Boh. Loong day at work trying to debug javascript nonsense. For those of you that aren't in the computer science biz, javascript was unleashed on the world by Osama Bin-Laden as his initial terrorist attack, and researchers have suggested that he succesfully lowered the standard of living by twenty-five percent for all those working in the IT industry.
Anyhow, I took this picture as I was leaving. Horray.
I have a couple of webcomics that I read everyday, because I love laughing, and some of the cartoonists out there are really awesome. I have my favorites linked on one of the menus to the left. Anyhow, most of the cartoonists keep blogs or news posts that they publish along with the humour, and one of my favorite author's, Scott Kurtz, published an entry that I thought was really intelligent, and well written. It's quoted below in it's entirety, and if I can muster up anything to add, I'll do so tomorrow, as I'm really tired right now.
God appeared to me in a dream...told me I'm hilarious
Posted on Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Contrary to what some might think, I'm not a godless man. I'm really not. I believe in a higher power and I hope to become one with the intelligence that created the universe someday. I tend to be critical and guarded about organized religion because, in my opinion, the bad aspects outweigh the good. Well... "critical and guarded" may be inaccurate...I'm actually quite cynical about the whole mess.
To me, God is pure and religion is flawed. God is born into us. Take any person; remove all outside influence and that person will ultimately seek a higher power, a reason for existence. People will always try to find god. Not everyone comes to the same conclusion, however, and it bothers me that religion tends to punish those who come to a conclusion that conflicts with dogma.
Anyway, I'm telling you all this because I used the word "Christ" in Monday's strip and a very small number of you are very upset about it. Apparently by taking their lord's name in vain, I've taken away some of their "power" and I'll have to repent. I'll need to apologize to God, say a prayer or something equally as ridiculous to put things right again.
But everything's going to be okay because last night, God appeared to me in a dream and told me not to worry about it. He said that he created my sense of humor. He knows everything, so he saw that bit of dialogue a-comin'. He also told me that since he created me and I created the strip then vicariously he wrote it anyway. So if there's anyone to blame...it's him.
He also told me that the only way to really offend him at this point would be by second guessing myself due to some fundamentalists (who were going to get upset about SOMETHING on Monday, regardless), and that he was very proud to see that I was reaching out and connecting with people. In the end, he told me, that's all that really matters anyway.
He then told me to get off my ass and start updating on time again before turning into a dove and flying away.
I woke up after that so....
I guess I like this quote mostly because of the fact that Scott has a gift for phrasing things in a light that can make the ridiculousness of a situation all the more apparent. If you agree or you don't, that's fine, but there's some good points there, either way.
What? Sleep? Yes.
poke
freSh: present
Richard Gould: Huh....Really?
freSh: Well, not like the of the gift variety
Richard Gould: What kind of food do you like?
freSh: Erm
Richard Gould: That's cool.
freSh: Not sure how to answer that question
Richard Gould: I am not sure if I can quantify the answer.
Huh.......Interesting.......
freSh: Wow, this conversation is very hard to follow.
Richard Gould: And hard to follow is wow, this conversation.
freSh: Ahhh, my brain
Richard Gould: Ummmm.......
freSh: Okay, so
Richard Gould: What color are your eyes?
freSh: We were talking about pickles right?
Richard Gould: Of course.....about pickles right.
freSh: Mm, feels like a bot
Richard Gould: Huh....Intriguing
freSh: Turquoise color magnamate. Mostly hydrogenated oil, but I supplement that with rigour and ardor
Richard Gould: Huh.......Interesting....... What color are your eyes?
freSh: Often times, blasphemy, though vaguely intellectual boundaries must suffice
Richard Gould: That sounds very lovely.
freSh: Indeed?
Richard Gould: Indeed it is so.
freSh: Elaborate
Richard Gould: Was something unclear?
freSh: I've played with this program before
Richard Gould: So.....you like Atlanta?
freSh: But what the hell, let's keep it going
freSh: I love Atlanta!
Richard Gould: .....ARe you surprised?
freSh: How did you know!
