I Live in the Happiest Place?

I just wrote a blog for work called "Voted the Happiest Place" based on a study just completed in Britain. Check it out. It describes how our students react to being here, and it links to you the CNN article as well as the official study. It's pretty interesting - NOT because Costa Rica ranked well, but because it raises the discussion of what makes people happy/content. The study, titled Happy Planet Index, ranked these nations on such things as life expectancy, environment, life satisfaction, and civil conflicts.

Stuck at Bally's Total Fitness

You know those crazy Bally's commercials where everyone looks like they stopped by the gym to spray themselves with water before heading to a modeling shoot? While no Bally's Total Fitness exists down here, I unknowingly joined its Costa Rican equivalent.

This morning at MultiSpa in a "Fuerza" class, I noticed 1) everyone's tight, muscle-expressive athletic outfits, 2) their obsession with looking at themselves in the mirror, 3) their skin glistened like a super model on the beach, 4) the grand total body fat in the room (of everyone but me) was enough for one forearm skin graft, 5) an unnecessary excitement in the form of "whoo hoo" shouts, and 6) my sopping wet KC Royals' t-shirt and cut-off pants did not belong here. This then led me to the conclusion that the 10% Adidas discount card they gave me when I signed up for MultiSpa was not a promotion - it was a suggestion.

I'm surprised it's been four months, and they haven't approached me to "reconsider" my look at the gym. Although, I'm starting to think they use a more passive-aggressive approach: the interesting glare the desk worker gives me in the morning, my class instructor's constant comments about my t-shirts, the up-and-down glance I get by the trainers, and the Adidas discount cards they tape to my locker while I'm working out. Okay, that last one's a little exaggerated, but you get the idea.

Too bad I'm stubborn. I'm not going to succumb to becoming a gym model. And that's that.