I did not sleep very well last night (2 hours of sleep max), so when my alarm went off at 5:30, I really started to hit the snooze button so that I could be properly rested. But, since I have in the midst of a good run workout-wise, I decided to get my ass up and head to the pool for my mile swim. I arrived at the pool at 5:58am, I changed, I walked to the pool and the door was locked. 10 minutes later I found someone who told me the lifeguard was running late, and 20 minutes after that he finally showed up and unlocked the pool--but only after telling me that 1)he had only been late twice in 15 years (someone else verified this) and 2)there was a bad accident on I-95. Rather than being a cranky ass, I said it was no big deal and I kept it moving, and did a 30 minutes swim.

Then I moved to the basketball court to do my 15 minutes worth of working out over there, and there was this older man walking laps around the court. Now technically on the gym schedule, it says that from 6-8, the gym is reserved for walkers. I've been going to this gym for 3 years, and I have never seen a walker until today. I tried to shoot the ball and do my little drills, but two out of my four shots hit the elderly walker. Both times he let out a combination of a yell and a groan that made my error seem way worse than it really was, and I apologized profusely. But in fairness to me, dude wasn't even walking with his head up, even after he got hit the first time. He just kept his head down and kept right on walking, so in reality I could have just ignored the basket, and thrown the ball directly at his precious head of white hair, and he'd have been none of the wiser. But I did not. I simply apologized again, exited the gym, and left the man alone with his thoughts while he walked.

THEN, right before I left, the I've-only-been-late-twice-in-15-years lifeguard stopped me and had the following conversation with me:

Lifeguard: Hey Rashad, can you make me a cd?
Me: Excuse me?
Lifeguard: Yeah man I always see you with headphones on, so I know you like music, so can you make a cd?
Me (hesitating): Ok..um..what kind of music do you like?
Lifeguard: I like rap, r&B, rap(yes he said it twice), you know all kinds, what about you?
Me: I listen to all kinds to, jazz, hip-hop (yes it was snobbish to play synonym card), R&B, soft rock
Lifeguard (interrupting me): yeah yeah, I think I want smooth rap, and smooth R&B
*** As an aside, I still have no clue what the smooth part of that equation really means, but I rolled with it***
Me: Oh no doubt. Smooth right?
Lifeguard: Yes yes, something very smooth
Me: I got you man, I'll bring it on Thursday.

So the question I now have, how the f**k do you make a mixtape for a 40-45 year old dude? I mean seriously..