Sunday, September 13, 2009

Happy Man in the Parking Garage.

Tonight I decided to exercise. I mean, I am getting my masters in Public Health, so I should probably follow my own advice and live a healthy lifestyle. Plus, I like to exercise because I get to listen to music; I have to deprive myself of music throughout the day because if I listen to music while I study, I tend to start singing and stop reading. On a side note, this was my first trip to the rec center this year and I must say it was quite overwhelming. I mean, really, I graduated from undergrad a year and a half ago and when I walked into the cardio room today, there were billions of new machines with thousands of buttons and touch-screens and televisions. I don't know about you, but technology is passing me by. So, after staring at the treadmill for a while, I had to ask this girl next to me how to turn it on. She just looked at me and said, "You just have to push the "Quick Start" button." Of course that's all I have to do. Why didn't I think of that? Oh, because I apparently can't read.

I just get so distracted and nervous when there are that many buttons for me to push! Honestly, if I had three wishes, this would be in my top ten: That I didn't have to check my email, or talk on the phone, or text people. I would be like this (figure 2):

Figure 2. A picture of pure joy.

For example, at this very moment I can't get the first paragraphs in this blog to stop being centered and I can't figure out how to make the font size the same. Why is this paragraph smaller than the rest? I have no idea. Technology hates me. What did I ever do to it?? I think it can sense my fear and intimidation so it just decides to mess with me. It must know that I would rather be writing on a piece of paper with a #2 pencil...

I do have one good thing to say about technology, however. One time I was on an airplane and I was sitting next to a man who was mute and he had an iPhone. So what? Almost everyone has an iPhone now. Well, with that iPhone, he would write down what he wanted to say, for example his drink order, and would just show it to the stewardess. What a wonderful use of technology!

Anyway, my technological skills (or lack thereof) are not the point of this blog.
So, I exercised today and when I drove to campus and turned into the parking garage, I found people walking every which-way. To be more specific, they were walking right in front of my car and their lives flashed before my eyes (and probably theirs as well) for a second before I hit the brakes. Yes, Mizzou is a "pedestrian campus," but I would still advise people not to walk in the middle of the road. Anyway, I was pretty frazzled at the moment and I don't know what I would have done if the man walking in the middle of the road right in front of my car weren't so happy. He was probably 65 or 70 years old and was the epitome of pure happiness. In fact, take the picture in Figure 2 and multiply it by 18 and you will get the happiness of this fellow. He walked by my car, waved at me and went on his jolly way. I want to be his friend. His best friend.

3 comments:

  1. I'm so proud that you at least caught up with technology for a moment to put some pictures in the blog!

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  2. OMG will you exercise with me?!?!?!?

    ReplyDelete