naked and (almost) alone

I went swimming at the university pool yesterday.  I've gone swimming there on a few occasions when I've had the time.  As usual, there was hardly anyone else there.  Traditional students just don't seem to use the pool much even though it's a perfectly nice facility.  So I was in there with three other people, and we were all "old" by university standards.  In fact the only person there of traditional student age was the lifeguard.


I'm not complaining.  I had a whole lane to myself and could just lazily do some laps like the others.  Afterwards, I was getting dressed in the locker room when one of the other old swimmers rounded the corner, totally naked except for the towel wrapped around her head...

which struck me as a bit strange since, I don't know what goes on in men's locker rooms, but women typically don't traipse around so naked in women's locker rooms.

Oh well.


"Isn't it funny how empty the pool locker room is, but they assign people to lockers right next to each other?", she commented.  (When checking into the rec center, the desk person assigns the lockers.  You get what you get).

I agreed and moved a little so she could access her poorly assigned locker while I could continue my own outfitting.  Thus began a conversation.

She, too, wondered why the young students don't use the pool, and commented how she'd just begun swimming, and how nice the pool was, and what good exercise it seemed to be.  The pool area also has a large hot tub, where young people could hang out and do... hot tub stuff.  But they don't use that much either.  I agreed on all counts and added that I didn't necessarily dislike how uncrowded it was.

Anyway, we continued gabbing along, and I learned she's a member of the faculty.  She teaches 2-D and 3-D art.  This university isn't exactly known for it's fine arts program, but apparently it does have one.

The whole time we were gabbing and dressing - about 20 mins. or so - not one other person was in the locker room.  I mentioned this to Magnum during our China beauty walk last night and we reminisced about our earlier college days.  Back then, the university rec center was always teeming with activity - weight room, cardio room, raquetball courts, gym, and especially the pool.  I suppose our university had a larger enrollment, and more students living on or near campus?

Or is the campus rec center just  not as much of a thing as it used to be?  Ours is a nice rec center and just recently completed the construction of a large addition.  Most of the young students I see there are usually hanging out playing ping pong or shooting hoops, while just a few are actually using the fitness equipment.

This after Wolfgang stopped by this week.  He just recently joined a fitness center - I wouldn't actually call it a "gym".  It's this huge facility that's in that ritzy neighborhood Magnum and I biked around last weekend.  A couple of Wolfgang's friends have memberships there, so he'd gone as a guest a few times to work out with them and decided to sign up too.

He could work out at the rec center for "free" since it's included in his student fees.  Same goes for one of his workout buddies, but they'd rather pay their hard earned money for the private center.  Maybe that's the trend these days:

"Campus rec center?  Pffft, that's for stupid freshmen and old people!"

Okay, fine.


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