Saturday, May 18, 2013

Making Every Day My Masterpiece at the Y

I always feel smug for a couple of hours when I make it to the Saturday morning spin class at the YMCA. I tend to refer to it as extreme cycling because it sounds more impressive  like I've spent half of the morning hanging off the north face of the Eiger, and while an hour of intensive workout felt extreme for the first few sessions it doesn't feel so extreme now.

It also feels less cutting edge when I look to my left and see the 82-year-old man who shows up here far more regularly than me.

Nevertheless, the Y can still freak me out on a Saturday morning. There are too many kids and parents, too many cars in the parking lot and too much noise, Today a photo session with kids had been moved from the outdoor pool area to the gym which was full of parents jostling for position and looking angrily around for a member of staff to shout at.

At such times I sometimes feel the urge to become Sanctimonious World View Man (SWVM) - a sort of superhero without portfolio or bright blue underpants, and to go up to them and yell: "Look Soccer Mom. There are kids now facing bullets in Syria, and you are about to go postal over waiting 20 minutes for a photo which won't be much better than one you could have taken on your smart phone."

I didn't.

The other thing that bothers me about the Y is all the slogans and references to "Judeo-Christian values."

What the heck does that mean? In layman's terms you either believe Jesus was the main man or just some beardy dude who was great at parties because he could turn water into wine so as you didn't have to go out and pick up a crate at Total Wine.

As I slogged up imaginary hills to Mumford and Sons I allowed my mind to wander as to the meaning of the slogan on the wall "Make Every Day your Masterpiece."

It got me back to thinking about Jesus again and the fact most of my days look more like this...




In 2012 an elderly woman who considered herself an artist took it upon herself to restore a crumbling fresco of Jesus with his crown of thorns at the Sanctuary of Mercy Church in Borjanos in southern Spain.

The result was quite unlovely, although ironically it brought worldwide media attention to a little known and inconsequential fresco.

23 comments:

  1. Best line ever: In layman's terms you either believe Jesus was the main man or just some beardy dude who was great at parties because he could turn water into wine so as you didn't have to go out and pick up a crate at Total Wine.

    Love it!

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  2. I don't think I'd like the Y Saturday morning. Me, mornings and people don't mix well.

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  3. Everybody was making jokes here about the old lady restoring famous pictures and painting politicians' portraits!

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    1. OMG that sure was one of the biggest stories to come out of Spain for a while Starla

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  4. OMG that portrait is AWFUL! lolol The 'total wine' sentence cracked me up!!!

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  5. SWVM. Haha. That line about Jesus and wine cracked me up. I read about that painting story before, it's funny how the woman didn't even realize what a horrible job she did.

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  6. I wish i had the old lady's talent for art. And her balls out approach.

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  7. I wish i had the old lady's talent for art. And her balls out approach.

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  8. What happened to that fresco is criminal.

    So is a room full of kids and their obnoxious parents.

    :-)
    Some Dark Romantic

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    1. for real Mina and the parents are far worse than the kids :)

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  9. That painting. Ugh. It's so horrible. Though, yes, we are all very familiar with it now and we weren't before, so hey, I guess something good came of her efforts after all.

    Hats off to you for making it out of the house to a class on a saturday morning. That's an impressive effort in itself.

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  10. You cracked me up! And you've definitely got more patience than I have to endure the Y.

    The Judeo-Christian is a Cotton Mather like reference is to our Puritanical heritage and those dudes the Brits sent us. (Um, want 'em back?)

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    1. wow never knew Kittie - those Brits are to blame for a lot..

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  11. An 82 year old man goes spinning!!! Whaaaa...?

    Sanctimonious World View Man- I like this. I'll be your side kick. Like Batman and Robin.

    I think Jesus was an alien with super powers. His best one OBVIOUSLY turning water into wine.

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    1. lol Juliette thats why we all want to hang with Jesus - yep sanctimonious side kick time :)

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  12. You.are.hilarious. I want some of that wine btw. You are beyond for going to the gym on a Saturday morning. Of course, I think everyone is beyond for going to the gym. Evah.

    Now that I said that out loud (keyboard noises) I am stating loudly that I am going to gym.

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On Blog PTSD

Now then. What the heck. It seems I had forgotten about my blog completely rather than just neglecting it this time. To return after so long...