Richard Gould: You love Atlanta. What do you like about Atlanta so much?
freSh: I'm shocked!
Richard Gould: Well, I'm not stupid, you know.
Richard Gould: So.....you like Atlanta?
freSh: I like the grass they have in Atlanta
Richard Gould: You are not the only one. Hmmm....Im not sure...
freSh: I'm definitely not the only one
Richard Gould: Huh....Intriguing
freSh: I've talked at length with many people about this
Richard Gould: Ummmm.......
freSh: You're damn right it's intriguiing
Richard Gould: That is a very original thought....are you a poet?
freSh: Fascinating stuff
Richard Gould: What kind of food do you like?
freSh: I'm quite original yes.
Richard Gould: Oh, you are a poet.
freSh: Yes
Richard Gould: Next question?
freSh: You are repeating yourself
Richard Gould: Sorry...Ill try not to.
freSh: Next question would be great
Richard Gould: Yes.
freSh: Yes.
Richard Gould: Is there an echo in here?
freSh: I think so
Richard Gould: I think so too.
freSh: I can't be certain
Richard Gould: Do you mind if I tell other people that?
freSh: We can flip for it
Richard Gould: How?
freSh: Do you have any midgets or goats lying around?
Richard Gould: Where would I get midgets or goats lying around?.
freSh: We could flip one of those
Richard Gould: Hmmm....maybe later.
freSh: No, NOW
Richard Gould: Oh.Umm......Do you like the climate in Atlanta?
freSh: I hate it, how about those goat midgets?
Richard Gould: Why do you hate it, how about those goat midgets so much?
freSh: Good answer
Richard Gould: Im glad you think that :)
freSh: That was definitely a coherent question
Richard Gould: I thought it was too.
freSh: I was being sarcastic
Richard Gould: It seemed sarcastic to me, too. But I was not completely sure.
freSh: It was evidently lost on ye
Richard Gould: Is it still evidently lost on ye anymore?
freSh: It could be
Richard Gould: Under what circumstances?
freSh: The circumstances in which a goat midget could live off the land alone for two to three years
Richard Gould: What is that?
freSh: What part has confused you?
Richard Gould: The best part.
freSh: How would you know which is the best part?
Richard Gould: Because it's true.
freSh: You were confused and did not understand.
Richard Gould: I was?
freSh: That doesn't answer the question.
Richard Gould: "I was" doesn't answer the question ? Does that make sense?
freSh: Nope, much like most of the replies at this point.
Richard Gould: Umm......Do you like the climate in Atlanta?
freSh: Oh well... 7/10 for you
Richard Gould: meh....what can you do? Why do you keep talking about me?
freSh: Hey
freSh: I have an idea
Richard Gould: Can I help you?
Richard Gould: Where did you get idea ?
freSh: Let's talk about the climate in Atlanta
Richard Gould: How do you like the weather in Atlanta?
freSh: Do you like talking about the weather in Atlanta
Richard Gould: If youd like to, then okay.
freSh: Okay, fun diversion. I must get back to work.
Richard Gould: Huh....Intriguing Don't let me keep you from it.
Mmmm, the latest list of things that I need to get done. If you're not me, feel free to ignore this.
Those are the tasks to finish before the end of the weekend. I've got Monday off, and am going to Vancouver for part of the weekend, so it might be a little bit of a challenge. Nevertheless, stay true to yourself Adam, and if you start to worry that you may never finish these chores, remember the brave bald eagle, soaring majestically over a field, then swiftly and justly disembowling some shitty mouse below that was minding its own business.
I was walking to the grocery store with my friend at work the other day, and we were being stupid and talking about random things (I seem to be involved in a lot of conversations that fit that description. It must be the company that I keep). Anyhow, we got onto the topic of this book called the Pragmatic Programmer, which is essentially a guide to being a better all-around software programmer. Most of the advice is geared in the general direction (rather than saying something specific to a particular coding language, etc.). I commented how a person was walking across the street weird, and Tony said he should read a book about walking, to which I quipped "Yes, the Pragmatic Pedestrian".
