So, first thing: Ive been looking to buy a car, because i need something to get me from work to home. Unfortunately around this time of year Jesus decided to be born, so im stuck with some stupid forced holiday which is more expensive than if i were to take an actual holiday at any other time of the year I choose.
Anyway, So I was sort of needing a car since about last week. So i started hunting. If you want to see discussion on Veyrons, GT-Rs and Lambos, look away now.
I started off looking at Subaru Legacys. I had one before and it was rad. Unfortunately, when i moved to Thailand and my dad was in possession of it some kids (Maoris) stole it.
So i lined up a few viewings of 2 Legacys, 1 Impreza hatch-back and 1 Mitsubishi Legnum.
The Impreza was nice, but had a 1500cc engine and the actual car was tiny, and i like the room of a station wagon so i can move my shit or sleep in it. (Which is a topic i want to cover in another blog post, but seriously think about: with todays internet/communication technology and skyrocketing rent living in a vehicle makes a lot of sense)
The 2 Legacys were pretty shit. They were both the same year as my old one, but felt much worse to drive. One was fairly beaten up used by some foreign students to travel around. The girl was smoking hot but the car was beat, and the other one felt pretty crap and the guy was too honest about its condition, which was poor.
The Legnum however, was amazing. It was quiet, comfortable, had a sweet stereo, it was massive inside and it looked pretty sweet. It was the most expensive of the 3, with a nearest offer price of $4500.
So i got a vehicle inspection done on it and it was bad news. According to the report it had major oil leaks around the engine. There is a twist to the tale though. The kid who owns it said that the oil was a result of him spilling it whilst servicing it himself just prior to the inspection.
I got a quote on the potential cost to fix the likely causes of the leaks (rocker covers and filter) in the report at $500.
Given that i have spent alot of time in the last few weeks watching Pawn Stars, I put on my best Rick Harrison impression and set about hammering this guy down to a pawn shop price.
"Look man, its a nice car, but not great... Im gonna have to put probably $500 into this thing to get it working"
"Lemme call up a buddy of mine whos an expert in spilt oil"
Anyway, today this guy holds firm at $4000, He agreed to take it to the mechanic on Monday and get it signed off that there are no oil leaks. I offered him $3300 cash with all potential risk of oil leaks, but he still said no.
He never replied to my last text, but after this weekend my urgent need for a vehicle decreases and i have much more time to shop around. I will see if he actually bothers to text me on Monday or if he just throws in the towel.
So maybe im not as good a negotiator as i thought. Its a shame because I really liked the car. I will probably shop around for another Legnum in the time being.
OTHER SHIT
1: Super Meat Boy: I know im a little late to the party with this game, as i often am now since i dont buy shit until it turns up on Steam in their sale for cheap. This was the best $7.50 i have spent in a long time.
It is platform-genre perfection. Perfect learning curve with enough to keep you going. I struggled through the main story mode then I felt such elation when i beat the final boss - BUT WHAT, omg there is a dark world, holy shit.
I have 99% on Light World with 1 level left on Cotton Alley, all levels have A-rating and Ive completed forest, hospital, salt factory and hell Dark worlds.
Just amazing.
2: Music: So, ive been feeling recently like I would like to spend my free time learning an instrument. Ive always liked Guitar. I had one before but virtually never played it. The bass guitar intrigues me, because Lemmy and Steve Harris are so fucking cool, although the sound of a bass on its own is pretty crap. Might get the cheapest acoustic guitar available for fucking around on.
3: American Restoration: This show is awesome, granted that all they do is break something down, sand blast it, paint it and put it back together. The show is cool.
edit:
Probot was a side project by Dave Grohl, involving loads of rock musicians. Shake Your Blood bass was written/performed by Lemmy, and its fuckin sweet.
I wrote the lyrics in about ten minutes. . . It's rock & roll, you know. It's not one of those complicated things.
also:
Headcat was a rock n roll collaboration with Lemmy and they do loads of covers of old rock n roll like Chuck Berry
Its funny how things in life suddenly swing around.
For most of this year, nothing really happened in my life, plans werent panning out and it all was kind of turning to shit.
At the end of last week however, things suddenly picked up.
