NaperVic

"Hey Gym Crush, I mean <name>" "Excuse me?" says Gym Crush with a perplexed look on his face. "What?" "Did you just call me Gym Crush?" "No, I said Gym crutch, you know, like help motivate people to work out" "Gym crotch?" "......" *runs away before digging myself into deeper hole*

I call him by his real name at the gym. I just use the term "Gym Crush" here in GA God, could you imagine if I slip and actually call him "Gym Crush" to his face?

LOL Matt, I almost titled this blog entry "Proactive, not just for acne" but figured our non-US friends wouldn't get the reference.

Here's an interesting thing Bleu...The one he gave me was printed out both sides, from what looks like a quality color printer (I'd assume from work). So not only did he have the workout side printed, but also the full size picture of the cute guy. I mean, it's like he made a point of printing out the picture of the hottie when it wasn't necessary for the utility of the workout. Makes you ponder.....

So, I manned up/grew some and took some advice given here. I mentally pledged to stop with the head games & the active ignoring. If I saw Gym Crush, I would say hi, no matter if I said it first or not. I was going to start acting like an adult and treat him like I would anyone else. So anyways....I was finishing up at the gym this evening, and Gym Crush shows up. I had a few more minutes on the rowing machine, which was very close to where Gym Crush does this special workout that he's been doing for the last couple of weeks. So after I finish on the rowing machine, I get ready to start stretching. Using my new found manhood I say "Oh, Hey Gym Crush." He says Hi back with a smile, and we both get back to what we were doing. After another 10 minutes of stretching, I start wrapping up to head to the locker room. Gym Crush was on a little rest break, so I pause by him and trying the proactive thing I say "I've notice you do a really unique workout, it's cool." He says thanks and tells me it's the 'Spartacus' Workout that he got from Men's Health Magazine. I said, "That's great that your doing something different. It's so easy for me to get in rut in the gym, doing the same thing over and over." We chat a little bit more about the workout and then he hands me a pamphet "Here, take this. It's the workout from the magazine if you're interested." It's a full color page that shows how to do the workout. I said "No, I can't take you're pamphlet. " "It's no problem, I was saving it for another guy who was interested, but he isn't here. " Gym Crush smiled. "Oh, I don't want to take his. " "Really, I insist. " "Thank you so much, that's very nice of you. " "No problem. " "You have a great weekend. " "You too. " I was already running a little late for my dinner plans and I didn't want to waste more of his workout time (I get that way too), so I walk away. While heading to the locker room, I start glancing at the two sided pamphlet. It really is a cool workout (I found it online here at Men's Health in pdf format). So, proactive paid off. Now we have more to talk about. And now I owe him something for his nice gesture. Anywho, made my night. I was going to be late for dinner with one of my hags, but I knew she'd be okay with it and I had a great story to tell her . baby steps......

Of course I have. My mind has played out hundreds of scenarios, some of them of me being permanently banned from the gym. It's hard to commit to a course of action without knowing how the other side feels. Too bad I couldn't read the dude's mind, that would make things so much easier.

One-sided /lusting/stalking/obsessive/etc so far !

So it's been a couple weeks since I invited Gym Crush to go running, and not surprisingly, he hasn't shown up at 5am to run. I've seen him several times at the gym since our last 'chat', but never close enough or convenient enough to make small talk. I also swear a few times we were close enough, but he never made eye contact with me so that we could chat (which in my mind meant he didn't even remember who I was or even if he recognized me). I was starting to get really frustrated with him and almost went all 8th grade on him by actively ignoring again. But today....when I least expected it, I walk into the locker room, he's there, sees me, and with a nice grin says "Hey Vic!" We had a mini conversation, but a 3rd person joined in and derailed it, so that was that. Gym Crush left, but not without saying some goodbye pleasantries. Two words. Two words and I have the stupidist grin on my face . Two words to make my day. I'm usually not so easy to please, but this dude has some serious spell over me.

