With the Goofy Challenge just 3 days away, I should be carb-loading. And
I am. And with each bite of my lunch I hate myself more. Every time I
eat, I feel fat. And every time I ingest anything that isn't ultra-lean
protein or high-fiber, I disgust myself. But I sit here, shoving food
down my gullet.
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Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!
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Merry Christmas!
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Happy Birthday
Last night, as an end to my 30th birthday weekend, I went to see The
Birthday Massacre in Teaneck. The show was at the Mexicali Live which is
a rather small, intimate venue with full table service for dining, and a
bar with some really good microbrews on tap.
The first act was A Verbal Equinox. I thought they were pretty good,
especially considering they all seemed to be still in high school. Their
set was pretty tight, with mostly original songs and a My Chemical
Romance cover. Frankly, I think they did the MCR song just as well, if
not better, than MCR. They definitely had a good rhythm section.
The next band, who shall remain nameless, was described by some as
"Armenian Industrial." I thought the music was good, but I wished the
singer would just shut up. No singing, no talking to the crowd. Just.
Shut. Up. Their set would have been awesome as an instrumental.
During their set they had two "gothy cheerleaders" on stage. It turned
out that one of them was my friend's niece. Kinda random.
After their set, I ran into a couple of the kids from the first band and
talked to them a bit. I told them I liked what I heard and they thanked
me and gave me a CD-R labeled with sharpie containing their first
recorded single. Something about that is just awesome.
The Birthday Massacre was great. They played a good mix including songs
from every album.
If you care (or even if you don't), their set list follows:
- Pins and Needles
- Control
- Happy Birthday
- Forever
- Burn Away
- Shallow Grave
- Always
- Weekend
- Video kid
- Blue
- Looking Glass
- Lover's End
- In the Dark
- Horror Show
- Red Stars
-- Encore --
- Sleep Walking
- Midnight
They didn't play my favorite song, "Broken," but I was not disappointed in the
set at all. After they finished, Rainbow was on stage for a bit talking
with people from the crowd. I told him it was a great show and asked if
they'd be playing "Broken" at tonight's show with Dir En Grey. He said
it wouldn't be in the set, but he loves that song and they'd rehearse it
for their next tour.
 |
| A rather blurry picture of The Birthday Massacre from the show. |
[/musings]
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The Big 4: Metallica Setlist
- Creeping Death
- For Whom the Bell Tolls
- Fuel
- Ride the Lightning
- Fade to Black
- Cyanide
- All Nightmare Long
- Sad But True
- Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
- Orion
- One
- Master of Puppets
- Blackened
- Nothing Else Matters
- Enter Sandman
---
- Overkill (with Megadeth, Anthrax, and Slayer)
- Battery
- Seek and Destroy
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Acceptance, or lack thereof...
A few days ago I picked up some dumbbells that had been left out, they
were 40lbs each and I lifted them with one hand each. Three years ago
the most I could lift, with both arms combined and "lifting with the
legs," was 43lbs (the weight of my computer).
Last month, I ran a 5K in 19:08. Yesterday during a speed workout I ran
my two fastest 100m ever, 17.9 seconds and 17.87 seconds. Today I ran a
10K at a 6:24 pace, finishing in under 40 minutes. I've set a new PR in
every distance I've raced this year except the half marathon, and that
race I set a new record for myself on that particular course.
I've put lost 126 pounds of fat and gained 36 pounds of bone and muscle.
My body keeps getting stronger and faster.
And I still can't accept my body for what it is....
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I wasn't born this way; I made myself.
I heard that Lady Gaga song on the radio the other day, you know the
one that sounds like the Madonna song, and it got me thinking. On the
surface it seems to contain a very positive message about accepting
yourself because you were "Born This Way." You were born like this, you
were made this way, there's nothing you can do about it so be happy with
it.
I disagree. Sure, when we're born we're stuck with the genetic
material passed on to us by our lineage. But we're more than that, what
we are, what we become, is so much more than how we were born. And this
made me think about the Incubus song, "Make Yourself." I find the
message of that song to be much more positive. While the song has an
overt "them vs. you" context, the general theme is one of taking
responsibility for yourself and what you become.
Was I born the way I am today? Judging from the direction my life took
in the first twenty-six years, and comparing it to the last three years,
the answer is no. I was born heavy, weighing in over nine pounds. I grew
into a heavy kid. I was always sad and lonely as a kid. I had few
friends. I rarely went outside. I never played sports. I watched a lot
of TV. I ate a lot. I got heavier. I got sadder. I got lonelier. But I
was born this way, right? I should have just accepted it, right?
While I was born heavy, I didn't have to stay that way. It was my own
choices that made me into the depressed, obese misanthrope I was.
Despite my claims that I was born that way, genetically predisposed to
those conditions, I really made myself that way.
And then I decided to change that. I took responsibility for my life. I
started exercising. I ran. I ate healthier. I lost weight. I had better
relationships with my friends. I started making new friends. I became
happier.
Just as I had made myself into what I was, I made myself into what I am
today. The key to this change was taking personal responsibility for
myself. No longer did I use the excuse of being born that way. I knew I
was like that because of my decisions and my actions. I knew through my
decisions and my actions I could change. And I did. I made myself.
"If you really want to live, why not try and make yourself?"
[/musings/self]
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Duality
Given the infinitesimally small reader base of this weblog, and the fact
that most, if not all, of those readers know me personally, there's a
good chance that you know I've fairly recently gotten a pair of tattoos.
