Adverts and Stew.

Alright, so I had some stew tonight for dinner.
Now the main thing is Adverts... specifically - the ones you see when you log into MSN messenger that appear at the bottom of the main window... all the damn retarded videos of celebrity's, fat kids doing dumb things, and whatever else you can think of. I'm just sick of it all... I don't care what celebrity is fucking what celebrity, who they're banging on the side, what cheese they like, or what they're ill-informed opinion is on the price of go-kart wheels. If I had to choose, I would choose adverts that reflected the latest research in technology, or important political topics - G8 Summit, the Polish President that died recently, the Nuclear Summit that just happened, coverage on the Heart & Stroke Foundations battle to get another fitness credit into Ontario high schools, you know - something with substance that will actually mean something... Is it so hard to ask for something worth watching these days? My generation will see over 1 billion adds before we die, and less than a hundredth of a thousandth of a percent are actually worth staring at. But instead I get the latest garbage from Hollywood... time and time again... I saw an advert that claimed Lady Gaga has received over 1 billion views on Youtube, and is now called the Queen of Youtube. WHO THE FUCK CARES?! Her songs have absolutely no lyrical content what-so-ever, represent the most boring-over-used-bass-heartbeat-sound crap that you can hear in any club, which makes me want to tear my ears off using Incredible Hulk hands. Her fame is certainly not from her musical content, and all it is is shock value.. KISS did it years ago with wearing masks and painting their faces, punks did it in the 70s and early 80s with torn clothes, studded jackets, mohawks, and home-made t-shirts with vulgarity against stuff that pissed them off, all she's done is taken SHOCK to a new level with messed up costumes.. its not original, it's downright pathetic. And I've found out that her 'look' was actually stolen from an Irish woman that had been around YEARS before her, so any dose of 'oringinality' that so many brainwashed people think she had is gone... All you have is another pop slut making money off of the same crap that's been projected through the radiowaves for decades already, only by some means getting progressively worse.. I mean I'm not a pop fan, but look at the King of Pop - Michael Jackson... I'm not sure about his discography, but at least I can find meaning in some songs that he sung about... for example Beat It - it was about standing up for yourself, and not giving up.. now take that and pair it against Poker Face, which as quoted by the tramp herself during an interview with Rolling Stone explains the line 'Bluffin with my muffin'... "Obviously, it's my pussy's poker face! I took that line from another song I wrote but never released, called 'Blueberry Kisses.'" Wow... what something to sing about and get the message out... you're god damn vagina.. nobody cares.. honestly they don't... but unfortunately not even 0.0000001% of people that listen to that garbage will actually read the lyrics. Another hit of hers talks about sex and confusion of her own sexuality... you have the god damn world as a stage, and all you choose to share with the world is the fact you're not sure about if you're attracted to men, women, or both? This coming from a singer who does not wear pants... Spears doesn't wear underwear, Gaga doesn't wear pants... what's left? The next pop singer will just perform naked for her fans and give us some bullshit about 'being unrestricted by the heavy weight of clothes' Writing songs about how bad clothes are, and how everyone under the age of 18 that is stereotypically attractive should rip them all off, burn them, and beat the living piss out of anyone that's wearing clothes to win the battle for all people wearing clothes that dont want to.
Another celebrity that really pisses me off is that Kim Kardashian... basically we have a very rich girl, that became a playboy centerfold and made a sex tape with a football player, and got famous from it. Also, wears skirts too tight she can't even bend over... how the fuck is this world going to survive when that is one of the leading role-models... I think her name should be the new definition of IDIOT... when you read it: A Kim Kardashian is when you are so pathetic you buy clothes that you can't even move in... to the point that you can't even bend over to pick up something you dropped. Check the newest edition of Websters Dictionary.
