Getting Grown-Upy

"No one looks stupid when they're having fun" - Amy P.
(aka, my kinda grown up)

This morning I worked out before work. It's a new trend and one I'm not the biggest fan of, but it's necessary. The evenings just seem to get away from me more often than they used to and even on nights when I don't have plans or errands to run, often I'm just freakin tired!! Am I getting old!? Does the fact that I feel the need to vacuum weekly and wear more sensible shoes signal that the practicalities of adulthood have started to defeat the free-wheeling fun of adolescence? 

Apparently, your late 20s are a funky time. This isn't groundbreaking news, but when you're living it, you really understand it. I have friends with kids, friends that own homes, friends back/still in school and friends that party into the wee hours on weeknights (God bless 'em!) The lack of uniformity, for a control freak like me, is nuts. I'm all "but how am I supposed to be acting!?" Thankfully, it appears that there really are no rules anymore. If I want to rent in the city when many are buying in the suburbs, that's a choice I get to make. If I want to drink with friends past midnight on a Wednesday, that's a-ok too (though there's a 50% chance I'm going to hate myself Thursday morning!) When life requires you to start acting grown-upy, you must acknowledge new responsibilities (you mean I have to clean those dust bunnies off the moldings myself!?) but you also have the freedom to make your own rules (the dust bunnies will still be there next week!) And even though waking up before the sun to workout totally blows, at least on weekends I can still sleep until noon.

Do you dare to bare?

A story:  I’m sitting on a bench in the locker room at the gym and the chick standing next to me (who is in the process of getting dressed) leans over to pick something up. I’m sitting, she’s standing, and now she’s bending over = eye level full moon. Wow. Later that same visit, a woman blow drying her hair topless strikes up conversation with me and I’m all “trying to keep eye contact… but your boobs… so… right… THERE!”

How do you handle yourself in the locker room? Are you always in a towel wiggling your gym clothes up and down or do you strut your stuff without caring who sees? Are there any boundaries or rules we’re supposed to be adhering to?! I am not embarrassed by nudity (and see nothing wrong with baring all in places like locker rooms) but are we chatting nude? Do we bend over and reach up and walk around? I know that these issues are not strictly female either thanks to a male friend who once told me about a sitting (dressed) vs standing (nude) locker room encounter he had with a buddy’s dad (and I thought I had eye contact issues!) I guess we all just have to grin and bare it:)


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