how to be cool 101

Today my resolution was to not embarass myself while working out.

Today was my first time in a gym unsupervised. I felt so accomplished and mature. (If you say "mature" pronounced like "mat-oor" it sounds more mature)

I was nervousgoing to the gym. To make matters even better for me, in my class right before I left to work out (Public Speaking) my teacher shared a story. One day he was running on the treadmill in the exercise room at the college, when the power for the entire school went out. Apparently, if the power goes out, the treadmill desn't stop gradually, it stops on a dime. He said the only plus to the situation was that since the power went out, there were no lights, so no one could see him fall over the front of it.

So, here I am, timidly approaching the treadmill, hoping there wouldn't be a power outage. Understand, I have only stepped on a treadmill twice. The first time, I expected the mechine to stop suddenly when I pressed "done" so, I stopped... two seconds later I was clutching on to the front of it while my shins were getting burned as I was sprawled out across the entire thing.
The second time I used one, I looked at the settings and thought to myself: "Wow, this thing only goes to 12 miles an hour??" So, I cranked it up... after 30 seconds of running I had to jump off the side because I didn't know how to slow it down.

So, here I am at the crowded gym stepping onto the treadmill. I was alredy sweating without having begun any workouts. Nothing too embarassing happened. I was scared to fall off the back, so I held onto the hand-thingys in the front, but then the words scrolled on the automated screen: "Do not hold hand sensors while running". I did anyways.

Then, on to the mechines. By "mechine" I am talking about a complex web of cords, seats, padding, and weights. I had to stand and stare at the directions for about two minutes before finally undertanding how to use each one... and yes, many people were looking at me for staying there so long. That was slightly awkward.

Then, on to working out my arms (I am not very strong in my arms in the least) I decided it was less embarassing if I just moved the weights up a few notches right when I got off the mechine, so the next person coming on would think to themselves: "That is one strong dude!" I smiled to myself when I got a few surprised looks when the next person got onto the mechine and had to move the weights down for them.

After using each mechine the rule is to grab a paper towel and the spray and to wipe down wherever you touched. So, I got a paper towel, but I couldn't for the life of me find the spray. There was this odd looking water-bottle type thing on the ground right in front of it. Assuming that was the one to use, I was about to grab it... then I noticed a girl behind me stretching... it was her water bottle. How awkward would that have been to go over to my mechine and pour some of her water on it and wipe it down? I am almost blushing just imagining.

I have only recieved one comment in over a week. Comments are the only verification to me that anyone is reading this. Is anyone reading this?

My resolution for tomorrow is to get caught up on all my school and get a little ahead, so next week will be an easy start.