"Not Today, Igor!"

The weekend wasn't that good.  The annual business meeting at church ended with me making the decision to find another church to attend.  The most pleasant incident all weekend was running into Charlene, who used to attend the gym back in 2010.  We had a nice talk, and she told me she plans to return to the gym this spring.

But when I got to the gym today, the bad mood I'd been in that escalated even more after the church meeting was still present.  Igor decided to show up now that it's about a month into the winter session.  I was talking to Alan, and Igor interrupted.  The phrase "excuse me" is a foreign one to Igor.  "Don't you see me talking?" I snapped.  Igor looked at me for a second, then continued to ask Alan another usually inane questions.  Then I channeled my late father.  "Did you hear me talking?" I said in a even louder voice.  Igor deliberately ignored me, and kept pestering Alan. In another second, I was going to get in his face.  "Boy, I am tired of you," I growled.

Sometime later, Igor got the stupid thought in his mind to come to me and ask a question that he already knows the answer to:  how much is the gym fee. Igor was quite aware that it's the middle of the session and the fee needs to be paid. "Shut up talking to me, Igor!  Not today," I warned.  He directed his question to Alan.  About ten minutes to fifteen minutes later, it finally occurred to Igor that an apology was in order.  It was then he remembered to say "excuse me".  "What?  What is it?" I snapped, using Dad's voice. "I sorry," he said.  "I should have been told that awhile ago.  It's a little late for that," I barked, and Igor backed off.  A little while later, Igor left, and I ignored Igor when he said good-bye.

I apologized to Alan, who tolerates Igor way better than I do.  "I'm sorry I let my temper get out of hand," I told him.  "I know you have a temper, Hillari, and I know how Igor is," he answered.  I also had to explain to Alicia, the only other person in the gym, about Igor's irritating ways and his long history in the gym.

Four twenty-something young men stopped in the gym, and Alan and I gave them the basics the program. One of the young men said, "I would like to take boxing, but I'm afraid my temper would go out of control if I went into the ring."  "I'll tell you a secret.  I have a bad temper.  But boxing helps keep it down," I told the young man.  Well, most of the time anyway.