#WeAreArity Wednesday: Chuck Fuller

Tell us about your worst haircut ever.

I was born in the seventies, but I mostly grew up in the eighties. And the classic bad haircut of the eighties, which I think everybody got affected by, was the bowl cut. So, put a bowl on and then just cut it around the edges. I was not immune. I got one of those. I am very thankful that I don’t think there’s any photographic evidence of it, but it’s a really bad look.

I was so traumatized that I was like, “That’s never going to happen again.” I was probably 12 years old, somewhere in that range, so it was middle school. I definitely can remember going to school and feeling like, “This is a terrible look. I’m just not happy with myself right now.” People kind of noticed. They kind of give me a little side eye like, “Oh, nice ‘do, buddy.” I was like, “OK, mom, you’re never touching my hair again, so I am going to a barber from now on.”

It was a homemade cut. They always were. I think it was more reflective of really poor barber skills on the part of most parents. It’s a hard thing to do.

It grew out, and then fell out, eventually. Luckily, that wasn’t until later.

What is the most interesting book genre?

I am a big reader, and even though I work in technology, my degree is in history. I’ve always enjoyed reading history and getting into that kind of stuff. But as far as fiction goes, I’m torn on this one because I really love historical fiction, and I also love science fiction.

I think they’re related in a lot of ways because a lot of times historical fiction feels like science fiction. It’s just sort of looking backwards and imagining how things would’ve gone differently versus looking forwards and trying to think about what’s going to happen. So, I’m kind of torn a little bit between those two.

I think if I was forced to choose, I’d probably stick with historical fiction because it’s pretty fascinating to reimagine how things might’ve gone under different circumstances. A lot of times, it highlights how little, tiny things could affect massive change, which I always think is really an interesting aspect of history. It’s the classic question of: If you could go back in time and change this, what would the ripple effects be?

I can remember reading the — it’s not necessarily historical fiction, but it’s sort of dramatized history — “The Killer Angels,” which is a Michael Shaara book that was about the Battle of Gettysburg. It was sort of imagined from the perspective of the people involved in it. It was the first one I read where I thought, “Oh, this is really fascinating.”

I was used to studying history, and it can be dry in a lot of cases because it’s a lot of facts and figures, and this was very personal.

I’m kind of fascinated by things that go even further back a lot of times. I did study American History in college, and so I am interested in a lot of that, but at the same time, I think a lot of the classical Greek stuff is really interesting.

I can’t remember the author, but there’s a female author who wrote a couple of books that were sort of imagining the same thing, like putting you in the head of – I think it was Achilles. She wrote a couple of these things that were from the perspective of real people and imagining them, and a lot of times taking these sorts of mythic figures and then imagining them as real humans and the real challenges that you face as a real human.

Science fiction is a whole other one. I mean, there’s all sorts of stuff that’s really interesting there. I’m reading a really good series in science fiction right now called, “The Expanse” series that Amazon made into a TV series. Those are really good books as well. It’s the best science fiction because it actually has a grounding in reality to some degree, where it’s imagining that humans do become multiplanetary, but within our own solar system, and it focuses on just the challenges of doing that, right? So, it’s realistic in the sense that it’s not Star Wars-ish crap where people just sort of zoom here and everywhere. It’s like, no, space travel is really hard, and if you’re going to go fast, then it’s going to be really painful for people who have to sit there and go these extreme speeds. It’s like you see test pilots in planes who fly, and they get the g-force. Imagine that that times 10 and how damaging that is to a human body.

So, it’s just interesting from that perspective like, “Oh, this is what it could actually be.” Not that it’s going to happen. It’s just sort of like, if we did that, what would it be like, and how tough would it be?

What is your #1 recommendation of something to do in the city you live in?

I live in Seattle, Washington, and there’s a ton of things to do in Seattle. It’s a tourist destination, obviously, and it’s a very picturesque city, and there’s a lot of places you can go to see that scenery.

I think my answer is a little bit biased by the fact that I have two sons and they both work at the same place, which is a kayak rental place that’s on Lake Union. Getting onto the water is one of those quintessential experiences you should do when you’re in Seattle, and there’s a lot of ways to do it. There are boat tours you can take, there’s whale-watching, all sorts of stuff. But a really cool experience – it’s a kayak rental place that’s on Lake Union, which is the lake that’s in the middle of the city, and so you can get in there and see all sides of the city. It’s a really cool view of the downtown, and if you’re really adventurous, you can go pretty far up into the canals and see other parts of the city.

A lot of beginner folks go out there, and it’s really just do what you feel comfortable doing, but you don’t have to go far to really experience it. As soon as you get out from where their little dock is, you’re on the lake, and you can see everything all around you.

