Curse Peripheral Vision and being too Observant

I've been looking for an indoor basketball court for the longest time that is close by so I can go there and shoot around or play some ball during the work day.  After YEARS of searching, I finally found one at the West 56th street Health and Racquet Club, it's only a half court (actually it's the size of a racquet ball court with the rim mounted on the side, so more of a 1/3 court).  

To add to that, I found out that my firm has a corporate membership so it's cheaper and we also get the week free pass.  

It's been a week of me trying to get over there, but things have been a little crazy here at work (hence the less entries this week), so a coworker of mine and I decided to meet there at 8am this morning.  Alright, if anyone knows me, 8am during the work week is the time when I'm pressing snooze waiting for the 8:30am alarm to go off.  We made a deal that if I wasn't there on time I owe him $20, and he gave me a grace period of ten minutes.  

I guess the me of old came shining through as I was excited to play basketball before.  In my "prime" (damn you know you're old when you say that) I used to wake up 7am during summer vacation and bike 30-45 minutes to play basketball the whole day with my friends.  I wasn't even confident that I was going to make it this morning either, I got home at 11:30pm from the volleyball game last night.  One two different occasions, 5am and 6am I woke up because I was excited to play bball, even if it's just to shoot around.  

Turns out that I made it there at 8:09am!  

Alright, so I haven't been to a gym in over 4 years, meaning the gym with locker rooms and people changing, etc.  So here I was sitting in the locker room putting my things in the locker, I'm not used to having naked people around me ... and when it's men, it's just that much more uncomfortable.  I'm minding my own business and I used to love my peripheral vision and the fact that I observe things that other people don't pick up on, but not today.  I was surrounded by wangs!  As I sat there putting on my sneakers, an older man behind me (who was dressed when I first got there) was but naked!  It was about 5 inches between me and the ridiculously hairy (_|_) and I quickly jumped up when I noticed.  

It was like a bad dream for me (well not really because I never have had any dreams like that)!  Ever try to shut off a sense that you have, but it doesn't work ... that was me today.  All these images are burned into my brain right now, and I'm waiting for them to just go away, so I felt the need to share it with all of you!  There were all sorts of guys there ... an assortment if you will.  From the fit, to the not so fit, from the buff beef cakes, to the whoa what happened!?  There were also a lot of variations from the clean cut, to those who needed a body trimmer and some even lawn mowers.   It was pretty bad.

I tried my best to walk with my face looking up at the ceiling, but again the peripherals were a curse today.  Maybe this is why I never joined a gym?  Because I can't be around naked men!  Geeze, I feel like I have to apologize to my eyes for putting them into that kind of situation ... I'm sorry!

Will I go back?  I think I will ... maybe I'll just try to void the locker room altogether, but I still have to find a way to take a shower.  Some people have no shame!

+ mon

Update on Thursday, April 2, 2009 at 10:54AM by MONStar

I'm sure you guys are glad that I don't have any pictures associated with this post!

+ mon

Waiting for Gym Class

This was an entry that I put in my old blog (which no one read lol, and I was going to post this yesterday but it slipped my mind, so here I am posting it today).

Back in high school I remember having gym class at most twice a week. The rest of the time you have the "other" classes that just fill up your schedule, like science, math, english, and all those other classes that are just there to fill your day so you don't have idle thoughts. Having that crumpled program card in my pocket and looking at it each day, even though I knew where I was supposed to be and what class it was, then seeing that day that had gym on it. That feeling was awesome, it was a countdown until you were able to go into that gym class again.

I guess going to gym class was different from going to the park and doing things with your friends like playing basketball or baseball. Being in that gym class gave you the opportunity to show off to your fellow alumni your skills, or lack thereof. All our fellow classmates would see us in is sitting at our desks buried in a book (as we fell asleep), or doing projects with them for whatever filler class we might be attending. There was hardly any time to show those other people in the classroom what kind of athlete you were, or there was never any time to show that you weren't just some nerdy kid.

Being able to gym class and show that you are somewhat coordinated and others very well coordinated was a big thing. The circle of friends expanded just because of your abilities! Even if those new "friends" you met in gym class weren't the ones you hung out with all the time, you would now get the head nod in passing in the hallways, or if you were lucky the pound or the high fives. That was what gym class was about.

But there was only that one day or if you were lucky two days you had gym. Each day would just be another countdown until you got to wear the same clothes as the other guys and match with everyone in the PE uniform.

That's how it feels for me again. I'm back at that spot where I sit here day in and day out just waiting for the next volleyball game so I can do my thang and show my coworkers that I'm more than just a suit and tie. It's fun that way, and I like it more because you have a sense of teamwork and accomplishment, even if your team lost all three games. I would rather do that then going out for "drinks" after work.

Well here I sit, one day a week of volleyball is not enough for me. I'm going to check out a new league tonight, and possible another league. So there's a potential to be in three volleyball leagues, so that means three days of gym class ... wish I had done this when I was younger and maybe I would have been in the Olympics or something. But it's funny how you can do this stuff when you're older since you have the cash and nothing else to do.

So now I look at my program card and wait in anticipation for gym class tonight that is in 2 hours and 30 minutes. Then maybe gym class on Sunday as well ... I'm starting to like this program that I got.

Game on!

+ mon