#cheese pizza is a good benchmark of a pizza place too.

[exculis]

vanilla ice cream is so good. cheese pizza is so good. some times you have to sit down and appreciate the classics.

[brightbeautifulthings]

Five Nights at Freddy's: The Silver Eyes by Scott Cawthon & Kira Breed-Wrisley

"'That's the worst thing, isn't it?' Charlie said. 'Things that act alive but aren't.'"

Year Read: 2017

Rating: 2/5

Context: I like the idea of adapting video games to other mediums, since I read a lot of books and watch a lot of movies but rarely make time in my life to play any. Naturally, I'm most drawn to horror: Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and now Five Nights at Freddy's. While I don't have any intention of playing them, video gaming seems like an underrated form of storytelling. Trigger warnings: murder, child murder.

About: Charlie reunites with four of her friends in the town of Hurricane to honor their lost friend, Michael, who was kidnapped and murdered at a Freddy Fazbear's Diner when they were children. Freddy's was a child's daydream come to life, with pizza, parties, and giant animatronic toys. With some time to kill before the memorial, they go looking for the old diner and, to their surprise, find it buried but still intact inside an abandoned shopping mall. But they're not the only ones who know Freddy's is still there, and when one of them is put in mortal danger, Charlie and her friends must race to piece together what really happened when they were kids.

Thoughts: The mythology behind this game is really interesting, and I can see why it's gathered such a following. It's almost impossible not to be able to relate to a place like Freddy Fazbear's, since it's a Chuck E. Cheese with a few minor twists. Adults seem to find toys far more creepy than children do, and Five Nights at Freddy's really plays on that tension. Which is the scarier thing: a murderous animatronic come to life as a child, or a child being kidnapped as an adult? The novel plays on both, and it's definitely got the raw materials to make a good horror story.

Unfortunately, the novel itself is a bit of a mess. A good benchmark for horror novels that rely on tension and jump scares is around three hundred pages or less, which makes this one at least a hundred too long. It just isn't possible to maintain suspense for that long, and some of the dark, tense scenes in the diner are really all the novel has going for it. It's not that the plot isn't interesting, just that it's slow, and the pacing is all over the place. The writing itself is dull and uninspiring, and I ended up dragging myself through most of it.

I feel like there's an effort to make the characters stand out, but while they're not exactly stereotypes, they're not all that interesting either. There just isn't a lot of depth to any of them, and especially for Charlie who is (usually) the narrator, that could have helped a lot. She has an interesting, if rather tragic, backstory, but there's no chance to really explore it, since her strategy is to not even think about it. It limits the novel from ever going past surface details, and it makes everyone pretty forgettable.

There are a number of nods to the game itself: a night guard, control rooms, eerie music box music, cameras that don't show the entire space. Then there are a lot of scenes where characters are trapped in the diner in the dark with flashing lights, moving automatons, and jump scares. The writing isn't quite visual enough to make these work (see Rin Chupeco's The Girl From The Well for excellent, film-like jump scares), and I was never very frightened of any of the ghost-machines. The only scene that really stands out as horror is one where a character is trapped in spring-lock suit--yikes.

While the plot wraps up, there’s no real sense of thematic closure. What do these events mean for Charlie? For her relationship with her father? For her willingness to let the past intersect with the rest of her life? These are questions that could have aided in her character development, but go mostly ignored. I enjoyed the mythology, but I can't bring myself to continue with the series. I'd be interested to see it if there's ever a movie though.

[mmroad]

The Auction Chapter 12

Tobin strutted into Lexa's office at Clexa Corp. with a huge smile on her face after her morning off with Alex. Her skin was glowing. "Well if it isn't our own Casanova, Tobin Heath herself..." Lexa teased after putting aside her work on her desk and sliding her glasses farther down on her nose to get a better look.