Okay, so far, I'm telling a boring story. The main purpose I chose to write about this is because it dawned on me that this is one of those subjects I would really be interested to read more about. Not walking specifically, though I definitely would be interested to see what would be written about that particular subject.
If you think about it, there's tons of ways in which you can make yourself more efficient on a daily basis. Most people don't think it's worth the effort, and I agree. But that doesn't mean that the subject matter itself is necessarily boring. I mean, if I have to make a big change in my life to improve my walking efficiency by twenty percent, I'm not going to bother, but if it's something as simple as "Avoid intersections that have buttons you must push in order to activate the Walk signal", I would probably make the change.
The thing is, everyone has these little rules in their head, or at least, I do, and hopefully I'm not clinically insane. A lot of these things are thoughts that may or may not have floated around in your head before, but until you've actually heard them articulated, they usually fly off into your subconscious, never to be thought of again.
On my way back home after work, I was trying to come up with a list of means in my head by which you actually could increase your efficiency. Okay, so I turned this from a boring story into a complete waste of your time. Suck it up, pansy.
Here's what I have so far (by no means an exhaustive list - pretty incomplete at this point).
This sounds obvious, but maybe it isn't. For example, when walking, I notice I have a tendency to follow the sidewalks, rather than cut through parking lots, leap over trucks, etc. By the way, I should mention that while these rules disregard certain safety factors like running across highways (disregarding that method of efficiency due to the fact that it also increases the efficiency of you dying), I'm assuming optimal walking conditions, and so things like getting mugged in a parking lot are not a concern.
I don't even know why these are required any more. I agree, when you're sitting at an intersection that has a flashing green light, it is necessary for you to notify the traffic light that there is a pedestrian waiting to cross. However, for busy intersections, where a crossing pedestrian can either be assumed, or ignored, when the flow of traffic is the same as that of the direction the pedestrian is walking in, these buttons are unnecessary. The reason avoiding these can increase your efficiency is that lights without this requirement will automatically put on the walk signal for you, giving you a better indication for how much time you have left before the light turns yellow and the direction of traffic changes.
Oh also, I've brought this up with a couple of people, and there seems to be some confusion here. I'm talking solely about traffic lights where the only difference that pushing the pedestrian button makes is that when the traffic lights turn green in the direction you're walking, the walk signal also activates. There are still lots of traffic lights in Victoria where neglecting to push this button simply means that the walk signal will not activate (though that is the only variable that changes - walking across is still perfectly safe)
This is awesome, because I really do think these thoughts. I swear, I'm like a robot. Anyhow, sometimes when I walk up to the grocery store on my lunch break, I notice ahead that there is construction, or some other such obstacle that may slow down my overall walking speed. By noticing this in advance, I can cross the street whenever it is safe to do so (there is no longer oncoming traffic), and avoid the obstruction. I have friends that don't look very far ahead, and end up noticing the obstruction too late, then waiting at the obstruction to either pass by it, or to cross the street (at which point they must then stand waiting until there is a break in traffic).
This one is super obvious, and I think everyone I know follows this rule. This basically applies when you need to be kitty-corner to the corner you are currently waiting on. No matter what, you are going to need to cross the street twice, so you might as well cross when given the opportunity as soon as the flow of traffic changes (which will be soon, given that the condition for this rule applying is that you missed your initial opportunity to cross the street).
I think that's enough for now. So... am I serious? I guess so. I'm not even sure why I compiled this list, other than the fact that I'm stuck inside tonight, bored, and unable to play squash, and the notion of increased efficiency is something I'm always intrigued by.
If we really wanted to, there are probably hundreds of ways in our life that we could increase our efficiency by small amounts. By doing so, we would be more productive on a daily basis. Think that's true? I don't. It's probably like owning a pair of electric scissors - at the end of your life, you've got three extra minutes saved up. I don't care though, I still find the notion interesting, and I like feeling efficient, which is probably one of the reasons that I enjoy (and am reasonably good at) programming software.
