Thursday, April 02, 2015
Training.
4/2 - deadlift [repPR 150/330x13], situps, back xt, pulldowns, seated row, shrug, alt db curl
Another DL repPR, another opportunity to scar my shins up.
Caught Furious 7 last night - 2 hours of adrenaline fueled ass-kickery - so I spent the morning pissed I'm not as big and strong as The Rock.
I figure all I have to do is put on 50lbs and grow 5" taller. In my forties. Piece of cake. Nothing to it. God. Damn. It.
Wednesday, April 01, 2015
Training.
4/1 - shadowbox, heavy bag, sledgehammer
‘Southpaw’ Trailer: First Look At Jake Gyllenhaal Boxing Movie | Deadline: " The tale of a champ who loses everything in a personal tragedy and is forced to fight his way to redemption looks perfectly gritty and rough around the edges, hallmarks you’d expect from a Sutter (Sons Of Anarchy) and Fuqua (Training Day) tie-up. Then throw in a fully committed Gyllenhaal and co-stars Rachael McAdams, Forest Whitaker, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Rita Ora, Naomie Harris, Beau Knapp and Victor Ortiz."
"...striving to put right what once went wrong."
"Who are you?
Bartender.
Who knows everything.
Only God knows everything. You don't really think I'm God, do you?
You're not just a bartender.
No, that's true. I own the place too...
I'm gonna tell you a story, Beth. A story with a happy ending, but only if you believe me.
And if I don't?
You will. I swear you will. But instead of starting with, "Once upon a time," let's start with the happy ending. Al's alive, and he's coming home."
Now why would I dream about that last night? Vividly, too.
Reading/Mar 15 - "No matter how long you live, there’ll always be a future just beyond your reach."
The Last American Vampire by Seth Grahame-Smith
Burmese Days by George Orwell
Persuader (Jack Reacher, Book 7) by Lee Child
The Enemy (Jack Reacher, Book 8) by Lee Child
One Shot (Jack Reacher, Book 9) by Lee Child
The Hard Way (Jack Reacher, Book 10) by Lee Child
Archer & Armstrong Volume 6: American Wasteland by Fred Van Lente and Pere Perez
The Legend of Luther Strode by Justin Jordan and Tradd Moore
Excerpts:
The Last American Vampire
We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. —T.S. Eliot
“Famous murderers are only famous because they get caught. The best killers are those whose names we shall never know.”
The Tall Man wasn’t the least bit religious, but he’d come to believe in a kind of Cosmic Wheel. There were undeniable connections between certain individuals. And there was such a thing as fate. Oh, he believed it with every part of his being. You could keep your Christ and your Buddha and whatever superstitious man-made nonsense you liked, but there was no denying the existence of fate.
Why risk everything to go off into the unknown? But we were madly in love and young. And big decisions come easily when you’re young.
Heaven for climate, Hell for company. —Mark Twain
...along comes a bloke, says, ‘ ’Ere, drink this.’ Next thing I know I can see in the dark and run fast as a dog. Best bloody thing that ever ’appened to me. Sleep all day, strong as ten men, get to live forever? What’s not to like?” “How about the fact that we’re murderers? The fact that everyone we know and love will pass to dust before our eyes? That we’re confined to the shadows of the world?” “I been with over two thousand women. You know that? That’s not braggin’, neither. That’s a plain and simple truth, that is. Young ones, old ones, skinny ones, fat ones. Light ones, dark ones, in-between ones. Ones that’s been with a hundred men, ones that’s been with none. Yeah, some of ’em was ugly, but some of ’em was about the most beautiful things you ever saw. I been with ’em in every part of the world, and I done things with ’em no living man could imagine. And you wanna know somethin’? Now that I think about it, I done most’a them things in the dark, on a bed, with the shades pulled shut. The shadows of the world is just fine, thanks.” Henry was, once again, stunned into silence. “Perspective,” said Duell. “That’s your problem, ’tis. I’m a vampire. I love killin’, I love fuckin’, and I love watching the world go by. That’s what I am. Question is, what the ’ell are you?”
You know the saying “possession is nine-tenths of the law”? In my experience, intentions are nine-tenths of a man’s character.
No matter how long you live, there’ll always be a future just beyond your reach.
“A fear of death,” Twain continued, “follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
Life is often like that. We write the fantasy of what will be in our heads, and more often than not, reality falls short of our wild expectations. But I was grateful, all the same.
“We are time’s subjects,” said Henry, “and time bids be gone.”
