Take for example that excessively loud music or that music whose presence is (according to you) more than inappropriate.

I do not mind relaxing background music at the fitness center, and I can even put up with that blaring disco bonk-bonk at the heated energetic high points of exercise. That's fine with me, even though my preferences state otherwise.

What I do mind very much though is when this very same music follows you everywhere you wander throughout the fitness center: the bathroom, the entrance, the staircase, the sitting room, the showers, the dressing room and the sauna. This is tiring on the middle-aged mind looking to relive youth but not quite in the same detail.

Especially not in the sauna, which is the place where one pursues peace and wants to relax and meditate, and not to have to hear Neil Diamond, the Bee Gees or whoever else blaring away.

I have mentioned this a couple times to the smiling and overly nice ladies behind the counter, but I guess they do not take me seriously. They always act like it is a serious matter, nodding their heads in affirmation and understanding.

-- Here is an aside --

"...Back in the good old days when my father would take me to Candle Stick Park to watch the San Francisco Giants play baseball. My father was back then about as old as I am right now...

...By nature he used to complain a lot, but one thing which irked him very much at these baseball games was that loud organ music, you know, that typical 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame' type organ music except that it was an order of ten decibels too loud according to him. It drove him crazy and he'd tell me repeatedly, as if I could do something about it...

...Hey, what's that kid doing up there?! Oh my God, the poor unsuspecting organist is shoved over the railing and falls to an untimely death. The organ is unplugged with brutal force and sparks fly all over the place. There is peace and quiet once again...

...My father even wrote a letter of complaint once to the stadium folks, and he showed me their polite answer. Yes, they understood his grievances, and yes they were apologetic. However, they insisted that this so-called loudish music was a necessary evil intended to please, a sporting aural opiate for the collective good of all the fanatic baseball fans, the majority of which loved this kind of music the louder the better. Conclusion: there was nothing to do about it."

-- Now we return to the real world --

The same unwritten laws of modern society can apply to fitness centers worldwide, I am afraid, so I will just have to get used to it anyway. Still, I choose to follow in my fathers footsteps and write my own letter of complaint just for the heck of it. Not today but someday soon I am sure. It will make me feel better, at least until I receive their polite and understanding letter stating that loud music is better for the collective consciousness of fitness fans everywhere.

Oh well, they didn't take my father seriously back then, and they more than likely will not take the son seriously even now. I hope my sons in turn will carry on the tradition with perseverence and understanding, upholding the dreams of me and my father and his father's father ad infinitum.

Life remains interesting in more ways than one.