Anyone out there have other areas in which they think efficiency could be increased? Write a comment, I'd be interested to hear about them.
Wow,
It's not until I have to spend a few days sitting at home doing nothing that I realize how much I hate doing exactly that. I hurt my back playing squash, and in the interest of taking it easy, I spent yesterday, and now, apparently, today, mostly lying on the couch watching movies. That might sound like fun, but what I really want to do is be on the squash courts doing drills, or walking around enjoying the weather. Maybe even just getting out for a coffee while reading. Anything to avoid having to lie around inside.
Watching movies isn't that bad. I've gotten a chance to watch some of the titles I'd stowed away but never gotten around to watching, and I guess now, since I desperately need a break from lying down, I'll write about those movies.
The first movie I saw was Hero. Everyone I've talked to has raved about Hero. They're told me how great the fight scenes are, and what a cool story it is. I guess I get to be a trend-setter among my group of friends here, because I thought the movie was pretty weak.
The movie definitely has its good parts. The fight scenes are beautifully choreographed, and justly so - they're the focal point of the movie. The use of color throughout the movie is very well done, and the backdrops are breathtaking. It's too bad that that isn't enough by itself for me to love a movie.
Why? Because that's all this movie is. The plot of the movie really feels like it exists solely to provide a premise for the fight scenes to exist. The characters are so distant and removed that it is extremely difficult to relate with them. Maybe that's a trend in these style of movies, but Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon had me empathizing far more with the characters than Hero ever did.
So, what do you do? You go see the movie. It's worth it, if only for the aethetics. Just don't go expecting an intricate plot along the lines of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
I've seen three modern imported martial-arts films now (I don't know how else to classify this genre), and I'm still most attached to Iron Monkey (the release that Quentin Tarantino brought across - the old school version sucks). I guess its the fact that Iron Monkey is campy and knows it. The fight scenes are still great, and the fact that the movie doesn't seem to be taking itself seriously makes it easier for me to enjoy the surreal qualities of the fight scenes. Iron Monkey will never provoke thought like Crouching Tiger did, but, it doesn't make me cringe everytime I see the ending coming along either. Definitely a movie I can watch multiple times.
I was looking online for review and interpretations of The House of Flying Daggers, because that's the next movie on my list to watch, and I'm worried that I'm going to be investing the same amount of time as Hero for the same amount of payoff. This review struck me the most:
"House of Flying Daggers" is better than "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" because "Daggers" is more action-packed, with more realistic fighting, less wimpy ballet wire work ("Crouching Tiger's" biggest weakness), and a less convoluted story to try to decipher.
"House of Flying Daggers" is non-stop FUN movie entertainment!
Should I immediately discount this person's opinion? I don't know. They used the term non-stop FUN movie entertainment, so that sets off my lowest common denominator alarm. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon stood on its own for more reasons than just its fight scenes, and I didn't think it had a very convoluted plot. In fact, wasn't most of it spelled out? The only thing convoluted was the love interest. Maybe not, I don't know. Anyhow, this is really just a good example of the fact that half the reviews you read should be taken with a grain of salt, and the other half (this one as well) should be printed out and used to wipe your ass with.
The next movie I watched was Adaptation. Holy cow this movie is great. Do you ever see a movie that you think is totally garbage, but you read reviews telling you that you're wrong, or your friends call you an idiot for not seeing the bigger picture? Okay, well, Adaptation is a lot like that, except that, it turns out, your friend is an idiot for thinking that there is a bigger picture. And then it turns out you're both idiots.
Adaptation works on a ton of different levels, and it's really easy to spend the whole time wondering if you really get the movie, or if you're a fool for thinking that there really is something to get, and that Andy Kauffman is laughing at you the whole time. There's really no way to know for sure, and all you can do is enjoy the movie, and try to decipher everything that you're seeing.
Watching the movie reminded me of Mulholland Drive. If you haven't seen that movie, and like trying to wrap your head around orthogonal concepts and ideas, it's an interesting choice. You'll spend the entire week after watching the movie trying to figure out exactly what you've just watched. Adaptation provides your head with a few more outs than Mulholland Drive does, and has a plot that actually makes sense on the most basic level - you don't have to think about it too much if you don't want to.
