I headed to the pool today to get caught up on my mileage – I had missed a few days in the past weeks and wanted to get a few laps in. The pool was divided in half and it looked like the far end was set up for some kind of senior citizen swim meet – just based on the apparent age ranges I saw. I was just about to get into the lap lanes when a guy I recognized from the pool came over. Here’s the conversation:
“Hey,” he says, “I’ve seen you swim, you should be over there competing,”
“Ummm…,” I reply, “I don’t think I’m old enough,”
“How old are you?” he asks.
“Forty,” I tell him.
“Well, when you turn fifty, you should think about competing,”
“Okay,” I reply, and because I’m polite, “Thank you”
So, I apparently look like I’m well into my fifties and I swim well enough to compete at a senior citizen’s level. Thanks, jerk.
As a consolation, I’m in waaaay better shape than that guy and I’m faster that him on the crawl. But still.
I did a mile and a half in the pool, but I didn’t feel strong or fast or powerful. I just felt kinda… senior.
In better news… we had our second interviewee come in to meet with the group at work. He sounded like he knew his stuff and was interesting – and managed to keep things on track even as some of my colleagues meandered. Which is no small feat. We were at an oval conference table and as it turned out he was seated next to me and everyone else was on the other side of the table. During the interview I noticed myself unconsciously mimicking his body language. I would force myself to de-synch, and then find myself with the same posture and position again. And we share a first name. I don’t really know what the rest of the crew thought about him, but apparently I was sold.
Finally, the other day I was playing a video game at home and took a break while the next area was loading to say hello to my cat. He was by the window and I leaded over and said hello and told him he was a good cat. I also realized he didn’t smell very fresh and then said,
“You’re kind of a stinky cat too,”
In a split second, striking like lightning (ironically, given his name), Thunder(cat) lashed out with his paw – claw extended – and scratched me hard enough to draw blood.
I leaped back, stunned, then when to the bathroom to clean the wound and get a band-aid.
Now, this may have been a coincidence and he may just be a random Little Furry Bastard. Or he understood what I was saying and retaliated. If it’s the later, well, lesson learned on my part.