Saturday, October 5, 2013

Dragoncon 2013: photo dump

Finally have some downtime to drop down my DragonCon 2013 photos! Enjoy!



If you get punched by Molotov, you're gonna have a bad time

Scary fucking Mr Popo


Afro Samurai

Akuuuuu

Alchemists wear sneakers. Respect.

Ryan and I around 3am with the speaker from one of the anime panels

Raiders of the lost booze

Bender

The best dad of all time


My favorite random cosplay group

Big Daddy

Winners of the Venture costume contest

Xmen


Have yet to see a Nell that wasn't hot as shit

Me get blood bended

Just blue myself

I would do her, and her and her, set fire to her, do her...

Would fuck her, and her, set her on fire, fuck her...

So many Bobs Burgers cosplay

Monarch and King Gorilla 

Brock. Fucking. Sampson.

BROCK. FUCKING. SAMPSON.

Bulma costumes were crazy popular this year

Wonderboyyyyyyyyyy


Carl from ATHF

Me hanging out with Keida

Ryan choking out some dude

Chrono Trigger post puberty

FF7 Cid

Clever Girl

Clicker from The Last of Us

Cock worship

Shea and me in the Venture Bros costume contest


Dante from DMC

Best DBZ group costume evar


Venture Bros Dollar Lincoln


Dr. McNinja


Dr. O and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch as Rocky

El Fuerte Ult Combo 1

Envy from FMA

Evangelion. Aska putting on full bitch face.

Me, Ryan, and Wolfwood

Female Broly. Every year she racks up mad reddit karma for these costumes.

Femme. Fucking. Brock. Sampson.



Dragoncon was awesome until the fire nation attacked




Great Saiyaman. And crack. Lots of crack.


Hank Co

Me. Headbanging in a wig.


So much cocillycocaine neighbor

A way better HIM than I did last year


God damn son. Didn't realize I know both of these girls until I was checking my photos later.

The Grand Inquisitor. Had his sister spotting him at all times.



Amazing Isaac (Dead Space)


Honey I shrunk the juggernaut bitch

Naaaaa na na naa naa na naaa na na na naa naa na duguda dugada dugada dugada


The government uses cosplay to keep an eye on us



Has a backpack full of booze


Manos

Gettin sexy in the hotel room

Ran into a friend I hadn't seen in 10yrs working security




The best my Drogo-Monarch is gonna get



More cock worship

Akuma murder death kill

Back built by deadlifts

3some yes

Ness






















This guy ended up being my cartooning instructor in FL. He does an awesome Pliskin voice.






Tetsuooooo

Tim Burton's Joker


Every Tina = hotness

You wanna get high?













Friday, October 4, 2013

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

A New Challenger has Entered the Ring

You're my favorite Deputy





















Woody from Toy Story is the newest fighter in Street Fighter 4
He can fall with style, say 14 unique phrases, and is not afraid of anything
For his ultra combo, he eats you alive
I've got a friend in me

Thursday, July 4, 2013

A Year of Solitude

A year in limbo

























MIND DUMP TIME. HAPPY BIRTHDAY 'MERICA

One year ago, I made the best decision of my life by removing myself from an abusive relationship. It took some time to come to terms with the decisions I had made. Ultimately, it is far easier to project your life status on someone else than it is to accept the fact that you have the power to make every choice in front of you.

There is no hole so deep that can prevent you from climbing out. You always hold the card of being able to walk away, and it is powerful. Being in a shitty relationship is infinitely more lonely than being alone. If you are suffering from a current or past relationship, accept the choices you have made, then make another to improve your situation. Hating someone for a wrong they have done to you is like letting them live rent free in your brain. And as cliche as it sounds, time heals all wounds (although sometimes not in the ways you may expect or have hoped for).

I've tried therapy. I've tried mind quests. I've tried sleeping around (logic here: if I can push out the old with the new, that would be greeeat. Fucking retard sauce). The only real method for healing I have found that works consistently is love. Loving your family. Loving friends and strangers. Loving yourself and what you are becoming.

Over the past year, I have collected quotes (below) from various sources that embody this theme. They have all helped me in one way or another.

Fear is the mind killer. Love is the answer. Get stronger.

 “Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could.”
—        Louise Erdrich

The greatest gift you can ever give yourself is the undying belief that you are worthy. Someone who doesn't value their own self worth cannot fully accept anything gifted to them, or anything earned.