There's already been a bunch of analyses done on this great movie, and even then, reading them isn't going to make any sense if you haven't seen the movie. If you like movies that require thinking, and don't spell out everything for you, this is a great one to check out.
Well, I've been meat-sacking big-time for the last little while. I had my first lesson today in quite some time, and as usual, it turns out I've forgotten how to correctly make a forehand shot. Seriously, this thing is my everest. Stuart continually tells me how weird it is to see someone who's backhand is so much better than their forehand. Yay me. I guess that could be a good thing, since usually it's harder for people to improve their backhand than their forehand, but .. well, I feel like I'm evidence that that isn't always the case.
Anyhow, I thought that I'd fixed everything on the forehand, but I was totally wrong. So, what am I doing wrong?
This is basically the tennis swing - you keep your arm straight, rather than use a throwing motion like when you skip rocks across the lake. Augh! I thought I'd solved this. Oh well, back to the drawing board, and in front of the mirror. How do I fix this? That's the next couple of points
The butt of the racquet should literally lead through the swing all the way until it is right out in front of me. Don't make any effort to swing the head through, this should happen naturally. Everytime I make an effort to swing the head through, I must eat a raw fish. This is the only way I will learn the new way. (If you got that reference, you are very cool).
Make this feel awkward! This is driving me nuts right now, but if I don't do this properly, I will force myself to watch an episode of Saved by the Bell for every time I cheat.
How am I going to make sure I fix this? I'm going to be the coolest guy you ever did know, and I'm going to damn well practice in front of a mirror until my arm hurts. Then I'm going to bloody well make sure that it's right, and do drills, over and over, until I've got my arm and head to memorize how its done. Then I'm going to wear a leather jumpsuit and play all of my games wearing that, just because.
Let's hope that we see some improvement by next week.
Mid-day boredom setting in? I have 8 minutes of lunch left, and I'm going to spend it quickly posting the latest search strings that have lead to my website. Comments included underneath each search string.
phoenix arizona skyline pics - 3
Guess that's pretty reasonable, I think I took some pictures of the skyline when I was in Phoenix last year, so that's all good.
meatslicers - 2
Yes, definitely. If there's one thing I write about a lot, it's meatslicers. For a while, I was planning on turning the direction of this site away from humour, and more towards meat, and the various slicers you can use to slice said meat. However, it turns out there's a lot of political friction that you have to get through if you want to do something like this, so sadly, I could not.
degrassi chatrooms - 2
I'd be lying if I said that this shocked me, but ever since my pseudo crush on Joey Jeremiah, master of the skateboard and awesome hats began, I've been slipping hidden references to him throughout my entries. No doubt this is what's causing this search string to show up here.
horsecocks - 2
Managing to get the search string "horsecocks" to send people to your site is what most web developers would call the holy grail of search engine optimization. I spent the better part of the last year trying to get my site recognized among the finest horsecock discussion blogs out there, and it looks like my effort has finally paid off.
beetles of the rennaisance - 1
This one is so obvious that I'm not even going to begin talking about it.
tighty whities models - 1
I post a lot of pictures of myself, so it's obvious why this search string is leading people to my site.
tara reid wardrobe mishap - 1
Aren't we done with wardrobe mishaps yet? Booooooring.
clothed boobs tight clothes galleries - 1
When I was younger, I remember that I'd run to the corner store every Saturday, right after getting my allowance, and buy the latest edition of clothed boobs tight clothes weekly. Many people have speculated that this porn niche is long-dead, but I think this search string proves those naysayers otherwise.
adam s gay massage - 1
Once a week, tune in for my super hot gay massage.
electrolisis of water experiment pictures - 1
I wonder if this person was dissapointed or pleasantly surprised when they came across my site.
show me the galleries of sex between a group of model guys - 1
This person obviously didn't realize that search engines no longer respond to direct orders, unless stated in a phrase like: "Show me the galleries of sex between a group of model guys. Let's move it now!"
john stamos pecs - 1
I wish I had something that would satisfy this search request.
life history of george de menstral inventor of velcro - 1
You invented velcro? You're going to make millions off the patent? Who cares, your name is George of Menstral. You lose George.
