» I Sit Down Too Much… [- mass konfuzion.com -]: Music, Life, etc.

Since I’m a self-proclaimed computer nerd (and a professional desk jockey), you may have trouble taking me seriously in this post. That is, you may think I’m the food cooking in the pot I’m calling black. But I have to gripe–I sit down too much. During the day, I might look like I’m awake and alert, but I really want to do this:

The problem is, I’m good at corporate workboy-ism, and not so good at other stuff, like professional athletics. Thus, I have one of those typical office jobs (read: an-8-hour-a-day-sit-behind-a-desk-focused-intently-on-an-LCD-screen-while-not-moving-except-to-use-the-bathroom-job). Here’s a recount of a typical day in the life of Lou:

If it’s a travel day, I spend a few hours sitting at the airport or in a plane. Don’t forget the time I sit in a cab getting transported from point to point. Otherwise, if I’m in Chicago, I sit on the train for about an hour. I also sit in my car on the way to/from the train station.
I’ll spend a few hours sitting at my desk, usually typing something. Nevermind the fact that I might go blind.
Maybe I’ll go to a few meetings. If I’m lucky, they won’t bore me to sleep, but I digress. At those meetings, guess what I do. I’ll give you a hint: If you didn’t say “sit down,” you’re an idiot.
After those meetings, I’ll have some new collection of notes, instructions and insights on what I’ll pass the next few hours working on, seated of course, at the computer.

I skipped meals. If you eat standing up, you’re abnormal. I also neglected to mention sleeping (although, with as much train and plane riding as I do, I’ve gotten pretty good at sleeping sitting down, too). But you get the point.

Don’t get me wrong; I hit the gym (at least 3 times a week, especially in recent months), play soccer and basketball fairly frequently, ride my bike as often as I can, rollerblade, skip the ol’ speed rope from time to time, and jog sometimes. Despite all that, I still spend a greatly disproportionate amount of time doing my best impression of a tree stump.

Even the activities I enjoy the most really aren’t that active at all. Take, for example, my most time-consuming hobby: music. The time it consumes almost invariably comprises my sitting at my computer or desk, writing songs. Wathcing movies? Sitting. Hanging out with friends? Sitting. Even writing this post, I’m sitting. Am I doomed to spend the majority of the my waking hours warming the surface of a chair, bench, or stool? This doesn’t seem right; I don’t think natural selection has been working all this time to eliminate those who couldn’t sit the longest (survival of the fattest??). I’ve never seen a gold medal handed out for Olympic Couch Posing. And I doubt I ever will..

If only I could get paid my same salary to test exercise equipment or something. Is that too much to ask? I open the floor to you: WWYD (what would you do)?