I google translated

Congrats Andy! Not cheesy at all. It's nice to read about happy LTRs and happy Blog entries too! Take Care®, Vic

The last chapter posted of With Trust was Ch 21. That chapter ended where Mr. Trust was confronting Nelson about Milo's whereabouts, Nelson's parents coming home catching Mr. Trust grabbing Nelson by the arm, the parents sending Nelson down to his room, and Nelson calling (or getting called by Milo) where Nelson asked where the boat was...if I remember correctly.

A prize? Probably more like a baseball bat to the back of my head. :2hands: If the guy was the least bit interested these past couple of years, he would have given me some hint .

Sammmmmm, did you mean that like totally?

Me too! Bob's approach is rational, you shouldn't be making this kind of decision on emotion. It's a sad lesson to learn (which many of us have done in our lives), that you can give 110% to a company, assuming they'll take care of you, but in reality, they look out for themselves first and foremost. Good luck on your next job, and try not to stress too much about it. Things will work out for the best. And who knows, you might look back on this event as a time when things really took off for you.

Congratulations Andy! I'm sure one is probably enough for now. I mean, Mike already has you to take care of *runs*

While you should definitely be 'careful' and not put yourself in a situation where you might be in physical harm, it feels 'good' and liberating to just be yourself and not worry about what anyone else thinks. I think for many of us, we should push our boundaries and comfort levels a bit for the greater good. I think the younger generation will benefit from your being more open in public. Think of the young gays or questioning out there. The more instances they see, the chances are they'll feel more comfortable in their own skins. As well, the more the young straights see of gay people in general, the more 'normal' it will be for them. I have many friends who are much more comfortable in their gay skins out in public, and they never seem to have an y bad issues. Sure, they may get snickered at or other tables in restaurants may be talking about them. But they don't concern themselves with what 'strangers' think about them. I really admire that about them. As for the new guy your dating, do try to get out of your comfort zone a little. You can draw strength from his confidence as you hopefully build up yours.

Lol, I didn't want to seem that obvious this early. Hopefully he runs with the group, so he'll get to know me and know I'm safe, before we run alone. But yeah, the ultimate goal is to do something with just the two of us :ranger: .

Haha Mattie. When I came on to GA last night, you were the first person I was hoping to run into to tell the good news!

