Yesterday, the news broke that Nintendo’s Global President, Satoru Iwata, had passed away.
Now I’m heartbroken all over again. When you think of the CEO of a giant global company, you don’t think of someone like Mr. Iwata. His warmth and sense of humour made Nintendo Directs such a joy to watch, and his contributions to Nintendo as a programmer are legendary.
Edit: Aw, heck. Here’s another one by a fellow Talking Time member.
Rest in peace, Iwata-san.
I made some cookies last week. They did not go quite as planned.
Now, I have baked cookies before. Recently, even! And they came out well enough. No real issues, aside from me learning that whole wheat flour makes for somewhat less desirable cookies.
This time, though, turned into a bit of a fiasco. And I don’t even know how. I followed the recipe exactly, just as I always do (I don’t know enough about baking to try to mess with a recipe), yet somehow, the batter ended up way too creamy. It was basically liquid. What was my solution? To dump in a bunch more flour.
Lesson learned: maybe only dump in a bit more flour. The liquid batter quickly became a nearly-solid clump that was sticky as all hell, clinging to even my greased hands like there was no tomorrow. Things were looking bad. There was no way I’d be able to actually pull it apart into regular cookie lumps. So I tossed the whole thing on a pan, smooshed it down a bit, and shoved it into the oven.
The “pizza cookie” that came out was still a bit of a mess. It wasn’t baked through properly so I had to quarter it and put it back in for a while longer. Fortunately, the second time I brought it out, it was looking more like a cookie should. Only giant. And in quarters. Not great, but all in all, it could have probably turned out much worse.
I tried a bit and it was actually quite tasty, as well! A little more floury than it should have been (natch), but still quite edible and cookie-tasting. Things turned around quite nicely!
So I chopped the sucker into bits to make it easier to share. Because I’d made this cookie to take to work, you see. That’s not something anyone in the entire world would expect me to do. I’m not a baker, and I’m certainly not generous, so it was obviously an out-of-character gesture.
….Or was it?
I made that “Fitness” category last month, so I guess I should probably make use of it, eh?
I don’t type “eh?” all that often. It looks weird.
But that’s besides the point. Working out! I’m doing it! Sort of.
See, I’ve always lived a pretty unhealthy lifestyle. Not making a point to exercise, eating more junk food than anything, just generally not caring about my body. This had never really been a huge issue before. In school, I was young and my metabolism was naturally high enough to keep me from becoming a fat pile of gross. Then high school ended and I took on a string of moderately physical jobs. Toys R Us especially was great for me because I was on my feet for eight hours a day, pushing, pulling, lifting, and building. I could basically eat whatever I wanted and still remain In pretty good shape. I used to wear super-tight t-shirts because I was proud of my physical form.
Then I moved to a desk job. Started spending all my free time with a girl. Got married. Got complacent. Didn’t change my habits to compensate. And I got fat. Not really fat-fat, but chubby enough that most of my wardrobe needed to be replaced and I did not feel good about myself. My thighs ballooned up to massive size, my gut and man-boobs became prominent, and love handles appeared, as if out of nowhere. It was terrible. For too many years, I’ve had an exceptionally poor body image.
So now that I’m a free agent again and I’ve got all the time in the world to fritter away, I’ve been trying to dedicate more time to getting myself in shape. Not to the point where I look like some sort of Hercu-man, but to the point where I feel comfortable with my body again. I want to be able to look in the mirror and be happy with what I see. I want to be able to wear my got-danged Goonies t-shirt again.
My exercise routine has been scattershot at best, however. Routine, in fact, is a terrible word to describe it, because there is no rhyme or reason to what kind of exercising or when I do it.
It started with Wii Fit U. I still log on once in a while when I’m looking for a more structured workout, but it’s not the most effective solution to my woes. A great place to start, mind you! But eventually you have to grow out of it and move onto some more intense, self-directed workouts. My favourite activities are the hip-hop dance and the 15-minute rhythm boxing. They’re both aerobic exercises that don’t push too hard, but get you pumped and work up a bit of a sweat. Of course, I like to mix some yoga and strength training in there as well, but my Wii Fit sessions definitely focus on aerobics.
