You are what you watch

A while back, The Star Tribune did a really good article (I can't find the link) about how restaurants in the Twin Cities are forming from not just places to eat, but a place to be seen. Instead of bars and clubs, the younger crowd is opting for fois gras as Bar La Grassa. There is a social hierarchy aspect to eating these days, and I found it quite interesting. 

Which leads me to television. I feel like more and more, people are becoming defined by what they watch. But only a handful of shows. If in casual conversation you say "I enjoy watching ESPN or The Simpsons", nobody seems to notice or care. But throw in a "Did you catch the last Game of Thrones" into a sentence, and you'll surely catch the attention of some. 

Certain shows seem to have a cult following that break the episodes down into every aspect possible. I was just talking to someone about how Breaking Bad uses color on the characters to foreshadow what is to come. I never really noticed it, but he intensely watches each episode for those things.

The Wire is by far my favorite show of all time. And any time someone else is like "I love The Wire too" we instantly have a connection. We can talk about favorite scenes, characters, Marlo or Avon, etc... The conversation can span a half hour with no effort. But only on that show. If someone loved Boy Meets World (just as I do) that would spawn a smile and agreement, but not a debate or discussion. So why do some shows do this, while most don't? 

I think I started to notice it with The Sopranos. Watching that (or I guess Sex and the City too) became almost chic. It is the "it" thing to do. If you came into work on Monday and didn't know what happened on Sunday nights episode, you were left out of water cooler chats. 

But now it seems that television shows dictate our perceived personalities. Example: If someone loves Game of Thrones and Mad Men, I can probably tell I will get along with them. If I know NOTHING else about them, I can probably make that assumption. If they loved The Wire and The Sopranos, I can probably tell I will LOVE them. These people could be baseball hating kleptos, and would assume I would like them solely based on the television they watched. 

This theory doesn't apply to books, music or even movies. Just TV. I have no idea exactly why this happens, but found it to be something worth looking into more... 

Tell me about a time when...

I don't get to see my closest friends all that much anymore. Large bodies of land tend to keep us apart. After high school, everyone except me moved out of Minneapolis on to bigger, better things. San Francisco, Jacksonville, Rio de Janeiro, La Crosse and New York. So needless to say my face to face time with them has been somewhat scarce the past few years.
But the modern invention of the phone (we don't really Facebook, text or skype - we keep it old school) allows us to chat every so often. And every so often, we may catch each other in a particular mood. 
As for last night, we were in a mood. A random call to say "what up" turned into a half hour call about times we ducked from the police in our more....rambunctious days. As most know, I wasn't exactly the model citizen between 15 - 22. I thought that late night graffiti sessions were the epitome of my existence. 
The trading of back and forth stories about getting caught in a train yard or climbing down from a billboard always makes me happy. For the most part, none of us ever really got locked up. A few humble trespassing and lurking charges was about all we ever got. Some friends actually got felony charges, but they were much more big time than I was. 
This morning when I got up, I had to call my mom to tell her how sorry I was for being a delinquent. I know she put up with a lot of things that most parents would never had. There came a time when anytime she saw me with my backpack she used to say "jump" to see if any spray cans would clank around in there. We laugh about it now, but sneaking paint in and out of your house when you're 16 is a full time job! 
I loved those late night painting missions we all used to go on. So many of my best life stories start out with "So Mike and I were out piecing...". But I'm more thankful that I never got fully caught up in it. So many of the people I used to run with back in the day are still up to those old tricks. Because of their records, they can't get jobs, they never went to college, they're barely making it by in life. A few more bad decisions in my youth would have probably led me down that path as well... 
I still get texts from a couple of those guys today. "wanna hit some spots"? But as much as that gets me excited (and mostly makes me wonder "do I still got it"?), I have no interest in climbing under fences, getting chased by dogs, possibly falling off a structure or jumping into the river to avoid capture, like I used to. In the infamous words of Roger Murtaugh "I'm too old for this shit". 

Sidenotes:
- I need to get out to San Francisco to see Mike. I've been a lousy friend 
- I need to get to Florida to see Drew. I've been a lousy friend (congrats on the wedding BTW)
- I actually got to spend 2 hours reading today. It was glorious 
- The best thing to pair a glass of red wine with, is another glass of red wine

Training Day

It's crazy how fitness can take over your life. At first, it's just eating healthy. Maybe you switch out regular produce for organic. You decide that soda and sugary drinks are overrated and you simply opt out for water. And then you take it one step farther. No more processed food. If you can't grow it or kill it, you don't eat it.
But then you start to have more energy. But what to do with all that energy? Workout of course. And workouts start out simple enough. A 5 mile run here, a 20 mile bike ride there, a few gym days in between. But then you start to learn more. If you match your diet to your workout, you'll start to see a lot of changes. All of a sudden, you're running 8 minute miles, you're able to squat and deadlift a lot more and you start to change in the mirror.
Then you're hooked. There's no going back. Then it's an almost obsession. You're matching the amount of grams per body weight to how many grams of protein your in taking. You're carbs only constitute 30% or less of your diet. And you start to be the odd one at your family functions because you won't have any pasta, cake or pie.
And while everyone else is out of shape and slightly heavy, YOUR the one that's looked at like the weird one. "Jon, you've always loved pancetta. Why are you only eating that chicken and rice stuff"?
And then you have a summer outing with your family and they all go "wow, you must have a fast metabolism". No. I workout like it's not an option and I eat well. It's literally that simple.
And I'm not saying I was ever on both sides of the spectrum. I was always pretty lean and never overweight by ANY means. And I'm also not a body builder. I love wine too much to ever get down below 8% body fat. I get that. But I can run faster and farther, jump higher, lift more and hit a baseball farther than I ever have in my life. And while I'll probably peak within the next 10 years, I'm going to make sure I at least have a peak worth having.

Random Sidenotes:
1. I love the movie Midnight In Paris. I am definitely one of those people who long for bygone days and romanticize the past. Especially in Paris.
2. The old Jazz station on my Pandora is the best. It Had to be You is currently on. I love that song.
3. I'm sort of thinking of getting a half sleeve tattoo. But I have no idea about what.
4. Atlas Shrugged is much better as a book than it is on my iPod.