Amyway, Bestie drew my picture and it had one very identifying characteristic: huge muscles, even more muscles than there were joints in her case. (She's not an artist.)
What I got out of her was, it doesn't matter what I did or how many degrees or how hard I work or how nice I am, or how smart, or any of that. It's the muscles, it was always about the muscles.
Oh, two comments at the gym: a couple weeks ago some scrawney guys were talking to some girl friends of theirs and one guy said, "I could be big like him" then they were talking about food and meat etc. Someone at the gym today saw me pass and I heard him say, "he's built like a house"
Today I noticed that I'm looking pretty dang beefy. Like beefier than I'm used to. Looking thicc in the arms and chest. My pecks and biceps are tugging on one of my tailored shirts. Luckily the fabric stretches a bit.
Lastly I've been getting unsolicited and out of character comments from my crew. Things like, "oh, that guy's cute like Bear" heard that one multiple times, they're not rizzing me up, trust me, or "hey Hercules", or there was another one, I forgot.
Guy opened the door for me, another guy like shrunk down and got out of my way, but that was happening before.
Again, when you're in the club, you're respected and admired.
