Boulder is filled with people who don't work. They are trust funders or maybe they have wealthy spouses or parents that support them, I don't know, but I have to wonder if there are more people here who don't work than people who do. For one thing Boulder is too expensive to live in for most people who have regular jobs. I live in a small house because I don't care and I want to live near the mountains and trails but most people would rather have a big house and commute. There are plenty of people here with kid on jobs, you know, 'businesses' that are something for them to talk about and maybe make them feel like they are doing something but these are more like hobbies. They are not pay the mortgage and buy the groceries type jobs. Maybe they are even losing money on them. Consequently the pool and locker room at the rec. center are always crowded except for early in the morning. It took some trial and error to figure this out but I finally worked out that if I go at 7:00 am it is somewhat peaceful. If you don't have to work why would you get up early enough to go to the pool at 7 am?
I also discovered the Family Locker Room. The regular Women's Locker Room is a nightmare. It was tiny and cramped and then they did a major renovation and made it even more tiny and cramped. Part of the reason was so that they could make room for the huge Family Locker Room. I don't have a family so I've never bothered to go in there. Until the other day. I was in the regular locker room and couldn't get near a single locker. There were mothers with kids taking up every single inch of square space, crap sprawled everywhere, no possible way to reach a locker. Even if you were lucky enough to get a locker on your way in is no guarantee that you will have access to your locker on your way out. Believe me, I tried. There are kids and their crap blocking my locker. The kids are dressed, just standing there in my way, the mother could care less. I'm gimpy remember, hopping along on my crutches and still she doesn't care. I'm on one foot reaching for my locker from across a bench, 'Excuse me, Excuse Me, EXCUSE ME'. My pleas are loud but her sense of entitlement is great and she will not budge nor will her equally overentitled brood. Finally I just move her crap myself and try to open my locker and her kid moves only enough for me to barely get into it. Remember I'm on one foot and still leaning over a bench because she & her kids won't let me in. Finally she says something but it's more irritation at me for moving her crap. 4 benches in the little locker bay and she and her 2 kids are taking up all of them. All that space and it's all for her. Noone else allowed, even if you are gimpy and need to sit down to put on your pants. That's all I want really, enough space to open my locker and sit down to put on my pants without leaning over a bench on one foot.
So finally I figured well if the parents won't share the regular locker room and they won't use the family locker room then I will. I go in there and I can't believe it. You get a whole room with a shower, bench, sink, toilet all to yourself. All that space and it's all for you. I am crying from the beauty of it. And noone else is in there. There are 3 of these huge rooms and one of them even has a seat in the shower and twice the bench space, excellent amenities if you are gimpy and on one leg. I can't believe this, it is positively decadent. Why won't the parents go in here? One woman confessed to me that she won't go in because men use the locker room like a hallway and it gives her the creeps. But the thing is you change in your room, not in the public locker part so so what if there are men there I'll tell you what's creepy, it's the parents that let their 10 year old boys in the women's locker room even though there are posted age limits of like 5-6 years or something. Those boys alternate between staring and looking away, seriously uncomfortable. So now I am showering in style in my own private room that is bigger and fancier than my bathroom at home plus gimp friendly so I suppose everyone's happy.
I've finished all of my work and there is no more for me today so I'm spoiling myself. An early morning swim-1900 yards/38 minutes then a stop at Amante, my favorite coffee shop, for breakfast and some high speed internet. And wow, it's nearly lunch time and I'm still here. This place has been packed all morning and it feels weird hanging out with all the people who don't work. But it's a nice view of the mountains and comfortable furniture plus the high speed internet and what else have I got to do? I could get used to this except for the fact that unlike these people I do not have a wealthy benefactor. Plus I don't think I'd like it, living off of someone else. At least that's what I tell myself. We'll see how I feel about that when I'm back at work full time and having one of those days. Maybe I've spent enough time supporting myself that I could get used to the idea of a life of leisure. Ah I can live and dream.
I'm glad you found a slice of locker room heaven. Sounds perfect.
ReplyDeleteAnd, there's nothing better than a good view, a laptop, and a fast ISP. Ignore the masses of leisure and enjoy your day.
As for me, I'm thinking seriously about a nap. That's the beauty of being self-employed. If you're tired, you can nap.
Interesting about those athletic types not working. Or something. I joined a local sierra club hiking group mailing list a couple of months ago, and they have hikes every day of the week. Seriously. During the day, even. I guess I did boot camp during the day, too, but that was only an hour, and some of these are half day or all day hikes. Must be nice.
ReplyDelete-ellen
People are amazing! LOL
ReplyDeleteThat is a thing with dog agility too-it is a popular sport with the Retired! So you meet retired people and you see their lifestyle and you think this could be Very, Very cool. We have a plan called buying lottery tickets! It has not worked yet but I am sure our Super Lotto is Just around the Corner! Soon!
ReplyDeleteI am also on the buying lottery tickets plan except for the part where I forget to buy them. I remember maybe once or twice a year, buy $3 worth then forget to check them for months. I think I’d better come up with a better retirement plan.
ReplyDeleteRetired people are one thing, at least they put in their time. I will be one too some day, hopefully. It's the 20-30 year olds who have never worked a day in their lives to support themselves (maybe they had some crappy job briefly while in college so they could afford climbing gear for that trip to Nepal over summer break) that flock to this town for many probably obvious reasons (skiing, mountains, lots of other idle rich). There is also that subculture of athletes-cyclists, runners, triathletes-that are semi-pro but not as a job. They ride their bikes all day and get fancy gear/bikes from their sponsors and maybe enough money for beer but someone else is paying their mortgage, either directly or through inheritance. I was talking to our mid-day dogwalker about this and she said she has these people for clients and they’re very messed up in part because they’ve never experienced self-sufficiency. 25 year olds who lay around all day and can’t be bothered to walk their own dogs. The ones with the hobby businesses are the worst, they love to tell you what a sucker you are for working and not ‘following your bliss’. Boulder’s a very annoying place in that respect but it’s a small price to pay for me to live so near the mountains.
Oh, and wow, Duane is back. I will have to go see what sort of crazy mad training you've been up to.
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