If you do not believe you are worthy of someones love, you will never experience it. If you do not believe you are worthy of adoration, you will never receive it. If you do not believe you are worthy of being strong you will never know it.

Inhale and grok the belief that you are worthy of things both gifted and earned. Without this, you will never understand the value of who you are, what you are capable of, or appreciate the fruits of your labor.

Now go, and win the fucking day.
- Paul Carter

“The problem, often not discovered until late in life, is that when you look for things in life like love, meaning, motivation, it implies they are sitting behind a tree or under a rock. The most successful people in life recognize, that in life they create their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own motivation. For me, I am driven by two main philosophies, know more today about the world than I knew yesterday. And lessen the suffering of others. You'd be surprised how far that gets you."
- Neil deGrasse Tyson

Live your motherfucking life. Get your hustle on. Understand people are gonna hate you regardless. Get that out of your head, that fantasy world where people ain't hating on you. You gotta be grateful. You need haters. What the fuck you complaining about? What the fuck do you think a haters job is? To fucking hate. So let them do their damn job. If there are any haters in here right now that don't have anybody to hate on, feel free to hate on me.

So I wanted to write this, because it came up in a conversation I had tonight and I thought it was really insightful about what happens in relationships a lot of times.

Generally you find someone you like, you do the things you need to do in order to woo them, romance them, tell them all the things you need to tell them to quell their fears, etc. You massage their needs.

As your feelings grow, and you fall in love with someone, many times people become fearful of losing that person. So their behavior changes. They become jealous or fight over petty shit, and then you wonder what happened along the way that caused all of that good shit to end.

It's really simple. Wooing someone, chasing someone, trying to "get" something that you want so badly has a very positive connotation with it. You want that, so your actions and desires are manipulated by a very positive energy.

Once you have "it" and develop deep feelings for it, the mortal side of us realizes we can lose it. And losing something has a very negative connotation with it. So we change how we act with that person, and the things we do with them. We check their cell phone messages or Facebook, we want them to stop hanging around certain friends, etc. Where before, those things didn't matter, because you wanted that person to be happy, so you did the things to make them happy. But once you become invested, you are driven by fear, not happiness. So the way you treat them is much much different. And eventually.....you lose them. And you wonder where you went wrong.

If you want a relationship to last, never stop wooing that person. Always remember that they need certain fears quelled at times, and to be made to feel like the king, or the queen. It's hard because we sometimes feel like our own selfish wants and needs to be fulfilled first, but if you actually make sure the others persons needs are, you'll find yours get fulfilled as well.

My lunesta is kicking in now so nothing after this would be good. Like sex with foxes on bicycles.
- Paul Carter 


"I'm too busy..." is code word that he/she is not interested in you. This is an easy let down as not to hurt your feelings.

People always ALWAYS make time for the people that are important to them, or that they have a romantic interest in. Don't hang on to people who don't deem you important enough in their life to make time for you.

Mainly, because it makes you look desperate. And desperation is a stinky cologne.

Let go, make choices, and appreciate.........
- Paul Carter


To a woman who said that Facebook pages like "Fap Nation" have a detrimental effect on a woman's self worth, I wrote........

"Self worth is defied by your SELF. In other words, this can only bother a woman if she chooses to let it bother her. No different than a man could say all those women that fawn over Brad Pitt or Channing Tatum decrease a mans self worth. You get to define your own self worth. If you let a fan page on Facebook destroy your self worth or self esteem then you have issues that need serious attention."

I write about this a lot. Love YOU like no one else can. Even if you aren't what you want to be physically or emotionally right now, love the shit out of yourself. It doesn't mean to rest on your laurels, and it is NOT an excuse to be lazy, procrastinate, not have goals, and not strive to fulfill your potential.

What it does mean is, LOVE the worker in you. Love the hunter in you. Love the warrior or queen in you. These things will never come to the surface if you keep them buried under self loathing, self pity, and despair. The person you want to see in the mirror isn't going to manifest itself if you don't learn how to love the things that will give birth to that.

Don't look at someone else, or something else and covet that. Admire it for what it is, appreciate it for what it is worth, and then come to an understanding that it has no bearing on you, who will love you, and how you need to love yourself in order to grow.

I hate when people say shit like that because there isn't anything in the world you should base your self worth on that you have no control over. If a woman has a great ass, don't hate. Appreciate. And then LOVE the things you need to do in order to have a great ass of your own. This applies to everything you want to accomplish in life.

Love it, and it will love you back.