Please keep this in mine while reading this blog entry: - Yes, I am 42 years old, no I'm not a teenager, stop rolling your eyes - Yes, I move slowly, stop rolling your eyes - Yes, I'm a wuss, stop rolling your eyes After many long years, I finally had the opportunity to exchange words with my Gym Crush. I'm as giddy as a school girl over the experience. You see, I've had a crush on this guy for over 3 years. I looked back over my blog entries and found these 3, all about him: Sleuthing success, I got his name January 2010 Borderline Stalking May 2009 Cute guy from spinng class Nov 2007 I had resolved in my head a while ago that he's either straight or not interested, and/or both. Since then, I've been actively ignoring him (you know, like making a point of looking away when I passed him). He's not really chatty at the gym with anyone (guys or girls), so I figured that's just the way he was. Well this week, I just kept running into him over and over. Our gym schedules synced up more than they have in the past and I wasn't even trying (e.g. stalking). It was painfully frustrating. I kinda relaxed my active ignoring and thought that if it were to occur naturally, that I would say something to him. Well today when I started my workout, I wanted to do bicep pullups and he was using the equipment I wanted. I visibly *sighed* when I realized he was on the machine, so I started walking around a bit to give him time to finish. After a few minutes, I thought he was done, so I went over, but found he was just resting. So I spoke my first words to him and asked him how many more sets he had and he said '1'. I nodded, and then he added with a smile "You're welcome to work out in between'". So I took him up on his offer and did 12 pullups (I usually do 10 in a set, but needed to show my butchness to him and did an extra 2 ). I let him do his next set and he moved on to another part of the gym while I stayed and did 3 more sets. So I was happy/satisfied with that little encounter, but unbeknownst to me at the time, there was more to come. I did more bicep work, but I was really just waiting to take a spin (cycle) class. Surprisingly, Gym Crush took that class too (I hadn't expected him to take the class because he had already taken two spin classes that week, and he had been in the gym before I even got there. He was behind me about 15 feet - just off to the right, so I pretty much had a perfect view of him in the mirrors for the entire class. He's such good eye candy . I did really well in class because I didn't want to seem like a wuss to him, hoping my calf muscles were flexing at the right times. Well after class, several of us were heading in to the locker room. I was chatting with another guy from the class - Richard, and we both ended up near each other in the locker room, right near Gym Crush. I mentioned to Richard how tired I was and that I shouldn't have taken this class because I was planning on running tomorrow (friday) with my running crew. He teased me a bit and I invited him to go running with us at 5am. Richard is chatty with Gym Crush so he loudly says, "Oh yeah, Gym Crush and I will be there at 5am, just wait for us". He winked and let it be known that there was no way he'd get up that early to go running and that we were 'crazy' to be up that early to run. Well Gym Crush joins in the convo and then says to me "You really run at 5am?" I go onto explain about how the running group has been going there for years, how there's people of different speeds, etc. Actually, once I started talking to Gym Crush, I kinda got that nervous/diarrhea of the mouth thing going, and just talked and talked. Kinda like how Dave got whenever he talked to Angela in Dessert Dropping. When I get nervous talking to someone I'm attracted to, I just blah blah blah away. I'm hoping I didn't spit when I talked to him :wacko: . So anyway, he seem genuinely interested in finding people to run with and was smiling when we talked. The morning time might be tough for him (he asked if there was a 5pm group. I should have said, "Honey, I'll run whenever you want to run.") But I did just try to be helpful and inviting. So anyhow, I went and took my shower, and he ended up showering a little later than me, so I finished before him. I took my time getting dressed to wait for him to finish his shower so we could chat more. When he got back, I mentioned that yeah, the early hour is tough for many, and that the 5am was an 'Acquired taste', but I also let him know I'd see if I could find an evening group I could hook him up with. I just wanted to make sure I sounded genuine and that I wasn't making an empty invitation. By the way, he was in a towel while we were talking and I made a point of giving him his privacy and not looking at him (especially when he had to put on his undies). One, I didn't want to get busted staring, and two, I would want the same courtesy. On my way out, I made of point of telling him my name and he gave me his with a smile, told him "see ya later" and let him finish getting dressed. So after three long years, we've finally spoken. I have no clue if he's gay. And if he is gay, I have no clue if he'd be interested in going out on a date, with me. Either way, I'm just happy we've taken the 'next step'. Cause no matter what happens, it would be cool to have a new friend who's around my age, who seems to be interested in the same fitness activities that I'm into, and isn't internet/virtual (no offense to any of y'all). If we could have a friendship, I'd be satisfied with that. I sure hope it doesn't take 3-4 years to find out if he's gay or not . Take Care®, Vic

I think the elves here at GA are open to constructive critism or at least be willing to explain why a feature works a certain way. However the 'tone' of the thread title and it's passive-aggressiveness leaves a sour taste in any readers mouth.

Me Too! I watch it 2 or 3 times a day for a pick me up. It's a great commentary on dreams and aspirations at that age...where you think anything is possible if you put your mind to it.

I knew it's been a while, but I didn't actually know how long ago until I checked. Dom started posting With Trust on Feb 1, 2006. That was just over 5 years ago. You can either be proud or cry about that....

Congrats Nephy!!!! The blood red font color of your forum fits your image well!

Really???? I saw them on a guys truck here in CA. Hmmmm. The guy wouldn't look very cute in prison.

Aaron Keslin (Desert Dropping) had a name for that