It seems to me, if you do follow celebrity's at ALL, you have nothing more than 'Live in the fast lane' pop stars, faggot boy bands/singers, and people like Nicholas Cage.. while a great actor, has no concept of money management, and claims that he needs 30 million a year to cover his expenses... well when you throw parties for 1000's of people constantly, and own a dozen homes that are all large enough to hold the residents of a small japanese village, and you have more toys then jesus, your wallet may feel a bit thin.
I wish people would just wake up from all the bullshit in life, and see things for what they are. I'm tired of seeing young girls worry about weight, because some damn actress lost 50 lbs for their role, and you can do it too to get ahead! The same goes for actors that start pumping steroids for movie roles, and its so freakin obvious that in 6 months you can not go from looking like Screech on Saved By The Bell, to Bruce Lee. It just doesn't happen.. no Israeli Trainer, special ops marine nonsense is going to convince me otherwise. Stop talking about natural herbs and vitamins, and training 18 hours a day blah blah blah. Just show us the chemical soup of pills and needles that you used.. we all know its true anyways. I mean, sure if you have to put on 10 lbs, workout for 6 months, and do it healthily.. hell you're getting paid TONS of money, may as well earn some of it. The whole world is becoming fatter from lack of exercise and yet nobody seems to clue in that the reason people won't get off their ass is because they have 9206726 celebrity's looking razor thin, or steroid-induced baboons sending the wrong messages (*cough* sports, UFC *cough*). I'm glad I'm going into the Fitness Industry to combat some of this disease that's taken society by storm... I mean, I've never had weight issues, except putting on weight, but that's another story.. I can understand how someone that has some excess weight to lose doesn't want to workout because they want to go from being 20 lbs overweight to 30 lbs underweight.. not 20 lbs overweight to HEALTHY. Even people that are perfectly healthy feel the need to lose weight, and drop sizes, because some moron in hollywood posted it in their blog. I'm willing to bet if that Megan Fox chick from Transformers said that the way to getting her toned body and success was to eat glass and drink lighter fluid, people would do it. Personally I don't know if she actually did workout, or if she just used a crash diet, but she has so much popularity now that nobody would turn a cheek at what she says. Maybe one day I'll become famous, kick the shit out of all the steroid-induced losers out there, force feed the socialites until they are back to a healthy weight and healthy body image, and instate a rule that if you sing a song, you must first have the LYRICS posted worldwide for 6 months before the music comes out. Also, I would ban the use of 'air-brushing' and 'photo-shopping' for all images in magazines and billboards. I've seen how easy it is to take someone that is overweight and give them rock hard looking abs and defined chest muscles etc... it's easier than doing a cartwheel, and takes less time to learn. It doesn't help that there's 1000 diets and supplements out there that all promise fast results, but are actually starving the body of a macronutrient, and causing organ failure down the road. Most of the diets you have to stick on, or you gain the weight back.. nobody has clued in that if they adjust their lifestyle, and their eating habits they don't need to cut out macronutrients and eat a handful of pills, or shitty tasting processed food with a diet logo branded in it? I'm almost certain that the top executives in the fast food industry and the top executives in the weight-loss industry get together every week and discuss how to further screw the world over.. I'll go on the record saying that any diet that forces you to eliminate or significantly reduce your daily intake of a macronutrient (Fat, Protein, Carbohydrate) will only harm you in the short-term and long-term, and is completely backwards to the goal you want to achieve.

