Workout blues

There are a lot of things that I like about living in an apartment. Not having to worry about a lawn, for instance. The ability to feel free to blaze a path of pure destruction because you know that security deposit is a lost cause. But the joint workout room is a source of great anguish for me. I’ll explain…

See, there are a core group of us who work out at our apartment who have created a great set of unspoken rules, rule one of which is no speaking. We’re all just here to suffer through a workout and we’ve all got our headphones on and we mean business. The television set can be placed on either Seinfeld, Friends, a sporting event, or on rare occasions, the news. And if your done with the workout and you have the remote you give the remote to the person who has been there the longest.

You don’t do what someone did to me last week, which was walk out and leave the television on Wheel of Fortune. Because being stuck on a treadmill like a hamster is degrading enough, I really don’t want to be forced to spend the half hour watching Wheel of Fortune as well. No excuse that it was Kansas City week, if I’m trying to improve my body I shouldn’t have to watch something that ruins my mind.

Tonight was even worse. Was on the treadmill and grooving to a John Dee Graham CD. The girl with the remote puts on Everybody Loves Raymond. Ok, not my first choice but nothing for me to rant about. She then turns the volume to as loud as the television could possibly go. I’m not kidding, she maxed out the volume. Let’s put it this way, I had headphones on and I couldn’t hear the music that I was listening to. There is no way that it is that important to listen to Everybody Loves Raymond. You know that it is bad when you cut a workout short because if you don’t you are going to just go berserk on a complete stranger.

So, I’ve decided that I’ll need a little new inspiration to work out. Specifically, I need new music to listen to so that I can ignore all of the people that are around me. If anyone has any great songs or CDs (preferably around 45 minutes in length), let me know. They need to be upbeat and interesting. No Cat Power CDs, I can’t be falling asleep (or becoming unbelievably depressed) while I’m running laps. Post some ideas everyone.