Weird Weekend In Ohio

Our grandson has gotten into body building.  His mom and dad are excited and supportive.  They are both into body sculpting and consuming exact amounts of calories in a timed manner and now their son is the apple falling close to their tree.  They couldn't take him to the Arnold Sports Festival Expo in Columbus, Ohio, last weekend so we were asked to step in. It's always an honor to be asked to do something with or for one of our kids or grandkids. We are happy they like us and include us in their lives. 

Our grandson is 16 now.  It has been interesting watching the things he has been obsessed with over the years such as video games, Rubik's cubes, bearded dragons, and skate boarding.  Rubik's cubes and skate boarding were my favorites.  I am not into video games and see most of them as a life suck in the same addictive and mind numbing category as TV, hours that you can never get back, that could be spent in so many other ways.  There is so much in this world to explore.  I say use your spare time, your free time to go exploring whether it's with a book or podcasts sitting in your own home, getting outside and communing with nature or participating in the limitless events in your area or planning a trip somewhere else. 

The Rubik's cube I liked because of the intellectual challenge it posed, it didn't take up much room, ha ha, it was quiet, and it wasn't hurting anyone unlike the video games which mostly celebrate indiscriminate killing of human beings and the Rubik's cube was portable. 

Our grandson was always more apathetic than athletic with most pursuits his folks tried to get him interested in. Except skate boarding.  And with skate boarding I think maybe he liked the culture more than he had the skill or accessible neighborhood area to master the basics. I think skate boarding is a respectable athletic skill though and gets less respect from old white people than it deserves. When we lived in a small town in the Southern Appalachians I was dismayed to see the town asphalt walking/hiking/cycling trail posted with signage disallowing skate boarders. If a cyclist can share a path with a pedestrian, why not a skate boarder?  I figured it was more a rejection of the skate boarder culture than a safety issue. 

As for our grandson's interest in bearded dragons and other reptiles, I was at first really excited until I realized this involved keeping a living being trapped for years at a time.  I've attended expo's for reptiles with our grandson and I hate it but don't say it.  And until now, after attending the Arnold Sports Festival, it occurs to me the people who seem to like that kind of thing are similar.  I can't quite put my finger on it but I wonder if the people who flock to each share the value of looking tough and acting tough, a kind of spit in your eye mentality a desire to shock or instill fear.  

So I certainly prefer skate boarding to body building. I have been introspective about why and am still not sure.  Is it the differing culture and skill? I think skate boarding takes skill. Does body building require skill? I'm no expert but I can see it takes some knowledge of how of equipment and muscles and diet.  Both undertakings require dedication to achieve desired states though body building is more a 24/7 thing. Body building involves lots of supplements, periods of fasting, timed meals with set calories and weighing of foods, very specific and timed workouts and periods of rest.  Body building is completely regimented and not at all compatible with the bohemian lifestyle that my husband and I live. It is contrary to our passion for wonderful food or curling up on the couch with a good book or waking up and just deciding to go for a drive or a hike or a long run. There is no spontaneity in body building.  None at all. Our grandson eats mostly white stuff that doesn't look like food. It looks gross.  His workout and food schedule dictate everything else. My husband and I sat in the car outside the Planet Fitness both nights in Columbus so our grandson could workout. He's not terribly independent, not at all street smart, and maybe a typical teenager in that he doesn't really have his head up thinking ahead for himself so we wanted to ensure he stayed safe in Columbus. We basically babysat him over the weekend.  But we learned a lot about this alien lifestyle he is joining.  

I'm not saying my husband and I have never lifted weights.  We have.  But we have never been body builders or been interested in doing it.  We prefer runners or hikers.  Runners can have the sticks up their butts on regimentation both with running, diet and rest.  Many are arrogant and competitive.  But many of them who are arrogant and competitive are quietly so.  They blend in on the street in street clothes.  Body builders are kind of like cheerleaders or runway models. Very aware of their looks. They are mirror lookers rather than outward looking at this big, wonderful life. I say good on having a body that can take us through this wonderful life using our wonderful senses to experience it.  I feel it is so hamstrung (to use body lingo) to be fixated on how you look and feel in the micro/macro way of body sculpting.  

My grandson told me I should be interested in body sculpting my own body because I like art.  I was speechless.  I love art.  But I can't imagine having only this one canvas, my own body, to work on or to see.  I can use my artistic inclinations to hang funky clothing and jewelry on this body and comb my hair into whatever twists or drapes meet my fancy on any given day.  

I've been online reading about body building and have run across many discussions of the self-absorption and narcissism of it and whether there are common denominators in personal motivation such as compensating for being shamed or belittled growing up.  Because there does seem to be an in-your-face attitude among the body builders.  Is it compensation? Is it a reaction to being shamed or belittled?  I don't know.  Do people get into body building to look tough or to shock others or feel superior?  I don't know.  I guess there are as many reasons for getting into it as there are for any pursuit or lifestyle. But there is something a little off-putting for me.

