Life Musings

I've been taking this cardiovascular boot camp class at my gym. This is a very demanding class that involves a lot of jumping jacks, lunges, plyometrics, interval training, and other intense exercises. It's designed to leave even fit individuals gasping for breath.

I love the class with all my heart. I love it! However, some of the bozos in the group are incredibly annoying. There's this group of jackasses who keep barking and howling throughout the class, sometimes even as the instructor is talking. Their cries of "Woof! Woof! Woof!" are just bloody irritating. The worst offender has even taken to yelling out "I love this!" at random moments during the class.

The worst part? They're not even doing the exercises right! Not even close. During the marching and running drills, their feet barely leave the ground. When punching, there's virtually no twisting in their torsos and their arms don't go anywhere near full extension. And when squatting, their rear ends don't go down more than a few inches. They look like a bunch of nine-year-old girls.

Those bozos are incredibly annoying.

Oh, and that worst offender in the group? He keeps turning around or walking around to other parts of the room so that he can chat with some of the ladies. I've been told that he's a married man, and I know that it might be perfectly innocent on his part. Somehow though, I doubt it -- not if he's paying attention to the ladies instead of the exercises.

Of course, the gym management isn't going to do anything about this. After all, while they're an annoying distraction, I can't quite say that they're disrupting the class. Still, I wish that the class instructor would say something like "Some of you guys are all talk! Pour that energy into your feet, not your mouths, you bozos!"

Darn it.

For some reason, my mind has been flashing back to an encounter I had with Marco, this one kid that I knew in my college days. I was standing at a bus stop with some friends on our college grounds when somebody pointed out that my zipper was down.

As I started to pull it up, Marco yelled out, "Hey, everybody! ----'s zipper is down!" One of his classmates shushed him, obviously recognizing that such a prank was in poor taste. It was certainly infantile.

Needless to say, I was humiliated. I stewed for a while, unsure of how to respond. In the meantime, Marco kept on chatting away with his classmates.

After about three or for minutes, I couldn't take it anymore. I marked right over to Marco and pushed him away from his friends. I then glowered silently, too furious to say anything. After glowering for a few seconds, I walked away. He was lucky that I wasn't a violent man; otherwise, I might have been tempted to take a swing at him.

One of his friends did come up to apologize to me, though. I have to give him credit for that.

As it turned out, his friends and mine were headed to the same place -- a small, inexpensive restaurant. Marco walked over to my table and apologized, and I have to admit that that was good of him. That's why I'm disappointed that I find my mind flashing back to that incident. It's best forgotten.

I want to do more cardio work. I don't want to just sit around at home and watch TV. Like this fella says in this article, there's no point in being a couch potato.

Besides, I want to shed the last few pounds on my belly and face. It's been tough, though. I'm taking cardio bootcamp classes on Monday and Wednesday evenings, and I'm now doing occasional cardio classes on Saturdays. In addition, I also do all sorts of other cardio work at home and in the gym -- kickboxing, elliptical trainer work, brisk walking and running, and so forth. I also watch what I eat.

It's though, though. These last few pounds are slow to melt away. What's more, I can't restrict my calories too much -- not if I want to function mentally. Ugh.

Anyone? I only want the white stuff.

A few tips for new swing dancers:

1. Learn how to follow a guy's lead. If he pulls you in one direction, don't go the opposite way.
2. On a related note, learn proper frame. That is, learn how to maintain a little bit of tension in your arms, but not so much that you become tense.
3. Don't grip the guy's fingers. Just maintain a light "hook."
4. Don't reach for the guy's hands after a spin or a turn. After all, you don't know which hand (or hands) he plans to use in the next more, or which of your hands he plans to grasp. Just keep your hands at the right height, making them available for him to reach for.
5. Read up on social dance etiquette.
6. Always remember the proper footwork -- especially the rock step. If you don't rock step, it'll look like you're just walking around, and that's bad.
7. Put a little bounce in your step.

There's this little boy who drowned recently. I scarcely knew his mother, but I felt that I should drop by for the viewing of the body. I couldn't attend the funeral due to my work schedule, but I did want to make an appearance of some sort. That's when I was reminded of how some people engage in very poor judgment at these events.

Case in point: As I was in line to view the body, this one woman started chatting up a storm with the lady in front of me. "Hey, how are you doing?" blah blah blah. She just kept going on an on in a casual, everyday tone of voice, and I thought it was distasteful. Why? Because the dead boy's mother was just a few feet away and could doubtlessly hear every word. I doubt that she would have been pleased to hear two people carry on an animated conversation as they were waiting in line to view her dead son's body. That's not the time for chitchat and pleasantries.

That's not all. One of this woman's teenaged daughters was engaged in another conversation, albeit in much lower, more hushed tones. At one point, this girl burst out into a chuckle. I immediately put my hand on her shoulder and said, "Hey, no laughter. Not here, not today." The woman in front of me said "Yeah, that's right." I'm glad that she agreed, as it showed that she understood that chuckling under the circumstances was in very poor taste.

Then there was this little boy who was running around the chapel, laughing. I asked myself, "Where are this kid's parents? They should be immediately running up to the child to hush him up!" As it turned out, this boy was associated with that very same family, though I don't know how. I turned to one of the girls in that family and said, "Hey, let's take him outside." (Of course, what I really meant is that THEY should take him outside of the chapel.)

I was disappointed that I had to tell someone from this family to do that. One of the parental units should have taken it upon themselves to do so. Instead, I had to be the one to tactfully point out that the boy was being disruptive.

Some families just don't act like they have proper breeding.