World of Warcraft - Over 6 Months without playing & Proud of it.

Ya, so end of March was the 6 month mark, and I'm glad to say that I don't feel any inclination what-so-ever to go back to the game. I'm writing this because I know that I have friends that are addicted, whether or not they want to admit it, and truth be told 40% of WoW players are addicted, with a subscription level of over 10 million, that works out to at least 4 Million people, so don't feel like you're the only one. Don't tell me 'its fun', that's the same response you get from heroin addicts, alcoholics claim to love their booze, and don't tell me Tiger Woods is saying all the sex he had he didnt enjoy. Of course it's fun, that's why you're playing.. it all the game did was send signals to your brain to burn your genitals every 5 minutes, it wouldn't be fun, and chances are you wouldn't be playing for very long.
Anyways, I spent 1000's of hours on that game within a 2.5 year period, so trust me - I did play as much as the rest of them - most likely more at some point - some weeks playing 85+ hours. Thankfully for me I did not have a relationship or job that I was neglecting.
To those of you that are still playing, remember - it's a game, and nobody outside of that gaming community cares what-so-ever about the accomplishments... Achievements don't pay bills, running countless brainless dungeons/raids doesn't earn you anything, and chances are your significant other (if applicable) would much rather prefer a night out, or any time alone vs. hearing you talk to people on Ventrillo/Teamspeak.
It's over 6 months now, and I'm back on the road to college, exercising like a fiend, and have my nutrition finally in order. I didn't do this by myself, I had help, but I made the decision to quit and be done with WoW on my own.
In any OTHER situation besides online gaming, spending countless hours with that many people under the age of 14 would consitute as very weird, if not creepy/illegal unless you're in the teaching profession. So in that respect, you don't need to waste time on the game. Also, unlike real life where if you leave someone important to you they will feel it, most of the time your characters/avatars are fulfilling a specific roll, only for that game. That being siad, should you leave, you will get replaced very fast... and even if you are the best at what you do (heal, tank, dps), it means that you can click a mouse and press a keyboard more effectively than a bunch of other people. You're not actually wielding a weapon, like a sword to a swordsmen, (In fact I would like to see most WoW players try and wield a 5ft Claymore, that would be awesome), or taking hits like a boxer, or healing people like a doctor... it's just mouse clicks that are scripted to change numbers inside tables inside a database that determine whether or not your avatar lives or dies, and the computer generated enemy falls down. Also, the whole construct of an MMORPG is a very simple psychological experiment that makes several companies millionaires. In basic terms, it's a reward system, rewarding the client with different things for good behaviour, and removing things for bad behaviour - similiar to disciplining a child. For example, you kill several hundred enemies - you're rewarded.. if you get through half and they kill you - you die. For killing the enemies, you get wealth, considering greed has been around since the beginning of human existence, this was probably a good thing to include in a game played by humans, who live in societys where wealth is required to survive. So the game continues, starting off very easy so that rewards are quick and fast, and building a dependancy that causes the player to engage in more game time because psychologically they have accomplished something and enjoy the feeling. So you go on and on, the rewards become less and less pronounced(experience required for next level increases, difficulty of quests increases etc). So eventually you have to spend much more time to get a reward. Once you hit the max level, the dynamic is still the same, but presented differently - the reward is when you go through a dungeon, but this time, it's set on a timer so only once a day can you try it - adds an element of risk, meaning you have to try that much harder. However, the reward is still there when you complete it, and completing several dungeons/quests brings us to raids, which are more spread out, and again - harder and harder requiring more time. The so called 'expansions' are nothing more than a package of rewards requiring more time to achieve, combined with a few new features for advertising sake that really don't change the overall aspect of the game - they're just the shiny things on the box that attract people about the same amount as red cereal boxes. When all is said and done, the only thing that WoW has done, is robbed you of years of your life, and compromised your health to the point that withdrawing from the game seems nearly impossible because you have nothing to show for outside of it. I will admit I did relapse a couple times, I'm not saying quitting is easy. To non-gamers they don't understand the addiction, because the medical industry has not written a book on how to handle computer-game addiction. There have not been long drawn out studies of long term effects, and the advertising money is already used for things like cancer and alcohol treatment, so help is hard to find.
If there are any friends of mine out there that need help to combat their addiction, I will be more than happy to assist them. I don't have any medical qualifications, or certificates, I was just a gamer that got sucked into WoW, and broke his way out.

Snow?

Hey,

It's snowing, feels like -4 with the wind, and is not the right weather for jogging. Good news, is this week I broke my jogging record for distance - 15.2km. Took 95 minutes, so 6:15 /km. A tad on the slow side, but speed was not the goal. I do wind sprints for that, which I have to get back to if this damn rain would ever let up. I got back using my machine, doing that workout the other day, partially anyways. Felt alright I guess, I haven't lost much strength from being sick in March. The only other thing to overcome is the 2 hour cardio workout which I haven't done in forever. I'm thinking I might do it today because the weather is crap, and my legs are finally rested and better from the extreme jogging earlier this week. Nutrition wise it's been pretty awesome, I haven't messed up in a long time, and even since starting in January, I've only had one major screw-up - that was pizza and coke one night in February. The diet is pretty basic, and there's not much variety, but it forces me to be creative with things, such as the havarti & roase beef and onions on whole wheat (homemade bread, not store bought). One thing I have to get back into is core workout, my core is very far from where it should be.. I really want the definition back again, I look at my stomach and think that I have let myself go.. I decided to purchase a pair of skates for this upcoming winter while I'm in Peterborough, not because I can play hockey, but doing laps or sprints on the ice is still good cardio, and a change from the regular routine. I haven't purchased them yet, but it's a goal before next winter - off season always spells bargain. Some may ask what happened to my skates from before, but having not been on a pair of skates in 9 years, my feet have grown.
Yesterday in Huntsville I was at a huge bike shop downtown, and found these interesting power bar/energy boost snacks. However, unlike most packaged garbage, this is all natural ingredients, no refined sugar, no sugar spikes from taking it, and is very economical. I'm thinking of experimenting with this stuff to see if I can improve my distance jogging in about a month once I get 15.2km down to a regular jog. The next leap I think should be around 4-5km, bringing distance to 20km, it's a nice round number, and I think I found a route in Bracebridge that will accomodate it.
Easter was interesting, hung out with some friends, figured out a friend proposed to his gf last month which was kinda neat, and learned a new card game that I can't remember the name to (not a drinking one, just a normal one). Also, busted out the baseball glove the last week (prior to the rain), and that felt good. Still have a great spin while throwing the football too! All in all it's been a good last couple weeks exercise wise, the last couple days I haven't done much, but that will change now. It's been snowing constantly today, hopefully it will be done soon, and we can return to that nice warm spell we had..

