...my name is Bettina. May I take your order?Lemme just start by saying, earnest people who are looking to get in shape...I love. So I am standing in the gym two nights ago. My gym (well gyms in general) are a breeding ground for posers, douche bags and tools (oh my). Some of my favorite examples of PDTs:
- Scrawny or overweight guys running around in police department attire.
- Pairs and pairs of sweatpants that went out of style 10 years ago and are pulled up to the neck with t-shirts tucked in.
- Unfit guys with beer guts and scrawny arms puffing and preening as though they could compete in a body building championship tomorrow.
- People who should be wearing underwear, not wearing underwear.
The sad part is that I can't even describe with words all the PDTs I see on a daily basis. Stop by for a visit. we'll grab a protein shake and go mock them.
Super Tuesday...So I voted in the NY Primary. I wasn't really sure who I was going to vote for until the very last minute. When I got into the voting booth, I noticed that
Dennis Kucinich was still on the ballot (he had already dropped out of the race). This is the second time that I really wanted to vote for Kucinich for the Democratic nomination...he's the only candidate who supports gay marriage. But as I much as I would like to, I wouldn't and I didn't last time either. Why? I really like to vote. I get a little chill of excitement whenever I step into the booth. I enjoy exercising my right and feel like a part of something bigger. I want my vote to count for something, toward something. Kucinich was out of the race, and I could have voted for him to prove a point, but it would have been throwing my vote away. Last time, he didn't have a chance, and I knew that. I decided to vote for one of the front-runners...both times...because my hope is that once I decide on one of them, then maybe I can be a part of pushing them over the edge, helping for the win; so that maybe my vote DOES count for something, toward something.
This year, it did. I voted for Hillary (who won NY). I took that online test that gave you 25 issues and asked you to decided and rate it's importance, then showed you the top candidates for you. I came in at an even tie for Hillary and Barak. So, in the end it came down to two things. (1) I don't like Obama...he comes off as very arrogant to me, like he's some great savior. (2) Hillary is smart...damn smart. (3) She's got the confidence of Madeline Albright, who talked about her work with foreign heads of state. (4) We had a good time under Bill. Maybe we'll have another good time with her.
All that in a night...All of the above happened in one evening and it got me thinking about legitimacy: The desire to be legitimate, relevant, belong. As I stood in the gym, I felt I belonged...I hoped I belonged...but do I? I looked at the posers and realized they don't know they are posers. They think they belong. Does our desire to belong blind us to the truth about ourselves and the places we wish to belong? No answers, just thoughts.
This leads into some navel gazing that I am fascinated by; self-image. How do you see yourself when you look in the mirror? Do you feel like you belong at work, home, the gym? Do you really know your place in the world? Do you REALLY understand your worth?
The day, the mirror involved, my mood, what I ate that day, how I interacted with people - all affect how I see me. I think I look for those moments of clarity, when I look and really see me. Not fat me, skinny me, smart me, dumb me...just me. It comes in glimpses...and in those moments, life is good because I like what I see.
Laterz...
Comments (11)
I know people that work out at one gym, shower, wash, and then go to another gym to pose...
well you're all over the map today. great blog. i like your style. as for the pdt issue, when i'm at the gym i ignore everyone. if i don't then i get sucked into a world of negativity and that's not what i want. i'm not saying you do but everything irritates me if i let it.
i look in the mirror and see what i want. i think thats a good thing. as for being authentic i've worked very hard for the freedom to do what i want when i want. i realize i'm very fortunate and that it probably wont last forever but it is what it is. this enables me to look in the mirror and see what i want, not what some regional vice president thinks s/he wants in an employee.
great blog as i said. it sure made me think and it made me smile as well.
Yeah Barack seems a tad insincere, arrogant, green/inexperienced, disingenious to me as well. If we actually do get a vote here and the candidacy hasn't already been decided by May I'll probably have to settle for hillary as well. I really liked UFO guy as well at least he seemed credible and geniune.
I did an online quiz for the candidates, too, and Barack was my first and Hillary was my third. I'm still going to vote for Hillary, though, for the same reasons why you did. I really do hope things fall in her favor.
... and Gravel wasn't on the Illinois ballot even though he hasn't dropped out. Not near as I can tell anyway. How weird.
I voted for sister Hillary, and she carried Tennessee as well!
I think it's very hard to see ourselves as we truly are, because sometimes the truth is too much to bear.
As one of the "disillusioned Republicans" that he refers to, I like Obama and I'm excited about his candidacy. I haven't felt the arrogance thing about him, which I felt strongly about Romney and to some extent McCain. I'll vote for Hillary, too, if she wins the nomination, which surprises me since I was a staunch Republican through the Clinton years. But her candidacy excites me, too. Yeah, she has experience, but Obama has some, too. I've been thinking about him in relation to Abraham Lincoln. Would we think Lincoln had enough experience today to elect him as president? He was an Illinois state legislator and had what, one term as a U.S. Congressman?
Anyway, I'm with you on the gym thing. And off I go for my morning workout.
Well, there's a lot here, Peej. First, in the gym, I think we're all posers because does anyone REALLY belong in a place that is as much about self-loathing as it is about self-improvement? I mean, for every one person there who is happy about their physical state and is just there to maintain or slightly improve it, there are 3 people who are there because they are UNhappy about their physical state are are working to improve it. And of those three, how many of them are hoping that an improved physical state will lead to that greater happiness that we all seek?
As for the vote... I guess I'm not sure which way I go... I understand wanting the vote to mean something. But, I also wonder if voting for Kucinich, what I would consider a vote for principle, doesn't send a message, too. And if so, is it really wasted?
As for understanding myself, seeing myself for who I truly am, and knowing myself, I can't say that I can do that on my own. Rather, it's through the glimpses of others that I gain some perspective on who I am, and those glimpses help me gauge how accurate my own self-image is.
:but you ARE famous. you have a blog!
asking how tall someone is and retardedly proclaiming "wow , you're, like, tall!" are two TOTALLY different things. but yeah...i hear you george.
Thank you so much for your comments. What I think is the worst in the gym is watching people do leg lifts or bicep curls and swing their legs/arms up and down - never engaging a single muscle.