I think I joined the good ol' boys club
 

I guess I underestimated how much the social aspect of the gym motivated me to get up in the morning. At past gyms, I always seemed to make a few friends with the regulars. It was nice to have someone to talk it up with while on a machine or before a class, especially for me who has limited adult contact during the day.

My new gym is weird. First, I am almost always the only woman doing free weights. Most of the guys stand around and talk hunting and football in their thick Mississippi accents. The few women there are real Southern bells. I go at 5 freakin' 30 a.m. with my furry morning teeth and bed head. They're there in full makeup and cute little tennis skirts. (And yes, Goat, most have manmade knockers.) It's like a pseudo country club.

There aren't many classes at this gym and I am getting bored. Any motivational advice for me? Any fun workout plan I could work in to my weekly routine? Or should just start following Ole Miss football and go native?

Go native. They will think you are the strangest person in the history of the world if you can speak intelligently about a Southern subject (football) without being Southern.
Or you could switch gyms. Surely not every gym in Jackson has an upscale clientele.

Do you know how many gyms are in Jackson? Very few. Mississippi is not exactly a fitness hotbed. Besides, they've got me locked into a 2-year contract.

Sounds like you are in deep. But, there have got to be about triple the number they had in Tuscaloosa.

How have you liked Jackson so far anyway? I know you had some misgivings about going there, but have you found some good things about the place?

Overall, I like it just fine. My son is really happy at school and we're in a really nice neighborhood. I'm not too picky. In addition to a better gym, I'd take a a nicer zoo and a bigger airport, but that's the trade off for danimal's short commute and our nice, affordable home.

You are making me homesick. My wife and I were talking last night about how much we miss Alabama after 2 and half years. This is something neither of us has experienced and we have lived in a combined 15 other states and 2 countries. For us, the lifestyle more than made up for the lack of certain amenities.

But it took us about 2 years to get to that point.

God bless you and allow me to wax eloquent for a moment. There is a fairly prominent LDS family involved in the Ole Miss athletic department. ute4ever knows them well. Their oldest boy is a JAG and he and his wife were the only normal people, other than my wife and myself, in our entire ward at Fort Polk, LA. We became quite chummy. We went up to Oxford numerous times and eventually I became enough of a Rebel fan that I bought an Ole Miss hat. That is a strange culture you are in and the folks really think it is the pride of the Ol South they are defending. I doubt you will ever fit in, although I bet Danimal wouldn't complain if you sought to replicate some of the social expectations of their womenfolk. Ole Miss games are a hoot with the chicks in cocktail dresses and the fellows in khakis and ties. Further, I recall my friend telling his wife that she would wear more summer dresses. It is a strange gang in Northern Mississippi and neither time nor losing the Civil War has had too much an impact. Enjoy it for what it is and here is a little diddy that will make the Western Mormon gal popular:

Hoddy Toddy
Gawsh awmighty
Bim Bam Flim Flam
Ole Miss, BY DAMN!

If it won't hurt too much, keep us posted on how social assimilation is working for you, as a graduate of the Borg you should be exceptional....

Or you could the Crimson gang by singing

Hey, Hey Rebels
We're gonna beat the Hell out of you
Rammer, Jammer
Yellow Hammer
Give em' Hell Alabama

But that would not win you any friends.