 "I sure hope whatever you were doing was worth it since you had to call off this morning...." Lexa joked. Tobin, clearly thinking of something else "I know, I know. I feel terrible for calling off, but I wanted to see Alex a little longer, and I didn't want her to just think I ditched her. You know I'm not a 'hit and quit it' type of girl. And Alex looked so peaceful while she was sleeping, and I..." Tobin would've kept rambling for hours had Lexa not stopped her. "Tobin! Tobinnnn...I was kidding. Geez, you haven't taken a single day off in years, and I have to beg you to not bring your laptop home on Christmas. You're fine. I hope your talk” she said with air-quotes “went well."

 At that moment, Clarke waltzed in obviously entranced in her work, "Hey Babe, do you have the numbers for last month’s—” She finally noticed Tobin standing there. Clarke took one look and knew everything that happened the previous night. "Well someone had a good night with Alex Morgan." Clark cupped her hand around her mouth and nose toward her wife (as if Tobin couldn’t hear her) and whispered not too inconspicuously, "but how can you not with that body.” Lexa shook her head with a shy smile in agreement. "What. Whattt. I'm standing right here you guys. Plus, how did you know that we..." Tobin’s face was sanguine—if they weren’t sure before, they knew now—"did...yanno..." "Oh you're glowing, and besides, you smell like sex..." Clarke said matter of factly. Lexa hummed in agreement.

 "Whaaaattt is with everyone thinking that you 'smell' after sex?" Tobin said to herself but also, unbeknownst to her, out loud. Her two bosses looked at her confused. Lexa ventured, "Uhm...you always smell after sex; it’s—" Tobin interrupted. "No, only you guys smell after sex," she pointed laughingly at them, "because you do it in small cramped places like your car in the parking lot" she counted on her fingers with grand gestures as if playing charades, “the storage closet down the hall that you had cleaned out but never repurposed,” Tobin had made her point but was just having fun now, “and don’t get me started on—” “OK Tobin, we get it,” Clarke interrupted. Tobin blushed, she hadn’t been able to concentrate very well recently, "I mean yeah, you guys aren't subtle at all..." she trailed off laughing nervously.

 "On that note, I'm gunna get to work" Tobin said in an obnoxiously upbeat voice as she gave both of her bosses a thumbs up and sauntered out. As she was walking out, she could hear Clarke whispering, "I told you someone would notice.” 

 As Tobin left work that day, she hurried over to her house to grab a change of clothes and a few essentials for the night. At a red light, she pulled out her phone just to make sure one more time. "Bring an overnight bag;)" Ugh, did Alex know how much those little words rattled around in Tobin’s head?

  Tobin pulled in Alex's circle drive way a little after 7 and parked her car before the tip of the circle so as to not block the beautifully lit house from the street. As Tobin was climbing out of car with her overnight bag, Alex walked out the front door. "What are you doing...?" Alex’s voice shout out; she looked puzzled. Alex had obviously re-showered after practice and was now wearing her hair up in a very tight, very wet bun. Wearing a Cardinal Red Nike soft cotton tee and some Nike sweats with the courage insignia on the thigh, Alex was obviously embracing her team.

  "Oh I...I…" Tobin stuttered after pointing back to her car, "I was just parking my car, but I can move it to the street if you w—" Alex cut Tobin off. "Tobin, the street? Really? You act like you're some one-night-stand." Alex said with a confident smile and her arms crossed over her chest. Tobin looked back at her a little nervous. "Bring your car over here, and pull it into the garage," Alex said as she turned around and motioned Tobin to follow her by throwing her hand back over her shoulder. "I know I seem crazy, but I don't have four cars to fit in there" Alex reiterated. Tobin snapped out of her trance and smiled. Alex was treating Tobin like a long-term girlfriend, not a lapse in judgment—this was intentional. Some would be scared by the steps, the benchmarks, that had apparently been skipped in their relationship, but Tobin couldn't have been happier. Seven years had been too long. They needed to make up for lost time.

