Saturday, April 25, 2009

The Many Faces Of Jon

Whenever I dig up these relics, people always have different reactions--shock, non-belief, annoyance, laughter. I react with a sense of pride. I have come a long way--in this case, I am speaking only of my physical health and appearance (clothing choice and style included)--and I still have a long way to go; but let me note that for me to think that I still have a long way to go is, to quote someone, "delusional". Well, all that aside, here are the former faces of Jon. If you want an extremely brief history of each, read below. Click on photos for larger view.





From left to right, top row: was trying to grow a beard, was trying to be uptight, was having a good time at Starbucks (enjoying a fatty beverage, no doubt).

From left to right, middle row: was trying to grow a mustache--marchstache 2009 was better executed, was just really fat*, was tired and post-shave.

From left to right, bottom row: was hanging out on a friend's porch--those were good times, was trying to "dress nice"*, was trying to make screwdrivers in my mouth--bad decision, ultimately.

*You'll notice in these two photos, respectively, that I had a Pizza Hut box, a McDonalds bag, and a Subway bag--how did that get in there?--and a poster of Christina Aguilera, which was in no way related to me being in denial of the fact that I was/am a pseudo-flaming homosexual.

2 comments:

  1. I feel that I should publicly comment on what blogazar said. Yes, it is true that I was indeed more fun back then, and there is, in fact, a reason for such a thing to happen. A friend of mine agrees that when one is gay and that heavy, body-image does not register in one's mind. You have fun, because you don't care about how you present yourself to others. That is the most important thing to learn from all of this.

    I was just who I was at that time: the fun fat guy. But there comes a time -- there did for me -- when you finally become conscious of how you present yourself. There is not just appearance to consider here; there is also physical and mental well-being. After deciding that I was coming up short as a gay man (strictly in physical terms) I decided to do something about it. I cut out the mass consumption of junk food and I started exercising.

    I used to live on the 8th floor of an apartment building, and I took the stairs 98% of the time. Was I sweating bullets by the time I arrived at my point of destination? Absolutely. Do I do that to this day? Not so much.

    I guess my overall point is that it's easy to let yourself go when you don't care. But eventually you start to care, and you do something about it. However, as to how I would be less fun now that I am slimmer, I do not know how that played out. I suppose it is because I saw the progress I made and continued to hound myself for not being perfect. Life is a constant work-in-progress. Time is on my side.

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