Starting saturday/sunday: Im playing poker again, properly, and have put in some decent volume the last few days, although my results are a little shitty, but I feel im playing well. Properly rolled and playing NL25, which is where i was very comfortable before, hopefully i can make a little bit of cash and some good rakeback. Volume was always the problem before so I hope i don't burn out. Ive played about 13k hands in the last 3 days, 12 tabling. It was great for the first 10k or so, but the last 3k didnt go as well. I think im gonna adjust so i get up at like 8am NZ team which would be 8pm Euro time, and play then. Last 2 days have been an early AM session and an afternoon session and the tables were tight and there werent as many Russians stacking off free money.
Aswell as that, as you know I went to the Psychiatrist on Saturday, it was probably over a month since my last psychologist visit and then they forgot to book an appointment with me, so i went and had that 2 hour session and got some medication.
Then monday, I followed up about a 2nd job interview I had nearly 2 weeks before. I thought it went really well but was a little surprised and anxious when after over a week I still hadnt heard anything. So i called her up to see what was going on, and right then and there we got everything locked.
Next week i go in to sign my contract, 25th I will start part-time at the existing store doing my training and learning whatever I need to, and then January 2nd the new store opens and i will be the Business Machines Specialist. So ill be in charge of the computers/hardware/phones section of the store.
The pay is alright, good for an entry level position, and its one of the biggest retailers in NZ so in the future i should have plenty of opportunity to progress if I wish, or move locations etc.
So now, Im back to being a normal person from the unemployed gaming shut-in that ive been for the last 8 months this year.
Im working on losing weight too, after 3 weeks I had lost 3kgs. Ive slacked a little with my exercise the last few days because of weather and all the other stuff happening. My current goal is to weigh less than 100kgs by December 11th, which will be 2 months after I started.
Other stuff:
On November 06 2011 12:25 Night2o1 wrote:
I am not sure if you've mentioned tools for organizing yourself and your time better.. Like keeping a calendar etc to stay on task for longer term things. You doing any outside medication type stuff?
Not really at the moment. I do write a lot more down now. I have a pen and paper on my desk and write either ideas, funny things i think about, things/details i need to remember.
Since there isnt much need for a routine in my life, I havent really worked on making one. The only routine ive been doing is regular exercise everyday (more or less)
Also:
Why arent Roasts more popular?
I had never heard about them until the death of Greg Giraldo, when everyone was mourning a funny man I had never heard of. Theres an amazing mix of people who are absolutely hilarious and people who are absolutely terrible (see Situation).
and lots of B-list celebrities willing to let people rip them to pieces.
Jeff Ross is by far my favourite. I could watch him roast people all day. He walks that fine line so well between being really really funny and being too mean.
When i watched these 2 performances for the first times, i was laughed start to finish.
AND FINALLY:
I made these so long ago, but afaik i never posted them, so here we go:
This next one was in reference to that Poker/MMA Combination thing that was meant to happen, I cant even remember the details of it, but this is Mig at the FT.
Went to see the psychiatrist today following my trips to the psychologist from a while back.
Pretty much asked/answered a lot of similar questions and some other stuff. He was a cool guy and his intern sat in too. It was wierd having to go into detail about my career as a counter-strike and WC3 player from when i was younger. They both think I have an addiction to the internet, which im not sure I do, I just really really like it.
Its a fast acting one, so im supposed to take 4 a day and i got 1 weeks supply, later I will look at getting a longer acting one once the dosage is worked out because it differs person to person.
So, im about to pop the first of these bad boys. Not really sure what to expect or what to do. So i think ill try and read one of the many unread e-books thats sitting on my hard drive.
Since its function is to allow me to focus on things properly, I will have to choose something to focus on.
any advice or tips are welcome.
Will report back soon with the results and let you know if they did anything.
Went for my 2nd meeting today with the Psychologist.
She asked me first some questions about alcohol and drug use and stuff. Im not really sure what the angle was, I think people who are hyperactive-ADD tend to medicate with substance abuse. She said that people with ADD get really bad anxiety when they smoke weed but ive never had that, just hungry and sleepy. Some questions about drinking. It was really wierd having to tell someone how much you drink coz it always feels like too much too often.
