The Whole World Has Lost its Mind

I sometimes think that either the entire world has lost its mind or I've lost mine.  Then I think a little harder and realize that it isn't necessarily an "either-or" situation. 

I've seen more people do inexplicable things in the past week than I can count  (And my counting skills extend well into double-digits.) 

As usual, stories of weird behavior start at my gym.  This isn't the first time that I've noted the gym tends to attract freaks, but the other day, there were two separate guys in ours working out (though not together) while wearing only socks. 

Well, technically, the had on shirts and shorts too.  I guess I should point that out.  But for some reason, they had no shoes.  And they didn't appear to have arrived together or to even know each other. 

"How did this happen?", you might ask. 

You might ask, but I probably won't hear you.  This is only a blog, after all.  I can't hear you from my computer.

Fortunately, however, I wondered the exact same thing.  Did one guy arrive first, realize he forgot to pack his gym shoes, and decide to push through his workout anyway, notwithstanding how ridiculous he looked?  Was he then followed by another guy who thought to himself, "Hey, that's a good look! I should try it"? 

This seems unlikely.  But it also seems unlikely that two unrelated persons would forget their gym shoes on the same day and then decide to workout while looking ridiculous rather than just coming back later.  That's what a normal person would do, after all. 

But these guys were apparently not normal. 

Neither was the woman at the gym who laughed uproariously before, during and after every single rep she did.  I might not be Mr. Fitness (but that would be a cool last name to have, you must admit) but I do know this: if you can laugh during your workout, you aren't really working out.

It's well-established that the gym brings out the worst in people--something about primal urges and fight or flight instincts bring out primative behavior.  But, as you might have noted, the title of this blog isn't limited to the gym.

I sometimes ride the bus to work, in part because I get a free pass from my job, but also because it leads to great stories.  The other day, I arrived at my stop just as a car was pulling into the store parking lot where  the bus stop is located.  A man jumped out of the car and immediately almost sprinted in my direction to ask me if I had 70 cents for bus fare.

Think about that. 

And I don't just mean the fact that a bus trip cost $1.60, and I most certainly did not hear 90 cents of change jingling in his pocket as he sprinted from his car to ask me if I could help him pay for the bus that he apparently didn't really need. 

Either he thought I was an idiot, or he was crazy.  Or all of the above.

Sane people don't go to the gym in their socks or ask people for bus money while driving a pick-up truck.  Sane (or at least considerate) people don't scream at each other at 11 p.m. and have loud outdoor parties every other night, as do the people who live two houses down.  Sane people don't burn more calories by laughing at the gym than they do in their actual workouts. 

Apparently, sane people just don't live in my world.  Or maybe I don't live in theirs. 

I still haven't figured out which.