The first tattoo, on my right arm, is a "26.2" in a giraffe print. That
number, of course, is the distance of a Marathon in miles. Approximately
one tenth of one percent of the population has ever completed a
Marathon. I am one of those individuals and it is because of the
Giraffes, the running team my friends started and pulled me into, that I
was able to accomplish this feat.
The second tattoo, on my left arm, is a 6x8 grid of binary digits which
spell out my first initial and last name in ASCII. Beneath the binary
grid is a "v3.1" in a more stylized font. I was named after my father
who had been named after his father, making me the third, version 3.0 if
you will. In the last few years I've "upgraded." I'm smaller, faster,
stronger, kinder, more extroverted and more optimistic than I was, but I
am not an entirely new person. Hence v3.1.
There's more to the meaning of these tattoos than the explanations
above. They represent the duality of myself. One represents the
decidedly geeky nature that has been a part of me for almost my entire
life. The other represents a newer aspect of myself, the endurance
athlete.
It has been difficult for me to resolve these aspects. You were a nerd
or a jock. There was a perceived inherent conflict between the two. You
could be one or the other, not both. I was a nerd. I was never a jock.
Now I'm both.
And I can be both. There is no reason can't, because this is what I've
become; this is what I am.
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Happy Thanksgiving
I'm thankful for my friends and the support structure they provide.
I'm thankful for my family. While they're not always supportive* they're
always accepting.
I'm thankful for my freedom, and the men and women protect that
freedom.
I'm thankful for running, and the years it's added to my life.
Every Thanksgiving old mike would consume 1350 calories worth of Cool
Ranch Doritos for breakfast before gorging at the traditional dinner.
I'm thankful old mike's dead.
*Running 50 miles in a weekend is not "running too much."
I felt the need to document all that I cooked today.
- regular stuffing
- stuffing with sausage
- cornbread stuffing (made from corbread I baked early in the
week)
- carrots with brown sugar, clove, nutmeg, and cinnamon (bake until
awesome)
- steamed broccoli
- asparagus sauteed with garlic and lemon juice
- baked sweet potatoes
- mashed sweet potatoes
- smashed potatoes
- zucchini with pancetta, garlic, and onion
- beer bread (oatmeal stout)
- stuffed mushrooms
- baked macaroni and cheese
- mashed turnips
- sauteed mushrooms
- cheese lasagna
- meat lasagna
- roasted turkey
I think that's everything.
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Not a Paper Cup
I recently ordered the Not a Paper Cup from ThinkGeek. It looks like a
paper coffee cup but is made of ceramic. The lid is silicone instead #6
plastic. It should be awesome. It's not.
Advertised as 12 ounces, it actually only holds 8 ounces. Right there,
it's at most 66% as awesome as it should be. As one friend put it, "That
is significantly less awesome."
Now that I've used it I'll say that it's about 0% awesome and 90% suck
with 10% fail.
The silicone lid tastes, well, like silicone. It adds this horrible
flavor to every sip. I like my coffee to have a strong coffee flavor,
not a strong coffee plus silicone flavor. Maybe that's just me...
The double walled construction of the cup, in theory would add an
insulating layer to keep the coffee warm longer than a regular paper
cup. This was not the case and in a test yesterday, I found that the
standard paper cup kept the coffee warm for about an hour and a half
longer than the Not a Paper Cup.
In summary:
A couple of things....
First, am I the only one who gets freaked out when seeing a Toyota in my
rear-view mirror?
Second, google calculator has failed me. I keep trying to do conversions
using Joules and it keeps giving me search results for physics forums
with no calculator results. WTF google? WTF?
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Avatar
Here's my review of the movie.
There's something about the giraffes if you believe we're apples and
oranges. I was disappointed by the ketchup, but the mustard was
surprisingly good.
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AFI: Starland Ballroom, October 10, 2009
Show was great last night. Here's the setlist from the show:
- Torch Song
- Leaving Song Pt. II
- Veronica Sawyer Smokes
- Ever and a Day
- Kill Caustic (With Lou Koller of Sick of It All)
- End Transmission
- Love is a Many Splendored Thing
- Beautiful Thieves
- Dancing Through Sunday
- Leaving Song
- On the Arrow
- Death of Seasons
- Medicate
- Love Like Winter
- Just Like Heaven
- Miss Murder
- Silver and Cold
I'll write more later, now it's time to get ready for the Staten Island
Half Marathon.
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The Biggest Loser
Last night was supposed to be my night off. My IT-band and my hamstring
in my left leg have been tight the last few days so I spent some time
stretching, but that was to be the extent of my workout.
I started watching the season premier of The Biggest Loser.
After about a half hour of that, I felt "motivated" and I spent an hour
core training. Watching those contestants at such an early stage of
the game made me remember what I have accomplished, how hard I worked
for it, and that it will be a never ending battle.
Sure I'm running 50 to 60 miles a week now. Sure I'm spending hours
weight lifting and core training every week. I've taken my BMI from 36.5
to 20.0, and now begins the next phase, keeping the weight off. I can't
become complacent. If I do, I will have lost.
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TBMChicago
TBMChicago has some live footage
of The Birthday Massacre as well as galleries of photographs taken
during performances and after shows hanging out with fans.
I'm a little shocked that it's taken me this long to find this site. But
then again, I'm usually out of the loop on things so maybe it shouldn't
be too surprising.
I'm waiting for the DVD release of Show and Tell. I haven't found
a release date yet, but I could just be out of the loop yet again.
[/musings]
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