tales of the gym

so i've been going to the gym more regularly lately (no, it is not my new year's resolution... it can't be because i started before the new year) and i have noticed that there are quite a few characters at the gym... not in a bad way, it's just everyone is unique. i bet people think the same about me... i guess i could be a character... but how would you define character? i dunno, anyway.
gym's are interesting... a lot of people say it can be a social thing, or they join a gym because of the social aspect. yet, everybody has thin wires hanging from their ears (and due to the ipod craze, about 99% of them are white wires) blasting music to their own little beat. even i have the wires hanging, but i'm not there to socialize... i find it uncomfortable and akward when people try to strike conversation with me and i am in some kind of weight contraption working my gluteous (that's "butt" for those who don't know)... that's not a good time to introduce yourself. and i am surely not going to walk up to some guy and start a converstion while he's bench pressing... what am i going to say, "hey there, nice pecs, they're, uh, very big." my ipod helps me to avoid such situations.
then there's the treadmills... treadmills and i have a love-hate relationship. we've had our run-ins and we've had some good times. i'm sure you can imagine some of the things i got in to... today, for example, i was running, and i looked up at the tv above me and was trying to read the subtitles, but then i ran to much forward and my hand hit the emergency stop button, but i kept running and the panel went right into my gut... ouch.
another bad thing about the tread mill... you stay put and can't move. why is this bad, you ask? some guy gets on the stepmaster right in front of you and starts stepping away... after not many steps, he's got an unattractive wedgie going on... right in front of you!!! don't think that i am staring, but it's just there! i can't look up at the tvs because, well, you heard that last story, and i can't look down because it makes me dizzy to see the treadmill going... so straight ahead is all i've got.
everybody has stories from the gym... it's just a fun place to observe people... but don't observe one person for too long at a time, because if they see you doing that, they either get angry or get the wrong idea and mix "observing" with "checking."