Tag: people

Attitude Adjustment

Briana HansenLeave a comment

attitudeI had to check myself before I wrecked myself the other day.

It was the first Saturday of the New Year and I went to the gym in late morning. And, to no surprise, it was packed.

And, unfortunately also no surprise, I immediately became a brat about it.

As I walked in and looked at the crowds of people on the machines and on the equipment, I got testy. I kept thinking somehow they were in my way. I felt so self-righteous that this gym was my gym. And that they were in my way. And how dare they even consider slightly inconveniencing me.

In short, I was a little biatch about it.

But halfway through my workout (when the endorphins started kicking in and I was calmer than before), I realized I was the one with the problem. Here are a bunch of people who, sure, don’t really know what they’re doing yet at the gym. But you’ve got to start somewhere. They were not at all getting in my way. It’s not like I go there with a really clear training plan of certain exercises I have to hit and certain goals that have to be attained. Usually I go with a body group that I’m going to focus on for the day. And then I look around and see what’s available.

These people weren’t my enemies. They were my new friends.

Sure, many of them may not stick around past February. But some of them will. Some of these people will have made it their New Years Resolution to get in shape and go to the gym all the time, and this will be the very exciting start of that journey for them. These are more people I now have something in common with. New people with whom I can talk working out with. New people who can complain about the lazy people who don’t return their free weights with.

It’s so easy to think you’re entitled to something. So much of our world today makes you believe you are entitled to whatever you want in the exact circumstances you want it and exactly when you want it. IWWIWWIWI, I believe is what it’s called (I Want What I Want When I Want It). I wanted to have the gym completely quiet and to myself. I wanted to be able to choose any time and go without any convenience to me. I wanted to have access to all the equipment I could possibly want for my workout at any given time even if I wasn’t using it or didn’t end up needing it.

Entitlement is gross.

I’m not proud of my attitude that day. But I am glad to be reminded that it’s so easy to fall back into a negative mindset. It’s easy to forget that other people are not your enemy. I live in Los Angeles…like millions of other people. If I start getting frustrated at crowds or traffic or whatever, I’ll never be satisfied in this city. Or any city. In fact, if I start wanting everything in my environment to be exactly how I want it without any distractions, I might as well move to a tiny hermit shack in Montana and hide from the world.

I’m not proud to say that I’ve considered this at times.

Then I remember, I love people. I love LA. I love being out of my comfort zone and having shared experiences and the excitement of a crowd. The only reason there’s even a gym close to me is because there are lots of other people who are members. I don’t keep it alive on my tiny membership fee alone. If there weren’t lots of people who belonged, I’d have to go somewhere else.

We need each other.

So I have to wait an extra few minutes for the leg press machine in January because some girl is doing 20 sets of 10 lbs. Whatever. No big deal. She’s gotta start somewhere. And I’m not going anywhere. So I’ll wait.

And I’ll be sure to check myself before I wreck myself.

Coordination Station, Clase

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photo2When I was in high school, one of my spanish teachers would always rhyme things then say “clase.” I think she’d be proud of my little rhyme in this subject line.

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She always also said, “Bad news bears, clase. Bad news bears.” And she flailed her hands a lot. And we all had spanish nick-names while in class. Mine was “Chita.” She would say, “Don’t be a cheat-ah, Chita. Get it, clase? No cheat-ah, Chita.” Then she’d giggle profusely.

 

The more I think about it, maybe there’s a reason my spanish isn’t better…

I’ve mentioned before, I’m currently filming my web series The Other Client List. This past weekend was one of our businest filming weekends yet because we had tons of people and places I needed to coordinate. It was a bit insane. Tons of people came out of the woodwork to help in lots of different capacities.

 

 

We got the majority of our major scenes done and put ourselves in a position to essentially be finished filming the series with only one more shoot date this upcoming Saturday.Anyway, I’m not writing to tell you about Sra. Jones. I’m writing to tell you about how fun and magical it is to coordinate a ton of people.

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WHOA.

Every little piece has to be in the right place, otherwise the whole project is off. And every single person you see on that screen helped screw in a little bit.This whole process has been an amazing learning experience. I have a new respect for the amount of work and organization and gumption it actually takes to make these projects a reality. I will never again leave a movie theater before the end of credits because very single one of those people was an essential part to the major production.

 

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So screw you if you overlook them. Next time you need help, I hope you’re screwed.

So thank you to the wonderful screwballs who came to help out this weekend.I don’t hope that at all. I just wanted to use “screw” again and it seemed appropriate.

You kept us from being screwed.

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…alright. I’ll stop with the “screw” words.

 

This is becoming pretty screwy.

 

(giggle giggle giggle)

Parking Attendant Bestie

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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.

I didn’t run the race

Briana Hansen2 Comments

Yesterday was America’s Finest City Half Marathon.