I've written a lot about struggles. At times waxed poetically about relationships, life, love, hardships, and such.

I've endured plenty of my own. So have you. So have we all.

I've made promises that I've broken, and kept ones I never should have made.

I've drained my emotional well dry at times, trying to quench the thirst of people who couldn't drink enough.

I've abandoned my own code in order to please those who could not be pleased.

Eventually, you realize how badly you've lost your way, and looking in the mirror becomes a painful reminder of that.

"How did I get here?" can be the hardest question you may ever ask yourself.

There can only be one answer. Ever.

The choices I made.

The next choice is whether or not to let the tide take you under, or rise to the fucking occasion.......

Choose.
- Paul Carter

One of the most truthful and poignant quotes I've ever read, is "when you set out on a course of revenge, make sure to dig two graves".

Cut your losses with bad people and be done with it. Let them go. Living well is always the best revenge anyway. When you put someone in your sights to get back at, you will inevitably end up burning yourself just as badly in the process.

Some people are just going to suck, and do or say shitty things to you. Free yourself of them and live well. No shovel required.
- Paul Carter

When anything starts to become overwhelming, remember you are going to die
-Chris Jones


Monday, May 27, 2013

Training: Last month and this month

1. Last Month
Last month I dabbled in The Hepburn Method (one of the routines used by Doug Hepburn, Canadian strongman and weightlifter).


Don't hate. You should look so good in spandex.



























Monday/Thursday
Squat 8x2
- 80% 1RM
- Rest 2min between sets
Rest 5min
Squat 3x6
- 60% 1RM
- Rest 2min between sets
Bench Press 8x2
- 80% 1RM
- Rest 2min between sets
Rest 5min
Bench Press 3x6
- 60% 1RM
- Rest 2min between sets

Tuesday/Friday
Deadlift 80% 1RM 8x2, rest 2min between sets
Rest 5min
Deadlift 60% 1RM 3x6, rest 2min between sets
Overhead Press 80% 1RM 8x2, rest 2min between sets
Rest 5min
Overhead Press 60% 1RM 3x6, rest 2min between sets

For the entire month, add no weight to the bar. Instead, you will add a single rep every workout to both the 80% and 60% sets.

Example:
Monday 1
Squat 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2
Squat 6,6,6
Bench 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2
Bench 6,6,6

Thursday 1
Squat 3,2,2,2,2,2,2,2
Squat 7,6,6
Bench 3,2,2,2,2,2,2,2
Bench 7,6,6

Monday 2
Squat 3,3,2,2,2,2,2,2
Squat 7,7,6
Bench 3,3,2,2,2,2,2,2
Bench 7,7,6

Thursday 2
Squat 3,3,3,2,2,2,2,2
Squat 7,7,7
Bench 3,3,3,2,2,2,2,2
Bench 7,7,7

Continue in this fashion every workout until your volume reaches 8x3 for the 80% sets and 3x8 for the 60% sets. After this workout, increase every lift by 5-10lbs and restart the cycle at 8x2 and 3x6.

i.e.
Squat 3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3
Squat 8,8,8
Bench 3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3
Bench 8,8,8

Results from last month:
Every workout was challenging without experiencing a single grinder. I found that the bar speed increased on all major lifts even as I increased the volume. While I feel that the weights I used for this month became my bitch, anything heavier still feels like a foreign challenge. Also, my ability to safely do reps on the squat after low rep work is abysmal (my knees sometimes hurt for days). I hurt my neck overhead pressing in week 3, but that is hardly the program's fault.

The largest benefit I see here is that the Hepburn method allows a lifter to make continual (although, mechanical) progress while minimizing the number of shitty workouts. While this may seem minor, I was able to complete each workout even on days where I was undernourished or had poor sleep. So, if slow and steady is your style, you may want to check this routine out (Google: Doug Hepburn method for other routines by the same name).


2. This Month
My main driver for change is based on both the logical and the superficial...

Ze logical: Injuring my neck sucked fucking ass. This is the 4th (count'em 4) time I have injured my neck overhead pressing. Every time it happens, I take a break from that particular lift, try to learn what I did wrong, then attempt again with a renewed sense of self. Then, BOOM, headshot. As much as I love crawling out of bed (makes me feel like a low HP Snake Plissken) and counting the hours before the nearest Urgent Care opens, I'm done with this crap. The incline bench press supposedly (I have 0 experience with this lift) has a large carryover to the overhead press, fast overhead lifts, and bench press. This month will hopefully tell whether there is any validity to that claim.

