August 1, 2007
An Open Letter to the Women at My Gym
Written by Jenna Petersen in Jaunty PostBack in May, I wrote a post about Detoxifying Jenna, which was about my new lifestyle of eating and exercising and other good things. It’s working too! Update: I’m down over 30 lbs with about 15 more to go.
Jenna Before
And After
But that’s not what this post is about. It is about this:
Dear Women at My Gym:
If I am on an elliptical in the long line of ellipticals and you want to do an elliptical… you can choose other machines besides the one right next to me. If the gym is full, I can understand it. But when there are 15 available machines, there is no need to snuggle. I’m sweaty. And I don’t like you that way.
When we are upstairs on the small circuit of weight machines, there are a few simple guidelines. One is to wipe off the machines. Just because you are a girl does not mean you are not sweaty. I don’t want to sit in your sweat. It is not fun.
Secondly, once you pick a machine, kindly move in a clockwise motion around the circuit. When you dart from machine to machine, go in backward circles or just sit in one place for two or three rotations, it is very confusing and throws off my mojo.
Finally, although many of the machines have comfortable and cushiony seat pads, they are not for just sitting and chatting. There are several plush chairs and at least ten tables downstairs where you can talk about your divorce and your weirdo kids and your trip to Hawaii and whatever other things you want to gab about. Seriously, weight machines are for LIFTING WEIGHTS.
Thanks, everyone, for letting me get that off my chest. So, do you have any pet peeves in public places like the gym? Want to post an open letter to the people in your cafeteria or at your office complex or in the parking lot or the mall? Let’s make today Open Letter Day!
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AndreaW Says:
I don’t go to the gym (I work out at home), but wanted to say . . . Jenna, you look great!
brownone Says:
Jenna..you look fabulous! I actually envy you! I am TRYING to get my mind in the right place to do that.
Anyhow…my open letter is to drivers: If you need to drive ten miles BELOW the speed limit, don’t do it in the left lane, which is a PASSING lane! If there is no oncoming traffic and you are making a right turn, by all means PLEASE go ahead. If you are going to cut out in front of me, please don’t do it and proceed to drive extra slow. If you are a teenager in a car with a bunch of other teenagers…it’s not cool to hang body parts out of the window, I’d hate to see to police have to go get your limb off the side of the road so the doctors can reattach it. To moms and dads…PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE put your youn ‘uns in a CAR SEAT or SEAT BELT…don’t allow them to bounce around the back seat or sit in the front seat. And lastly to the senior citizens…if you cannot see properly or ar presenting with dementia…please don’t even start the car!!
Kathryn Says:
Good for you, Jenna! Want to share a link on this diet/lifestyle change? you loook wonderful and I hope you reach your goal (I’m sure you will!).
My open letter concerns children. I have four, and believe me, I know there are days when you just try to ignore the behaviour and get through your day.
BUT, when you are in public and your children are behaving poorly, please remove them. I don’t get out much and when I do get to a restaurant, movie, sporting event, etc. I want to enjoy it. I didn’t do a lot of that when my kids were small because I was a stay at home mom and money didn’t always stretch to a babysitter and a night out. When I did get to go out, without my kids, I did not want to spend it with your kids running around the restaurant, crying, interrupting the movie or distracting me from what I am watching. Truly, little kids are not enjoying themselves at 10:30 at night in a restaurant. If their behaviour is not appropriate, take them outside, do not inflict their fatigue, crying, rudeness on the rest of us. Ignoring them does not make it stop!
Jenna Petersen Says:
I totally agree with you on the driving, brownone! And I definitely feel the annoyance with kids in public places. I don’t have kids, so I think my annoyance threshold is way lower. LOL
Clarisse Says:
You look wonderful. I don’t know where you got your will power. You sure didn’t inherit that from me
Spam people. I run a lot of websites for non-profit conservation organizations and they all used to have nice little message boards where you could leave a little note but the spammers hit those so hard I finally had to just give up and disable the message boards. I have seen it on a lot of other websites I visit. Then there is my inbox which has the intermittent attacks of spam as the spammers learn a new way to get around your blockers. I am tired to losing my real mail in the sheer volume of the junk. The internet is a wonderful thing - instant contact, instant information, the ability to be “friends” with a like-minded person from halfway around the world. But spammers mess that up and I for one would like to hunt them down and hurt them. The fed was able to put a stop to telemarketers with the no-call list. Surely there is some way to punish spammers sufficiently that it stops being worth their while to bother me.
Jenna Petersen Says:
Oh God, yes SPAM! I hate it. I was going through my Jenna email today on my laptop (where I access email through a remote system. I had seven pages of email. When I was done deleting SPAM, I had one.
Clarisse Says:
Oh, oh, I thought of another one: supermarket aisle cows. You come around the corner of the aisle with your cart and there they are, two people (usually women) who have parked their carts next to one another and are standing there chatting and blocking the aisle. And they get pissy with you when you say “excuse me” to get by them.
Shana Says:
Amen, Jenna! I have the same problems at my gym!
Anne Mallory Says:
LOL! I love your open letter! I had one of these for swimmers in the pool once, but never posted it. You are making me rethink that.
Here’s a short note for lap swim: If you are slower than someone else in your lane and they are about to overtake you, please stop at the next wall and allow them to do so. Turning and pushing off the wall at the same time they do really doesn’t help matters, clogs the lane traffic and may get you run over on the next lap.
If you are slower than someone else in your lane, please do NOT push off the wall right as they are doing their flip turn — putting you directly in front of them to start your lap. Who thinks this is a good idea??? I just don’t understand it, but it happens ALL the time.
If you are faster than someone else in your lane, and that person has shown themselves to be conscientious about stopping or getting to the side of the lane to let you pass, please cut them a little slack on some laps where traffic is high - ie. don’t ram yourself up their legs.
If you are a new swimmer, please don’t get in the fast lane. And please do not swim breast stroke in said lane. And please, PLEASE do not swim down the middle of said lane while doing so. Breaking someone else’s ribs is not going to earn you any karma points.
Jenna, I already told you at National that you look fabulous — you do! — even more fab in person!
J Perry Stone Says:
My beef is with people in cars who won’t let me into their lane.
I like to get in front of them, if I can, and then let everyone and their grandmother in ahead of me just to teach them a lesson.
Basic manners, people.
And Jenna, you look fabulous darling. And your Rita dress was to die for; though I was a little disappointed your RNTV sketch didn’t show yours, as well as Jacquie D’s gorgeous dress.
And can I just tell you how much San and I love your mom!! She’s the kindest, coolest thing ever. No wonder you’re so great what with such a spectacular example.
J
Jenna Petersen Says:
LOL Shana. I’m so glad it isn’t just me who is quietly steaming. For the Love of Newt, just use common sense, I want to scream.
Anne, so the pool people are just as bad as the gym people. Damn you pool and gym people!!
And J. Perry, you’re so sweet.
Clarisse Says:
I want to end the day by talking about something that is the opposite of irritating. I went to Dallas to jumpstart my writing but mostly to meet authors. I also hoped I’d meet quite a few people from the boards but I didn’t meet as many of those net friends as I would have liked to. But I did get to know Santa and J. Perry and they were so perfectly wonderful. I felt like I had known them forever. I am now a huge fangirl of both of them (can fans have fans?). So thanks, J. Perry and right back at you.
Jan Says:
You look great, Jenna! Keep up the good work–I know from experience it isn’t easy to do. Spam drives me crazy, but the “dart” drivers are the worst.