There are dozens of pictures—you’ve probably seen some of them; everyone should see them: black bodies hanging from trees, from telegraph poles, bridges. Broken necks. Blood running from their noses. And in almost every one of these pictures, you’ll see a group of white faces staring back at the camera defiantly. Faces smiling, pointing, even laughing at the dangling bodies. And you realize, This is their keepsake of the moment. This is their community, coming together to right a wrong—no judge, no jury, no consequences. Just some townsfolk and a rope. They don’t see anything wrong with it. They’re proud of it. The majority of their victims were young black men, some of them tortured before they were hanged. Some with fingers, limbs, genitals, missing. Almost all were savagely beaten before their deaths. In one picture, no less than ten young black men—some of them just boys—are hanging from the same tree. What their alleged crimes were, I had no idea. It didn’t matter to their murderers, and it didn’t matter to me.
What’s that quote? The one from the Hitchcock film? “We all go a little mad sometimes.” I suppose I did.
There are certain constants in the laws of human nature. Like the speed of light, they’re fixed and universal. And the biggest one of them all, the one constant that thundered down the mountain long before Moses and his stone tablets, is this: each generation will hold the next in contempt and cherish the imaginary memory of “the way things used to be.” It’s as baked into our bones as the need to breathe and screw...
Persuader
"I think if a thing feels right, you should do it.” “That’s your philosophy?” I looked away. “It’s the voice of experience,” I said. “I once said no when I wanted to say yes and I lived to regret it.”
...overall, after you canceled out a few layers of contradiction, Leon approved of revision. He approved of it big time. Mainly because revision was about thinking, and he figured thinking never hurt anybody.
"Cops put things right.” “What things?” “They look after people. They make sure the little guy is OK.” “That’s it? The little guy?” I shook my head. “No,” I said. “Not really. I don’t really care about the little guy. I just hate the big guy. I hate big smug people who think they can get away with things.” “You produce the right results for the wrong reasons, then.” I nodded. “But I try to do the right thing. I think the reasons don’t really matter. Whatever, I like to see the right thing done.”
The Enemy
"“Where are you from?” I asked her. “Atlanta,” she said. “What’s your name?” “Sin,” she said. “Spelled S, i, n.” I was fairly certain that was a professional alias.
“Life,” Joe said. “What a completely weird thing it is. A person lives sixty years, does all kinds of things, knows all kinds of things, feels all kinds of things, and then it’s over. Like it never happened at all.” “We’ll always remember her.” “No, we’ll remember parts of her. The parts she chose to share. The tip of the iceberg. The rest, only she knew about. Therefore the rest already doesn’t exist. As of now.”
Life was unfolding the same way it always had for everyone. Sooner or later you ended up an orphan. There was no escaping it. It had happened that way for a thousand generations. No point in getting all upset about it.
One Shot
Get your retaliation in first was his credo. Show them what they’re dealing with.
Some of the sidewalk trees had faded yellow ribbons tied around them. Reacher guessed they symbolized solidarity with troops serving overseas. Which conflict, he wasn’t sure. What the point was, he had no idea. He had served overseas for most of thirteen years and had never met anyone who cared what was tied to trees back home. As long as someone sent paychecks and food and water and bullets, and wives stayed faithful, most guys were happy enough.
“The existing social order is a swindle and its cherished beliefs mostly delusions.”
The Hard Way
“Do you know what a private military corporation is really for? Fundamentally?” “Fundamentally its purpose is to allow the Pentagon to escape Congressional oversight.” “Exactly,” Patti said. “They’re not necessarily better fighters than people currently enlisted. Often they’re worse, and they’re certainly more expensive. They’re there to break the rules. Simple as that. If the Geneva Conventions get in the way, it doesn’t matter to them, because nobody can call them on it. The government is insulated.”
Reading Burmese Days in Burma/Myanmar. I just blew your mind.
Monday, March 30, 2015
Training - "I feel complacency trying to burrow into my body every day like a cancer. Every day, I greet it with my middle finger."
3/30 - squats, hanging knee raise, calf raise, sauna
Bodybuilding.com - This Is Why I Lift: "I take this path because it demands individual effort and individual respect. Your fears are revealed only to yourself, without judgement or expectation. People in the gym spend years just repping out. They think they're maintaining, but really, they're just waiting for time to catch up with them... DON'T JUST REP OUT
Take pain or pass judgment? The weak will always choose the latter. You think I'm lonely and sad because I think this way. What's the alternative? To celebrate your life sentence with bad TV and Ronald McDonald? I've had it with people who only crank out wasted reps of weakness, consume only shitty calories, and steal the time of others. Over time, I've lost all communication skills with these people, because they don't feel anything. But I don't protest. Their numbed existence only gives me more room to grow.
I feel complacency trying to burrow into my body every day like a cancer. Every day, I greet it with my middle finger. Any weight I have yet to move taunts me. Intensity I have yet to push through invites me. Reps I have yet to encounter jeer at me. If I get caught off guard, even for a second, I'll lose my head. I embrace my primitive survival instincts to keep it real and raw. I'll always have unfinished business. If my muscle fibers remain intact, I've got work to do. This is why I lift."
