Gooooood morning.

I saw an article in the paper this morning about internet addiction, and I've got the symptoms. I need a job, fast.

So in my joblessness, I search random shit on the internet. I'm a virtual wealth of knowledge of useless knowledge.

Example: The Japanese Hornet is predatory on regular honeybees, each hornet can kill up to 40 bees per minute. But the bees have developed an evolutionary mechanism to counter the hornets, since stinging them does nothing. When the bees see a hornet, they emit a pheremone, and 500 bees surround the hornet and start vibrating via their wing muscles. The whole mass prevents the hornet from moving, and increases the temperature to 47 degrees, which kills the hornet (the bees can take it). Cool, huh?

Saw The Grudge 2, and while parts of it made me jump, it wasn't nearly as scary as the first. I respect a good scary movie, and the key I think is creating tension and a sense of the unknown. I don't find movies where it's a killer hunting people very interesting, people don't really scare me that much. But something that's unknown (not necessarily ghosts) or unnatural, that freaks the shit out of me. Good scary movies I can think of: Into the Mouth of Madness, Event Horizon, Dawn of the Dead (new one), The Grudge. I'm sure there's more, but I'm also sure that nobody else really cares.

Fuck the snow, I hate it. I'm going to move to Vancouver soon enough.

After watching UFC and Pride for awhile, I realize that the sport is definately in it's infancy. Watching an organization like K-1 (kickboxing), it is very much a technical sport and sloppiness is harshly penalized (with a knockout). Muay Thai and Kickboxing have had hundreds (if not thousands) of years to mature, and it shows. That being said, I am excited to see the next generation of MMA fighters, who train specifically from the beginning and are not just failed athletes in other sports. Hopefully we'll see much more polished standup, with smooth transitions. I think Fedor, Georges St. Pierre, and potentially Rich Franklin (if he elevates his muay thai to something actually respectable) are examples of what the new generation will look like.

Anyways, I'm off for now, more updates through the week of useless crap that's on my mind.

Josh wants a fuckin smoke.

I had an interview today at a geophysics firm. It went pretty good, they thought it went really well. Seems like a cool job, but geologists/geophysicsts are pretty crass assholes. I was actually told, "A math degree? That seems like a really poor choice in degrees, how do you ever expect to get a job?", well, you wanted me here dick. Add to that I would have to be in Houston (ugh!) for 3 months and then 9 months in either London, Paris, Oslo or Perth(admittedly very cool). So it really comes down to whether I want to do ugly math on shit I don't care about for the next couple of years to make money, or keep looking for a job.

Halloween is coming up, don't know what to think of that. I'll probably be a raver monk/Buddha or a doctor...with a big dick. Either way, it should be entertaining.

Got some lip from a kid at tutoring, forgot that highschool kids can get an attitude. Felt like saying, "Hey, you're paying me to help you." But I just shut up, and let him struggle with the problems for a bit, proving my point. Don't bite the hand that feeds you.

On a less bitter note, I can squat 225lbs, with "relative" ease now. That makes me happy.

So here's a picture of me with a coffee stained tongue when I initially thought I had gotten a job at CPR:
I'm still hoping on that one, CPR really looks to be my ideal job.

And yes, I want a smoke, but no I'm not going to have one, so don't worry Randee.

Oh man, this video made me laugh quite hard: Click!


And yes, I have edited this entry because it was far too bitter and cynical, even for me.

Aloha folks

Went out for the first (blind) date I've had, I guess, in months. As much as I appreciate Alan's effort (I really do), it was terrible. I can actually say that I was not interested at all and was kind of offended by her ignorance to, well, pretty much everything. It can only get better from here.

I wrote a letter to the editor at the Herald about the proposed smoking ban in Calgary. Yeah, yeah, you say, just a smoker wanting to light up. But really my complaint stemmed from the fact that I don't want my favourite chill spot, Cafe Med, to have to close down. I really don't think it's fair to ban smoking there, because not only is it the business owner's livelihood but everyone who goes there is willing to enter the atmosphere. I hope the alderman take note, because it would be a loss of culture in our fair city.

That being said, smoking is bad, very bad. Don't do it.

Started reading Midnight's Children, and I must say the book has a feeling of importance. Similar to Tropic of Cancer and other literate books, once you start reading, it feels like something you should've read awhile ago. As well, I feel much better after reading it, it feels like I'm doing something good for myself.

I've been reading up on Soviet training techniques that were developed for athletes. It's quite interesting stuff, they did quite a bit of research and most of it does not require fancy equipment at all. The basis is that the body works on cycles and that you have to work with your body on that, and plan your training and competition around that. It's all quite logical and holistic, something which I think makes sense for your body. If anyone wants to know more, I can hit you up with some interesting research information.

Electro funk is my new groove, I can't get enough of it. It's too bad the only places I can think of hearing it live are raves and Shambhala. Raves are a little to sketchy to go to and Shambhala isn't for another 10 months...sigh.

Pride Real Deal is on this weekend, I can't wait to see the return of Fedor. Fedor is the ultimate expression of a mixed martial artist, in my mind. Not only is he undefeated, but he is so humble and gracious. Outside of the ring he is the nicest guy, I never see him without a smile, and his training is so very simple as well. He doesn't use fancy techniques, just very basic exersizes; but all the most effective in training his body. And the other thing is, he doesn't look like a mean guy, just a kind of chubby russian guy. In the ring, he is stone cold and calculating, which goes to show the most powerful tool you have is your mind. So please don't waste it folks.