Then we talked some more about my family and my relationships. People with ADD tend to have black/white thinking and tend to be quite pedantic about stuff. Which was funny because i had an argument the other day with my dad because he suggested I went to a culinary school to learn some cooking skills and i interpreted that as becoming a chef which started the whole argument.
She also showed me a graph which looked like this:
So normal people usually fall into a category where something is quite interesting or quite boring. ADD people find loads of stuff boring and a little bit of stuff intersting. They have a hard time moving something to a "normal" level. For example, you could be extremely messy and learn to be tidy, but ADD people would go from being really messy to being overly tidy and obsessive about tidyness.
When i was at school i was always told id find something i enjoyed or fall into something eventually. Its now i start to see there must be a problem because i havent fallen into anything for very long and theres no way people have an interest in marketing or communications or networking at the level i would need to finish a degree in it.
We also talked about routines, which are a ADD persons best friend. Ive been in a routine a couple of times in recent years, like when i was in Thailand i had a routine of getting up at about 7am, playing poker for 3 or 4 hours, going to the gym for 1 hour, going shopping, then back home to watch TV and relax for the rest of the day. I was really happy when i was in this routine.
Problems come when other things arise. People with ADD have problems if things dont go exactly as they planned and will get really disappointed with it, also over quite trivial things. For example if you organise a party but people dont turn up when you expect them to, you tend to dwell on it.
So theres a lot of stuff about how we interact with others which was interesting. Also things about intrusions and extrusions, patchy memory leading to relationship problems, like being asked to do something and not doing it correctly because you patched together what you heard incorrectly. Ive always been quite aware of my inability to listen to people. I even find myself consciously thinking about giving off the right social reactions when talking and have no idea whats actually being said.
There were times at work when id have a meeting with my boss where he would want me to perform some quite important task, he would talk through the whole thing and i would get back to my desk and realize i had no idea what i had been told to do.
So some time in the next week ill get a call from the Psychiatrist now, who i will see for a session and if they decide to theyll prescribe me some medication. If i do ill probably start of trying to read a book, a rather ordinary task that I have never completed (a book, cover to cover)
There are also some art projects that I started and lost interest in that are sitting in my closet that I would like to finish. So these will be the test as to whether or not they do anything.
I was pondering my inability to perform even simple tasks that have little interest to me and began to wonder whether or not I had Attention Deficit Disorder, my life hasnt really changed in 6 years, so there must be a reason behind my lack of motivation and lackluster approach to finishing projects. Previously i had assumed this was a made up disease for kids who were all jacked up on candy and processed foods.
It would appear i have the 'Inattentive' version, where im incredibly easily distracted, lack focus, cant read stuff properly and procrastinate like a motherfucker.
So today i went to visit a psychologist who specializes in ADD assessment. She works alongside a psychiatrist to sort people like me out on the road to a more focused and 'normal' lifestyle.
I chatted for basically 1 hour straight, starting at primary school and working right up until now about my experiences in school/work, my families history and other stuff. She says im on the more 'extreme' side, but that was based on the answers I gave to a fairly subjective quiz, where i was a little concerned about underselling myself.
Im going again next week to talk further about my lifestyle and whatever else. Turns out caffeine is good for me and she recommended i drink stimulants. I had recently given up drinking caffeine because I used to drink about 2.5 litres of coke zero everyday for years and decided it was a good habit to kick. So i drank an energy drink today after i left her office, although i feel much the same.
Finally, i want to talk about something that grinds my gears:
PCs and PC Gaming: Not the games, but the hardware.
There used to be a time not that long ago when all PCs were a lovely shade of beige, then Dell started to make sleek looking black ones and people decided this looked better. Back then your PC was something to help with school work and use email and have a couple of games on. Your mouse and keyboard were pretty much the stock that came with the PC or a slightly more upmarket version of stock that you bought later.
Now days however, man has gone too far yet again. We have flown too close to the sun and our wings have melted.
PC Hardware is the most retarded looking stuff ive ever seen. Everything that is branded "ULTRA-GAMING" must also include flashing LEDs, the word "XTRME" and feature a million useless buttons and gizmos.
