December 10, 2006
The Fog of Masculinity
I was at the gym today. At the end of my routine I went to the steam room in the locker room. When I entered there was so much steam I could hardly see two feet in front of my face. Nonetheless, I kept moving slowly forward and found an empty spot to sit down.
Again, the steam was so thick I couldn’t see anything, but after a minute of silence I figured no one else was in the room. Then, I heard someone muttering to himself, but very slightly. It got awkward real quick. Out on the gym floor I’ve heard weird things people yell at themselves for motivation when exercising. It’s funny to be around, somewhat embarassing, but not horror film style creepy like it was back in the sauna. Why would someone be muttering to themself in the sauna? There isn’t really anything to do except sit there and sweat and suffer.
After about 45 seconds it got to be too much and I left. And I never saw who it was. And I never knew what exactly he was mumbling to himself over there in the other corner of the steam room…
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3 Responses to “The Fog of Masculinity”
Could you tell whether the muttering was in English? Was it perhaps in Italian? Maybe the mutterer was a towel-wrapped Marcello Mastroianni and you’d entered “8 1/2″.
“Guido!”
If you could not see, how do you know there was not someone else there he was talking to? Someone who just remained silent. Just asking…
It didn’t have the cadence of normal conversation. It was more like a madman muttering to himself.