Squat. Press. Pull.: ""If the bar feels heavy. Step one is to grow a set of balls. Seriously. Sometimes shit is heavy – that’s why it’s powerlifting. You want easy weights, go hop on a leg press, preferably the pin loaded version. That way you can pump out reps while you read the paper or update your Facebook page. Pussy."— Dave Tate (Dave Tate’s Free Squat Manual)"
warrior prose - Words from Dave Tate - Words from Dave Tate: "Once the bar is loaded and your set comes around, you find this place that I really can’t explain. From the time you approach the bar to the time the set is over, there’s nothing. The fight you had with your girlfriend that day? Gone. Your finals? Gone. Your work issues? Gone. Your bills? Gone. The asshole across the gym? Gone. The bullies? Gone. The hurt? Gone. The mental pain is now replaced with physical pain, but this is pain that you crave, because the load you’ve been carrying all your life in now resting on your back – and you have the power to smash it."
Your belief in fairy tales does not trump equal protection under the law.
"Religious Freedom Law" my entire Caucasian ass.
Ricky Gervais and the most honest ad ever.
'I said, "I don't want to put any effort into it, I want to do it sitting down."'
Patrick Stewart Wins - "Blunt Talk."
Patrick Stewart Introduces Us To Walter Blunt - Bleeding Cool: "We get our first look at Patrick Stewart as newsman Walter Blunt in the new Starz original series Blunt Talk from Jonathan Ames (Bored to Death) and Seth McFarlane (Family Guy). The series focuses on a British TV news legend who now host a US cable news show… and seems to have a few issues."
Your "Trigger Warning" Bullshit is Making Things Worse.
You cannot nerf the harsh edges of the world. You must become more resilient. What's The Problem With Trigger Warnings?: "The fact is, those who’ve experienced major trauma in their lives, may very well be triggered by sounds, sights, smells or mentions of things that are related to their triggers. However, it is possible these trigger warnings are not doing people the favor we think they are. There has been substantial scientific evidence that avoidance, rather than confrontation of these triggers, can cause severe damage to the necessary coping methods of the brain, further increasing the level of trauma. Prolonged exposure therapy is something practiced and recommended by mental health professionals. Treatment of PTSD overwhelmingly indicates that confronting fears, not avoiding them, is the most effective way of overcoming their power, whereas avoidance only enforces them.
The ability to confront and move on from one’s triggers, trauma and ultimately the involuntary reactions that interrupt their lives, is essential to preserving one’s agency and allowing someone to live lives beyond an identity as a victim."
Hazards Ahead: The Problem With Trigger Warnings, According to the Research - Pacific Standard: "...as the following studies show, these warnings may be counterproductive. The use of trigger warnings doesn’t just underestimate the resilience of most trauma survivors; it may send the wrong message to those who have developed PTSD...
CONFRONTING TRIGGERS, NOT AVOIDING THEM, IS THE BEST WAY TO OVERCOME PTSD
Trigger warnings are designed to help survivors avoid reminders of their trauma, thereby preventing emotional discomfort. Yet avoidance reinforces PTSD. Conversely, systematic exposure to triggers and the memories they provoke is the most effective means of overcoming the disorder. According to a rigorous analysis by the Institute of Medicine, exposure therapy is the most efficacious treatment for PTSD, especially in civilians who have suffered trauma such as sexual assault. For example, prolonged exposure therapy, the cognitive behavioral treatment pioneered by clinical psychologists Edna B. Foa and Barbara O. Rothbaum, entails having clients close their eyes and recount their trauma in the first-person present tense. After repeated imaginal relivings, most clients experience significant reductions in PTSD symptoms, as traumatic memories lose their capacity to cause emotional distress. Working with their therapists, clients devise a hierarchy of progressively more challenging trigger situations that they may confront in everyday life. By practicing confronting these triggers, clients learn that fear subsides, enabling them to reclaim their lives and conquer PTSD. Advertisement — Continue reading below —“Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: An Assessment of the Evidence,” The National Academies Press, Institute of Medicine, Washington, D.C., 2008"
Clichéd, but true - You are the average of the 5 people you interact with the most. Choose Wisely.
“We all become a product of our environment. Like a fish in water, you don’t know the water around you is affecting you. So, I always tell people the most important lesson in life is “the people you spend time with is who you become.” Throughout my life, I grew up in a really tough environment and what allowed me to get out of it was getting into the minds of some of the smartest humans on earth. I didn’t have access to them so I did it through books. I read 700 books over seven years. All in the area of psychology, sociology and physiology— anything that I thought could make a difference in my life (or the life of someone I cared about). With that kind of obsession, I got access to the real people — the people that were doing it." - Tony Robbins
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