Jogging

Jogged 15.2km today, 95 minutes. Twice the distance of what I usually do. Very excited, and tired. Going to bed.

Go Go Gadget Plague!

Well I've been brutally sick for basically the last 2 weeks, and things are finally looking upwards. What did I have ? The next stage in viral evolution, combined with the epitome of bacterial disaster wrapped up into one. I'm sure I broke the world record for most sneezes in one day, and also the amount of time slept by someone 24 that is not hung over. I did manage the one day to go outside when I thought things were getting better, purchased a really nice chess set. It was 15 bucks, and I remember seeing the same one in those Sears Wishbook things, and various other catalogues/flyers for over 50 bucks when I was younger. Turns out it was a leftover from Christmas, and they wanted to get rid of it. If you're interested - it's all made out of glass, and one set of pieces is smoked glass. Also, this is not wine glass, the whole thing isn't a decoration. I'm not one of those people that buys random things that I never use just to put in a room that I never go in with lots of nice shit in it... a couple people I know have parents like that... what's the point? If I live somewhere, I want to utilize every room... not designate one of them as an unusable room, and throw some random crap in there to make it look like I'm way more well off than I am... this includes furniture, large globes, fancy chess sets, old books, and other belongings that people display but have no idea how to use or read.. Other than that.. not a whole hell of a lot has changed recently, I went through a slew of old computer games for nostalgia's sake, and stayed current with Big Bang Theory episodes. On the good note, I did get some green tea from China, delivered to me by a friend of mine that was in the city. It's a milder green tea, and it's not bad. By the way, if you buy Blueberry Green Tea from Tetley - be warned! The green tea tastes like normal bloody green tea, however, it SMELLS like blueberries. What a crock eh? I was expecting Blueberry taste! That's right.. I'm not asking someone to run to the Pacific for me, I just want to taste what the hell is advertised on the package! Especially for the price too.. jesus. In other news, with my abundance of sick/useless time, I caught up on some movies... here goes : From Paris With Love - not bad, very predictable, Travolta is not meant to be Bond. Twilight New Moon: Haha F that.. my sister's birthday was recently, and she put on that, and thankfully I was out of the room before the DVD menu popped up. After sitting through the worst hour of my life during the first one, I used some extrapolation techniquues from sciencce, and hypothesized that the 2nd load of crap can only be based on the crap from the first one, and therefore can't be any better. Game Over - Kasparov and the Machine - Documentary on a world champion chess player that lost to a computer built by IBM.. very good if you're into chess. Then again, if you needed that explained, and the title "Game Over" didn't say enough, then you probably shouldn't be playing Chess. Apparently the weather is nice out, and has been for a while but I haven't been out hardly at all.. exercise is a whole other matter... haven't done that either. Once I get back into being healthy thouhgh, things will resume. Alright, the kettle is boiled, and I have some green tea to drink.

Toronto - A windy but awesome time.