 Alex opened up the garage door and Tobin looped around and pulled her car in, and Alex hit the button to close the door. Tobin walked up to Alex standing in the doorway. "V. I. P. treatment I see..." Tobin said with a smirk, "Do you do this for all your guests?" "Only the ones I really, really like," Alex said sensually as she caressed Tobin’s chin, up to behind her ear, and back into Tobin’s thick hair. "So, you really like me, aye?" Tobin pretend to be confused, trying very, very hard to stay on topic. "After last night, I think it’s pretty clear how I feel," Alex said in a low voice as she slowly leaned in to kiss Tobin. Tobin met Alex's lips with the same vigor. They both took in every crevice of the others soft lips. "Man, I could get used to coming home to this..." Tobin said softly after they pulled apart.

 Alex just laughed and grabbed Tobin's hand pulling her into the house behind her. "C'mon silly, I made dinner" Alex said as she dragged Tobin to the kitchen. "Wow and she cooks, too" Tobin commented from behind.  When Tobin walked into the kitchen she could see a few candles strewn around the countertops and the table along with 2 cups of red wine on either side of a pizza box. "Alexxxx, you said you made dinner," Tobin complained laughingly, "and last time I checked, your kitchen is not ‘Charlie’s Pizza and Italian Edible.’ " "Yeah, you see the thing is..." Alex explained half-heartedly in-between sips of her red wine, "Don’t tell anyone, but…I can't really cook." Tobin’s giggling erupted into a tear-extracting cackle.

 Alex went on as if Tobin could listen in her state, "You made such an amazing meal the other night, and I wanted to repay you...but this is all I got," Alex said putting her hands up in, palms out, the air in defeat. When as the laughs began to trickle and she caught her breath, Tobin walked over to Alex who was turned around looking at the table and put her arms around her waist pulling Alex’s back to her chest.  They both looked at the small yet momentous table-setting. So many nights were unjustly past with these two apart. Whether a four-course meal or a store-bought pizza, it was perfect; it was right. "I love it, thank you." Tobin slowly whispered into Alex ear and quickly progressed into a hot kiss in the middle of the kitchen.

 When their lips parted, and their eyes met only inches apart, Tobin smiled. Then spontaneously, Tobin unraveled herself from Alex’s embrace and went straight for the pizza box, opened it, and pulled out a steamy hot piece of cheese pizza. A string of cheese came with the piece as she pulled it higher and higher as if each fiber were hanging on for dear life. She had gone nearly two feet from the table before the last filament accepted defeat and succumb to gravity. Tobin gazed with a twinkle.

 With a mouthful of pizza, Tobin turned to Alex: "you remembered." Alex smiled back at the girl who seemed so much like a child. "Plain cheese is pretty boring, but yes, yes I did," Alex said with a smug smile as she pulled her wine glass up to her lips. For some reason, everything Alex said that seemed to fit with Tobin. They were like two parallel cosmic rays, together for eternity in their trip through the universe.

 The girls gulped down their pizza and wine at warped speed. Once every crumb was picked out of the corners of the pizza box, Alex looked up at Tobin giving her big, knowing eyes. "I think we should talk now," Alex said as she stood up from her place at the table. Tobin nodded and followed Alex into the living room. They both planted themselves on the couch, each mirror images with one leg hanging off the sofa, and the other, under her to make a “4,” so they to look directly at the other.

 It was quiet, Tobin opened her mouth and was about to make the first move, but Alex interrupted her and took control. "You did all the hard talking last night, Tobin. Let me start this one." Tobin silently agreed to allow Alex to lead this dance.

