Spa talk 14.

Monday, September 7, 2026.

I’ve entered the spa, getting a good hot soak before aquafit class. I’m saying hi to Simone. She was in one of my French conversation groups for a while, because she contemplated moving to France. But she dropped out after a couple of weeks when her migration plans became iffy.

Mark – Hey—whoa, whoa, whoa.

Simone – Is this your normal hour that you come?

Mark – Yeah, yeah. Normally I come at 10:15… We got into a conversation about losing weight.

Simone, I’m having a hard time losing any pounds. I'm not taking weight loss drugs.

Mark – Me neither. It does make a difference. Losing weight does make a difference. Yeah, I lost about 20 pounds in a year. Instead of spending thousands of dollars on weight-loss drugs, I just eat less. It's more snacking—snacking at the house, you know, whenever you feel like it. You stop doing that, and it starts to make a difference. And more fruit in my meals. Filling, but, you know, doesn't contribute many calories, so… For me, it's not a matter of willpower. It just sort of happened. You know, it hasn't happened before, and I might revert, so… But I still have a way to go. I'm at 205 pounds right now. Years ago, when I was running, I was sort of regularly at 185 pounds. That makes a big difference.

Robin descends into the spa. She volunteers at the Humane Society, a pet adoption organization.

Robin – Oh, I'm still recovering from my three hours volunteering at the pet shelter yesterday. You know, the heat and humidity- because I told you, you stand outside in the courtyard. And I had the three-to-six shift, the only one I could get, and I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ So, I bought one of those neck fans, so you get a little free-flowing air on your face—giving the illusion of anything.

Man – Yeah.

Robin – So, yeah, we have umbrellas that we're under. The event went really well. A lot of animals got adopted.

Lady – Well, thank you for doing your part.

Robin – Oh, you know, I love it there. I volunteer at the Humane Society. It's great, you know, and in my role as guest guide, I get to guide people. And then the joy on people's faces when they've adopted a pet — they're so happy.

Lady – Okay, a little dog.

Mark – Yeah, yeah.

Robin – Here's stuff I didn't know they had, like, and all different kinds of stuff. When I go to volunteer, I get to see what's there lately, because people are always starting to think, I've got a pet python…

Mark – Yeah, right.

Robin – Somebody turned in a box turtle yesterday.

Mark – Low maintenance. And they just eat some vegetables.
Yeah. You don't have to worry about mice and rats and…

Man – Robin, I'm curious.

Robin – Yes?

Man – Especially with dogs—what are the breeds that you see most of?

Robin – In my role, I don't directly interact with the dogs, so I’m not the right person to ask. I mean, we see a lot of mixed breeds. A lot of people, I think, use the Humane Society as a dumping ground—‘I don’t want this dog anymore’—so I don’t think the designer breeds… You know, once in a while. I saw a beautiful husky yesterday. You see huskies every once in a while, and pit bulls, which are about the only ones I could identify. But mostly what I see are mixed breeds

New Arrival – Good morning…

Robin – But it's very fun to be there. You know, I just really enjoy it. But people are funny. Some guy came in—I think it was on… let's see. So, it was Saturday. He adopted a pit bull, an older dog, and he came in, and he was mad because he adopted that pit bull, and that evening the dog got sick, and he had to take her to the emergency vet or something. I mean, he was all pissed off about it. Well, he had purchased the insurance plan, so he was covered, but he wanted to complain about it. He wanted to speak to a supervisor, and I'm like, ‘Well, it's Sunday. There aren't any supervisors.’ I mean, it's like, you bought the insurance.

I know that people think they're some bougie establishment where, you know… I mean, some guy was complaining: ‘Look at those dogs in there, and they all bark so much.’

Man – I have one more curiosity.

Robin – Yeah?

Man – Is there a certain—how do I say—is there a questionnaire that can show somebody to be a good parent and someone not to be a good parent, or a good, … you know…?

Robin – What I know about the adoption process is, the person decides they've found the dog or cat that they want. They spend time with what's called an adoption counselor, and the adoption counselor does that very thing: talks to them, finds out what the home is like—do you have other cats?—and goes over whatever information they can about the history, and tries to get a sense. I mean, I don't know what their training is, but I've spoken to most of them, and they're just, like, so grounded and centered and all of that.

So, you know, you would hope that somebody who would come to adopt would have some kind of sense, but who knows what that is? So, you never know. And there are people—there's a woman who brought back a dog. I think she'd had the dog for two days. It was some mixed breed, like a Lab or something, and she had no control over this dog. The dog was jerking the leash, and she was just like, ‘I'm bringing back this dog.’ Give it two days.

Lady – I just spent a little more time in the morning with my little kitty. I'm cat-sitting for my friend's cat, because she's an 18-year-old kitty. She gets medicine twice a day. She's getting to be old and frail.

