the gym and DPS

Most of you know that I try to go to the gym fairly regularly. This past week has not been the prime example of this, but I do really like going to the gym. It has all this equipment, classes, even a sauna and hot tub (but I don't really use those all that much). And today was my day back at the gym. I was feeling so tired and sluggish this morning that I knew it was past time; one thing people don't tell you is that if you get into the habit of regular exercise it's addictive and you feel the effects pretty quickly if you ever stop going.

Anyway, one of the reasons I love this gym is that it's kind of a lazy man's gym. Many of the cardio machines have these individual tv's you can watch (like on Jet Blue) so you can watch your favorite shows. They even have two movie channels, which is always a lot of fun. Often I will go to the gym at around 8 pm so I can watch the prime time line up- thursday nights are my favorite nights to just go and be on those machines. There was one time I went and they were showing Tootsie. There was this line of women lined up at the windows watching it, and we were all laughing out loud together at the same parts... It's quite fun, really.

Well one of the drawbacks to this scenario is that there are some times when what I'm watching is quite sad while huffing and puffing on the cardio machine. And I of course cry at sad parts of tv shows and movies, and then I find myself trying to breath and cry at the same time while working out. Which it turns out is not all that easy to do. There have been several times in these past months where I'm watching Grey's Anatomy and have tears streaming down my face. Or watching Billy Elliot. Or Thelma and Louise. Or that one part in Dream Girls- that one had me sobbing on the damn treadmill. God, you try to work out while sobbing. It's actually quite difficult.

So today I go to the gym, wondering what the movies are going to be. And they're showing Enemy of the State and Dead Poets Society. I had to laugh because Dead Poets Society is my original tear jerker. It's the first movie I remember crying at. I was with Becky and Christina (and I think Mandy) and riding up in the elevator to my car, crying- the hickuping kind. And I knew I was a gonner. I remember they showed this movie at the gym years ago and I popped onto the machine just after Neil had died and Mr. Keating had gotten fired and the boys had to confess that Keating was to blame for Neil's death- it was literally the last 10 minutes. Without fail just as soon as whatshisface Ethan Hawke's character stands on the desk and says "oh Captain my Captain" I started to cry. Then the other guys get up on their desks and there's that picture where you can see some of the boys on their desks and they're the ones whose lives were changed by having this class and by meeting this influential person. There was nothing for it. That's always the part that gets me- I didn't need anything else.

This time I got there and there was 50 minutes left in the show. I thought it would be worse with more time to get into the characters and become absorbed in the story, so I just figured I'd let myself go and have fun with it. It turned out, tho, that I didn't really cry. I don't know why. Maybe it's because I kept thinking about how young everyone looked (and there was that guy who played Neil who is now on House. I don't think I've seen him in all that much). Or maybe I was expecting it too much- all the other times I cried were completely unexpected. Or I'm getting older and more cynical. But only a couple of tears trickled down. Nothing much by my standards really.

Then I went and got a burrito at Anna's. As payback for going to the gym for two hours. It's the weekend- I'll be better at the healthy eating during the week.