district. The funniest thing about that part of the trip was we walked by a group of strung out people and one of the guys guy held up a paper plate that said I have crabs and had a picture of a hand drawn crab. It was creepy and hilarious all at the same time. Shortly after the crab guy, we called it a day. While zip line was the original plan and I was bummed not getting to do, the day turned out to be spontaneous and fun. To be honest, I really rather zip line over some trees or water so if I were to fall something would catch me, eh!

Coming soon…Adventures in “pole” fitness

Tryin’ to get up that great big hill

thecomfortzonex — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 23:16:38 +0000

I always wanted to try a cycling class but found intimidating and recently decided to give it a shot at my gym. While I own a bike and have a cycling-type outfit, I have no experience with road bikes and consider myself a seasonal rider. I wore my padded cycling shorts to the class and figured I would at least look the part even if I didn’t know what I was doing When I arrived to the gym I added my name to the list for the class and was advised to go claim a bike. At that point, my nerves kicked in. I have tried a lot of difference dance classes and been to the gym countless times before but this time was different. I regularly see the back of people’s butts in the cycle room when I work out and realized now I was going to be one of those butts’ on a bike. It made me a little uneasy. There were 30-40 bikes in the room and half were already taken. I managed to find one near the back of the room and made adjustments to the bike. Then I hopped on to test out the set-up and after a few minutes my sitting bones were already in pain; even with the cycling shorts, which the built-in padding feels like you’re wearing Depends. Hmmm..something’s not right, I thought. I adjusted the handle bars and tightened the seat because it kept moving. Finally, I got to where it was a comfortable setting but it didn’t feel all that sturdy. Before I knew it the class begun and the instructor asked if there were any newbies to the class and me and one other guy raised our hands. She instructed us how to set the bike properly and went over some basics. It was go time. Starting off, I was good and turned gears and stood up and pedaled or “saddle” as the instructor called it when instructed. It was important to me to challenge myself and do the class full out but wanted to pace myself at same time because was an hour long class. It was a continuous routine of 9-10 minute sets of sitting down pedaling fast then standing up pedaling, then 1-2 minute break. Every set changed from flat to uphill and half way during the class my sitting bones really began to hurt. The pressure of the seat was so uncomfortable and the padded aka Depends shorts helped. It was easier for me to stand and pedal then sit and pedal. Every time I stood up and pedaled I prayed the handle bars and adjustments were tight so I wouldn’t fly off the bike. To keep up the momentum and encourage myself, I frequently said in my head… this is good for my ass, this is good for my ass. That kept me going, what girl doesn’t want a firmer ass? LOL! The instructor tried to create an illusion as if the class was riding down the coast of Huntington Beach and taking in the beautiful sights. She would say oh, look there are beautiful birds and people playing volleyball on the beach. When all I kept thinking is I am in a warehouse with 40 musty people with their asses in the air and a room with no windows or beach. I give her an A for effort for trying to motivate folks but didn’t work for me. Maybe if there was one of those simulated screens with a forest or beach setting projected on the wall it would feel more realistic. The class was over before I knew it and the instructor commended me for doing a good job. I pushed myself to do my best and felt great afterward. A few days later my calves were a bit sore but nothing too terrible. After getting over the initial intimidation of the class and successfully completing, I really liked and plan to incorporate into my weekly gym routine. I got up that great big hill.

Geeks, Freaks and Randoms…Oh My!

thecomfortzonex — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 04:09:55 +0000

I decided to go to another Lock n’ Key event because like speed dating the first time was so memorable. The event was being held in the suburbs in the same town I grew up/work and a different friend went with me this time. I was curious how the crowd would differ vs. the city and anxious about who I might run into. The targeted age group was listed as 27-55, which I thought was pointless to even have one with that big of a gap. There were less than 15 people when we first arrived and mostly men. I decided to make the best of it and have a good time. It was AWK-ward and a random mix of people. Everyone has a little nerd in them, including myself and some more than others. That particular night the majority of men had more nerd in them than the average person. First up was a rambunctious guy on a mission to get the most matches so he could win a prize. He made little conversation and ran around the room from person to person trying to find a match. He was annoying and talked a mile per minute. I felt like telling him it wasn’t Dungeon and Dragons and there was no need to get so competitive. Then there was a guy that tried his key in my lock and asked if it was in and if he stuck it in the right hole. It came across as sexual innuendo but I knew he was referring to the key and was nervous. He began to blush and said that sounded really bad. I giggled and he said, awkward moment and fled the scene. I think he was embarrassed but I couldn’t help but laugh. The Tom Selleck look-a-like with the movie phone voice was there from speed dating and he was creepy as he stood at one side of the room watching people. I tried his key in my lock once but didn’t engage in conversation. His nail beds were covered in paint and were disgusting. The Irishman from speed dating was also in attendance and my friend grew a liking to him. He was the one I said had fang like teeth and was werewolf like with his chest hair peeking out the top of his shirt. After I spoke to him again he seemed like a nice guy and one of the more normal guys there. Then there was a guy dressed Jersey-esque with an obnoxious Ed Hardy type t-shirt and long-sleeve shirt underneath but no tan or spiky hair. He thought he was hot stuff and said he needed lube when he tried to jam his key in my lock. He had a smirk on his face and I was not impressed. Really, is that your pick-up, line? Needless, to say we didn’t talk again. At least the one guy who said something sexual was out of nervousness and not intentional as a come-on. Like other singles’ events I’ve been to, there were more engineers and majority of them were Indian. Some other characters included a man old enough to be Hugh Hefner and a woman dressed in a tight silver sequenced dress with black patented hooker heels to name a few. There were 30 or 40 people by the end of the night and despite are chances being better to win a prize, we didn’t win anything. The highlight of the evening was when my friend began to say no-whammies, no whammies when guys’ would try their key in her lock and people began to catch on and walked around saying no-whammies, no whammies, stop! It was hilarious. The Irishman did ask my friend for her number Go Girl!

