Is it a Gym, or a Library?

Thanks, Anthony, for your comments, and to everyone else, please post any comments, thoughts, or questions you might have, no matter how bad. I really appreciate them, and they encourage me to write more. And doesn't everyone want to read more of my rants on Switzerland?! I do.

Just got back from a gym workout, Timi's at the hairstylist, so I thought I would write a little more. I've mentioned it before, but I'll mention it again, gyms in Switzerland are not like gyms in America. I walked into the cardio area today for my warm up, and what was on the TV's, you might ask? The Welsh Open Snooker tournament. And what music was playing over the loudspeakers(or maybe I should say quietspeakers)? 'Ebony and Ivory' by Paul McCartney. Now I know what you're thinking, 'Oh my God, Marty, don't you know that the combination of Snooker playing Welshmen and the song 'Ebony and Ivory' can be deadly!? That it can elevate your pulse rate and adrenal levels so quickly that your head could explode!? Well, don't worry, I quickly put my Ipod earphones on, and averted my eyes from the rousing game of Welsh Snooker on the television. Anyway, you really had to focus your ears to hear the music. If it's much above conscious sound-awareness levels, the Swiss will quickly raise issue. Gym atmosphere here is required to be more suitable to a library than a place of physical fitness, or it is deemed inappropriate.

So maybe someone could enlighten me as to what is up with black socks here? Timi has tried in the past, but I still don't understand. I do understand that one should wear black socks in combination with black, or probably any other dark color, of pants, but here they wear black socks with everything! Light-colored pants? Black socks. All types of jeans? Black socks. Dress or casual shorts? Black socks. Athletic pants or shorts? Black socks. White shoes? Black socks! And they are usually calf-high socks pulled up as far as they can be. Are Europeans aware that there are other colors of socks? They must be, so what is up with this? I should mention here that the concept of 'Nerd' does not exist in Europe. This is because almost everyone here would be classified as one if the term did exist. Unfortunately, here Nerds rarely grow up to be highly creative and innovative CEO's of their own technology companies. I would also like to mention here that the stereotypical arrogant, conceited, full of themselves American Lawyer/Businessman/Doctor/StockBroker/Succesfull Professional of any kind does not really have it's Swiss counterpart. It's hard to be full of yourself when you 're driving around in a car the size of a bathtub and when it accelerates sounds like a bee on speed, or have to shlep downstairs to do your laundry in the basement bomb shelter. The supreme confidence and sometimes arrogance exhibited by many American men doesn't really exist here. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad one. Maybe a little of both. Enough for now, signing off, Bye!