What Was I THINKING?!?

Here I am thinking I need more exercise - we all need more exercise, right? So what do I do? I email my daughter, Maybelline, and tell her that I'd like to learn how to do DDR (Dance Dance Revolution - don't worry - I'll get to that). She's all about DDR, quite good at it. It was hilarious to watch her in the beginning, so awkward, but she's kicking its butt and taking names. And I thought, being the magnificent and involved mother that I am *snort*, that I'd ask her to teach me how to play. See little Maybelline? That's when she was young and cute and had no real desire to kick her mommy's tushie.

I can hear some of you out in cyber space asking the question, "What the heck is DDR?" For the novice, it's an XBox game involving rhythm and songs I don't know. I found an Earth, Wind and Fire song and stuck with it. The rest of the songs? Who KNOWS what they are! Not me.

Believe it or not, klutz that I am, I have an excellent sense of rhythm. Yes I do. Which is why I'm downstairs typing instead of playing DDR, right? Here's the gist of the game: Pick a song, choose a level of difficulty (I am a Beginner), Start dancing. Simple enough? Okay, here's a shot of Maybelline playing:



See the colorful pad with the giant arrows? The screen has arrows scrolling up with the song's beat, and you are expected to step on the arrows on the pad as the screen arrows reach the top of the screen. Sometimes you have to jump on two arrows at once. Really! It's not as easy as it looks. I've stood in FYE at the mall for what felt like hours, watching teens play DDR and marveling. They're amazing, the speed at which they stomp on the arrows, following the screen. Now Maybelline is one of those amazing teens, playing at the difficult and expert levels.

So she reminded me this morning that I'd asked her to teach me how to play. Me, the girl who failed aerobics - TWICE - in college. Following arrows with my eyes AND my feet. Me, the girl who can't play video games to save her life. Me, who is about a million pounds overweight and breathes funny when I conquer the stairs. Me, who walked four miles with my husband yesterday, and whose legs are still very loose, thank you very much (yes, Poltzie, it must be genetic). Me, playing DDR, risking looking like a complete fool and breaking my tail bone, or worse. Me, going to the emergency room. Oh, no fun that.

But I took her up on it. Know what? She's a good teacher. I'm a lousy student. I hushed her at first and gave it a shot, jumping around to "September", nearly falling face first into the TV. She's trying to tell me how to better play, I'm not listening, she sits back and watches and encourages. Then she shows me how she does it. See, I won't learn from watching till I've at least tried it once. And learn I did! Once I loosened up a little. It's a lot of fun! I might actually lose a little weight by the end of the school year. I might not. Heh. Oh! And it's set up so one can monitor how many calories one burns with each song! WAY cool! I burned ... lessee .. about 15 whole calories. Yeah. Still fun.

Know what else? Maybelline has a competitive streak! I wonder where she got that from ... and she says that she'll be whooping my butt come end of summer, at her level. Bring it on.

Y'all don't forget to pop down to the interview and contest! Win a book! And I'll talk to y'all tomorrow! If I can still walk, that is.

Until I write again ...

Flea