The Duality of Me

It's pretty easy to read this blog and think "Oh, this guy is just some really handsome, charming, witty meathead who only talks about bacon and deadlifts." That is certainly an image that gets portrayed on this blog, but you may be surprised to know that there is a very different side of me.

This is only one part of Me

I'm a huge music guy; lately I've been listening to a lot of indie/alternative rock stuff. I love classic hip hop as well as classic rock. The recent popularity of EDM (electronic dance music) is interesting to me, and I listen to it, but it's not my bread and butter. If I were to choose a single artist to listen to for the rest of my life, chances are good that it would be Bruce Springsteen. I grew up listening to Bruce, Billy Joel and the Beatles because of my folks, and I think it was a good musical up-bringing.

Here are some songs and artists that I've really been into lately.

Fun is a group that became really popular recently because of their song "We Are Young", but after listening to that album, I quickly decided that this was actually their best song.

Young The Giant is a band that I've been listening to for close to a year now, I think. Their song "My Body" blew up, and they became extremely popular. This song, "Strings", is one of my favorites simply because of the opening chords that get played. They have a bunch of videos on YouTube where they play their album songs acoustically outside, and they are amazing. Go watch.

The Naked and Famous is a band from New Zealand who's album I love; it currently lives in my car. They have several really good songs on this release, but this one is my personal favorite.

Something that people who know the current version of me would never guess is that I'm an avid gardener. I spent four years working at a greenhouse selling plants, assembling and designing ornamental pots and doing landscape and garden design work. I was actually extremely close to going to school for landscape design...until I realized that I'd be spending 4 months gardening, 2 months raking leaves and 6 months shoveling snow.

I still really enjoy it, but have much less time to partake in that hobby. The last time I really got to get my hands dirty was when my sister wanted to install a garden in the corner of her yard. I was tapped to do the design, and I think it came out beautifully. I was initially bitten by the gardening bug as a little kid because my grandmother was an avid gardener; the peonies and tulips in her back garden were gorgeous year after year. I still suggest her trick of burying eggshells near the roots of one of her favorite plants, the Clematis.

Just because it's adorable.

I have the tendency to be a "hopeless romantic", but that is something that is currently taking a backseat to this thing I like to call "reality". It's working out pretty well for me so far.

I'm a big fan of art, of all types. Music, poetry, paintings, sculptures, you name it. The only problem is that I have no discernible artistic talent. I'm extremely jealous of people who are able to adequately express themselves through an artistic medium. When I was younger I played the drums with visions of Alex Van Halen and Lars Ulrich dancing in my head; and I was completely and totally mediocre. The only thing I can draw is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, and even those are pretty shitty. It turns out that my medium for artistic expression is the human body; I'm learning how to use exercise and nutrition to manipulate the body into whatever form I want. Want a bigger chest? I can do it. Stronger arms? Done. A bigger bum? Consider it done. Want to be leaner, faster and more explosive? Let's do it.

I'll admit it, it's tough to balance out my Alpha Male Testosterone-y bacon eating side with my gentler side. I get so wrapped up in training and lifting that it's easy for me to forget about the other side, the side that helps to make me Me. I know that it is extremely important for me to keep in touch with both sides, and that without both sides of me I'll become boring and un-interesting. Keep that in mind for yourself; your life can't be all about one thing, you have to achieve some balance. I'm going to go lift something heavy (snatches today!), I hope you do too. Before you do, take a second to listen to my favorite poem. Have a good one!