The Fabulist

The best part of my new job is the company gym; not only is it only $15 per month-with the first month and a half free (steroids not included), it is also staffed by two trainers and an sports nutrition/rehab intern. I'm generally in there from about 8:45 to 10 each morning, and during that time there is generally only one other person in the gym, the net result being that the people who work in the gym get quite bored and like to talk while I work out. On Friday I mentioned that I once saw a football player at ISU working out with a reverse grip bench press at a tremendously high weight, and the intern expressed some confusion at this claim. Reverse grip bench press? I explained that it is when you flip your hands around so your wrists face you while you bench. She asked the full time trainer if she had heard of such a thing. Negative.

At this point I myself began to wonder about my own claim. It had been years since I saw this, and if a personal trainer and a sports medicine student (who is also on the track team at University of Utah) had never heard of this style, it occurred to me that I may have once again mistaken dreams for reality. You see, I sometimes have these intensely vivid, starkly potent dreams; when coupled with my own poor memory and rather cavalier attitude towards reality, the result is that I periodically have difficulty separating the realm of the fantastic from the tangible reality around us. I must caution you that I don't go around thinking the absurd is real--I don't genuinely believe in unicorns, fairies, or a corruption-free White House. Instead, it is small things that confound me...did I genuinely see those cherries on sale at the store the other day? Like I said, minor things blend together in my mind. Was this one of them?

Normally my confusion is internal, and therefore not much of an issue for other people. But in this case, I began to fear that I would be publicly labeled a prevaricator, and calumnies would cascade about me in whispers as I wandered the halls of both gym and work. Spending the rest of the day fretting, I immediately went to the fount of all wisdom in the modern era, Google. It was true, there genuinely is a reverse grip bench press (though it appears to be highly dangerous and now banned in competitions). Thus spake the oracle.

The only issue now is how to slip this nugget of truth into a conversation next week, thereby salvaging my sterling reputation as a purveyor of all things truthful?