Everything in moderation...

That was what my mother used to say to me on a regular basis while I was growing up: “Everything in moderation!” She would say this in reference to everything from food to social engagements to exercise. I don’t think I had realised the extent to which I had internalised this principle, until I started living at the Junction. Until this year I wouldn’t have described myself as a person who did many things in moderation…

Within a couple of weeks of moving in with the Johns Fantastic, I realised that McCoy and Heydinger display a variety of polar opposite extreme behaviours. In a number of instances, my behaviour seems to fall somewhere on the spectrum between the Johns.

When washing dishes, for example, McCoy stacks the dishes immaculately both before and after washing. Heydinger, on the other hand, pulls the dishes from all over the kitchen straight into the sink, and then puts them in the drying rack in a manner that could, at best, be described as haphazard. He will even throw clean plastic items into the drying rack, an action which I suspect McCoy thinks should be punishable by death. I don’t stack dishes in descending order of size, but I also don’t throw clean items around the kitchen, so I think that it would be fair to say that I take a moderate approach to washing dishes.

Another aspect of our lives that displays this trend is our diets. If McCoy had his way he would subsist on carb's and cheese, and the occasional piece of meat, while Heydinger specialises in consumption of salads and something called “chia”. I walk the middle road, consuming foods belonging to all of the different food groups with some regularity. If asked, I would refer to my diet as moderately healthy.

I would also normally refer to myself as moderately fit. Over the last while I have been working pretty hard on my fitness in preparation for the World Ultimate and Guts Championships in Japan. I have enjoyed this, but I would be fine if I was only exercising three times a week (rather than working out and/or playing Ultimate five times a week). I don’t think Heydinger would be. He seems to need to exercise like other people need to breathe. McCoy… Well… I'll just say that on a number of occasions over the last few months McCoy has sat and eaten sandwiches while Heydinger and I have worked out in our lounge. So, compared to the Johns, I am, in fact, moderately fit (even though I’m fitter than I’ve been for a long time).

There are a couple of other aspects of our behaviour that show this trend. Watch closely next time you hang out with us and you'll see the pattern soon enough. Look out for the Johns taking polar opposite approaches to the same activity. Then look for me. I'll be the other guy taking part in the activity... in moderation.

Before I sign off, I need to give the second Shoutout Fantastic! This one goes out to my very own Girlfriend Fantastic - Catherine O’Leary - who is kicking academic butt in the United States of ‘Murica! We hope to have a comment from her in the near future… When she learns to use the internet…

Matty out