Project codename wackdoodle - I think I'm the newest and squishiest Transformer.

However, I maybe the smartest Transformer cause I successfully got out of my expensive gym membership without paying any penalties. Go wack, it's your birthday (thank goodness it isn't - don't need to be 37 yet)!

Anyway, as of 1/01/08 my premier membership at A Certain San Francisco Medical Universities Newest Fitness Center* officially ended after either two or three years of membership I joined either at the end of December 2004 or the beginning of January 2005. I don't recall how long I was a member, although I did go fairly religiously before my gastric bypass. I would go to the gym for two hours during my split at work and then return again in the evening for another hour of cardio or circuit training. Yeah, I was an exercise obsessed fat chick.

I did that from the point at which I joined until September 2006 when I had gastric bypass surgery. The surgery although it was perform laparoscopically was major invasive surgery that required a six week recovery period before the surgeon okayed mild exercise also known as walking long distances or walking on a treadmill. But me the gym rat - I went to the gym two weeks out and walked slowly on the treadmill. I still had sutures, one in particular between my breasts very small but very important, after 10 minutes of walking on the treadmill I was covered in sweat and it got in that suture between my breasts and caused an e.coli infection that made me terrible ill and set my recovery back months.

I ended up not being able to set foot in my beloved gym again until December and when I did I was so weak and feeble it sucked. Plus I noticed that every other treadmill was broken, every other elipetical was broken, the weight machines were broken or damaged - things had just gone down hill in three months. I wrote up a little evaluation card mentioning the problems I saw and told the front desk folks and nothing happened. January came machines remained broken, I got flipped off a treadmill because it randomly changed speeds and pitches on me then stopped abruptly. I got my fingers pinched in a weight machine because it wasn't being maintained properly and it caught my t-shirt and tried to pull it off. The front desk person tried to help and ended up injured too then the cleaning person came over and tried to fix the weight machine by kicking it - which is always effective.

Anyway, that was the beginning of the end of my love affair with my gym. I'd go in and something would be wrong ruining my workout to the point where most of my workout would take place outside on the streets of San Francisco. I'd power walk through the Marina, climb the steps on Chestnut Street, climb the hills in Russian Hill anything to stay out of my gym. But at the same time I was exercising outside of the gym I was feeling sicker and sicker.

I didn't know that I had a problem with my large intestines which was unrelated to my gastric bypass surgery. My large intestines were randomly kinking, tangling, blocking and losing blood flow. I was slowly or quickly dying depending on the day.
Well the last straw for me and my gym was the day I was on the treadmill and suddenly felt very ill. Before I could do anything I had thrown up all over the dashboard of the treadmill and then immediately passed out unconscious, whacking my head on the railing of the treadmill as I went down. Thank goodness I always attached that emergency stop cord to my clothes before I start on any treadmill.

Anyway, the front desk attendants saw me go down, the saw me vomit and hit my head and pass out and not get up but they did nothing. Other club members including eager medical students (at said SF medical university) came to my aid immediately but no one from the staff of the gym did anything except to say sometime later (wow you really hit your head hard). One of the people who helped me said that he told the gym attendant to call an ambulance because I was unresponsive and cold and clammy and they did nothing, just stood there- staring blankly. Then said "I'll have to ask my manager when he comes back from dinner". At which point someone else ran and got their cellphone and called for an ambulance.

After I heard that I didn't go back to the gym except to try unsuccessful to cancel my gym membership. But they changed their membership rules. Well, no problem I'm patient - in fact I'm a patient at your hospital. I had my surgeon a respected Professor, at said university, contact the gym and had him demand that my membership be put on hold. They wouldn't so he escalated it to he said "the regents" suddenly it was on hold for a month as a special courtesy at a $10 fee. Probably for cleaning up the vomit.

Anyway, it took me a while to come to a final decision on whether to final quit this gym or not. It's totally posh. It's got who knows how many indoor basketball, squash, badminton etc courts in this one facility. Plus, as a premier member I could use the other facility too at no additional cost, I could bring in a couple of guests for a workout for $10. It had a heated outdoor lap pool and a heated indoor pool both with beautiful views of San Francisco. It had a grassy rooftop deck and a new rock climbing wall. A rec room with ping pong and pool. At least 30 treadmills mills and ellipticals on two different floors, row machines, weight machines, for premier members free exercise classes of all types including pilates, then had certified trainers, masseuses, and ultra plush locker rooms with saunas and nice showers (although the showers sprung a leak and had to be shut down for a month or two to be replaced). But you also had inattentive staff from the management to the janitorial staff. You had frustrated class teachers because there were unattended children running around the gym. And when you had an issue, there was literally no one to speak to for assistance - every employee was at a complete and total loss as to who was in charge. Oh and they but they had very limited operating hours and they closed for every imaginable and unimaginable holiday. A friend asked me why I wasn't at the gym one day I told her "It's Guy Fawkes Day the gym is closed. random huh." Canada Day closed. Umm, we're in the US but I love Canada so I'm down. Robert E. Lee's Birthday - ah come on.

So right after Labor day per their protocol I started leaving voice mails to make an appointment to meet with someone regarding my membership. No one called back. At the same time I went to other gyms here in SF, Club One (been a member there before- don't want to go back at this time), Sports Club LA (one location in SF too limiting), 24 Hour Fitness (dirty meat market), Crunch (I can never get actual info on membership from them), Yoga (eh bad experience with Bikram yoga none to eager to try any form of yoga again), pilates (would love to but not aerobic enough), The Bar Method (hmm...what the heck that looks interesting). I'm also planning on joining a kickball team in the spring. And possibly a dodge-ball team. And maybe taking beginning soccer at Community College because Andrew my older nephew has become a European League Futbol Hooligan and he's got me watching it too. But I want to play whereas he can't because of his skating.

So...my friend has asked me to give yoga another chance but he's not doing it right now. He won't start again until things calm down at eLuxury he says so sometime in late February. Whatever. So up first, probably this weekend I'm going to try a place called The Bar Method. When I used to drive the 22-Fillmore bus I would drive past it all day and see women and men flooding in and out all day. I wondered what it was. On my day off I got the info and it sounds pretty cool. I didn't do it while I had the gym membership because I just could see spending $80 a month for a gym membership then however much for Bar Method sessions too.

I am just going to try to see if I can make it through one entire hour and a half long beginner class first. If I can then I'll try another to determine whether I like it and whether I'm feeling my muscles work out and stretch. I am strange I long to stretch and be flexible - instead my body is rigid. If I feel it working me out and stretching me then one more time to again see if I can withstand the rigors of a mixed level class because the ones offered downtown are mixed level while the location in the Marina offers separate levels and mixed levels. If I can differentiate which exercises are which and not feel pushed to exercise beyond my level then I'll sign up for the bigger block of classes.

If I do I plan on keeping track of my measurements because they do state that you will see a visible difference and tightening in your core in a brief time. We will see, we will see. http://www.barmethod.com/index.html

Second thing I'll do is join the http://www.runningforwomen.com/ so I can finally get some assistance with my dream and goal of running and hopefully get a newbie female running partner.

What else can I do for exercise and activities? I'm trying to leave MUNI so that I have more free time and less of a sedentary job. But in order to help both of my nephews pay for their university expenses and for my own I'll probably need a second at least part time job. So between dating, education, art, what sort of cool activities and exercises that I have not thought to fit into my time? My nephew Jeff says more time at the gun range. Yeah right kid, there's lead there.

*to avoid problems with actually naming said gym facility - but I think there's only one medical school in SF that has a gym that's open to the public. hint hint.