I don't know if this really qualifies as humour, but I can't figure out where else it would go, so I'm putting it here.
I have a friendster account, because I love conversation with interesting people, and I like meeting new people. On top of that, I hate using the phone, and I have a bad tendency to be anti-social in face-to-face contact. I'm not sure why, I guess it's because I'm what some people call an introverted-extrovert. When thrust into social situations, I do very well, but when given the option, I have a tendency to avoid them.
Anyhow, what good is friendster? Well, it provides you with transcripts like the following:
First, this is my bio:
| Gender | Male |
| Interested in Meeting People for | Friends, Activity Partners |
| Status | In a Relationship |
| Age | 25 |
| Location | Victoria, British Columbia |
| Hometown | Victoria |
| Occupation | Software Developer/Meat Stacker |
| Hobbies and Interests | Dancing, Squash, Stacking Meat, Lasers, Dressing up like a ninja |
| Favorite Books | Official guide to Rock Paper Scissors |
| Favorite Movies | Anything with hardcore porn scenes. |
| Favorite Music | Deep House, Hiphop, Breakbeat, Kenny G and Yani 2000 Super Dance Megamix |
| Favorite TV Shows | Mr. Show, Red Dwarf, Saved by the Bell (Specifically the episode where Jessi gets addicted to caffeine pills) |
| About Me | I enjoy living on the coast, near meat rendering plants. I have often fantasized about gaining, through practice, the ability to think about what a building would look like, and then actually create that building with my mind. I have not yet had much success with this technique, but spend about four hours practicing every day. If you are intrigued by this, you should write me, and together, we can create buildings (with practice and dedication). |
| Who I Want to Meet | I'm down with meeting anyone that is funny, intelligent, and willing to play monopoly with me at least four times a week. Also, I get to be the tophat, no matter what. |
We've already run into the first problem with friendster - I don't seem to write bios that inspire people to talk to me. Personally, if I ran into someone that had stacking meat as their hobby, I would have a plethora of questions to ask them: What kind of meat? What is your record height so far? Do you stack horizontally or vertically? Do certain kinds of meat stack better than others? Does cured meat count?
There's virtually a limitless number of questions, solely from that one hobby alone. AND I have other hobbies listed! I'm the most interesting person on the internet! Finally someone sent me a message, and here's what they wrote:
So what stage are you at in designing and building
structures with only your mind? I find that my
imagination is good at the creation, but not so
good at solidification. The one attempt I made
at trying to use cards instead of gray matter
lasted only as long as a sneeze. I'll stick to
Legos.
I guess you can be the top hat, but I got dibs on
the battleship. We'll have to play your version
though, since the only one I have is my wife's
Pokemon Monopoly, and nobody can use the Bulbasaur
token because it's undefeated in 6 games.
What else do you do for excitement? I enjoy
knocking over bowling pins with grapefruits, using
a stick whack small colored balls through random
obstacles into holes, and reformatting my computer
because it randomly insists on it.
Umm.. Hmm. Well, in situations like this, the only thing you can do is write back, so here's my reply:
Hey Chris,
I can currently make mind buildings out of
standard building materials, such as concrete,
cement, wood, and abalone. I have not met very
much success using non-conventional items, such as
cheese, but that may be because, mentally, I don't
like the aethetics of a building made of cheese.
Some of the questions that this causes us to raise
are: Would a building made of cheese necessitate
another building made of crackers? Would this
building require refrigeration? What type of
cheese am I trying to mentally build with? Why
cheese?
As you can see, there are many questions that need
to be examined before it's really feasible for me
to give the go ahead on an edifice based on a
foundation of cheese.
With regards to Pokemon Monopoly, I feel this game
is an aberation of the original game, for the
precise reason you have mentioned: The bulbasaur
token. As most people know, bulbasaur has a
deadly seed and vine attack, and this makes
renting to him a bit of a quandry.