Look at this atrocity of mankind. It has RAPIDFIRE on the mouse button. It does not look comfortable and costs more than any person needs to spend on a mouse.
PC Cases now look like some sort of prop from a 90's sci-fi film. You have to have a window to see inside your PC at all time, and light shining from it. I get annoyed by the LEDs on my laptop, this would drive me insane.
This is not what i wanted to happen after supporting the gaming industry for many years. I have never wanted to look like this guy and somewhere along the line someone managed to market this to people as what an actual HARDCORE gamer looks like. In my day the less equipment you had the more pro you were. If you ever played CS youll know that everyone was playing on a PC at 20fps on a ball mouse in 640x480 on a 14" monitor - they played once per week for 15 minutes and it was all natural talent.
Laptops, have also succumbed to this new infatuation with colouring stuff in, but rather than gaming and their spaceship looks you now have to jazz your shit up by selecting one of a handful of pre-existing design templates to ironically show your individuality, and everyones at it.
When i bought my laptop, I thought it was all black, but its got gay silver swirls on it like something out of the matrix. Luckilly i dont have to look at the top and my hand covers the other one most of the time, but it still annoyed me.
Sony is the worst perpetrator in all of this
CHRIST! That is offensive to my eyes. White and black are the only colors required.
My parents recently purchased a new laptop and i went along to help them pick. Eventually we landed on a Samsung one that was in the sale. Purchased it and took it home... It was pink. Instead of a brushed steel looking top, it had a pink top. Motherfucker. It wasnt really the salesmans fault since all the boxes look identical apart from 'pink' written in tiny writing on the label of on the side.
Needless to say they werent surprised we took it back to replace it, there must be hundreds of pink laptops on the scrapheap at Samsungs HQ.
This kind of thing should not be happening. I would gladly revert to beige in order to make all of this go away because im afraid of what the future might hold.
Im worried that eventually PCs will look something like this
Given that i have a lot of free time, it gives me the opportunity to really take a step back and evaluate whats going on.
I really like Entourage, for all its short-comings the series has me hooked, and with the imminent release of season 8 and the feature length film, I would like to take the time to inform everyone and anyone that Kevin "Eric 'E' Murphy' Connolly" is probably the worst actor that exists today.
He is ruining the series on his own.
Lets take a look:
5: Season 1 - 7: He is a monumental fuck-up. Granted this is character base, but i think it speaks volumes of him as an actor. He cant perform the most basic of fucking tasks and is pretty much the reason Vincents career has been on the ropes numerous times.
We are supposed to believe, that the fuck-up of the entire show, is now working out of the offices of one of Hollywoods most successful? AND THAT HE IS DOING THIS WHEN HIS ONLY FUCKING CLIENTS AGENT WORKS FROM ANOTHER? AND DRIVING AN ASTON MARTIN.
GODDAMN. Im sure he has been given an office space in L.As most exclusive district to manage his 1 client, who happens to be a coke-head and run by someone else. When do they see a return on this dumbass?
4: HES GINGER. Pretty much. Nuff Said.
3: He cant act. Enjoy watching his fucking stagnant ass "HUUUUUUR WHUT?!" attitude for 8 seasons. If you want to watch him in anything other than Entourage, expect much of the same. The part of Eric was written with him in mind. The writers must be on fuckin crack.
2: Hes short.
WHOS SHIRTS ARE THOSE HANGING IN THE BACKGROUND?
They arent yours Kevin... Unless you happen to be Kobe Bryant tall and the people at HBO did some lord of the rings special effects. You fucking midget. DEAL WITH IT
1: He ruined the best scene in Entourage. Season 5 - episode seven "Gotta look up to get down"
As Ari arrives at the airport to fly out to Switzerland to fly to Geneva to speak with Alans boss about becoming studio head. Ari tells Vinnie that hes in a position to get him any job he wants in the future. This moment is crucial. We see the boundry between boss, client and friend smashed. Vincent says "Id like to finish what we started" which is a little surprising to the audience, more surprising is that Ari really cares about his opinion.
Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees" plays during this whole scene, adding to its emotional value - we see the turmoil between agent and client and friend.
