I've got to come on here more often.

I've thought about it on occasion, but have always passed it off as one of those "I'll do it later" type of things. Hopefully that will fall by the wayside. We'll see.

It's currently 1:45 AM, and I was quite honestly feeling pretty bored, hence this short blurb. A lot has changed since I last posted. I'm going for an MSW, and so far things are going better than expected (of course, It's still early.) I WAS planning on moving out to Colorado sometime this month, but that completely fell through in the misunderstanding of misunderstandings. All is good though. I still have good friends, and two good jobs. both have their own ups and downs, but I feel that they are currently where i'm meant to be at in the moment. How are you all doing? If someone's still out there reading this, let me know.

A Realization.

So hey, how are ya?

(long post ahead warning)

I have recently (yesterday) came to a realization about myself and how I look at life. No, this isn't going to be one of those "I find Jesus and go into a convent" posts. that's NEVER gonna happen. So don't worry. Okay. Now that's out of the way...

I came to my realization while eating a tasty meatball sandwich at Subway. The epiphany I had went something like this- picture having an internal dialogue with your conscience, if you will.

"This isn't really good for you."
"I know that, and I don't care."
"You SHOULD care."
"Aaaaannnd why is that?"
"Because the only one you're hurting by eating all this crappy-ass food is YOURSELF."

Now, none of you know me all that well. I happen to be considered (maybe?) 'Morbidly Obese' by those health people that make those decisions from wherever. I am 265 pounds, and it shows. I have been ashamed of myself for quite some time because i have been carrying (in the form of my weight) a lot of guilt around some stuff that has never been, nor will ever be, my cross to bear. That guilt rightfully belongs on someone else's shoulders...but I digress. I also use it as a defense mechanism, and I'm not going to lie, it's worked pretty goddamned well for a very long time.

Yesterday I decided that all of it was bullshit. no one else is going to be suffering the physical maladies I'll eventually have from carrying this extra heft around. I'll be doing that. No one else is gonna be paying them bills either. Again, that will be me. So...I think I've finally smartened up, and have already started making healthier eating choices. So...I guess that's it. That's all I wanted to say.

MusclePharm and Me

So, as part of my healthy weight loss- workout regimen, I've decided to start talking about the steps I'm taking to get there. I use the Men's Health Spartacus workouts regularly, and have decided to integrate some MusclePharm products into my routine.
MusclePharm is a line of supplements used by the UFC, and the research I did showed positive reviews, so I decided that this is the brand I would start my first truly serious attempt at weight loss and working out with. Since I'm on vacation, I plan on starting up my jogging routine again this year as well.

Shred Matrix is the first tool I plan on using in my MP arsenal. while you can take up to six pills a day, I'm not (only taking 2, which according to the directions is fine.) They have an 8 stage weight-loss system, which could be legit or just clever marketing - we shall see. Reccommended for usage 30 minutes before breakfast and lunch, and not reccommended within 6 hours of bedtime (I took my first afternoon dosage at around 2 yesterday afternoon and didn't sleep until approximately 3 am this morning - no idea if that was caused by that or the fact I was on a roll with Dead Space 2.)

The next tool I plan on utilizing is Assault - I see it as a "pre-workout Crystal Light". You also utilize this 20-30 minutes before a workout, and it comes in a variety of flavors. I got raspberry lemonade.

I have not tried this yet, but plan on doing so today, and if I remember to do so I will tell you all what I think.

Last but not least, I'm going to be using Combat, a protein powder.

While you can take this anytime during the day, I intend on using it as my post workout. This too also comes in a variety of flavors - I snagged the triple berry, and intend on making smoothies with it (trying it out with chia seeds - never had them before but heard they're supposed to be wicked good for you! Check them out!)

While I didn't provide a shit ton of information here about these products, these and more can be found at MusclePharm, Bodybuilding, or other supplement stores.

Craptastic Spamming is Craptastic. Spammer, this one's for you.

Stop it. Really. Not that the spam is coming up in the comments anyways, but getting email after email of "cheap nfl jerseys", hoity-toity fashionista purses, etc. is getting old as shit. I think the one I enjoyed the most was reading where you claimed to be getting a ton of spam yourself, then provided a link to your site per usual. You're not getting anywhere with them, Spammy, so knock it off.

Misadventure in Online Dating - The Meet

Honestly, what the FUCK was I thinking meeting this guy??? So here goes, a play by play of my time with "A", the only guy I've met through eharmony.