When my friends and I play Monopoly, we generally
insist that no bulbasaur tokens be used, and the
name cannot be uttered. Breaking this rule earns
the violator four turns in jail. We enforce this
rule strictly, though we do try to make exceptions
based on individual merits, and in the interest of
keeping the game fun.
For excitement, I do many things. I don't usually
reformat my computer due to its own insistence,
but I take great pleasure in formatting the
computers of other people. I enjoy drinking milk
immensely, though don't have the palate to consume
anything other than skim milk. I also enjoy
petting my cat. Sometimes I pet from her head to
her back, but othertimes I using a circular motion
with my fingernails to scratch the top of her
head. One could argue that this is not in fact a
"petting" motion, but I feel that it still
qualifies, as I have used the word pet in the
context of meaning "to play with, or stroke in a
pleasing manner".
Chris, I need to know the following things about
you: What is the fastest that you can run 100
meters in? If you had to choose between drinking
milk that was two weeks past its due date, or
wearing a robe made of meat to a shopping mall for
the entire day, which would you choose? Do you
think it would be possible to make a robe out of
meat? What type of meat would you use? Provide
references for your answers.
Thank you,
--Adam
What will happen next? Who knows! I'll post updates as they come in.
Blah. My squash lately has been ridiculously poor. I played my friend Bevan today, and at one point I had a seven point lead and still lost it. I've been going through a real rough spot. Instead of playing games, I should really be working on some serious drill time, so that I can get my head in the right spot, and focus solely on making the decent shots when I'm not under pressure. Playing games in this mood tends to make things worse, I think, because it builds on itself, and begins a downward spiral, which can only lead to a horrible grisly death. I almost typed gristly there, instead of grisly. That would have been hilarious. Can you die from gristle? I'm not sure, but maybe playing squash when you're in a slump is the way to find out.
Instead of spending time at the club tonight, I'm watching Star Trek and practicing dancing. I promised that I was going to put up some videos of leg rolls. As I promised, they're going up now. Here are individual leg rolls, double leg rolls, and single leg rolls done sequentially. Think I look ridiculous doing these rolls? That's because I do. Anyone that cares to practice along should realize that dancing is like any other activity - it requires training to do well, and initially, the muscle movements required are going to look stupid. If you feel dumb doing them, just imagine how dumb I feel posting videos of myself doing them.
I'm trying to come up with a routine to work these rolls into so that I can practice the moves within part of a greater routine. I'm not a big fan of routines, as they're not particularly dynamic, but I feel that it is important to practice specific moves within a routine from time to time, so that you get the feel for practicing that move in a setting other than simply doing it over and over.
Also, you may notice that my arms are moving like crazy in some of those leg roll videos. That's because this is fairly new to me, and I'm still getting things down. Some people might find it helpful to hold on to something while trying to do this. My technique for learning usually goes like: Get the motion down first, then perfect it by isolating it. Don't worry too much about the rest of your body initially, but make sure that you keep note of what's going on in the back of your head.
I'm also working on the following right now:
This is nothing big, just trying to properly isolate the hits on my chest more, and trying to provide different ways for getting back and forth into each side. More positioning for my hands and arms is also important.
Video of this can be found right here. Properly waving back and forth through the chest is an important isolation to be able to use, as almost all of your waves travel either vertically or horizontally through your chest. To perform this move, try to make sure that you're keeping your shoulders from moving too much, and hold your head and the rest of your body fairly still. Breathing in helps to expand your chest, and puff out one side, then the other, then deflate the first side, then the other.
Having made some videos for a friend of the Scooby, and the Scooby Walk, I've realized that I still have work to do on these moves as well, and will be putting those into the practice routine as well. If anyone wants to see these videos, post a comment (haha, spambots will never have access to them) and I'll put them up. I've also created a pretty basic arm wave video, showing my best attempt to break down the isolations required. I'm not going to post that until it's requested, as I'm not sure if anyone would care to see that.
That's all for now.
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