Other sports I like: Table Tennis, White Water Rafting, Rock Climbing (bouldering more than top-rope), Hiking (both scenic trails and moderate altitude), SCUBA, and finally, this isn't a sport, but there are few things iI love more than floating the south Texas rivers on a tractor tire tube!

HIV status:

Safer sex?:

ABOUT ME

10/01 This week in SCUBA class we practiced "the bailout". The bailout is you taking off all your gear, holding it all in your hands in front of you, then jumping into the water and putting on your gear once you hit the bottom. The first time was freaky and a bit scary, since I close my eyes (so as not to lose my contacts) until I get to the bottom and can get my mask on and "cleared". Not being able to see your surroundings or your gear is nerve-wracking when your mind/lungs are telling you, "HEY IDIOT! YOU WEREN'T DESIGNED TO LIVE DOWN HERE WITHOUT YOUR GEAR ON! I'M GIVING YOU FIVE SECONDS TO MAKE ME FEEL SAFE OR I'M KICKING FOR THE SURFACE!" But the second time I already improved my skill completion time by a good bit. It was a nice adrenaline rush, and I left class feeling like the Big Man in Charge.

8/14 I still have occasional setbacks in my workouts from last year's injuries. Sometimes it feels like 3 steps forward 2 steps backward, but it's still at least some progress. A buddy and I have booked a ridiculously cheap airfare from Texas to Australia/New Zealand in a few months. Now I need to be disciplined enough to not push my workouts too hard, so I can be on a high line of good pain-free strength during the trip. Hopefully I can do some SCUBA, try out some surfing or parasailing, and do one of those treetop zipline tours in New Zealand.

7/3 Got my SCUBA certification and did my first rec dive at the Clear Spring park in Terrell, TX.
I did my certification dives in muddy/cloudy/stagnant Lake Travis in Austin. Imagine my surprise when we go down in the Clear Spring water and I can actually see farther than my hand in front of my face! I was a little underwhelmed by the cert weekend, but now I *see* why people get into SCUBA. Hopefully I will get to do a 50'+ visibility ocean dive within the next 12 months.

6/12 SCUBA is badass! I'm two weeks into the class and am loving it so far. Learning a whole new side of physiological principals/effects is fascinating.

4/22 I'm up to about 174 now, from 155 at the beginning of the year. Damn it feels good to work out again!

March 2009: I've put on about ten pounds of muscle in the last 10 weeks, so I'm feeling pretty good right now, but there's still a long way to go.

------

I like working out and being physically active whenever possible, whether it's through competitive sports or a personal challenge. I've climbed Pike's Peak twice - once up the west slope and once up the west, and am hoping to get back to Colorado next summer to do one of the other 14k peaks.

So what am I doing on RealJock?
I mainly check this site to read the forums for workout plans, injury rehab experiences, general health chatter, and the random mishmash of topics that pop up on any online message board. So far it seems there's a decent group of regulars who keep the conversations going. There are some good bits of workout/nutrition information. Some of the user profiles aren't too bad to look at either. :-)

I'm in between sports right now. I think I'm going to spend the next year or two re-building the general flexibility and strength/mass I had before a long run of sports injuries derailed my workouts. I finished my SCUBA certification early this Summer and have a trip to Australia/New Zealand coming up soon. I had hoped to take up some martial arts in Fall, but it looks like that will have to wait until next year.

GUYS I'M LOOKING TO MEET

I'm not "looking to meet" anyone in particular, but if it happens naturally, great.

I understand the natural desire to put a face to a name, and having been online since the old BBS days I respect the reasons why some people have a policy of not talking to someone without a clear face shot in their profile.

But I'm not really here to make a bunch of IM friends, and I'm not here looking for sex. Conversely, I'm not horribly disfigured nor am I deep in the closet - I don't have a bunch of pictures on any of my regularly visited "straight" sports/alumni/music forums either. The only part of this website where I will probably participate occasionally will be the Forums, and I shouldn't need a passport photo to read and type.

This is also my reason for ignoring the "HIV status" and "Safer Sex" questions, despite the knowledge that many people will assume a non-answer is an attempt to hide positive status. Neither question is relevant to my purpose here. Frankly, I think the HIV checkbox on socially-oriented gay websites is a questionable feature. If you're trying to be something other than just a hookup spot and profile pic wankfest, why does it matter? I don't see any checkboxes for Diabetes, Herpes, Leprosy, a Colostomy, or Huntington's chorea - and each of those has its own severe effects on your potential romantic relationship with someone. If someone's HIV status is going to affect how you verbally engage them on an Internet forum, then maybe these websites need to add a checkbox for "Prejudicial Shallow Hookup Machine".

In any case, whether or not my occasional forum comments are worth responding to, I'll leave as an exercise for you, the Reader. Either the ideas are valid and interesting or they aren't.

Still, if you want to drop a note and strike up a conversation, I'm not going to blow you off right away. I've had a couple discussions with people here that were interesting and enjoyable. Maybe you and I could add to that. Or maybe after a few exchanges there's just not much to say and we trail off into nothing. There's a planet filled with people out there, you can't connect with all of 'em.

Right below here are some of my current favorite tunes. Go ahead, find two you don't recognize and click on them, just so you can say you heard something new today. You're spending all that energy trying to keep your body young and vigorous -- listening to new concepts and new musical styles will help keep your mind young too. I'll try to rotate in a few new ones every once in a while. It appears to add newly uploaded tracks to the bottom of the list.
|
|
|
|/