My Tae Bo Workout With Billy Blanks

Me with Billy Blanks after a great Tae Bo workout

What??? This is amazing! I "grew up" on Billy Blanks!!


That was my reaction when I received an email from Harrison Wise on Wednesday. Billy Blanks would be teaching a kickboxing workout at the dojo Wise attends. A live Tae Bo workout!! Last year, I attended Harrison Wise's Pleasure & Pain Kickboxing Boot Camp class. I'm so grateful he remembered and shared the news with me.


Anyone who's known me for longer than 5 years, knows how much I love Tae Bo and how the workout and Billy Blanks has shaped my outlook on health, fitness and working out. I was a freshman in college when Tae Bo went mainstream. My mother ordered the tapes, but I claimed them for myself. My workouts were comprised of Tae Bo and weights. When the Tae Bo Live! series came out, she ordered the subscription for me -- a new advanced workout every month!


At the same time I was working towards my Sports Sciences degree and Athletic Training certification and was taking courses in Biomechanics & Kinesiology, Exercise Physiology, Principles of Athletic Training, Adapted Physical Education and Sports Psychology, I was also learning from Tae Bo and was applying the body awareness, willpower and positive visualization from one to the other.

Lessons For The Socially Awkward

I've had more than one friend tell me I should teach classes or seminars on flirting, or just simply talking to new people. When I envision these classes, I see "hands-on" workshops, with lots of field trips to bars, networking events, the park, supermarket and I'd give my students assignments; collect one phone number, have at least an 6 minute conversation with 3 strangers (3 minute convos for beginners or intermediates), make a date or plans to meet someone, bring up your pet turtle or your last workout, naturally, in conversation et cetera, et cetera.

Pedophilia Mammalia

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You know how much I love Law & Order: SVU. Like a lot. Like, I'm gonna write an episode one day. The last episode to air entitled, "Possessed", didn't disappoint. I think that show is a great study of human behavior and psychology with a cast that is very easy on the eyes.


But anyway, I sat watching that episode wrapped in my Snuggie with my brow furrowed in anger and disgust at the overweight pedophile salivating over little girls and the old defendant smugly walking out of court again. His defense: his books were fiction and therefore he could not be charged with conspiracy even though a pedophile used his books as "instruction manuals". Interesting. Write about anything you want, as long as it's fiction and you're protected under the First Amendment?

To Kill Or Not To Kill

You have 25 seconds to decide whether to shoot the person you love in the head or heart or to die. What do you do?

I watched the episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Abel & Willing) with my heart in my throat thinking about what I would do. It even had me questioning my previous stance of killing someone in self-defense. I started my self-exploration while watching the episode at the “easier” end of the spectrum. I figured, well, if it were a complete stranger sitting across from me, or someone “evil” it would be easier to pull the trigger. A loved one? A family member? The thought still makes my stomach hurt. I can only imagine the pain the people were in who “choose to shoot” (CTS) and the fear and helplessness of the person who looked at their husband or wife pleading for their life.

The villain in the episode conducted the socio-psychological experiment because his family went through a similar ordeal at the hands of the Nazis. The point was to prove that all human behavior is self-serving and freedom of choice is contrary to human nature. In his experiments, he removed all outside factors and came to the conclusion that if the choice is simplified—their life or someone else’s, humans will always choose survival.