After Ari has admitted why he is flying to Geneva we see Vincent getting on the plane
"YO! WHATS UP?!" Says E, in his typical droll style
"They just offered Ari the studio-head position..."
"IS HE GUNNA TAKE IT!?!"
FUCK
YOU
ERIC
MURPHY
YOURE A DUMBASS. WHY WOULD YOU PRETEND THAT ANYTHING BEYOND WHATEVER VINCENT HAS INSTANTLY SAID TO YOU HAS ANY DEEPER MEANING.
He is shocked when he hears the news from Vin, even though he clearly would have no real fucking idea what was going on. For all intents and purposes this would be a great deal for Vinnie. Thats the surprise, that Vinnie cares more about the relationship forged prior to that moment.
ERIC RUINS IT BY COMING ALONG WITH HIS SHIT ACTING AND BEING A RETARD.
Lets not also forget that he gets with hot chicks. Even with being Vinnie Chases manager, i dont believe this guy could get with more than a 4, and yet we were forced to endure his endless hot chick streak until he ended up with Sloan, who despite being equal in height is clearly leagues above anything Kevin could ever get.
He is also portrayed as a "tough guy". You dont get much fuckin softer than some pussy ass 4ft ginger cunt. Why did you do this HBO? Why did you write him this way?
He also wears running shoes throughout the show. Im guessing this adds a couple of inches. Nothing says Hollywood like a pair of New Balance.
Of all the characters in Entourage, including the ancillary characters, Kevin is the worst.
Congratulations Kevin Connolly for consistently being the most terrible actor in Entourage after 7 seasons. All reports seem to show you being as terrible and as douche-baggy in real life as you are on the show. Which is no surprise.
2010 was one of the best years of my life. Late in 2009 I broke up with my then-GF, we were living together, she moved out and i finished up the rental period. In the space of a couple of months I went from a rather stagnant job/gf/life situation, to early 2010 when I was off to Thailand for 5 months with SilverZ. It all came together in a couple of months.
So 5 months ended up being 11 for me. I met people from LP (Silver, StealCity, Night2o1) and they were all (genuinely) really cool, it was probably the first time ive actually hung out with people who i really felt i had stuff in common with since i left high school.
I ended up in Phuket for most of my time and met the 2+2 community, who are all super cool and relaxed. It was nice to be in that social circle, going out for dinners, partying, football/basketball etc. Life was good, I was happy there, there was never a day I woke up and thought "urrrgh another day"
I had hardly played any poker, and had initially planned to quit, probably until sometime around August. I started to grind FR for the first time ever. I had only played 6 max before that, I was making a bit of money through Rakeback at 6m.
those were the days....
I dont really use PT, so PTR will have to suffice, I made a little more money than it shows, and probably played more hands, but you get the general idea of what direction things were going in.
I had to cash out each month for rent/spending money. To keep myself in the style ive grown accustomed to.
It wasnt ideal, and kept me from really moving up stakes and apart from a little NL50 - but i was confident in my game, playing good, running well. Everything had clicked together.
When the time came to leave Thailand, I was actually looking forward to getting back to NZ for a few months. I was moving down South and am currently living with my Parents. This seemed great. Id look for a job, grind poker on the side, make bank and be free from the monthly financial burdens I had before and be able to return to Thailand in a more stable financial position.
Since ive been back, the wheels have fallen off my gravy train.
I started losing at FR, I was running hot before but my ability to brush it off as variance soon wore thin. I decided to cash out a decent portion of my roll, and regrind NL10 to get my game in shape. That didnt help
I kept losing. So i moved to Full Tilt. I start grinding the bonus/RB. Playing PLO and NLHE FR. Again, I made no money. I made a tiny bit through bonus money.
Like the weather in Thailand, i was hot
Heres what i have of holdem for this year. Im probably down more than that since some will be missing.
PLO, about equal thirds PLO10, PLO5 and PLO2 - irrelevant sample size
So, I went from having the excitement and confidence of a game I was comfortable playing to where I am now. A feeling of total dejection and feeling pretty hollow inside.
The shitty results have compounded with not being able to find a job (Greenpeace was a total mess, I left after 1 day, but i wont get into that) being in a new town where the job market is shitty, small and swamped with people who know people.
