(no subject)

"You know, fuck you on so many levels!"

One way I had thought of to feel less than alone when my life ends as school begins was to take my laptop and books to a coffee shop rather than sit at home in isolation. Yesterday I passed a starbucks where I saw several guys, each sitting alone outside the Starbucks patio. There was something very pathetic looking about that. Last night I hit a coffee shop with friends (a REAL one, not a 7-11ish Starbucks) and found most of the tables were filled with isolated students, though about 50/50 male female. It was Saturday night.

Ok, so I'm not original in my idea. It's also not logical, I'm easily distracted and there is no way I could do anything but stare at people while there, as they would inevitably be more entertaining than any textbook. It takes isolation and sensory deprivation to keep me focused on work I'm not entertained by. Note that ugly guys and cute artsy girls work in coffee shops. If I was in a coffee shop, it would simply indicate that I would rather talk to someone, but lacked someone to talk to or the time to talk to them...so I'd be trying to be social through osmosis.

GEEK - I learned of the ‘trying to look like you want to be alone in a public place that is inherently social’ from star trek. If you’re going to go outside and be in social places, don’t bother trying to pretend you don’t want to be part of it somehow.

I learned the term 'trust-fund socialist.' I like that.

Good god nice geek reference Chadu:
thank the world of fandom for crystallizing something that I found annoying that I didn't realize other people had found as well. Wow, defined for me before I put a finger on it, lovely!
http://www.merrycoz.org/papers/MARYSUE.HTM

It's not vanity

A few people have made comments about how guys in the gym stare in the mirror. For the record, that's not just for the sake of vanity. When you lift, it's very important to maintain proper form. Lifting that weight hurts like hell, and it takes concentration and a lot of monitoring to make sure you do it right. You know you can move your elbows, shift your knees, squeeze your chest, contract your abs, move or flex your back, or any other dumb-ass cheat to get the weight up - but doing so destroys the point of the exercise and any gains you might get from it. Every muscle in your body is screaming to either stop what you're doing or to help the muscles that hurt more, and you have to fight that. Also, you are often focusing on a particular group of muscles, and looking at it as it flexes helps you maximize the pressure you put on it. Squeeze!

When you're not actually lifting, it's not a bad idea to scan your body over to see how you are doing. You also may squeeze the muscles you're working on between sets, isolating them free from the pressure of the weights to make sure you are feeling the right muscle groups when you are straining under steel in the next round. The mirror won't lie to you, it shows you very well whether the muscles you think you are working are in fact being used when you think they are.

I do stare at myself in the mirror. Of course I do - I'm hot as hell - but that's not the only reason I do it.

Good god I'm defending gym jocks against criticism. What's next?