Work-Out Etiquette - Seriously.

So today I'm at the gym doing a bit of intensely variable cardio on the treadmill to warm up. Having raised it to the highest incline and sprinted all Drago-like, crunching the limit, I began my gradual descent, slowing from a dash to a casual jog. Having settled in to the mid-session chill-out, I feel a rather obtuse tap upon my shoulder. Looking to my left a porcine white man with a receding line of white hair is staring at me with a forced and rounded smile. "How much longer do you have?" I stare blankly for a moment, then scan to my left and right, taking care to make it obvious I'm noticing the many empty pieces of equipment as I remove my skullcandy ear-bud; "I'm not quite sure, I'm sort of in the midst of things here sir." I respond with an excessively friendly tone, trying to turn back, but he persists. "Well I like using this piece of equipment, so I'll wait. Thanks." The obese man who simply walks upon a treadmill for a half hour before resuming the gluttonous maintenance of his excess body-weight says, turkey-gobbler wobbling. "And thank you very much for interrupting my work-out, particularly considering how few pieces of equipment there are available. Have a nice day dude." Recognizing my distaste, he at first postures, hand searching in vain for a waist to place itself upon in indignation, "Well now, no need to get nasty, I was just askin-" "Yes, and I am just trying to work out. Again, have a nice day guy." Ear-buds back in he is forgotten and I take my time finishing the first act of what would be an epic training session.

The point: please do not interrupt someone in the midst of training, it is wrong, like a sort of induced blue-balling of the flow. Wrong.

<[{ I'm "Swayze" }]> and Rap Evolution

A commonly used term in hip-hop, as in "When he drop, take his glock, and I'm Swayze", a statement made by the Notorious B.I.G. in regards to this storied and hopefully fictitious murder of an officer. I think Sublime's use of the "187 on a mutha fuckin' cop" line was rather distasteful in "April 29th, 1992", however given the topical nature and relation to the film's plot in the line's song of origin, "Deep Cover" by Snoop and Dre off the soundtrack to a film of the same name, was okay that time. Stepping back, this was a light-bulb-like meaning realization that blinged into my mind's eye that last time I heard "Swayze", and I finally realized what it means mehn! Oh my! It means to be gone, to be, like Patrick's most famous role, a Ghost. "Bust a nut and I'm Swayze" is the most commonly used iteration, although Tupac's version of the same statement, "After I nut I hit the highway" has more immediate impact, but less of a lasting effect and no deeper meaning, beyond the act itself described. Porch light.

The Closing of the 00s.

This being the final year in the first decade of the new century, I've been irate with occasional curiosity in regards to what, exactly, this decade of the Zeroes is to be labelled in the history books of our contemporary future. The "roaring" 20s, the "swingin'" thirties, a break during the conflict, then seemingly the decades were no longer named but instead the people, the generations; baby-boomers, flower children, disco bastards, gen-x, whatever and so on. Those of us born into the materialism of the 80s, grown during the progressive heat of the 90s, and now coming up in the 00s are lacking in delineation, the title of this blog presenting potential, however, given the recession and economy something less than zero would be more affecting. While Method Man is a commercially successful rapper and surely has many great lyrics and tracks, his greatest singular achievement in music is the transcendental hook, "cash rules everything around me..." both in regards to meaning and execution, in the song aptly named after what it's all about, "...CREAM...", and the true necessity in today's world, "...get the money. Dolla' dolla' bills ya'll." Those of us coming up in The Now have the world at our finger-tips, as those within whose wrinkled hands it currently rests shall be off to retirement a short breath into the next decade, leaving us to draw in the void, consuming, scrambling, for all capital and power that becomes available. It is our prerogative, our duty, as the generation of Americans entering the summer of life as a huge segment of our citizens fall into winter, to take all we can but to never be satisfied, discontentment being a necessity of perpetual progress. What do you want? "Everything, and more."