While speed dating and Lock n’ Key parties I’ve learned aren’t necessarily my cup of tea, I can now say I’ve tried. Both were outside my comfort level and something I always wanted to do. I probably would have never done if it weren’t for this blog and the experiences I won’t ever forget.

New Posting Schedule

thecomfortzonex — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 23:38:42 +0000

I am launching a new posting schedule that is more manageable to continue bringing you new stories. Instead of posting on a weekly basis, I’m going to post every few weeks. To keep up with the latest entries you can click “follow my blog” in the Networked Blogs box below (right hand side of this page) or subscribe to the RSS feed below the box.

Upcoming adventures include: NEW Lock n’ Key singles party; indoor rock climbing, “pole” fitness and more! Remember to email your ideas at thecomfortzonex@yahoo.com

If you like it..then you should have put a key on it.

thecomfortzonex — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 05:00:03 +0000

To catch up to speed, read All the Single Ladies before. I made my way to the table with the school psyche to turn in my lock and get a new one. The line was long and he cut to the front as I stood back. He approached the speed-dating coordinator and was on a first name basis with her. She hooked us up with a new lock/key and gave us each a raffle ticket. Other people were upset we got helped before them and we moved out of the way. I guess knowing a veteran speed-dater has its advantages. After we tried our new lock and key and realized it wasn’t a match we went separate ways. I saw another fellow speed dater near the bar. He was the one that looked like Tom Selleck and had the movie phone guy’s voice. I saw him look over my way and I waved but he didn’t see me. My hand was in mid-air and I quickly began to scratch my nose with my hand. I acted like that’s what I meant to do and the wave never happened. Yeah…I know, I’m real smooth. I felt so awkward, I didn’t approach him. Up next was a guy that looked like Crocodile Dundee minus the good looks. His 1980′s tan leather jacket matched his overexposed tan leathery skin. He was in his late 40’s or early 50’s and struck up a conversation with me. Within a minute of talking to him he told me I need to move to the city and went on for awhile about how great it is to be single living in the city. It was strange because I said hello my name is Wendy and next thing I know this guy is giving me advice on where I should live. We talked for a little bit longer and I moved along. There were several other guys throughout the evening that tried to jam their key in my lock. One guy I thought was a woman at first until I heard his masculine voice. He had a womanly face and a petite frame, wore a rather large black trench coat and rocked long blonde dreadlocks. My friend thought he was a woman at first too. I also ran into another fellow speed dater, the one I said looked like a vampire with his fang like teeth. After a second glance he looked more like a werewolf with his chest hair peeking out over his shirt. I didn’t speak to him. My friend said one particular guy was strange and it was no surprise to me when she pointed out the school psyche. He approached me again to check my new lock and we matched again. Really? This time we had to wait in line to get a new lock and key. I asked him if he had any luck speed-dating and he said no one ever chooses to see him again afterward, except one time. He mentioned the one time he got picked, he thought the girl was psycho. I found rather strange because he struck me as a psycho/stalker type. He said that whenever he asked the woman basic questions like where you live, where you work, she wouldn’t answer and was holding back. Yet, she was interested in seeing him again? Hmmm….ok. Soon after was the raffle and for each matched lock you turned in you got a raffle ticket. My friend and I had at least 7 or 8 matches/tickets but didn’t win any prizes. In summary, the lock n’ key event was a good time and a memorable experience that took me out of the zone. There is another event coming up in the near future and you’ll be pleased to know I do plan to attend. I will make sure not to wave at anyone.

