"Always buzzing just like neon"

I'm amazed at how some people choose to live their lives. Sometimes I wish I too had enough energy and will to accomplish maybe half of what they do, but most of the time I'm grateful for being too lazy and content.

I started thinking about this because I was talking to Nicole, one of my spin instructors who was telling me about her hectic schedule. Not only does she have a full-time job but she also teaches 4 nights during the week, not including her two morning spin classes on Saturdays. She said that she used to have another part-time job on top of it all but luckily that's no longer the case. When does she have time to see her friends? When does she have time for herself, or does she consider the classes that she teaches "her-time"?

It's also not uncommon to find her spending her Friday nights working on a CD for Saturday morning's class! She's not the only one I've met with a crazy life schedule, another spin instructor I know is an "extreme cycling" competitor and competes in weekly races. She too has a full-time job, an aspiring dancer, a spin/dance instructor and a personal trainer.

Hillsy thinks it's all a product of the fast city life. He said that his parents who are from a small village in the UK wouldn't even be able to fathom such a life. They're actually amazed with our measly lives, so I can just imagine their reaction to Nicole's. I do notice that we're always running errands, meeting up here for lunch, brunch, drinks, dinner; checking out this new exhibit; taking a new culinary course for fun; viewing the premier of a friend's friend's short movie; meeting up with ex co-workers; meeting up for someone's birthday, anniversary, last day at work... wow it never ends!

In a way, I tend to agree with him. There's this huge pressure of having to always do something. What are you doing this weekend? How was your weekend? The same pressure that makes me despise New Year's Eve - the pressure to do something to ring in the new year. You almost feel guilty for sitting on the couch watching Nanny 911 on Friday nights and going to bed at 11:30 while the students are just about to start the weekend festivities.

It's as if the same city that offers so much life and energy feeds off of its own dwellers' thirst and the more we spin and buzz around the brighter the lights get. But the brighter the lights get the more energy it needs to sustain the same level of brightness.

I guess I haven't been that thirsty lately and I don't mind when the lights flicker off every now and then.