So I went to see my friends band Columbia play in downtown T.O. yesterday.. hopped on a bus, 3 hours later I was in the windy city of Toronto. I got a bit mixed up walking to the venue, but I got there using a different route, I don't believe it was any longer. One thing about the city - to those unfamiliar with it, like me, we end up spending way more than we have to on basic things, including using the washroom. That being said, I entered a 2nd cup because I knew they would have the facilities, and thought I'd just buy a medium hot chocolate and lounge around (the 2nd cup was across the street from the venue). However, I did not anticipate paying 3.20 for a medium hot chocolate.. in Dominican Republic I could have purchased a house! The band showed up, it was good to see my friend that I hadn't seen in years, and then I helped unload their gear to the venue, and setup. We lounged around for a while, and then they decided to eat around 9ish. I hadn't eaten since 1, so I was ready to start gnawing off the bar stools like a beaver. My friend and I searched for a while, passing edible, but not really satisfying looking restaurants, then landed a Mr. Sub. I wolfed down a 12" sub, then a band member decided to also eat at Subway, so they joined us... he got a sub..so I thought 'I need another one... '. I devoured that one also, and my hunger was satisfied. We headed back to the venue, waited some more, listened to the ending of the 1st band.. (Loud, wall of noise, inaudible lyrics, 500db too loud). The 2nd band came on, and they were more relaxed and did not do permanent damage to the eardrums. They were good, their music and lyrics were enjoyable. Then Columbia hit the stage, and was a hug success. You could tell they had been on the music scene for quite some time - the preparation, the blending of music & vocals, and the overall feel of the band set them apart from the rest. Furthermore, they did not pound my ears to a pulp. Everyone in the venue really took a liking to them, and it was a good show. We listened to the next band, the first couple songs were bearable, then they became another wall of noise.. I'm sorry but my definition of MUSIC does not include 5 people going 120% on their instruments with a vocalist screaming at the top of his lungs in every song... We decided to pack up during their set, and headed back to Bracebridge. And for those wondering if I gave money for gas - I did. I also bought a box of assorted donuts for everyone, and offered a round of coffee. They did an incredible job playing, and were very pleasant people to be around. Even the Sound Manager at the venue said they were really nice to talk to when he spoke with them, and said it was refreshing to have a polite band inside the venue that sounds professional and organized. There were 2 things weird about the venue though - 1) The venue had no posters up, no signs, nothing that was indicating there was 5 bands playing a show from Canadian Music Week... there was literally a piece of paper scribbled with black marker indicating there was a show, taped to the door. An eviction notice would have had more style. 2) According to Mapquest, the address is 349a college st.. however, should you go to 349.. you hit a clinic. Then beside it, there's a black door with stickers, nothing indicating it is the 'Neutral Lounge', in ANY way, it looks like the back door to an abandoned building that one could find an assortment of pizza boxers, hookers, and illegal arms. So I entered this mystery door, which led me down a flight of stairs to a poorly lit room, which turned out to be the venue... To get to the ACTUAL door, you have to go around to the end of the street, turn right, walk a block, then turn right again.. THERE you will find a small sign that says NEUTRAL. So strange... even if they put up a sign on their back door that said 'NEUTRAL LOUNGE ENTRANCE IS NOT HERE, OTHER SIDE OF BUILDING' it would have been a start. Kind of a weird place, judging by the posters on the walls, and decorations... it serves as a weekly goth hangout. It would explain the low lighting, overly-pale bartender, and black paint everywhere haha. On the way back, shorly after the Tim Hortons stop, we hit up a McDonalds, (certainly not by my choosing), and I was thirsty so I bit the proverbial bullet and decided a soft drink was the way to go.. As it turns out the cashier said the drink was on her.. and so I didn't pay for anything. It was really strange.. maybe a sign tempting me to go back to McDonalds from my years of not eating there? So with my free beverage, I headed back to Bracebridge, and got in just after 4pm.

Enter The Sun.

Play on Words of Enter The Dragon, one of my favourite movies. Back to basics though -

Went for copius amounts of snowshoeing over the last 8 days, which has been awesome, and enjoying the fact that winter's end is almost nigh. With the wonderful weather, I decided to take a jog yesterday, since it had been a while, and jogged 7km. An alright pace, I ended up back at my place after 45 minutes, so I would say that isn't too bad. Bracebridge is hilly, but I'm stubborn, so I don't let them get in the way. That 12 or 13 year asian old figure skater at the olympics yesterday during the figure skating session gave it his best, so me climbing up hills is minute. (Pronounced 'MY-newt', not to be confused with the measurement of time).
I made dinner last night, my biggest feat ever - cooking for a pile of people, creating a monstrous salad, frying fish all over the place, and making Whole Wheat pasta to go with it. Everything was a success, and the timing of the food worked yesterday! I've been eating healthy 99% of the time, minus my brothers birthday, where I indulged in a few slices of pizza and a coke. I figure, I am human, and I'm sure even the religious folk have to believe Jesus had some nasty thoughts, and the comic book fans know Superman used his X-ray vision to look past some garments every once in a while, and even the Jewish have to believe that the smell of Bacon frying is quite possibly the best thing in the world, whether or not they want to admit it. The good thing is, after that minor indulgence, I haven't actively sought out more pizza or coke. I have to go, I'm jogging to a friends house after I eat breakfast, and have some other things to do. Good-bye for now.