EJ Fisch

Taking tomorrow and Tuesday off work to volunteer to help Tree Guy renovate the sauna at the gym. He’s got a side gig as a contractor (he’s the one who redid my kitchen floor lol) and is doing the same thing, taking the entire week off from his day job to volunteer his time for this project. Our gym is part of a nonprofit community center, so they don’t have much of a budget for stuff like this, and it’s sorely overdue, especially because the sauna has been out of commission since late September. Not sure what the exact timeline will look like since I’ve only got 2 days to work with, but we’ll start with demo tomorrow (all the benches and wood have already been torn out of there, leaving just the tile, and let me tell ya, it’s GROSS). Then hopefully we’ll be able to start laying some of the new tile. Should be kinda fun, and I’m more than happy to donate my time to something like this—the gym is my third place and means so much to me, and they do so much for the community. Not to mention I’m a regular sauna user, so I’ve definitely got a stake in this. Tree Guy and I were actually both present when the initial malfunction happened in September, and I’m very glad it wasn’t any more serious 😅. We were just sitting there chatting like normal when the heating element (with the rocks you pour water on) made a weird popping noise and the coils started glowing bright red. We were like 👀 but continued talking. It popped again and a little wisp of smoke started coming out of it. We were like hmmm, we should probably leave and go tell somebody. Then an actual flame appeared. Tree Guy was like, “I’ll go get someone, but you go out first” and stood there and blocked the element with his body while I slid by and got out the door (that was the ex-military ex-cop coming out strong 😂). Maintenance came and shut the whole thing down. There had already been talk about having Tree Guy redo the space, but we weren’t sure how that would work without having to close it for a certain amount of time, so then it was like welp, no time like the present! It has taken way longer than we expected to get to this point because they initially ordered the wrong replacement unit, an element that would’ve been way too small for the size of our sauna, but I’m glad we’re finally on the right track. Looking forward to knocking this project out and being able to use the sauna again.

I was explaining the concept of Gym Nicknames to a family member the other day and he thought it was the funniest, most novel thing, but it's amazing how common it is among gym regulars. The cast of characters I see every day never fails to entertain. 1) "Tree Guy" is always in the sauna at the same time as me, so named because he has a giant full-back tattoo of a tree. He's the one who called me "Miss Consistency" before we learned each other's real names. 2) I haven't seen "Turtle Guy" for a while, but he's so named because he used to carry this bright green backpack that somehow reminded me of TMNT. Tree Guy refers to him as "Star Wars Guy" because he often wears SW shirts. 3) Chris the Firefighter is a combo of real name/nickname, so named because he's a +20-year veteran wildlands firefighter. He calls Turtle Guy "Backpack Boy," so our brain waves were the same. 4) Similarly, "Mustache Guy" is this super jacked 20-something dude whom Tree Guy also refers to as "Mr. Mustache." 5) "Carpet Guy" is so named because he drives a ServiceMaster work van 6) "Mr. Sketchy Stretch" is this super weird dude who often comes into the sauna and does this whole awkward stretching routine to warm up for pickleball. It's SO cringey and hilarious. The nickname was Tree Guy's idea. 7) "Stairclimber Lady" used to be my primary competition for use of the single stairclimber machine, but now we have 2 and my schedule changed so I don't have to fight her anymore 😂 8) "Joey Fatone" obviously looks like Joey Fatone. 9) Oh and there's the Russian LMT lady everyone is afraid of 10) "Coughing Guy" has sort of become "Kettlebell Guy"—the former is because he used to constantly do this weird little throat-clearing thing, and the latter is because I only ever see him working with kettlebells. 11) I do know "Fire Lady's" real name but she moved here for a fresh start after losing everything in a wildfire a few years ago. She goes to a couple of Russian Lady's classes. She and her husband also foster; Tree Guy used to be a cop and actually arrested one of her foster kids for assaulting her, so that's been an interesting connection 😳. She's super nice and is often in the sauna with us. 12) "Mother Hen" and her "baby birds" are a trainer girl and her brood of kinda awkward 20-something girls she's been working on strength training with. 13) "Glasses Girl" is this very petite little thing who started coming at the new year in 2025 and was working SO hard. It was very cool to see her progress, but I haven't seen her in a long time—I hope she didn't give up. There are so many other people I see every day who don't really have nicknames, but I'm like "oh that guy" or "oh that lady" because they're still familiar. I'm always so curious about what other people call me, and "Miss Consistency" is the only name I've ever learned.

Friends, if you would, please continue praying for my friend J. There’s been…possibly not a full step backward, but at least a loss of forward momentum. Pray that he can find the sense of love and self-worth he craves in Jesus. Pray that he can find the strength and courage needed to get himself out of the situation he’s in (it’s very complicated and I truly don’t know what the solution is myself). Pray for his 10 y/o son who is caught in the middle of everything. I was talking to a mutual friend at the gym who’s kind of both of our “gym mom,” and she was telling me she touched his hair (he recently got a major haircut) and gave him a hug and he texted her later thanking her for it. So that’s kind of a hint of what we’re dealing with. And please pray for me that I can find a balance between doing what I can to help and letting go of the parts I can’t control. I went for a walk this afternoon and just talked out loud to God for the duration. Probably looked like a crazy person, especially since some tears were being shed. But man, I’ve never been a particularly empathetic person and this has all been affecting me in such a weird way. Maybe it’s a GOOD thing thing I’m not very empathetic because I can’t imagine caring this much about literally everything 😅 I’ve already floated the idea past my family of inviting J and his son to join us for Thanksgiving dinner, assuming they don’t have any other plans. Everyone’s already on board. Need to gauge his situation a little more first, but will probably extend the invite sooner rather than later just so it’s on the table. I think they could both stand to spend a little time in a welcoming family environment.