After coming up with excuses on several other occasions, I finally went to the Lifestyles gym with Amy yesterday. The apartment building it is located underneath is an imposing cylinder of polished, black stone, looking like nothing so much as my image of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon cast in obsidian (not to be confused with an artist’s image of the same). The gym itself is 2 or 3 stories underground and it is clad in the faux sci-fi style that was very popular with dot com start-ups in the late ’90s. Lots of glass and aluminum. It looked like it could be the subterranean training complex for superheroes. I couldn’t find the Danger Room (whoa, wikipedia actually has an entry for the Danger Room), so I went swimming.
The pool was actually quite small, but I am actually quite out of shape, so it kind of worked out. After about 25 laps, my teeth were throbbing and I felt like throwing up. I consoled myself by spending 10 minutes in the hot-tub waiting for Amy to finish her workout on the incomprehensible machines located elsewhere in the complex. Amy joined me in the hot-tub later and we spent a half hour or so contemplating our leisure-class lives.
After the gym it was home to shower and check email and then off to Torino for a cocktail before meeting up with Carrie, Carrie’s mom, and Caroline. It was Carrie’s mom’s last night in town. Amy and I were both glad to have met her and spend time with her on a couple of ocassions, so it was nice to also be able to bid her a proper farewell.
We had dinner at Mayass, one of two really good Armenian restaurants we’ve discovered in Beirut (though there are undoubtedly more, especially in the neighborhood of Bourj Hammoud). The food and atmosphere are great, there’s an old guy with a ponytail and a guitar, and I find the smirking waiters amusing. Of particular appeal to my 13 year-old sense of humor is that fact that the name of the establishment is pronounced MY-ASS, which leads to all sorts of comic turns of phrase (my favorite thus far being “I’ll meet you in Mayass”).
After dinner we met up with our friend Bjorn for drinks back at Torino and one of the bartenders prevented me from accidentally leaving a 25% tip. From thence home and to bed. Today, Amy went to Jeite Grotto and I am home working. Later we shall go to Matthew and Mary Ann’s for dinner and to make some wedding favors. Tomorrow we are having lunch at the home of one of Amy’s students followed by a belated Thanksgiving dinner with our friend Mike at his parents’ house.
“It’s a good life, if you don’t weaken.”
I bought new swim goggles at Lifestyles. For some reason I felt the need to model them in the shower when we got home. I especially like this picture because it makes me look kind of…dim.
2 Responses to Physical Fitness Merit Badge