The elliptical machine that resides in my home (for now) is also getting a decent amount of use lately. A couple times a week really doesn’t seem like “enough,” but it’s a heck of a lot more than never. It was tough to get into, and I still haven’t made it a regular habit, but I’m trying to force myself to do 30min+ at least twice a week. The problem is that the elliptical is more of an annoying way to watch TV than anything else, and if I’m not really feeling it, I can’t be bothered to keep going for more than ten minutes or so. When I do get in a full session though, I end up sweating buckets, and I can only assume that means I done good.
I’ve also been working on getting better at jumping rope, which I do nearly every day. Not for very long, mind you. I can currently make it to about 120 before tiring, but I’m getting better at the exercise, that number is up from about 40 when I started, and my coordination still needs work. I have a difficult time jumping and keeping the rope spinning, as odd as that may sound.
There have been some rinky-dink little 2.5lb dumbbells living in my house for a long time, and while they’re good for adding a little resistance to shadowboxing, they’re worthless for lifting. So I jumped up to 15s. I was a little concerned that I was putting the cart before the horse there, but they seem to have been a perfect starting point. Eventually I intend to pick up a barbell, too, though that may still be a ways off (I just don’t feel like incurring that expense quite yet).
And that’s more or less what I’m working with over the last couple months. I throw push-ups and planks in there for good measure, and I go for a lot of long walks. I don’t really feel like I’ve made much progress (at least visually), but the proof is in the pudding: I used to have to squeeze my gut to reach the third notch on my belt, and now I use the fourth notch very comfortably. If I’m wearing tighter pants, I sometimes even reach the fifth. Many of my work shirts are definitely too big on me, so much so that I’ve been buying new ones that are down a number of sizes. And I just feel better overall. Like I stated before, I don’t really think that I look any better (to my own hyper-critical eye), but I certainly feel less like a worthless lump.
So, we’ll see how well I keep up and where it takes me. Hopefully I can maintain a certain level of physical fitness form this point on. I really just want to be able to wear skinny jeans and fitted t-shirts.
Got that, Future Ryan? I swear, if you let me get fat again, I’m going to find a way to reach into the future and sock you right in the kisser.
Quelle surprise!
In all honesty, I really don’t draw Robot Masters all that often any more. Only sometimes. And these are the only ones that have passed the “willing to share” quality threshold. Which is apparently pretty relaxed because they have a lot of room for improvement.
Especially Flash Man. Geez. I really should have taken a photo of myself in that pose before trying to draw it. I just… Ugh.
Also I have no idea how to draw a hand holding a Metal Blade. So that’s an issue.
Gee, I sure did post a lot in June. Haven’t posted that many things in a month since… October of last year, if that dropdown box is to be believed.
The best part is, that they were (almost) all actual posts. All but one had something at least semi-worthwhile to say or show.
Not like this one. This one was a waste of time.
A waste of your time. I had nothing better to do.
This is getting a little bit out of hand here. I’m going to stop listing the games that I play every month without fail. Because you can pretty much assume that in any given month, I’ve spent a good chunk of my time playing the following:
Monster Hunter 4, Super Smash Bros for Wii U/3DS, and Pokémon Shuffle.
I love them all dearly, but there’s no point to reiterating that I’m playing them every month unless there’s some sort of reason to mention it.
Oh, I guess I don’t really love Pokémon Shuffle. That’s more of an addiction than anything.
Shipwreck (PC) – A cute little top-down adventure that’s very reminiscent of Link’s Awakening. It’s not as deep, and it doesn’t have as much heart, but it’s still pretty good. Oh hey I even wrote a thing about it.
Psyscrolr (WiiU) – I decided to give it another shot. After the horrifying ordeal that was stage 3, I was ready to give up on it forever. Imagine my surprise when I learned that the game was over! For now… That was apparently only “Chapter 1” but I doubt if I’ll go back for more. As this game is trash.
A Dark Room (PC) – Starts as a pretty basic idle game. Then it aggravates you by occasionally setting you back (taking supplies, destroying buildings, etc). Then it grows an RPG mode. Then it becomes a vertical bullet hell thing. If you can bother to work through the annoyances, it’s actually really cool.
Don’t remember much, just know that I woke up and some old fella was tellin’ me about how he plucked all the bullet shards out of my head and stapled my face back together. Apparently some sort of cowboy robot dug me out of a shallow grave? I don’t know, it all seems a little far-fetched.
But now I’m wandering around the Mojave Wasteland, aimless, but free. And alive, I guess. We’ll see how long that lasts. Suppose I’ll head out West and see what I can see.
