iPods are great but you don’t hear NEW music. You form a shell around what you know and once those ear plug are in, no chance encounters with new music or new people can happen.
But I get that people need to set up a controlled environment to maintain sanity. My control cocoon is when I clean my bathroom and kitchen grout. Because I cannot control the markets, the trajectory (down) of my career or the health of people I love, but I can make some square feet of grout look great.
I don’t get the pedestrian mall at Times Square or the tables and chairs on the dividers in the street. Carbon monoxide with your health salad? For that matter, what’s with side walk cafes in NY? This is not some piazza in some beautiful city in Italy where the pollution is so romantic and delicious because it is Italian. Actually most of the pollution and carcinogens come from products partially made in China, so imagine that charming street scene in Beijing. Enjoy your lunch!
My last post made me think of the guy whose shorts were dripping with sweat all over the floor and still he wears nylon that reeks rather than absorbing cotton. Let that image sit for a second. Imagine being on the bike next to him. Either a rain poncho or a haz mat suit. Just a thought.
So, back when my sister was dating her now husband, I would of course tell him, “look I am not getting any younger and I want to dance at my sister’s wedding!”. So, I am at the gym having a training session at the same time my sister is working out. She interrupts me with this awe-struck look on her face and I know, I KNOW, that her boyfriend proposed. She motions to whisper in my ears. Excitement builds — I think, Mom, I wish you were here for this moment. She whispers that the man next to her on the elliptical machine blew his nose on the floor and it was so gross that she had to tell me. This is why I love my family. It is always a David Lynch type Hallmark moment.
Why are older people cleaner and more polite in the gym than are younger people?
There is a man who wears the same thing every time I see him and it is not just because of our work-out routines. He is also a grunter and doesn’t wipe down machines. I like to think that he thinks air-drying is better for the environment. There is a girl chatting with him now. Do I tell her that he is always wearing the same clothes and sneakers with no socks? (I forgot to mention that lovely piece of info.) Ewww. Ewwwww. Ewwww. I ponder and I walk away.
Is it un-ecofriendly to use two sani-seats at the gym bathrooms if your thighs are shaking from your work-out and you need to sit?
There is a woman in my subway car reading a book called “Donor Recruitment: Tips and Techniques”. My first reaction was “sperm donor” — how to corner a guy and get him to give you a cupful.
But I guess it could be anything and she could even be working for the Red Cross or something. But still you can’t make this up. Some people live their lives in full view of an accidental audience.
We had a 7th birthday party for our son. 17 kids doing gymnastics at Chelsea Piers. The screams of joy and peals of laughter are still echoing in my head — like a migraine. I can’t wait until mid-week when the pain is gone and I look back on the party fondly.