 "Tobin..." Alex said looking into Tobin's eyes. Alex thought for a second. She remembered the very first time she ever took a free kick, way before she even met Tobin, way before she was getting paid to play, way before she really knew the beautiful game at all. In that moment with Tobin, Alex thought back to what Coach Press told her before she took that kick: ‘Trust yourself, Alex, and just do what you have to do.’ Trust yourself. Alex knew what she had to do. "I'm just going to come right out and say it: I love you, and I've always loved you. And I'm not trying to scare you, but I want, no I need, to be honest. I want whatever this is..." she motioned in between the girl with her hands "I want this and more. I don’t want this to be just a hook up. I want you to be my girlfriend. I want you to live in this giant house. I want to marry you." Tobin's eyes just about popped out of her head. Seeing Tobin, Alex clarified, "I want to marry you someday. Not today, but someday." Alex could see the sigh of relief as Tobin exhaled. "Like I said yesterday, this house is way too big for one person. I want to fill it with many little humans and to raise them with someone I love. I don’t want this to be too much for you; I don’t want to drive you away," she continued, "but you need to know where I stand and what I want the future to look like so that, if you're not game, we don't start something that will end poorly again." Alex took a deep breath as she finished her monologue and now intently looked to Tobin for her response.

 Tobin took a second to let what the girl across from her had said sink in. She could see the anxiety hiding behind Alex's eyes. "Alex..." Tobin reached over to grab her hand and looked into her eyes, "I want every bit of what you just said.” She could see Alex's smiling pulling up her face. "But how about you let me have you to myself for a little bit before we bring any little ones into this picture," Tobin said with an even bigger smile. Alex laughed "Yeah maybe we should go on a real date first." "A real date?" Tobin questioned jokingly. "You don't consider Saturday's dinner a real date?" "Well, honestly, I’ve had worse.” They both giggled.

 A cool sense of reality struck Tobin as the events of that night played through her head. "Yeah, you're right. We need something better." "Movie night...right now," Alex said as she shrugged her shoulders. "She's the Man?" Tobin tossed with a devilish smile. Alex rolled her eyes, "You're twenty-six, and that's still your favorite movie?" "You bet your ass it is. Amanda Bynes pre-breakdown, you can't beat it!" Tobin chirped back. "Whatever you want," Alex said as she turned off the lights around the room, opened the credenza, retrieved the Apple TV remote, and threw it to Tobin.

 The soccer player plopped right down next to Tobin on the shorter part of the L-shaped couch and pulled her in close to her body. Once Tobin set up the movie, she wiggled into Alex’s body, placing her head in Alex's lap while sticking her legs out the length of the long couch. Tobin didn't look up to see if Alex cared that she was lying in her lap, but when Tobin felt Alex's long fingers running though her hair and, at the same time, gliding ever so lightly over her exposed skin by the arm of Tobin’s t-shirt, she knew Alex was more than okay with having Tobin there. The light touches seemed to lull Tobin straight to sleep. Alex noticed the slow, even breathing, but could not pull them up to bed before capitulating to sweet sleep. The rest of the movie played out in front of closed eyes.  

[athleisure-aesthetic]

Ugh I did the thing again where I was busy all week and forgot to post on here. So here’s a lightning fast recap of my workouts from the past week, if you care at all. I actually think I worked out (ish, except Friday kinda) every day which is a first in a while. Bless.

Tues Mar 21 Abs and shopping. I went home after work to get my car so that I could drive to trainings the next two days, but went out to Target as soon as I got home, cause duh. Stupid idea to try on like real clothes tho, my self-conscious ass was like ohhhhh no way you need to tighten up those saddle bags and that back fat before you get any of this. So. I got a crop sweatshirt and athletic leggings, felt bad about myself but hadn’t had dinner, so I went to Wawa. Woof.

3x each 15 reps straight leg raises 15 reps roll ups leaning camel x 45s bird dogs x 45s 60 reps heal touches plank 35s, 40s, 45s 10 reps assisted push up 40 reps russian twists 8# alternating superman 1 min 15 reps single leg pulses

Wed Mar 22 Run on the trail after this horrific training class in which I was literally the only student for an all day session. And I had to go back the next day 😩 went to Marshall’s before my run to see if I could find any cold weather gear bc I only had my sweatshirt, gloves, wool earwarmers, and thin leggings. Didn’t find any of that, but got those AMAZING NEON PINK LEGGINGS IN THAT ONE PICTURE and some other ones too. You know me, can’t stay away from that athleisure ish.

It was hella freezing and took me so long to warm up once I started on the trail. Fortunately it was so picturesque and my music was bangin so. I survived.

