Gazette always started her day with a hot shower and primping afterward, but today she would begin putting Dr. Jones's advice into action.
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"One of the reasons that Animalia isn't really accepting you," he had said, "is because your co-workers only interact with you during your work hours, and you're reveling in your youth too much then. Try spending time with others outside of your work hours, like at Claw Coliseum."
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So now Gazette was registered with the Health and Fitness Classes, hoping to socialize more and follow Dr. Jones's advice.
Synchronized Stretching was a good way to meet new people, but as soon as 'Dos a dos' by Adiemus started playing, it was the only signal that Animalia Aerobics would start next, the music would get much more energetic, and there wouldn't be much energy for socializing. Fortunately, some messing up was expected from "greenhorns".
One, somewhat unpleasant, fact from this was that there were large glass windows on one side of each workout room to help Animalians find their classes. This made an open invitation to peepers/bystanders/spectators, but with a new "defense" that involved dumping a large amount of chilled water onto those who stayed too long, not many people stayed long enough to catcall. Fortunately, there were several drains spaced around the rough tile that made cleaning up easier without making it slipperier that made up the floor.
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Midday meal was also a good way to socialize with new friends, but one surprising member was Dr. Jones, but he was just keeping healthy, not keeping an eye on her. But he did have some funny stories to tell about some of his patients who were now part of other Projects:
"I had this one woman who was suffering from anorexia nervosa AND seemed to be stuck on the 1920s view of female beauty, especially the flappers. But before you ask, her name ISN'T Maddie, it was someone else..."
"...But there was another woman from Japan who had severe image issues because her breasts were extremely large, but she didn't have the back strength to hold them up, and so she was confined to a wheelchair. Her main issue was dealing with envious bullies..."
"...There was also this one woman who was obsessed/infatuated with the internet ads that include phrases like 'Dermatologists HATE her' and so on. I told her that anything on the internet that can promise eternal youth until you die is like promising that laziness can be defeated by using grafted goat glands..."
"...And so I told this other patient that 'You can't believe everything you see in "Women's Health" magazines. You won't be demoted by your vocal coach from tenor to bass or become half male just because you used 10lb+ dumbbells to work out instead of the magazine approved "yoga pretzel isometric resistance-banded yap-yap blah-blah dribble-dribble-dribble."'..."
"...and so I told her, 'If an ad uses many big words that you don't know what they mean, it only means one thing: RIPOFF! CALL THE AUTHORITIES!'"
While some might have been offended by some of his analogies, the things he compared it to made them all the more amusing.
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Afternoon workout would have been intimidating because of the many Superheavyweight and Ultra-heavyweight Animalians around her, but Dr. Jones's funny stories managed to boost her confidence enough to try it. Fortunately there were a few posters from ASM that showed things like "abs that can melt sharp cheddar cheese", "legs that can crush oil drums", and similar things as well as sayings like "Such things are possible if you just keep at it."
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Gazette managed to get home that evening very tired, but very happy. It seemed that Dr. Jones's advice was so sound that he might have been considered telepathic, if he hadn't already made it clear that he was autistic.