With a couple of Super Bowl party invites in hand, I face the dilemna of being tagged an outcast by my friends who find my excuse of having salsa classes hard to swallow.

Disbelieving, incredulous reactions abounded, especially from the male species. "We didn't even know you were taking lessons", exclaimed AJ. "That's soooo hilarious", said N. "Can't you skip it this one time???". Their wives, who also weren't aware of this somewhat new hobby of mine, were more supportive of my decision and wished me luck (and tittered, "Oh, how cute").

In truth, football isn't really my thing, although in this case I appreciate the fact that the bigger issue is that of friendship, camaraderie, and male bonding while watching oversized men tackling each other over an oval shaped ball and at the same time expanding our collective waistlines by chowing down artery-clogging pizza, wings, and beer. Such a killjoy, huh? So I put myself down as "tentative" and asked for time to consider.

Though not quite good at it (yet), I've really enjoyed the salsa classes and look at it as both a budding hobby as well as a way of releasing work stress. I would certainly derive more pleasure out of the hour long session than watching the game which rarely lives up to its billing (or rather, the famous commercials), and yet social pressure is intense.

Hmm...What to do?