The Shiny Gym
Treadmills with television screens with satellite signals. Rows of them. The juice bar. IMAX theater built right in to the spinning room.
This is a hub for the Shiny People. The Shiny People Gym.
I can't help but to think of the Matrix movies. What a terrific metaphor. The Shiny people see a movie like that and they think there are good action scenes or they don't, think it was a good story or they don't but they never really look at it and think "Oh my god... that's me. I'm in the matrix". But they are plugged right into the Machine just as solidly as if they really were immersed in a vat of goo with wires coming and going from the back of their heads. I see them as they run the little pre-programmed routes on the treadmills. It is some kind of sad irony to see them flicking their wrists to get a glimpse of their heart monitor. I think the treadmills must produce some kind of interference signal that the monitor interprets as a pulse because I am sure that if you actually looked inside their chests one would find a cold, dark, still heart.
There is no outside of box type thought. This gym is just an outlet for the primordial urges that the matrix hasn't figured out how to mitigate. It is a poor surrogate for actually going outside and doing the things that this place is simulating. Spin Bikes. Climbing wall. Stairmaster. Treadmill. I'm pretty sure all these things are available outside with no membership fees. And yet the shiny people come here. Pay hard earned cash to enjoy the elitist sensation of being shiny. And with enough exposure to places like this they forget that the Real thing is even out there. Like POWs that forget English and adopt the language of their captors.
The Shiny Gym is a prison camp. A slave labor factory. Spend money. Be shiny. Look, over there by the eliptical! I think she's shinier than you. You will need to go get some cuter workout clothes and new shoes but on your way to the mall don't forget to stop at the juice bar for that smoothie we're telling you that you're craving. Yeah, it is made from high-fructose corn syrup and contains the caloric value of a steak dinner but go ahead... you earned it. You deserve it. Moreover, you deserve to be way shinier than that bitch. Oh, and you'd better sign up for another pilates class.
By the way, the rest of your life is looking a little dull. Better shine it up too. Gonna need a new car. Ditch that ugly-ass BMW. What's better than a BMW? I dunno but if you're asking that question there is someone that will sell it to you. Your job needs a little polish too. And your home. Better be big, better be new if you're gonna stay shiny. Shiny is not a one-time purchase. Shiny is a lease agreement. A commitment. Gonna take a lot and there's a lot of interest but it's worth it. Takes a lot of energy to be shiny too. A lot of time and effort studying the journals, People magazine, US weekly and the like. Gotta find out what Britney is up too and which shoes Jessica Simpson is wearing and who is pregnant and who is in rehab. The Uber-Shinies. Celebrities. Our Role Models.
These lives of these people are like the real versions of little model airplanes. The Shinies buy their little model kits and painstakingly apply glue and decals and attention to detail to attempt to capture some aspect of the Real Thing and apply it to their lives.
Which is good. We need more Britneys and Jessicas and Paris'. They contribute so much to our world. If only more young people today would just try to follow their lead. No sense idealizing lame-asses like Albert Schweitzer or Nelson Mandela or Mother Teresa. Definitely not that Shiny.
Inside the matrix the Shinies can't see any of this satire. The world of the Shiny is exactly as big as the Shiny itself. Nothing else exists. The population of Shiny-town is always exactly 1. All the roads lead in to Shiny-town and once on the Shiny-turnpike there are no exits to anywhere else. It is a big black hole with a glimmering mirror for a sky and by day the reflection of the Shiny provides light and by night a single Shining Star completes a constellation of one.