SUNDAY

Sunday went well, with two notable exceptiions - He told me he was at the bus station, so I went to go get him at the one I thought we had both agreed upon going to - however, he wasn't there. I called him to ask him where he was, and he was actually at the Greyhound stop. No big deal, so I went there instead, and he apologized for not telling me which one he was at. He also took paint off my (admittedly cheap) bumper by putting his heavier than hell suitcase in my car. We had a nice dinner and nice conversation, but he just seemed...off. Talking about some things where I was thinking to myself "...dude...I don't really care..." and just being overly...unemotional with things he could have shown more emotion about. Must have been the meds.

MONDAY

Monday went very well. We went out for breakfast, napped, watched the Olympics. I got my offical job offer from a position I start next week, and we went for a hike. He met my father and that went ok, met my mom's boyfriend, which also went fine, and then we went out to eat dinner....which ended up being a clusterfuck of epic proportions. He was like hitting on the waitress- Like...WTF man...obviously I didn't have a claim to him, but lets be real...we met on EHARMONY, a dating website, and here he is HITTING on our waitress. But I digress.

So we finish our meal, and go out to the car, where all of a sudden he opens his mouth and decides it would be a great idea to ask me this - "Have you ever been with women before?"

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT THA FUCK?

"Uh, no! Why the hell would you even ask me that?"

"Well, I'm just getting this masculine vibe from you, and I think you'd have a very good chance of hooking up with women....like, I get this vibe that you like the waitress, and I think you two would be a good match."

...

...

...

ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS.

So I was in shock for the rest of the night, trying to rein in my emotions, as we went mini-golfing that night. When I returned home, he and I talked on Facebook, where I told him how I was feeling (kind of).

TUESDAY

Tuesday didn't start well. I went to his hotel, and we had a nice liittle chat about what happened the night before. I basically told him that he'd hurt me quite a bit by saying what he'd said, and I told him that if he had been with anyone else, they would have left his ass in the restaurant parking lot. He didn't really seem to get what I was saying, and offered free diving lessons, as well as a half-hearted apology, and asked if my father would still be willing to cook fish on the grill if he caught them. Uh, NO. 

So I canceled my part of the kayaking/camping trip (which in turn, canceled HIS trip as well) and he went fishing. Upon my return back to where he was staying from a town thirty minutes away (had to drop off paperwork) we went to lunch, where I made it clear in no uncertain turns that if he wanted to hang out here in my state for the rest of the week, he was more than welcome to do so, but that I wouldn't be hanging out with him anymore. Long story short, he left Tuesday afternoon, and I've been much happier since.

Music Review for Turntable Rock Stars (1)

(This is my first shot doing a review for them, so if anyone has any suggestions to make it better, feel free to respond in the comments. Thanks.)

MUSIC REVIEW

ARTIST- TITLE: Pink Floyd – The Wall

GENERAL THEME:

As one of those albums that actively tells a story throughout, this story (to me) is about the life of a man from childhood to adulthood, dealing with the loss of his father during World War II, as well as dealing with the fallout of that from his mother, whose authoritarian and domineering personality, not to mention the teachers at the school he has to go to sets the stage for his later problems in life, which (again, guessing here) appear to be drug usage and delusions, as well as being used by people he trusts, and others he barely knows. Finally being forced to confront his inner demons (The Trial) he is made to destroy the wall he has built up over the years to protect himself from others.

WHY I LIKE IT:

                For as long as I can remember (and from what some of you know, based on conversations in Rock Stars), “Comfortably Numb” has been the first (if not THE) first classic rock song I can recall listening to on the radio. One of my sisters grew up liking them immensely, and I’m happy to say I agree with her. “Comfortably Numb”, and the album in general, resonates with me in a way that VERY FEW albums do, by any artist. If you even remotely consider yourself a classic rock fan or aficionado, and you DON’T have this album, then you are seriously missing out on one of the defining albums of the genre.

FAVORITE SONGS:

(Disc 1) - “Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2”; “Young Lust”

(Disc 2) – “Hey You”, “Comfortably Numb”, “The Trial”      

            

SIMILAR ARTISTS:

                Artists that I would compare them to…probably Yes, as well as Red Rider. This section is arguable, so feel free to make your own comparisons.

Turntable.fm, part 2

yes, yet another post about the addiction known as turntable.fm. This site has recently spawned a competitor, and has been able to secure support from record companies, as well as go worldwide (recent reports state that this worldwide takeover will take approximately two years), and yet there are many out there in the interwebs that has no idea a site like this exists (a recent visitor to a room I frequent stated that he'd only found out about turntable after searching for coding jobs on Google). The site has made some improvements and changes since I last talked about it - they've introduced "laptop stickers", added more songs to their library, changed their graphical look (slighlty), especially when checking out someone else's profile, and has supposedly decreased the loading time they have been struggling to deal with for the past year or so. Here's hoping for more improvements in the future :)