One thing I certainly can say I enjoyed at the Arnold Sports Expo was the body painting.  My favorite was this woman.  Not only was the artist amazing, but she was in character even as the artist worked on the finishing touches. 

The body painting was the only booth where I think I smiles enthusiastically.  I had a hard time looking at many of the people at the Arnold Sports Expo in Columbus, Ohio last weekend, whether it was the attendees or the competitors.  And there seemed to be a lot of T-shirts that said things like "Don't be a pussy."  That's sexist and demeaning.

To me the Arnold Sports Festival expo was a freak show. But where many people would consider the body painting freaky or wacky, it was my favorite.  It appealed to my bohemian nature. That's the kind of freak show I enjoy and where I use 'freak show' in the fondest way.  I love eccentric people.  I love the way this woman was in character even as the artist was putting on finishing touches. 

And here goes the rest of the freak show. 

The expo was named for Arnold Schwarzenegger who was actually booed by some of the attendees probably due to his politics and speaking out against Trump.  Arnold spoke right before the slapping contest.  You heard me.  Slapping.  Yeah.  It's a thing.  You can knock someone out with a slap like in boxing or domestic violence.  I couldn't see the slapping competition either on the stage or the jumbotrons which was a good thing because it is traumatizing to me.  It started with some 120ish pound dolled up women who my husband, who could see it with my grandson, described it as a lot of jiggly stuff going on that the crowd seemed to love.  And speaking of crowd.  Of all the events going on, this one attracted the most people in the expo.  It was body to body crowded around the stage.  Half the expo room was packed with spectators facing the stage and two massive jumbotrons.  The yelling and screaming of the crowd was scary.  It was like a gladiator competition.  I had been standing to the side rear of the stage watching the goings-on of the back stage work and the media and camera folks setting up and the competitors lining up.  The gentleman, and I use that term loosely, very, who knocked out his competition with a slap, had been striding up and down inside the fencing in front of the stage video taping the audience as it gathered before the competition.  He was tall and fit looking and very angry looking.  I guess he was getting into the zone that it takes to slap the shit out of someone.  Anyway, after we left the immediate area and heard the house coming down, it seemed, with all the shrieks of joy and amazement from the crowd as a human being was beaten to the ground, I couldn't help but look up from the other side of the expo and catch a glimpse in a jumbotron to see that, yes, the angry gentleman pacing back in forth in front of me video taping the crowd, passing his eyes over me with a dismissive yet contemptuous glare, was the "winner". It is upsetting to know human beings love a good train wreck, a good beating, a good lynching. I just hate it.

I don't remember wtf this was with the yellow and red costumes.  I think it was a take on the Renaissance Festival matches. 

And then we had some of the body builders where their bodies are a splotchy spray painted brownish red and they turn and flex and try to show every muscle to include, it seems, their vagina's.  I didn't quite catch that shot, fortunately, I guess, but every woman gave it to the crowd, so to speak. I guess the women need the spiked heels to show off their muscles, but the men do it barefoot. 

Gotta love the get-up of these two in the goth-inspired clothing.  Actually, that kind of look is more what I find interesting.  I love that the guy is walking around in his underwear.  

Where are the guy's high heals?  I love that the body paints make skin color all the same. 

These are wooden, I think, statues.  Lovely, don't you think?  I want one just outside my front door.  No wait.  I want one in the corner in my dining room.  

So there you have it.  My view of the Arnold Sports Expo.  And the word "sport" is used loosely here. 

But wait.  There's more to our lovely Columbus, Ohio trip.  My husband and I had been listening to the audio book, The Aviators, by Winston Groom, about Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle and Charles Lindbergh.  It is one of the best biography books I've ever read.  I've read lots of books are the air war in World War II and the development of strategy and tactics of bombers and fighters.  My uncle was a navigator on a B-17 that was shot down over France.  Some of the crew survived.  My uncle did not.  So before and after my husband and I escorted my folks to France years ago, to visit the crash site, meet some of the French citizens who witnessed it and even a French Resistance member who helped a survivor escape, I read dozens of books.  But this one, The Aviators, taught me things about Rickenbacker, Doolittle, and Lindbergh that I'd not yet heard.  As my husband and I travel around, we 'pull threads' from what we learn and explore further.  So knowing Rickenbacker had grown up in Columbus, Ohio, we took the opportunity to visit his childhood home.  

This home was outside the city of Columbus at the time.  They grew cabbage in the yard and had goats, giving them enough milk to sell.  The house held Rickenbacker's six siblings and two parents until his dad was killed in a fight when Rickenbacker was young.  Rickenbacker's life story was amazing.  He was second generation, a bootstraps riser, an amazingly curious and hard working talent with a heart the size of Alaska. I paid my respects.