Seniors just want to have fun

Recently I began volunteering at the Glendale Adult Recreational Center on Colorado St. next to Glendale’s Central Library. It a place where seniors can spend their day doing multiple activities. Although I only have the job of selling coffee, filing papers and making copies, I have seen how much the seniors enjoy their time at the center.

Members are allowed to participate in all activities (with the exception of the gym which costs a little extra) with an activity card. The activity card costs only $10 annually, and possessing one gives members the opportunity to participate in a variety of activities. There are several different activity rooms, each with a new opportunity for something to do. And along with the regular activity rooms, each week has a special schedule planned with different activities for each day.

“It’s great seeing all the same people come in every day and have them interact with one another,” says center supervisor Julie Anne Leviant. “They keep themselves busy and have fun doing it. It’s great because thats the entire purpose of the center.”

Some of the regular, everyday activities include the popular games of chess, backgammon and billiards. Every morning, as soon as the center opens, a large group of people comes to the front desk to collect cue sticks, bags of chess pieces and backgammon boards.

Even though the billiards room only has four pool tables, it is packed with people. The men who play are forced to play in teams of two since the room is always so packed, and the people who have to wait their turn to play usually take pieces of scratch paper up from the front desk and use it to make bets on who is going to win.

“When we gamble on the games, we don’t really keep the money,” said a regular billiards player, Hakop Ghazavn, as he came up to me to buy a cup of coffee in between games. “We all put it in a pool, and whatever money we have collected at the end of the day we use to all go out to lunch together.”

The chess room is not usually as busy as the billiards room, although it does get pretty packed. The players come up to the front desk with their friend and exchange their activity card for a board and a bag of chess pieces, then make their way to their activity room. Members spend hours playing against one another. The room is always quiet since the men spend so much time concentrating on what move to make next.

Although the billiards room and the chess room tend to stay pretty calm, the most rambunctious members play backgammon, or as they like to call it “nardi.” Usually, when I’m volunteering, I have already given out all the nardi boards within the first 20 minutes of the day. They are always the first thing to go in the morning.

One of the regular nardi players, Razmik Badalians, told me that he comes in early in the morning to play, and he doesn’t leave until the center closes for the day. “My wife calls me and complains about when I’m going to be home,” he says. “Sometimes she even threatens to not make dinner for when I come home.”

From the front desk, I hear the sound of dice being tossed across the nardi boards resonate off the walls as the men jokingly swear. They are very competitive and passionate about the game and tend to spend their entire day playing it.

Along with the popular games that are played daily, the center also has many planned activities. One of the more popular planned activities is the senior mixers, which the center holds every Thursday afternoon in the main activity room.

Some of these activities include exercise classes such as aerobics, Tai Chi and muscle toning. Most of the members attend every day and participate in these activities; however, many only show up on Saturday morning just to take Tai Chi. A small band is hired to play music, and the members dance to the melodious songs from their younger days with their significant others.

“I love the mixers, me and my husband go every week,” said member Edna Nepomuceno. “We used to go out and dance all the time, but then we had kids and we never go out. These mixers let us relive our younger days.”

I have also seen that some of the more popular mixers tend to be the themed ones. The last themed mixer was the Halloween mixer, and the center had decorated the entire building with spooky decorations. Most of the members came in dressed in costumes and danced in their outfits while eating the provided snacks.

Before the Halloween mixer, there was also a luau mixer. Members came in with flowery dresses and Hawaiian shirts. The center decorated the activity room in a bunch of floral and leafy island-like decorations and even brought a limbo stand.

“My wife and I went to Hawaii a few years ago on vacation,” says member Patrick Nagar. “We bought some Hawaiian shirts for me, and pretty dresses for her while we were there, but we haven’t really gotten the chance to wear them since we got back. That’s why I liked the luau mixer; it gave us a chance to show off our authentic clothes.”

Out of all the exercise classes, I have seen that Tai Chi seems to be one of the more popular. Many people who have applied for membership only come to the center on Saturdays for the Tai Chi classes.

“I don’t really have time to come during the week,” says member Lily Sison. “I’m too busy, I have to take care of my grandkids while my daughter and her husband work, and I like to cook and clean for them because they’re always so busy. But I like to make time to come to the center in Saturdays for the Tai Chi. It’s very relaxing for me, and I like chatting with the other ladies afterwards. We have all become good friends.”