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Show A&EDiversions Friday, March. 5, 2010 R Page 7 Stickelers Answer The order represents the letters' frequency of use in the English language, from most to least. Reaping your own fate and fortune oughly three months ago I snapped open a fortune cookie, gobbled the crunchy pseudoChinese shell and proceeded to read the slip of paper inside. We all know that if a fortune is read before the cookie is swallowed, the fortune will not come to pass. Kinda like making a wish on a birthday cake. If you tell someone your wish, it will never, in a million years, come true. Be certain that I followed all of the "rules" as I finished my fortune cookie, because I do not advocate jinxing fate. My fortune read something along the lines of: Good things are in store ... in three months! I whipped out my USU planner, and to the date, three months later, indicated with my pen that good things were in store. The reason I wrote this fact in my planner is that a few months previously I had opened a fortune cookie with the exact same fortune (three months and all), but as time passed, I forgot what day I was supposed to find fortune. I do not even know if it came true. I was not about to let another opportunity of good fortune slip by without recognition, so I wrote it down. Last week, as I looked at the list of the daily tasks I needed to accomplish, I saw the exclamationed phrase "good things in store" and was bewildered. Do you ever write something down in your planner and when you later come across it, you have no clue what you are supposed to do, so you worry incessantly about deciphering the message because it might be life-alteringly important? Mind-scouring pandemonium and mayhem ensue as your brain is racked with unknown possibilities. Well, fortunately, my mind put two and two together and my heart rejoiced. This was my day. This was my day that good things would happen. Holy smokes, all day long I anticipated greatness. And the door on the bus got stuck, and I tried to close it and failed. And someone bailed on a previously planned engagement, so it canceled. And my seventh graders would not follow my baton worth beans. What a day, what a day. I kept searching and searching for a redeeming factor, but could not find one, until, as foresaw by my cookie, fortune struck me like a llama in a dust storm. My ninth grade orchestra class was canceled because all the kiddies were going on a ski trip. My cooperating teacher let me leave school early, with a big whoop and a yahoo. What did I do with my extra time? Well, I took a nap. Whoop. Yahoo. Last year I had some neighbors that owned an alligator head that supposedly gave luck to those that pet it. It was a real honest to goodness alligator head with real honest to goodness alligator teeth, though it probably did not have real honest to goodness alligator eyes. My roommates and I were intensely studying for a music history exam, hours upon hours, when our neighbor came over with the aforementioned head in his hands. (Honest to goodness.) "I guarantee you an A on that test," he spoke with a smarmy smile comparable to a salesman. "Go ahead, pat this lucky head." I was not sure how much a dead alligator head knew about music history, but I tapped its head anyhow, took the test and got a great score. Internal Conflict: Who earned the grade? The alligator or I? Are the outcomes of our lives altered by simple, inane actions that displace determinacy? Gadzooks. Karma. I do believe somewhat in karma. I believe that if you make poor choices, they will eventually come around and bite you in the butt. I believe that if you make good choices, felicitous times will be inherent. If you are kind to people, they will be kind to you. If you respect people, they will respect you, etc. I believe that people reap what they sow. But I also acknowledge that, frustratingly, some people sow, sow and sow and do not reap a single sinnin' thing. Job after job after job. Relationship after relationship after relationship. Illness after illness after illness. Fail after fail after fail. Bad fortune? Maybe. But maybe events in life are just events to be dealt with, and in the dealing with them, true fortune shines through. Lemony Snicket states, "If an optimist had his left arm chewed off by an alligator, he might say, in a pleasant and hopeful voice, 'Well, this isn't too bad. I don't have my left arm anymore, but at least nobody will ever ask me whether I am right-handed or left-handed,' but most of us would say something more along the lines of 'Aaaaah! My arm! My arm!'" Bad things happen to good people. Good things happen to bad people. Point in case. But don't you want to "It's exercise, but it's like a party too. That's the whole theme of the Zumba fitness pro- gram, 'join the party.' The idea is to distract you while you're working out, and it really does. I love it and I'm addicted to it," Cara VanTassell said. VanTassell, junior in photography, is a Zumba-certified instructor who has been teaching the dance since September at Tueller School of Dance in Logan, located at 521 0 N. Main Street. All instructors are required to have certification. The Zumba fitness program, according to VanTassell, is a fitness-based Latin dance class that utilizes interval training of high- and low-heart rate songs. "This back and forth is the best exercise because you burn more calories by not going at a steady pace. We'll do a couple of fast songs and then a slow one," VanTassell said. The moves are repeated throughout the whole class, so it is not learning a whole routine. "It is aerobics in a dance style," VanTassell said. The Zumba class uses lots of Latin songs, and VanTassell likes to also use Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas and the Pussy Cat Dolls for warm-up. "You forget that you're working out it is so fun, it is even relaxing. You leave the class happy, and I never leave the class feeling like I'm glad it's over. It goes by so fast. That's biggest difference between Zumba and going to the Fieldhouse and just running," VanTassell said. There is not one shoe everyone uses, VanTassell said, although the Zumba Web site does offer Zumba shoes. "I use Adidas bounce shoes because the tread is not too sticky. Since it's a Latin-based dance, you move around a lot and too much tread could cause ankle twisting," VanTassell said. Classes are offered Monday and Wednesday nights, Friday mornings, and a Thursday night class will be starting shortly. Tuesday is Zumba Toning. "The toning is not interval heart-rate dancing, but toning muscles while dancing, and it actually burns more calories," VanTassell said. When: Saturday, Mar. 6th Time : 8:00 a.m. - Noon Place: Ag. Science Building Room 202 Cost: $35 Instructor: Bill Hendrickson Questions: e-mail jedediah.bigelow@aggiemail.usu.edu Come Get your Concealed Weapon Permit!!! Brought to you by USU College Republicans! out of control, don't you want to be in control of how you react? Because you are in charge, no question about it. Complaining never got anyone anywhere. Whining never got anyone anywhere. The more optimism you have, the more opportunity and leeway you give fortune to bestow bounteous blessings into your blasted life. Good things really do happen to good people. Just remember that. Melissa Condie is a senior majoring in music education. Questions or comments can be sent to her at m.condie@aggiemail.usu.edu. Must be 21 or older and have no convicted felonies. At cRESTWOoDs Brentwood 736 E 900 N Lynwood Edgewood 880 N 650 E 736 E 800 N Stay in the Very Best Single Student Housing! 'Practically on Campus "Full Bath in each bedroom 'Free Wireless Internet 'Fully equipped kitchen 'Washer & dryer in apartment 'Furnished 'Covered Parking (Edgewood) • Entire Summer from $500 'School Year: Private: $2370-$3390 Shared: $2070-$2490 755-3181 www.logancrestwoods.com VanTassell said people can come as often as they want. According to VanTassell, the first time is free so everyone can come try it and after that it is $5 a class, or a punch pass can be bought for $30 that includes 10 classes for $3. Additionally, free classes are rewarded when the cards are filled. Some of the participants wear "body bugs" to the class to count calories burned. VanTassell said on average they burn 900-1,100 calories in the one-hour class, which is consistent with the Zumba program claim of 700-1,000 calories an hour for the average person. Zumba Toning is generally 1,500 calories an hour, VanTassell said. "Don't be afraid to try. I've danced my whole life, and the first class was pretty overwhelming because there's no sit-down basic instruction, you just follow. Usually by the third class you pick up on it because the moves are repeated throughout all the songs," VanTassell said. Zumba fitness students are all on the same level, VanTassell said. "Since Pam Waldron, the other instructor, hasn't taught dance before, she will keep it basic, and I will do the more extreme move. We do arms and legs together, but you can just do arms or just legs if you want," VanTassell said. The Zumba fitness program does not discriminate. The class has several ladies in their 70s, as well as a few 12- to 13-yearold girls, VanTassell said. Also, she said guys are starting to join. "Some of the songs are a little girly, so sometimes the guys change the moves to be more masculine," VanTassell said. According to Zumba.com , the celebrity fitness trainer "Beto" Perez created Zumba in Colombia in the mid 1990s. Zumba.com states, "One day, he walked into his aerobics class and realized he had forgotten his aerobics music. Thinking quickly, he grabbed whatever tapes he had in his backpack. Beto's tapes were comprised of songs he loved, the traditional Latin salsa and merengue music he listened to all his life. But it was a challenge to improvise a whole class on the spot using nontraditional aerobics music. Beto rose to the challenge and .2 1. • - two / be a good person, regardless of what happens to you? Hm? When life goes So fun, you'll forget you're exercising By STOREE POWELL features senior writer Concealed Weapon Class Join Now! THE ZUMBA FITNESS PROGRAM blends dance with exercise to create a party atmosphere. Classes are currently taught at the Tueller School of Dance in Logan and are free for first-timers. photo courtesy of Zumba Fitness, LLC from this last-minute improvisation a revolutionary new concept in fitness was born — the Zumba Fitness-Party. The class soon became the most popular class at his fitness facility." Zumba fitness has become an international craze and has started incorporating different music and moves, VanTassell said. The moves can also come in handy in other places. "Pam went on a cruise last week, and she said that when they went to clubs, they did Zumba moves there," VanTassell said. "It is fun and no one should feel self-conscious about it. You just go and shake it," VanTassell added. "You are so concerned at getting the moves you don't look at anyone else and they don't look at you." Students interested in taking Zumba classes can contact VanTassell at 208-431-5587 or Pam Waldron at 881-0293 or email partyzumbastyle@gmail. com. — storee.powell@aggiemaiLusu. edu UtahStateU n iversity a _ '2_ • en7C 4r4 welly Grand Opening • .c March 1st-6th Door Prizes: Jeweliy, Gift Cards, Dinners. $700 Value d Prize! & Daily Winners! 1. 930 N. Main Logan 435-753-9755 R ,A virwwjerticksfinejeweirr'_corZ |