habits and hobbies

I go to the gym pretty frequently. 3, 4, 5 times a week. When I go to the gym, there are several people who look familiar to me because I've seen them there several times. There are a few people whose names I even know. Then, there are a few people who I remember because.. well.. they're just unique. There's Old Commando, who doesn't wear underwear (shudder), there's the gay Hispanic man who has a red and black mohawk and stretches in the sauna in his teeny-tiny underwear, there's the very athletic guy with the robotic leg, the guy who looks like Paulie Bleeker from Juno... it goes on and on.

Then, I start to think--am I one of those "unique" people that gets remembered for his strangeness? I am pretty strange. I go to the gym wearing t-shirts from bands that probably no one there has heard of (I'm such a hipster). But I think my real sticking point is my behavior on the elliptical machine. See, I hate cardio exercise in its various forms. I hate running. I hate biking. I hate swimming. But put me on the elliptical and I'll burn 700 calories before you can bake a casserole containing that many. I have some pretty bizarre behaviors on the elliptical though. I spend about 80% of the time on there with my eyes closed. I lip-sync all the music that plays on my iPod. And I don't mean I just kind of murmur the words... I really belt it out on mute. I put on a serious concert performance on an Ashlee Simpson scale of lip-syncing awesomeness. I also kind of... snarl at my reflection in the TV that's part of the elliptical machine. I grin and snarl and leer at myself. It's really kind of freaky. I look kind of like a singing werewolf.

And that's the image I'll leave you with: a werewolf singing along with Panic at the Disco.