Monday, September 27, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
THE WAY TO A MAN'S HEART...AND STILL HITTING THE GYM!
"The way to a man's heart."
Some say that it would be through the stomach! Yes -- that would work with me! I don't think there's anything more attractive than to be invited over to spend a quiet night with a potential suitor and instead of whipping out the obvious (y'know what I'm talking about), they open up the kitchen, take out the cutting board, and flick on the burner! Your mama did something right!
When we live in a culture that nearly starves itself in pursuit of ideal physical perfection, spend hours a week pumping iron and running like a hamster on a treadmill, as I'm maturing (translate to: getting older) I'm swiftly becoming a lot more confident in my own skin -- that's not to say that I'm letting myself go. I'm just admitting that the six-pack abs just aren't that important to me. They are rather nice to look at and lay my hands on, but I don't need them. I like to eat cake!
It's certainly a contingent issue between myself and my trainer Greg Mills (www.gregmillsnyc.com). I recently returned to the the physical training aspect of my gym experience. Greg offered and I took him up on the suggestion to condition my body and increase my strength. In order to achieve that we meet 3 times a week at his gym of residency Steel Gym (www.steelgym.com) one do the city's most popular and serious body building gyms...in the heart of Chelsea! After getting over the initial mental shock-and-awe that I don't look like most of the guys that work out at this facility -- I'm 5'9" 175 lbs. and although in pretty decent shape I can't wrestle an ox or carry a piano on my shoulders. In fact: I don't really have big shoulders! Walking into this gym had me emotionally revisiting the emotional state I was in when I first started working out seriously at the age of 17.
I was a very skinny kid. I was about 120 lbs. at that age and growing up in South Florida, I used to wear sweaters (that's right sweaters) all year round in order to hide my lean, lanky arms. I wore my first short-sleeve tee shirt a year later in my senior year in high school, but I hungrily attacked my gym experience as a youth and my body quickly began to show results. Skinny no more, I was suddenly beset with the body dysmorphia that affects so many people especially who suffer from self-esteem or poor body image.
I'm now in my 30's and I still look in the mirror and see that skinny 14 year-old. The only difference now is that every now and then I get a glimpse of the the 180 lbs. guy that I've become most recently, but I still eat cake! I've never felt that need to fit in with the pack -- and from my experience, they don't seem to mind the physicality of my being that I have to offer. Balance it all out with a healthy lifestyle and good eating habits...you know what: you can indulge yourself every so often!
So yes -- cut to 20 years later and I'm still hitting the gym. Not because I'm a gay man and that's what we do...it's become a part of my conscious and a part of my social experience. I don't think I'll ever get rid of the skinny 14 year-old that I see when I look in the mirror, but at least the reflection of myself isn't as difficult to bear because the honest truth is that I let myself without cause or pause work at improving my physical appearance without the servitude to the culture that demands I fit into some ideal image of perfection.
We are after all always a work in progress -- and fortunately there is always material available to mold yourself into whatever you want to be. Just keep it away from my lower back fat and hips -- yes, I know -- men shouldn't have hips, but as we get older what do you call that area besides "The Cuban Curse". Everything is moderation is good. So eat cake -- you can work it off tomorrow!
LIVING OUT LOUD
Some of you (my all of five followers -- whom I appreciate and love very much) may have noticed that I recently changed the name of my blog-of-running-conscious. The reason for this is first and foremost 1.) for you -- my audience. I think it's important that I share more than just the events of "my gay life" -- which by most standards can be typically D-List (at least for now...I'm working towards that A-List). The second reason 2.) is because there's so much going on in the world and especially within my scope of observation that I think we all need to be aware of -- that includes all of us on the planet -- not just the denizens of gayville. We're part of a much bigger community...and even though we don't get as much [positive] attention as we like -- we deserve to have our input on the social stream of conscious.
And that's what I think I'm really meant to do. And I hope that everyone will participate in that with me. As a pop-culture commentator (yes, I'll legitimize myself by owning that title) and celebrity profiler I want to make it my goal to bring out the unexpected in the world audience. I know that I will succeed.
Thus the reason behind revising the mantra of my blog -- OUT LOUD and Living! is now a call to action: as much meant for me as for all of us out there. It's a way for me to expand on my commitment to myself to be genuine especially in my endeavor to create and evolve myself into a relevant voice able to capture and deliver on all the explosive and electrifying aspects of our world -- especially from the point of view of popular culture. I'm learning so much...about what drives us and inspires us; why we are the way we are and why we're becoming this -- and especially why we have to active contributors to our community -- in politics and beyond. We must be an out loud and present voice -- we must participate!
That's what I'd like to always do -- participate and bring you an audience in to share in that experience -- I'd like to reveal what isn't the most obvious (as evidenced in my recent profile of Real Housewife of New Jersey Danielle Staub) and celebrate the individual (check out my interviews with my friends Wanda Sykes and Mike Ruiz). And this I promise is just the tip of the iceberg -- let's hear it for global warming!
Please share your thought. Post your comments and live -- be a part of it all and be out loud!
Stay with me.
JC
Friday, September 10, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
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