Tag: new friends

Actual Gym Boyfriend!

Briana Hansen1 Comment

Ask and ye shall receive.gym couple

You guys… I have a gym boyfriend. One more meeting and he’s basically a gym husband at this point.

I’m so excited I can hardly stand it!

Here’s what happened: I got a late night workout in last week. I was doing stuff on the bench press. I remember because I remember thinking how lucky I was to snag a bench press. Little did I know that was only the start to my luck.

I was doing combo moves, one of which included using the bench press to step up in like a horizontal lunge.

Two guys were not far from me on another machine. I didn’t pay attention to them. How could I know one was my future gym boyfriend? We can’t always tell these things!

So I’m between sets, resting for a minute and magic happens. A guy comes up to me and says, “I like your shoes,” and smiles. I was like “Oh… yeah… thanks.” I wore my ridiculously bright shoes. I didn’t even realize I was like a bird in the wild with my crazy colors attempting to attract the opposite sex. But that’s exactly what I did.

Then he smiled at me. Yes. You read that correctly. He SMILED at me.

So I put my headphones back in and looked down. Keep in mind, my last gym fling didn’t last. I don’t know if I’m ready for more gym commitment. I just didn’t know.

But he and his friend stayed closed. He made funny faces at me. I made my eyes wide and awkwardly looked around. He asked if I needed a spot. I didn’t have any weight on the bench press because I was focused on high reps not heavy weight. I said no but thank you. Then I started forcing myself to breathe because this is the most I’d talked to anyone at the gym in a very long time.

Then I went to a different section to stretch. It was by the stairs to go upstairs. He wandered around saying hi and bye to various people. Before he went up the stairs, he made a point to say bye to me. He made it a point, you guys. It was… exhilarating .

I mumbled bye awkwardly and continued stretching.

I haven’t seen him since. But I can’t wait until our second gym date. Maybe I’ll even make eye contact this time. WHO KNOWS!

Parking Attendant Bestie

Briana HansenLeave a comment

I’ve learned to be careful what you wish for.

I said not long ago when I was talking about my new gym that one of my goals was to make best friends with the morning parking attendant.

Here’s the update.

The original guy who was the attendant and I never really became besties. But he left and was replaced by the friendliest parking guy in the world.

I think I may be one of the few people who actually acknowledges him in the morning. And as a result, I’m clearly one of his favroites. From the moment I get there and choose a parking space, he’s right next to me. He helps me park, says “Good moring hawnee” and walks with me to the staircase that leads to the gym. The other day, he gave me “pie fine” which I learned from his outstretched hand meant “Hi-Five.”

Last week, he walked me all the way to my car and opened the door for me. Every day I see him he always says “See you tomorrow, hawnee.” Because of my schedule, I don’t always make it to the gym daily. He doesn’t care. He says it every time I see him. Even Fridays. And he doesn’t work Saturdays.

It’s only a matter of time before this turns to hugging.

And as much as I’m glad to have a friendly face in the morning… it’s a little much for my sleepy, tired, sweaty self.

But…it’s not his fault. I asked for it. And the universe provides what you ask it for. Even when the results aren’t exactly what you expected.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Westside…

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I got in a shuttle in LAX headed home from a weekend at the Out of Bounds Comedy Festival in Texas (with TMI, not Femoir… though the show will hopefully be back on stages again very soon!). I got talking to the woman I was sharing a shuttle with. We started talking Lil Wayne because she was headed to his concert. I started talking about how much I love Lil Wayne.

For those of you just joining us, every podcast episode since January of this year has begun with a rap song. I love rap. My favorite artist right now is Lil Wayne. I think he’s extremely innovative and exciting. I listen to him at work when everyone else is gone. I blare the speakers and take in everything he says. He’s a master at mixing killer beats with really creative lyrics. I love him.

I listen to a Lil Wayne song to wake me up in the morning. I listen to a different Lil Wayne song when I need to really get pumped to work out. I listen to a different Lil Wayne song when I want to relax. I love him.

One of the nicknames I gave my new car is Weezy because it’s little and black and totally fierce. I love Lil Wayne. Have I mentioned that? Because I do.

Anyway, because this woman mentioned Lil Wayne, we obviously got talking about hip hop. Turns out, she’s an artist and had produced a couple videos and a bunch of songs. Which is funny because… ahem… yours truly is also an artist who’s produced a couple videos and a bunch of songs. So we showed each other some of our work and gave each other feedback.

She inspired me to bring back my B-Eazy personality (@BEazyHipHop on Twitter) that has been dormant since I left Chicago. That chick is fierce. She needs to come alive again.

So me and my new hip hop friend from Brooklyn talked for the entire shuttle ride about music and creating and art. The other two women who were headed to Brentwood and Malibu (ritzy areas, y’all) weren’t sure what to do with us. So they kept quiet and stared out the window without saying a word.

I made a new friend. A new music friend! And, thanks to Femoir: The Podcast (and especially the latest SPECIAL RAP COMPILATION episode), I had 40 minutes worth of hip hop beats to share with my new friend. We made it through about five of them. But that’s five more than I had last year!

Here’s my new friend’s latest beat. Her name is JL Moreau. She and I got it turnted up, y’all. Which I think is a good thing. I’m still learning!

Speaking of, I need to send her an email. Maybe we’ll go to a Lil Wayne concert together! You never know!

Friends!