There were two medals there waiting for me and a packet with my name on it- all that went unclaimed.

Even though I accepted a couple weeks ago that I would not be running this race, it’s still sad to come to terms with. The race is over. I can’t change my mind now. There’s no going back.

I know this was the right decision. I know in my heart, soul, and gut that there are a number of factors that I would have had to push way too hard- and likely hurt myself- to make that race reality. I’m really happy with what I chose to do this past weekend instead of doing the race. I know in the end, it’s the right decision. But I had a lot of time and training invested in that race. I had already visualized the volunteers at the end putting both medals on my exhausted but happy body. I had looked at the race course and thought about how each mile would feel and how I’d pose for the pictures this time. I’d even picked out my outfit.

Like I said, I had a lot invested in this race.

I’m only human, so I didn’t know the best way to go about not running this. Do I try and sell my ticket online at a discount so I can recover some of the costs? Do I call them ahead and talk about my injury and how I wouldn’t be able to run? Do I go anyway and pick up my packet so I can at least get the t-shirt?

I don’t know. I don’t know how to do these things. I don’t know the best way. I don’t know if I did the best thing. I just distracted myself in other work and -though I accepted I wouldn’t be running- I didn’t give up my registration because I think I held out a sliver of hope that maybe my foot would magically heal and all my issues would go away and I could do it after all.

But that didn’t happen. And it can’t happen now. It’s passed. Things change. There’s no going back. I will not get that T-shirt or those medals or pose for those race pics in the perfect outfit I chose.

And that’s ok. But may take a bit to accept.

And I think I’m still taking about the race…right?

Maintenance worker keep his perfect record of negative interactions intact

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The morning after Joanna Greenly moved into her new apartment, she went for a quick run. While outside locking her apartment stairs door, she was immediately and aggressively approached by a man who seemed to be working. He asked her if she was the “new girl” and when she confirmed that she was, he began berating her about how she needed to get the boxes that had been on the porch off the porch immediately. After all, it had nearly been 24 hours they’d been sitting there.

Immediately put off by the interaction, Greenly remained positive. She quickly learned this angry man would be her maintenance worker for the building for as long as she lived there. Keeping this in mind, she continuously tried to be positive and patient with the man.

The worker, however, seemed to have his own agenda. He continuously made every interaction he had with Greenly angry, defensive, and uncomfortable. Even when speaking quickly in passing, the worker somehow managed to insult and attack Greenly.

The worker, who will remain unnamed, said simply, “It’s an issue of pride. I want to keep my streak of negative interactions with Greenly intact.”

In order to do this, the worker has had to get somewhat creative. He would bang on the back porch door loudly at 6 am. He would knock once on the front door and begin to open it with his set of keys if Greenly didn’t get to the door in time to respond. He would accuse Greenly of getting an outside worker to come work on something when, in fact, Greely would just call the landlord and they’d send whoever was available-and sometimes it was the worker’s partner. He would barge his way into the apartment whenever he wanted claiming he needed to check something and this was the only time he had to do it, and would apologize defensively and aggressively if the supposed “job” was already done.

All in all, the worker has worked very hard to make Greenly despise him. And he’s quite proud of the fact.

“Greenly was more difficult than most tenants because she seemed to always greet me with patience and a smile. I had to wear down her patience and get rid of her smile. It was quite challenging, but I think I rose to the occasion,” the worker shared.

Unable to take the man and many other elements of her apartment, Greenly will be moving out before Thanksgiving. She’ll be moving to a much bigger apartment complex with the hopes of staying relatively anonymous and neutral with the maintenance workers there.

Upon hearing news of the move, the current maintenance worker is thrilled. He not only get to keep his current record of always eliciting a negative interaction from every tenant, but he now gets fresh meat to attack and belittle.

It seems to be a win/win situation for both sides.

Abrasive, aggressive woman makes consistently bad first impressions

Briana HansenLeave a comment

Carrie Henderson walks around with a scowl on her face. As she sees passersby, she attempts a conversation with an aggressive “Hey!”. Consistently, however, these strangers look at her with wide eyes and quickly position themselves far away from her.

“I just don’t get it,” says a frustrated Henderson. “I really mean well, but nobody will give me a shot. Every time I try to talk to someone, they start taking back and I can’t finish my very important sentences so I start talking about them passive-aggressively until they finally pay attention to me. I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

Henderson claims she’s had a problem socializing for years. She’s talked to numerous advisors of all different capacities, attempting to work out her issues. Each of the advisors, she claims, made the situation worse by constantly pointing out her faults. She consistently left each advisor after one session.

She adds, “I guess I’m just stuck having people think I’m difficult to get along with for all of eternity. There’s nothing anyone can do to help me and that’s fine. Just fine. I’m just fine.”