(I’m playing Fallout: New Vegas now)
Okay, I’ve been seeing this one a lot lately, and it’s really starting to get to me.
People: “Would of” is not a thing. Don’t type that.
The correct phrasing is “would have.” The contraction is “would’ve” and when you say it out lot, it does sound a little like “would of,” but that’s so, so wrong. And it makes me think that you are incredibly stupid because when you type “would of” instead of one of the proper forms, technically, your sentence no longer means anything. Or, it means something that doesn’t make any sense.
See, “have” and “of” have very different meanings. “Have” is possessive in favour of the subject, most often describing a missed opportunity of some description. “Of” in this case, would make it to mean that the “would” belongs to the object. See the following improper sentence:
Paul would of eaten the cake.
You can sort of make this sentence meaningful by adding a comma, turning “would” into a title, and making “eaten the cake” the name of a place.
Paul, Would of Eatenthecake.
And now it’s stupid. See what you did? Stop being stupid! Write it this way:
Paul would have eaten the cake.
Or this way:
Paul would’ve eaten the cake.
And it will be correct. And you will no longer be stupid. I feel like I shouldn’t have to add this, but the same rule goes for “should have” and “could have.” Stop putting “of” where it doesn’t belong! ARGH!
Fun fact: The “would have [verb]” construction is, in the English language, known as the Conditional Perfect. This is mostly irrelevant to everything.
Over five months have passed now since my life sort of unravelled, and I’m still trying to stitch it up as best I can. It hasn’t been easy, and there’s still the looming threat of the financial and legal burdens (it’s complicated) hanging just over my head. But! I’ve been doing fairly well, and have made a few little changes to my lifestyle for the better.
All of them revolve around simply being healthier. The first -and this is a big one- is that I’ve cut out soda almost entirely. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a heavy soda drinker. Like, we’re talking a can a day during the worst parts. I know that’s not quite as bad as it could be, but it was still pretty bad (I’m honestly not sure how people who drink multiple cans a day stay alive). There were days when I would sit at work and daydream about getting home to a sweet can of ice cold, delicious Pepsi.
The really fun part of it, is that it wasn’t a struggle at all! Despite my previously unquenchable thirst for fizzy pop, it turns out all I had to do to quit was to say “No, I’m not drinking that.” That’s not to say that I haven’t had any soda over the last few months, but the numbers have gone way, way down. Maybe one can a month? I suppose that I can’t in good conscience say that I had a soda addiction, since my mind made absolutely no effort to stop me quitting.
I’ve had half a case of Pepsi in my fridge since February. I don’t think it’s going anywhere anytime soon. I tried drinking one a couple of weeks ago, and it was awful. I did enjoy the taste and fizziness, but as soon as the fluid touched down, my teeth felt as if they wanted to jump out of my face, and the entire inside of my mouth felt gross as soon as I swallowed it down (and remained gross-feeling all night, even after brush/floss/Listerine). It took the whole evening to finish that can of Pepsi. Previously, I’d have polished it off in minutes.
These days, my beverage of choice is coffee. Usually free of sugar (I do indulge occasionally). At the office, it’s pretty much all I drink. At home, coffee is more of a Sunday morning treat, and my go-to drinks are tea and water. Sometimes I mix it up with a big glass of milk. At a restaurant, it’s just water (a nice bonus is that water is free!). And you know what? I have no cravings whatsoever for soda. It’s really great!
The only caveat to this change is the Slurpee. The Goddamned Slurpee. This is one thing that I cannot part with, as hard as I may try. I’m still on the Slurpee, but I’ve got it down to one a week, at the most. Sometimes I’m able to ignore it, but more often than not I give in to the urge. But I will defeat this foe as well! I’m done with soda, and I can cut out Slurpees too! I just need to find a suitable substitute.
Anyway, I’m not entirely sure what kind of health benefits this change will incur. I haven’t really read up on the technical aspects, but I know for damn sure that soda is a terrible, terrible thing for the human body. I think that I’m probably less fat than I was a few months ago, but I don’t know how much that has to do with the lack of soda, as I’ve also been making it a point to eat better in general and get significantly more exercise. My teeth are infinitely grateful for the change, at least.
Hey, more Earthbound doodles! Doodle. Whatever.
I’m not sure if I’m done with this or not. I like drawing stuff out, but I’m not overly keen on finishing my work. I kind of like to just leave my stuff in the sketch phase. Only time will tell.
Oh, uh… spoiler alert.
