This is in response to Darnell's blog: "Paradise Found".

I attended Tony's second Salsa Social last night, and I must admit I had a very good time. The music was diverse and fresh, much to my surprise. My only quibble, as far as music is concerned, is that the R & B selections were pretty stale. I guess that's because they were intended for line dancers. Someone should tell the DJ about this new trend I've heard about: couple dancing to R & B, HipHop and Pop music.

But, again, that's a minor issue.

As far as this 5:1 Women to Men ratio thing goes, I don't go to dance spots looking for oodles of women. I go looking for a few good female dancers. I don't discriminate based on age, beauty, or dance ability -- all I require is that you want to dance with me and have a good time doing it.

Which brings me to a couple of interesting things that happened to me last night. I asked a woman to dance who was standing alone. She looked at me, smiled, and said "I'm good.". I guess that's how young people talk to each other these days, but for me, a good old-fashioned "No, thank you." would have been more appropriate.

I then sashayed down to the next woman. This is a lady that Tony had pointed out to me earlier as a model of beauty. She was quite good looking, but that's not why I asked her to dance. She was standing, alone, moving to the music, so I presumed she wanted to dance. I asked. She looked at me, smiled, and said "Can't you see? I am dancing!" I was too through. But, rather than say something equally unnecessary back to her, I spun around and went searching for another woman to dance with.

As luck would have it, the next woman I blindly asked was one of the Cuban regulars. I know her and like her, but she is one of those types who only like to dance a certain way with certain people. She had this nervous, uncomfortable grin on her face the entire dance. Which, surprise, surprise, is why I don't frequent Cuban functions in the first place (Tony is Panamanian, thank goodness). But, we danced, and I tried to make the best of it.

My point is that having a boatload of women at a joint is absolutely pointless if a large number of them are rude, self-absorbed, or simply jerks. I'm not saying at all that the women I describe above are representative of those who were at Tony's function. Quite the opposite. The vast majority of women I bumped into last night were polite -- and fun! I just made the mistake of going to the wrong side of the room.

So, you can keep your 5:1 ratio. Make it 10:1 if you want. Just give me a few good women who want to dance with me, and I'll be happy.

It is said, that "One Man's Paradise is Another Man's Hell".