Red-bearded raconteur. Purveyor of cynicism. Goon-tender. Cube jockey. Beer lover. Rap song shout-out receiver. Wrap sandwich inventor. Repentant blogger.
The above “quote” is from my Twitter profile. I’m posting it here to make a simple point: no one man (and by “man” I mean “person” but I like brevity so apologies to any feminine readers for not caving to the PC Stylebook) is any one simple thing. Look at the generic tombstone: “Father, Husband, Brother,” et cetera. We are all an accumulation of our many pursuits, careers, hobbies and so on. Which is my personal spin on the saying, “Common sense is the accumulation of prejudices we have by age 18.”
I have been neglecting this blog to some extent due to my lack of recent author-y authorings. Which is to say I’ve been too busy to write fiction for public consumption, but not to say that I’ve been too busy to write. I’ve been writing a lot, actually. I’ve been writing about my weight-lifting and dieting. I’ve been writing snide comments about the Jacksonville Jaguars. I’ve written beer reviews, fart haikus*, and plans for my new house. I’ve written all this while playing hockey 1-2 nights per week, keeping up with the pro football Joneses, working 10 hours a day, travelling 4-5 hours per week (in a car where time can, and should, only be spent on one thing: driving), lifting weights 3-4 nights per week, and organizing repairs to my house (new windows on Monday, new floors on Tuesday!).
Which is a long way of saying I hate the advice of “write no matter what.” No one is a non-stop production machine (except maybe John Updike, but he’s dead now). Creativity is like a raging bull on a cocktail of meth, Red Bull and Four Loko. You don’t try to steer it, you just hang on and see where it takes you.
For me, recently, it’s been away from writing-writing and back into beer and exercise. Beyond the tag of “aspiring author” I’ve also been wearing removable name tags of “Hello, I Am: an aspiring home-brewer” and “…trying to get in shape.” While these are somewhat counter-intuitive goals, they’re critical for me as someone who 1. loves drinking craft beer and 2. doesn’t want to get a beer belly. Finding that balance has been one of my priorities recently, and in examining how to balances those two parts of my life I’m beginning to learn how to better juggle all the metaphorical balls I have up in the air right now.
My hope with learning this new juggling act that I’ll be able to best allows myself to pursue all the different hobbies that I enjoy without spreading myself too thin. For example, I love snowboarding in the winter. When I go on weekend trips, there’s no chance to hit the weight-room so I rely on snowboarding for my exercise. Those trips are also a great excuse to explore local craft beer; and maybe when everyone goes down for their 4-5pm nap I can work in a little writing, or maybe skip a day on the slopes (save some money for the house) and take a day to write and go for a hike (exercise).
Anyways, I’m rambling now and football’s on.
{V}
* Silent but deadly / It sneaks past the defenses / Sweet Lord! Light a match!
Reblogged this on Anti-Hero Fitness and commented:
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One day you’ll just forget about that “beer belly” goal and go all-in on goal #1! And right now your guest post has 422 views and is a page 2 result for the search “stone 16th Anniversary ipa beer review”. That’s pretty cool considering the popularity of the brewery and how many beer reviews that has received! Later.
That’s freakin’ awesome! Thanks again for the chance, Rob. If you ever want me to do another, I’d love to!
You are welcome anytime. Next time you grab a cool beer, consider it your encore.
I’m with you because winter season is where I grab the skis and get busy on the slopes; glad to see someone else loves burning cals off , while shredding:)Have a great holiday with your family and friends:))
Thanks, Jon. You too.
based on your tasteless and callow description of roche customers you seem to be a bit of a kerk.
Kerk.