If you could be great at any Olympic sport, which would it be?

It’s funny, I was having a conversation yesterday, and we were just talking about what are people going to watch, what are they drawn to, things like that. And a lot of times, we’re drawn to the novel sports because nobody watches swimming other than the Olympics, and so you want to see that. And track and field is kind of similar.

So, I like those, but if this question was just, “What would you want to be great at?” then that’s an easy one for me because I am unequivocally a basketball nut. That’s my favorite sport in the world by a long shot, and I adore it. I’ve always been a huge fan of basketball. And so, if I could be great at one thing, I would definitely want to be great at basketball. If only my skills matched my interest level because then I’d be really great.

I did not play in high school. I was sort of young for my grade, and so I ended up not having a growth spurt until I was essentially almost done with high school. At the end of my junior year into my senior year, I grew six inches over the summer. So, for most of my sporting high school career, I was pretty short. I was like 5’ 6”, and then I had the growth spurt, and I’m 6’2” now. But I didn’t have the height to really compete at that level.

So, I was a tennis player, a soccer player – and I played a year of hockey.

What was your first job?

My first actual employed job was for a landscaping company when I was about 15 years old. There were a bunch of them around where we lived, and we had some friends that owned a company, and so I went to work for them. It was terrible.

I grew up in New York, just outside the city in one of the suburbs, and it’s really hot. It’s really humid, and you’re having to run around in thick pants, and then it is just grueling. It’s really tough work. I think I was making $12 or $11 an hour, or something like that, which was fine. I mean, for the time it was not a terrible wage, but also not a lot.

The biggest takeaway I got from that was I learned how ridiculously allergic I am to poison ivy. You will get poison ivy being a landscaper, and my body overreacts to poison ivy dramatically to the point where I would get these massive rashes from it. It would all merge into one thing. And one time my thigh just swelled up from having so much poison ivy on it.

So, I did that for one summer and I was like, “I can’t do this anymore. I’m just not going to put myself through it.” So, I took a CPR course and became a lifeguard, which was such a better job. As a lifeguard, I never had to make a save or anything. It was a pretty small pool, and it’s relatively rare that you’re going to get in those kinds of situations, so I never had that experience. Most of my time was spent telling kids to stop running. That and like treating bee stings.

Would you rather live 100 years in the past or 100 years in the future. Why?

This is a fitting question for somebody who likes both sides, the past and the future. It’d be really interesting to go back to all these times you studied and be able to see what things were really like. And I do think about that sometimes. There are situations where you imagine momentous moments in the past and what it would’ve been like to be there. But then the flip side of that is because I have studied those things and I have read quite a bit about life in those times, I know that even a hundred years ago, the arc of quality of life only goes in one direction basically.

For the most part, especially now, we pretty much only trend up. So, I know that 1924 – it wasn’t like things were bad, but there’s a lot of things that we just didn’t have. I saw something the other day where somebody was talking about how a hot shower is 60 years old. That’s something that really didn’t come into widespread use until the 50s or 60s. Most people were still taking baths before that.

So, if you go to the 20s, yeah, you’re really stepping back in terms of a lot of quality-of-life things. So, I think I’m going to skip that one. I think I’d be more interested in jumping ahead and seeing how far we have gone in the next hundred years.

Obviously, it’s a lot more of a gamble because you don’t know what the hell you’re going to find in 2124. Who knows what things are going to be like at that point? Is the planet going to be a burning ball of fire? I don’t know, it could be, but I guess I’d rather chance that.

I think there’s attraction to going back in some ways. You’d be in an era where we weren’t so fixated on phones and technology. But the trade-offs are obviously we wouldn’t have a lot of the advancement that we’ve had in terms of societal views on women, relationships, and all that. I don’t think I’d feel really comfortable in that.

What is your favorite way to practice self-care?

I think so much of it comes back to your physical wellbeing. At least for me, if I don’t feel physically good, then nothing else really matters. You get fixated and focused on that. And that gets harder and harder over time — I got a lot of grays.

Like I said, I’m a child of the eighties. I’m not as young and spry as I used to be, but I try to focus a lot on what I’m eating and exercising. I’ve always sort of gravitated to running. That’s been the thing I like to do the most from a physical activity standpoint.

It’s been a little challenging for me this year. I had a knee injury, and I just got surgery a few weeks ago.

So, I’m hopefully going to be back to doing that pretty soon. But I just think I’ve always loved it, and if you can do it, it’s really good for your health. There’s a combination of physical and mental because I need time to be in my own head a lot of times. And running is a really good spot for me to be by myself and clear a lot of stuff out of my brain.