Crash course (splash course?)

Yesterday I had the kind of morning that would make a good episode of TV. Ridiculous, stressful, but absolutely fantastic in the end. I showed up nice and early at the Y with my headsets to see if I could make them work, first on the smaller speaker that's always beside the pool. It connected, but just wasn't powerful enough.

Then I headed over to the studio where the larger speaker in its rolling case is kept, and learned when I set my completely full water bottle down that I hadn't closed it tightly enough. Water everywhere, enough that my hand towel couldn't clean it up properly. And if you know me at all, you know I can't possibly leave even the slightest trace of water on a gym floor for some unsuspecting employee or member to slip on and break a limb or jaw. And I forgot to prop the door open on my way out, so I had to ask to be let in when I went to the front desk to get an emergency towel. She just let me take the key that time.

Incidentally, the smell of that towel took me back to the glorious pre-COVID days when they used to supply towels. The new facility is fantastic of course, but I definitely miss towel service and the old all-in-one men's locker room, sauna, and steam room.

There's no additional input on the large speaker, receiver, and headset system, so there's no way to use my headsets. And I decided not to return them. If you haven't done a lot of Amazon returns, some items are easier than others, and you get a different array of options when you initiate a return. For some, you can just drop it off at a store. Sometimes you have to pack it yourself. Sometimes you need to provide a label. This time I could have taken it all the way down to the Lynnwood Whole Foods and dropped it off, or I could have packed it up and taken it to the local UPS Store. Usually I can just drop items off at the latter, which is great. And this time if I went there I would have had to pay them for packaging and I figured, these were cheap enough and maybe could be useful to me or someone else at some point. If I can't get the full value of something cheap back, I may as well keep it.

Since I couldn't get my own headset to work, I took another look at the one they have and finally figured out a way to make it fit a little better. There's a rubber strip across the back of the headband that's meant to keep it slightly away from the back of your head and maybe pull the front of the arms that go in front of your ears a little snugger. I finally figured out a way to loosen that, and if it weren't for my fresh forward helix and surface tragus piercings on the right side, it would have been a great fit. Other than the guaranteed soreness that wearing something thick on my ears always brings.

But I anticipated that and brought a Band-Aid to wear on top of my piercings to hopefully help out a bit. With that in place, I headed to the pool deck and started setting up. And then I learned when Connie got there that the speaker system hadn't worked since Friday last week.

So she announced when we started class that we wouldn't be yelling too much and to watch me intently, and I got to work demonstrating as much as I could with big gestures and the occasional "hup!" when I wanted their attention. She was pretty sure most of them couldn't hear those and said she wished we could use a whistle in class, but that's not possible since lifeguards use those.

I have a cute idea, though. I ordered some squeaky duck toys when I got home, and if they squeak loud enough, I'll wear one on a cord around my neck. Ducks are kind of a signature item for me anyway, so it's totally appropriate.

Class went great. Connie and I had a blast lip synching to the music. At least six people came up to tell me how much fun they had, and one thanked me for mentioning that I don't exercise with my arms above my head because of high blood pressure. I previously didn't take that warning very seriously, but when my head pounded for hours the last time my blood pressure spiked, I decided it was time.

I definitely still want amplification, but I'd like to be strategic about its use. When everyone's splashing around in the pool isn't the best time to use it, but I want to make announcements and give instructions before we start, and I want to be able to talk through the cooldown. These classes are too crowded to do the ab work I'd like to incorporate, but if my own classes start out smaller, that'd be another good time to be able to explain things thoroughly. Other than the crunches, those are moves that simply can't be demonstrated outside the water.

The director is on vacation for nearly two more weeks, and nothing significant can happen until she returns. I can return for more practice, of course. Connie emailed me some dates that she's looking for coverage, so I said our goal should be that I start in time to be her substitute, and then my classes would start the following week. Because I don't think it'd be a great idea to start off teaching five days in a row.

People keep asking me when I start and what time my class will be, so I'm glad to see there's already some interest there.