"Fuck being normal" - An Interview with Dave Tate.

Dave Tate is awesome. Great interview over at T-Nation.

T-Nation.com | An Interview with Dave Tate:

"Look, any dog will bite if you fucking kick it hard enough. You've got to be willing to fix your attitude and get your shit tuned in. You've got to be around people with the same attitude that you want to cultivate. If you start hanging out with successful people, you're more inclined to be successful.

If you see guys busting their ass, straining and pushing against weights you didn't think they could move, it's going to teach you a lesson. You're going to find out that you're a lot stronger than you think you are once you stop being a pussy. I think you can learn attitude. Everyone's got it in them.

And everybody's emotional strength falls on different levels. Just because one guy is psyched up and has a look of intensity doesn't necessarily mean that the other guy next to him who looks like he's falling asleep isn't internally just as driven as the first guy. That's where people get a lot of this confused.

Attitude is contagious, right? But it's also the fucking plague. So if you get a guy in there who's working against the group, who won't shut up or is asking stupid questions, you need to get rid of the dipshit and move on.

Fuck Moderation

I have two speeds: blast and dust...

The Strength and Resolve of a Five-Year-Old Kid

I've volunteered in my son's kindergarten class most of the year, and it's been a great time. I was there yesterday, walking down the hallway listening to the morning announcements. I heard something about a fire and donations for the family.

So I go to the classroom and I'm sitting there not even thinking about it. At the beginning of reading time, the teacher brings up one of the kids in the class. Well, it's the kid who just lost everything in the fire over the weekend. You could tell the kid wasn't in the highest of spirits.

The teacher's explaining to the class that the important thing was that nobody was hurt. She's doing exactly what she should do because the kids have questions, you know?

"Did you lose your clothes?" "Did you lose your toys?"

He starts talking about how one of his cats ran off because it was scared of the fire, and his two dogs are now in heaven. And it's just killing this kid to sit up there and talk about it.

All of a sudden these little kids start saying things like, "You can have some of my clothes" and "you can have my dog" and "you can stay at my house." Every single kid in this class is willing to give this kid their toys. He looks up and says that everything's fine and he has everything he needs right in front of him.

I had to get up and fucking walk out of the room.

All these kids know the most important things in life are friends and family. And I'm standing in the hallway and it just dawns on me. Where did we get so fucked up? Because we're really starting off okay. It was one of the most inspiring moments I've had in my entire life, seeing the strength and resolve of a five-year-old kid."