I hope everyone is doing well, and I apologize for the uber bitter post this week. There are always opposing forces in life, and we musn't let any one direction take hold. Be calm and stay in the middle, don't let any one emotion override you, because you will have to pay for it in the opposite direction.

Aloha all. Been awhile since I've updated, I'll try to make it interesting.

I've never really become personally attached to sports before. I could always just shrug off "my team's" loss because I could never identify with it. But seeing Rich Franklin get KO'd last night, I'm upset. And it wasn't even a close fight either, he got demolished. Fuck. Fuck.

I'm going slowly crazy living at home. My mother has this intiative, doing a "little" bit of housework everyday/hour/minute. So it feels like you're constantly doing meaningless chores and therefore breaking your psyche and going into a murderous rampage....I mean, flowers are pretty.

Now that I am an adult (ha!) I feel that one of the nice things is that I don't feel obliged to meaningless friendships that you were forced to keep in the past. Over the weekend, I went to the bar with some friends, incidently I proceeded to get just shittered. Nonetheless, as we were all leaving some girls from highschool stopped by (STK chicks for those who know) and after saying hello, a few of us just wandered off letting those who actually cared continue a conversation. I feel that is not inappropriate at all, I've talked to them maybe a dozen times in my life, why should I pretend to give a flying fuck what they're doing now? Isn't it being a better person not to lie and give them the honest truth, and not lie to myself?

I actually went to the mall yesterday, and besides the frantic consumerism the thing that shocked me most is what is "hip" for men now. I see so many guys that are very skinny and fey looking, in other words emo I guess. There's nothing wrong with it I suppose, but it makes me wonder why that is the new "in". I guess I'm just saying when was the last time a healthy person full of life was treated as fashionable.

I guess this all sounds like bitching, perhaps I need a girlfriend or to get laid.

And that brings me to my next piece, women, where the hell are you? Seriously, it's easy to find out where the dumb bimbos hang out, but I'm not looking for them. A smart, funny girl who hasn't been recently broken up is a hard find.

Anyhow, I'm gonna go grab myself a glass of wine before I get too riled up here. I hope all is well with everyone, I'll try a more positive piece later in the week.

What's on the my mind as of recently? Oh some interesting tidbits I'd like to think.

This is not intended to offend, but I think it's very interesting how vegetarianism (or the idea of having the whole world vegetarian in it's current state) has required violence to get to this point. Think about this, why are wars fought? For land and control of resources at least partly, and originally I'm sure it's what was a major motivation. Why is this? Because of the domestication of grains, vegetables and animals requires land, and agrarian societies require large populations to work said fields. A culture of pacificity born out of violence...

Is it worse to feign sympathy with homeless people when you don't give change or just be straight up with a no? I think lying to them is worse, might as well be honest, I don't want to give you my money or feel pressured to. I worked for it.

I'm almost, almost done Tropic of Cancer. God, it's been a long haul and suprisingly difficult for me to read. It feels important when you read it and I feel that it deserves my full attention any time I read it, so the going has been slow. My next literary choice is going to be Midnight's Children by Rushdie, I finally found a copy.

How does everyone read? I am usually going through 4 books at any one time, about the same length through all of them, and I finish all of them within a matter of days. Kinda weird.

I've been reading about just various fitness training, well, because I'm a dork. But besides that, I think it's really interesting that for dynamic sports some of the best training has come from the Soviets. They were interested in winning the Olympics primarily so they invested some serious research into it, and often found the simplest solutions usually worked. Using plyometrics and dynamic compound movements are great for muscle memory, while isolation type exersizes (like most exersizes in Western gyms) fail at providing muscle coordination. I think this is more of a traditional idea of the east versus west, whereas in the east they have a more holistic view of the body in getting everything to work together well, whereas in the west we want to get each part working perfectly and assume the whole thing will work well together. I think the solution, as with most things, lies in the middle somewhere adopting both strategies in moderation. Increased specialization in either will result in more flaws than in adopting both, using all the information at our disposal.

Speaking of exersise, I'm thinking I need a winter sport and cross country skiing seems interesting. It looks cheap enough and a good workout. Anyone have advice or tips?

UFC 64 is coming up and I'm predicting Franklin over Silva and Sherk over Florian. Rich is just too big for Anderson Silva, and he's very well rounded. He looks so natural and comfortable, as well he has a game plan perfectly suited for the opponent (mathematicians yeah!). Sean Sherk was a beast at 170lbs, and I can't wait to see him at 155lbs. Kenny Florian is solid, but Sherk only lost to Hughes and St. Pierre, who are in a league all by themselves.

Everyone will probably shake their heads, but I've got a bit of an addiction to crunk right now. I think it's the same reason that I'll watch a cheesy movie occasionally. It's really cheesy and it gets me smiling and laughing because of that...or occasionally pretend to be a gangsta like Michael Bolton from Office Space.

That's enough for now, hope all is well. Eat your vegetables, avoid hydogenated oils and hit up ground flax seeds.