I feel like Kevin Spacey at the start of American Beauty: Sedated.
Everyday I just log onto the internet, play WC3, look at pictures of cats, walk the dog, wank, eat and sleep. Thats about all I do each day (not necessarily in that order)
Going from such a high point to such a low point really sucks. I sit in bed and think of ways to get my groove back, but history just keeps repeating itself.
In closing, some Motorhead, that I feel sums it all up nicely.
Ill comeback somehow. Im just not sure how yet. Life downswings soul crushing me.
So, I applied for work with Greenpeace and today I had a group interview with them.
I walked in and waiting in reception was a smokin hot Vietnamese chick also waiting for the interview. So my mind drifted off about how we would go fund raising together and have wild sex in mother natures green grasses, then get married.
I just heard back and Ive got the job and am going in tomorrow for training.
I will be fund raising for Greenpeace. Its out and about, which means ill get decent exercise and wont become an all-out fat ass like when i worked in an office, and should have options to move around the country and move into other sectors.
Will get to meet lots of people, the pay is really good, hours are alright and its for a good cause. There are many many asian chicks out there who are willing to donate. Im sure they love a guy whos in touch with environmental issues.
Maybe in a year youll see me swinging off the side of a Japanese whaling boat.
A few things that have crossed my mind over the last few days:
1: The Spade.
The Spade is the highest ranked suit in cards and as a result poker sites like to use this for their logos. The 2 main perpetrators are UB and Stars.
In a sort of "cannot be unseen" moment, I would like to bring it to the marketing moguls in both companies that when presented individually and not on a playing card, the spade does infact look a lot like a butt plug.
Exhibit A:
One of these is a butt plug and one is the PokerStars stress toy. One you squeeze in your hand and the other you squeeze somewhere else.
Exhibit B:
This is the trophy you get if youre awarded one PokerStars coveted Scandinavian Poker Awards.
Here is Peter Eastgate with 2 of them. Winning them must have made his whole week + Show Spoiler +
whole week... hole weak... ba-dum tiss
Ultimate Bet went a different route, their logo looks like a buttplug that has been inserted into someones ass.
Perhaps a better slogan would be "Lube. Relax. Insert."
2: The BFG.
The Big Friendly Giant is a famous childrens book by Roald Dahl, and there's also a movie of it. When i was a kid this movie was awesome. I watched it last night and it has become frighteningly clear that the BFG is a pedophile.
He exhibits numerous traits associated with the profile of a pedophile:
1: prefers the company of children.
2: preys upon children with a troubled background (Sophie is an orphan)
3: he uses the "magic" of dreams etc to keep Sophie quiet and establish a relationship
When she gets dirty in the movie, she takes a bath and the BFG is visabliy excited. Rather than wash and dry her existing dressing gown he sews her a new dress (classic pedophile trait, using presents to lure the child) this dress is significantly shorter than her pajamas she had and later on in the film you actually get an up-skirt shot as a result.
He makes her drink a strange home-brew, that makes it "feel good deep down in your tummy" and sings a song with lyrics that only draw attention to the anus and genitals.
He also looks like a pedo
I wouldnt be surprised is BFG was a registered sex offender and thats why all the other giants had alienated him from giant-society.
3: Going Pro!
Its hard to make a living in poker just by playing the games. One of the best ways a player can make money is through sponsorship. I am probably going to move back to PokerStars, so i have decided to join their "Team Online"
I made my own avatar:
Ill email them later with a brief bio about myself and get them to add 100% rakeback to my account.
If you would like to join me and Baal on Team Online, you can use this template and cut and paste yourself in and become a POKERSTAR!
Hello all, im not sure how many words i have to write for this to be featured - so here goes. Its been a while since ive done anything creative, and ive had this stuff lying around for ages and finally decided to finish it.
BYRNESAMS DEBUT SINGLE JUST DROPPED
TILTY CONSCIENCE
save it to your favourites and subscribe, more great content in the works.
if you didnt know the original, its Guilty Conscience by Eminem and Dr Dre.
heres a copy of the original - id advise you listen to it first before you listen to mine, so you get an idea of what im parodying.
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