At the Y I occasionally take a class called CycleBeat, a 45-minute indoor cycling sweatfest in which you match your bike's RPMs to the tempo of the music, switching between low, middle and high gears. Sometimes you sit in the saddle and other times you stand upright. Sometimes you do fast pushups on the handlebars. Did I mention there are also disco lights flashing around the room?
Obviously, the music is a vital part of the class, so the instructors take pains to put together fun playlists. Yesterday we rode to a 1980s soundtrack that included "Material Girl," "Danger Zone" and "St. Elmo's Fire." "I Think We're Alone Now" started up and the teacher called out, "Who sang this?" It was on the tip of my tongue to respond, "Tommy James and the Shondells, of course!" but someone beat me to the punch: It was popstar Tiffany, doing a remake.
Another reminder of my demographic came in an online questionnaire I received from my alma mater asking about my undergraduate studies overseas and how they affected my career and later life. It was timely, as I am working on a project that requires me to "translate" American English into British English (think "whilst," "practise" and "behaviour"), something I probably couldn't have done without studying abroad. There were many questions asking about dates, with each year in the 21st century offered as an option -- and then a catchall category "Before 2000." As if it was prehistory.
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