Greenpoint YMCA

i went here on my roommate’s membership card – she happens to look enough like me that i figured i’d get away with it, since they have this annoying rule that you can’t use the guest passes without the guest there, and she was in canada at the time, and gave me her id. i did get away with it, but i felt awkward having to ask questions like ‘are there lockers here?’ when i should know that if i was a member.

pluses +
it is walking distance from my apartment
it’s not too pretentious, and nobody was wearing shiny lycra or shorts with words across their butt
they had everything you needed (although you need your own lock for the lockers, which I didn’t know, and I forgot my damn ipod)
not overheated in winter so you don’t die when you walk in with your coat, hat and gloves on
no hipsters talking about their party with brittney bringing cous cous

minuses –
looks a little old (which doesn’t bother me)
had all these complicated rules about signing up for machines which i couldn’t work out at first (partly because i got elliptical machines and cross trainers confused)
cramped (but it’s not like you run into people)
not much in the way of assistance if you wanted it (but maybe because i was avoiding them out of guilt for using my roommate’s membership)