Robin – She's up there. Yeah. Eighteen—which might be 80 years in cat years. I don't know how much. Yeah, I don't know.
Mark – Yeah, my daughter had a cat that turned 21.

Lady – Really?

Mark – Yeah.

Robin – So, I got home and I'm like, yeah, there's just no way I'm going to be able to go and take care of the kitty and do the E-Gym and come here, so…

Robin – Yeah, there are other guest-guide positions that are inside some of the areas in the air conditioning, but I want to be where everything's happening. I want to be right in the middle of it, you know, so that's… But when I'm, like, dying, I just go into the adoption center where the air conditioning is for a while. I get my strength back. Cats, I love their characters.

Lady – Oh, yeah. Cats, they do whatever they want to do. You take two aquafit classes today?

Mark – Oh, no—two, I think. Two, as far as I know, and both taught by Maty.

Lady – Okay, but I don't know whether the second is the arthritis class.

Mark – Yes, but he's doing it on Wednesday. And he is substituting for Cynthia today. Cynthia normally teaches the class; Today, he subs.

Lady – Well, I like doing back-to-back with them, doing the Aquafit and then arthritis. It loosens up everything. I would just say it's the difference between taking it or not taking it. That makes the biggest difference, regardless of who teaches it. You're moving your body.

Mark – You're moving your body, yes, in whatever way you imitate. You just use a few more arms and legs with Matty. Mine too—he gets you trying. And stand on one leg, on your toes. And then, occasionally, he jumps in the water there. Have you seen that? He makes a splash. I've seen him do it twice.

Lady – Yeah, twice in a week.

Robin, you're here—that's all that matters.

Mark – At least we can hear him (Maty has a very loud voice). If he had a microphone—Oh, that would be worse. He needs the reverse of a microphone. He needs a damper. Yeah. I think he thinks of it as an exercise for his lungs and his vocal [cords]. In his other role as a lifeguard—because I always look at the lifeguard…

Lady – Does he do it here?

Mark – Yeah. Yeah, he can be in the outdoor pool or the indoor pool. And some of the other lifeguards are just almost like they're reading a book. They would rather read a book. You have to pay attention. Especially with some of the [older people].

Lady – I'm always watching. I know. And there've been older people next to me… You know, when you're in there, my brain has been trained to be alert, so I can't—there's no off switch to that one when you care about people.

Mark – You would push them under, right?
(Laughter).
Lady – I noticed on the way into the locker room thing all the pictures of the lifeguards. So that's kind of nice, because I like that. Oh, yeah. I like to know who—you know, I see the names of all the lifeguards. Yeah, and the trainers. Like Cynthia.

Mark – And she has a degree in German. Yeah. I think she may have some German blood, you know, just living up to the family's expectations. I know German. Yeah, I'm not as good as Cynthia, but then I had four—I had three foreign languages in school plus Dutch. Four languages.
Yeah, I can't help it. You got it 15 hours a week for five years.

Lady – Wish I had that.

Mark – Well, we didn't miss it when it was over. I didn't miss it. But it helped me with my English. Except when I immigrated to Canada, the guy who addressed me at the embassy in The Hague addressed me in French. He said, “Well, you know, we're a bilingual country, and you put French on your résumé, so we'll talk in French for an hour.” It wouldn't have been any different from talking in English for an hour, because I wasn’t very proficient in either language. But, you know, when you have to do it. Yeah, Canada is bilingual. Quebec and New Brunswick, they speak French.

Mark – I’m talking to Simone again about the French conversation class I’m attending. Yeah. Well, I'm running it again. I gave it up a year and a half ago, but the guy who took over, Brock, spends half the year in Paris with his wife, so when he's not there…

Simone – Brock? She was in the conversation class only for a short while.

Mark – a retired doctor. Yeah, I realized he may have been in Paris when you were coming. Yeah. So he bought a small apartment in Paris, and he and his wife go for as long as they can, usually three months. Then they come back for three months; then they go again.

Robin – What’s it about and where?
Mark – It is at what is called the La Jolla Community Center, and it's really a conversation group. It's not a class. We just talk.

Simone – They also talk and read.

Mark – Yeah, yeah. We talk, and we read an article. Yeah, we sort of say you have to be able to carry on a conversation, you know, all the time, with whoever is there. The group has existed for, I think, 45 years. None of the original members are still alive. Yeah, I've seen two of them die, and they were the last ones. Oh, five minutes till aquafit starts. I better get my noodle and put a few noodles out so others can get theirs.

Simone – Good seeing you again. Your weight loss scheme sounds interesting. You’ve given me new hope.

Mark – Good talking to you. Enjoy the class.

MvR, October 10, 2026. ✍️