Friday 7 February 2014

Jen Kirkman and the secret treadmill self

One of my favourite podcasts is “I Seem Fun: The Diary of Jen Kirkman”.  It consists of Jen Kirkman, sitting on her bed and talking.  About whatever she wants.  And singing too.  Lots of singing. 

jen kirkman

I really like her.  Really, really like her.  And I hope to see her when she comes to Australia for the Melbourne Comedy Festival.

That’s right.  I am willing to travel to Melbourne for you, Jen Kirkman.  Having gone to uni in Sydney, there is a rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne so I have always enjoyed saying that I have never even visited Melbourne (even though secretly I think I would like it very much).

We are also friends on twitter.  She retweeted something I said.  And she favourited another of my comments.  So yeah.  We’re basically BFFs for life.

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I actually don’t know what her stand up is like.  I’ve seen bits and pieces on youtube but I don’t think you can tell what someone’s act will be like from three minutes on youtube.  But what I’ve seen, I like.

But I really like her from what I have seen heard on the podcast.  I like hearing stories from her childhood (which makes me sound creepy!).  I like hearing what she says to people who diss her.  And I like adding them to my own repertoire.  Not that people diss me, but if they were to- then I would have some great things to say to them.  I like that she is someone who is open and honest about not wanting to have kids.  You don’t hear a lot from people who don’t have kids and I love hearing her talk about it.  It’s really nice to hear someone actually talk about it and for it to be ok.  Don’t get me wrong, I love me some kids… but the thought of actually having them?  I don’t know if I would be a good mum- and THAT IT IS OK.

And I want to buy her book and get her to sign it for me. 

Anyway, that was a long preamble to what this post is really supposed to be about.  There was something she talked about in the last podcast I listened to.  About how she really liked the new Britney single ‘Work bitch’ and how it was a good song to listen to on the treadmill.  And I found it super awesome that I transcribed it because, why not?

“You can’t always hang on to who you are every second of the day.  I feel like whoever you are on the treadmill, that’s a whole different person, that’s like this other weird side of you.  People who bring their treadmill self into the real world are the boring ones.  But we can have secret treadmill selves, right?  Once the sneaker and the sweatpants are on, what are you going to do?  Read an intelligent book and listen to smart music?  That’s when it’s time to get dumb.  Throw a magazine on, anything to get through it.  Songs that are like *air raid signal music*, it’s just like ‘yes, put me in a trance’.  I don’t want to think about what I’m doing”

I am always so embarrassed about what I listen to when I’m exercising.  So this is a safe space, right?  I listen to a mixture of Glee covers, Beyonce and, the thing I’m most embarrassed about… videogame soundtracks.  Like, the epic music that plays during a battle.  That way I feel like I’m in a training montage about how badass I am.  Which is so far from the truth.

So what does your secret treadmill self listen to?