Oxygen Bar

"Wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy.." were the words my ringtone serenaded me with this morning. But, unless P. Diddy generally feels disoriented and groggy I'm not sure my ringtone fit my theme for the day too well.

"Hello?"

"Is this Nick?"

"Yeah."

"Hey, Nick. It's Heidi from work. I was just calling to let you know that we're not working tonight. There's not a whole lot of work for the next couple weeks."

"Okay."

"There's no work tomorrow either. Next week we have you scheduled for Tuesday and Friday. You're off the rest of the week."

"Jeez. That's sucks."

"Yeah it does, but at least you weren't laid-off. We had to let 15 people go this morning."

"Yeah. Thanks for that. I'll see you Tuesday."

"Bye."

So, that was that. Great. Now I'm going to have to be frugile. How boring.
My best friend called not too long after that.

"What's up, Bro?"

"Hey, you wanna go to the oxygen bar with me in a few minutes?"

"Well, I'm supposed to be being frugile and junk, but why the hell not? I need to de-stress."

"Sounds good. See you in a few."

"Later."

Neither of us had ever been to an oxygen bar before but, we'd been talking about it for a few days and he couldn't have picked a better time to call me. I don't particularly enjoy my job, but money is a convenient thing to have, and I have a couple somewhat pricey investments coming up in the next few weeks. I have an anxiety disorder and the thought of losing an entire week of work weighed heavily on my mind. I don't take medication. I refuse to regulate my emotions via swallowing a pill every day. I hoped the oxygen bar would take some of the edge off my nerves.

We chose a great time to go to the spa. When we walked in the only person there was an employee. We paid $11 for 20 minutes on a tank. They had a wide assortment of scents to choose from. I went with relaxation for emotional de-stressing. Being a former substance abuser I was determined to get my money's worth of oxygen. For twenty minutes I breathed in deeply through my nose until my lungs were at maximum capacity and exhaled quickly out my mouth. I felt extremely relaxed and could feel a slight buzz, but mostly I just felt calm. When the twenty minutes was up I looked at my friend and neither of us could quit smiling. We felt good. Maybe this is how P. Diddy feels when he wakes up.

I highly recommend the oxygen bar to anyone who is anxious, stressed, or even just feeling tired. Afterwards I felt extremely comfortable and relaxed, and yet energetic, as well. Breathing normal air again made my brain tingle. The oxygen bar was great. I think I'll get a membership. After I start working again, that is.