Ze Superficial: I love olympic lift variations, chinups, and dips. There is nothing wrong with Hepburn's lift choices, but I am not competing in anything in the near future. So, fuck it, I do what I want.

Monday
Chinup
- Work up to a max rep weighted set for the day
- When the number of reps/set for the max set drops below 5, reset at a new 10RM
Powerclean or High Pull
- Either one, it doesn't really matter
- Put 30 minutes on the clock. If you can complete 18 singles in this time period, up the weight by 10lbs.
- Backoff sets of 3x6

Wednesday
Dips 8x2
- Work up to a max rep weighted set for the day
- When the number of reps/set for the max set drops below 5, reset at a new 10RM
Back Squat
- Put 30 minutes on the clock. If you can complete 18 singles in this time period, up the weight by 10lbs.
- Backoff sets of 3x6
Dip Supports
- Strap as much weight around my waist as possible
- Hold at extension for 20s-60s

Friday
Sumo Deadlift/Power Shrugs
- Put 30 minutes on the clock. If you can complete 18 singles in this time period, up the weight by 10lbs.
- Backoff sets of 3x6.
Seated Rows 3x9-12

Sunday
Partial Squats
- 1/4 squats off of pins
- Each rep is held for a count of 2
- Work up to a max triple
- 85%-90% of the max triple 8x3, 1min rest between sets
Behind the Neck Push Press
- Put 30 minutes on the clock. If you can complete 18 singles in this time period, up the weight by 10lbs.
- Backoff sets of 3x6..

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Quiche

Om? Nomnomnomnomnom.





















Tried a new recipe. Takes about 40min to make with prep and cooking time.

Ingredients/Supplies:
1 bag spinach
8-16 eggs
0.5lb-1lb ground beef
Small-medium pie pan (I bought the basic size available from Publix)

Preparation:
1. Wash 1 bag of uncooked spinach
2. Beat eggs in a small bowl (this may be done during subsequent steps)
3. Preheat oven to 350deg
4. Brown 0.5lb-1lb of ground beef.
5. Scoop a few tablespoons of butter into a saucer. Lightly brown 3-4 scoops of minced garlic on medium heat. Add the bag of spinach. Cook down until it resembles Popeye's hard-on.
6. Add eggs, beef, spinach, and garlic into a pie pan. Carefully insert onto center rack in the oven.
7. Bake for 30-35min
8. Feast
9. Poop
10. Remember

This is the quiche at its most basic form. Feel free to add other meats, cheese, and vegetables.


Stupid stupid rat people love quiche. So should you.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Abdominals: Protecting your box

No additional ab work needed. Pinako be mir'in.

I see a lot of conflicting information thrown around the internet concerning ab work. The main two schools of thought are:


1. Indirect Training is all I need!
You do not need direct abdominal training. Squats and deadlifts will provide all of the training your abs need.

2. Sit-up or die faggatron
You need to train your abs directly. Without direct abdominal work, all of your training (see: large movements like squats and deadlifts) will fall to shit. Fire will line the skies. Blood will run through the street soaking the survivors of the inevitable nuclear Holocaust with iron and soot. They will be dragged. Down. Down. Down. Far below where there is precious air, they will meet death alone should they ignore their planks and situps on large bouncy balls etc etc.


So who is right? Well, both really. The idea of training your abdominal muscles is rooted in training your body to brace itself. Although not apparent with lighter weights (which allow you to get away with damn near anything), heavier poundages demand that you get tight or fail. At the risk of borrowing (see: stealing) deadlifting champion Andy Bolton's words...


Stolen Metaphor!
Imagine you have a box. Reinforce the box on all but one side, then have King Hippo jump on the box from a 5 story window. Your box will explode out the one end that is not reinforced. Also, King Hippo is dead.

Now take the same box, but reinforce it on all sides. Have King Hippo jump on the box from a 5 story window. Your box, safely reinforced, will buckle but not break. Also, King Hippo is dead.

Moral of the story: a strong set of abs will protect you from injury and allow you to lift more weight.

Fucked


But I digress. How you earn your ab strength is up to you. You can brace your abs on every compound movement (to train them indirectly, which you damn well should be doing) and/or work them directly with weighted situps/raises/planks/etc. Let's be honest here. Direct ab work is not sexy or fun, but it may pay dividends to your training goals to bite the bullet and make it a habit.


Everyone needs to train their abs indirectly. Consider direct ab work as another feather in your cap. Get stronger.