All the Single Ladies…put your hands up!

thecomfortzonex — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:21:46 +0000

I heard about a fun interactive dating event for singles through the woman who coordinated the speed-dating events I attended before and decided to check out with a friend. All I really knew about the event was there would be single people in attendance and a game was involved with locks and keys, and somehow you had to find your match. I was curious what it would be like and skeptical at the same time after my previous experiences speed-dating. On the way to the event it hit me I may run into some of the same people from speed-dating and if you remember from my prior posts there were some questionable characters. Oh boy, I thought. As we made our way down the street towards what we thought was the venue there was a buzz in the air. A few hundred feet in front of us was a beautiful art gallery where lively attractive people mingled inside. My friend looked at the map and pointed out we were at the wrong location and had to cross the street. As I gazed across the street there was a dark sort of alley where the real venue was located and we cautiously went down it. On the corner was a dark night club with red velvet ropes and men in all black suits guarded the door. We had to walk through floor length black velvet curtains to enter the place, the walls were painted bright red and there was little lighting, which made it hard to see what we had entered. It was at that moment I began to doubt what we were getting into. The place struck me as a different kind of venue and I pondered going back to the art gallery for a split second. Once inside, I realized it wasn’t as bad as it appeared. There were 75 or so people of all ages and races including a lot of Europeans. Shortly after, the coordinator was on stage to explain the game rules. I couldn’t help but notice a 15 foot painting of a naked woman with all natural body hair featured right above the stage. It was an eyesore and difficult to pay attention to the coordinator as she reviewed the rules. The game was set-up so men had keys and women had locks, the object was to find your match and once you did, you turned in your hardware (keys and locks) to get a new lock and you got raffle tickets for a chance to win a handful of prizes. Then you went back out to find your next match. The whole point of the game was to serve as an icebreaker for people to engage in conversation. While the idea was original and clever, it was weird. The whole process of a guy coming up to me to jam his key in my lock (while it was around my neck) and then moving along or striking up a conversation felt odd. It was uncomfortable and awkward. I looked around the room and noticed a few guys from prior speed-dating events. One in particular that stood out was the soft spoken school psychologist…you remember…the guy who spoke quietly out of the corner of his mouth and rarely made eye contact. He was the one who said he only goes to speed-dating events if its convenient to where he lives. He came up to me and asked where he knew me from and suggested maybe we met at the ballet and my response was no, speed-dating. He then asked…in what city? Wow…he’s a regular! I reminded him of the city and he tried his key in my lock…it was a match. Seriously? Out of everyone there I had a match to him. The night didn’t end there and read If you like it…then you should of put a key on it to see what other characters I ran into and hear more about the rest of the evening.

Zumba in the City of the Stars

thecomfortzonex — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 07:10:22 +0000

I recently visited the City of the Stars (LA) over the holidays and during my stay I tried a Zumba class at a nearby gym. For those of you who have never heard of Zumba, it’s a cardio workout with Latin dance moves and was created by a guy from Colombia. I regularly attend Zumba at a local gym and was curious what it would be like in the land of the superficial. The room was unlike what I was used to and was like a fish bowl. It was worse than the belly dancing class on the basketball court I wrote about in a previous post. The entire backside of the room was glass and any gym patron pumping iron could see you shakin’ it like a salt shaker.

I positioned myself closer to the front of the room so I couldn’t be seen as much but when the class began I realized there was no front or back. The instructor taught the class from every side of the room and after every song she shifted the whole class. One minute our backs faced the gym folks and the next our faces were towards them. It was awkward because there were several times the instructor was a few feet in front of me. I felt pressure to do every move full out and keep up with her even though I had no idea what moves to expect. Every Zumba class is different because every instructor incorporates various dances and music. It’s the type of thing you learn as you go and at first it was easy until the class continued on past an hour.

After an hour of non-stop dancing and no water I contemplated how long I would go. I was having fun and liked the variety of dances so I stuck it out. The instructor mixed up a little bit of belly dance, hip hop and Latin moves. She even busted out the sprinkler and lawn mower taking things way back. It was hilarious to see a room full of 40 people doing the sprinkler.

The best part was the instructor’s brother. He was a choreographer visiting from San Francisco with his partner and both were great dancers. They looked not a day over 18 and both could shake their tail feather. The brother and sister battled it out a few times to see who could pump it the best and were neck in neck. The class continued on for another half hour making it an hour and a half total. I not only had to keep up with the dance moves but also had to dodge little beads on the floor. The girl in front of me wore a hip sarong with beads that kept flying off all around my feet. She picked the beads up throughout the class but never occurred to her to take the skirt off all together. Luckily, I was quick on my feet and there was no incident.

After the class, I felt good and the others in the class were not plastic as I predicted. I was in a suburb of LA and not in the heart of the city so I think it was different. Regardless of the location, Zumba in the City of the Stars was a great post-holiday eating workout and enjoyable experience. Only if I could shake it like a Polaroid picture as much as the two guys visiting from San Francisco. I think I could give them a run for their money if I had to battle them. LOL!