2.78 mi 9'55" min / mi

Thurs Mar 23 6 x 200m sprints on the trail. Bless up, convinced my instructor to finish early bc tbh he was not really all that helpful once I started following the book that was included, so I went to the mall and got some more athleisure (deh), cheap sunglasses, athletic ear warmers for $.50 each, a VERY cute lightweight rain jacket, and (!!!!!) these black leather slip-on sneakers I’ve been looking for for like 6 months. I just caved and got the name brand ones but stILl omg I’m so excited about them I finally found them.

Started the sprints in the cotton leggins I was wearing, then after like maybe 9 or 10 strides I was like oh FUCk no they suddenly lost all their elasticity and I was having to pull them up for my life. So after completely embarrassing myself hoisting those mothereffers up for my first sprint, I jumped in the car and changed into spandex pants, then zoomed back to the trail start and actually did my workout. Good thing my house is only 8 minutes away from that part of the trail.

I think I may have mis-read what my Nike app was telling me to do, but I’m pretty sure it said to do 6 x 200m sprints with 4:45 min in between. So that’s essentially what I did, I sprinted for the 200m and ran / jogged in between. Although the app only recorded the distance for the sprints, I wanna say I did a little more than the day before, since I went further on the trail. I hate that you can’t go back and check what it told you to do; you only see how you actually ran according to the app. Lame af. Though I was proud, I increased my sprint speed at almost every length except the 3rd.

0.77mi 6'59" min / mi (lol can’t believe I actually ran a mile faster than that at one point in my life holy shit)

Fri Mar 24 No real workout here, since I had to leave work early to take the train back to le Nova for Palooza. I scarfed down a Snap pizza (the classic spot) right before the show, and somehow stayed away from the dangers of late night college food. Though I did get all my steps in my showing one of our friends’ home friend around campus, and apparently that little tour counted for a nice brisk walk. Obvi the Snovas killed it, as a great opener for what my friends and I dubbed AcaWeekend. Saturday they’d be competing at ICCA regional semifinals #pitchperfect for the first time ever, which was so exciting. Palooza the day before was just their warmup, but fortunately we got to see two new songs from them. It kinda sucked for them though bc they went first out of the seven groups and the sound guys always need a few groups to warm up before they actually refine the balance, and they just sounded muddled. Womp. Oh well. Everyone knows they’re/we’re the best anyway. Proud alum.

Sat Mar 25 Run in the morning before the day’s festivities. This was a quick workout before most of the humans who stayed in my apartment became humans, a brief mile ish to the waterfront and back. I realized I’d been wearing a blueish shirt and black leggings in literally all of my pics lately so I spiced it up with these fun stripey ones. Lol.

We adventured to brunch, where I had a yummy spinach and goat cheese salad with fig dressing, and wandered around the city for the afternoon before we had to head to semis. I splurged on Hunger Burger at RTM because I told myself that this was my indulgence for the weekend, and I wasn’t going to be drinking anymore for the next few months (it’s not like I do it that often anyway, I just want to try it to see how it helps my training/weight loss, if at all), so I got a specialty thin mint shake. Woops. Honestly, it was so worth it though, and I didn’t even end up eating most of the fries anyway, so it wasn’t the worst I could’ve done.

At semis, there were literally so many good groups and we were all like oh shit how are they going to stack up?? But Snovas SLAYED even better than they did last time and ENDED UP IN THIRD PLACE WHICH IS THE CRAZIEST BEST HONOR WE’VE EVER GOTTEN AND IT’S JUST SO COOL!!!!! A cappella is the shit, guys, I swear. I’m so proud of those kiddos, and they get to submit a wildcard video for a chance at Finals in NYC which is like legitimately insane. They’re somewhere in the top 18-27 groups in the country right now, and coming from a school where we legit don’t have music majors and a joke of a music activities staff / support, this coulD NOT be cooler. They murdered it. And so did all the other groups at semis, like damn. We weren’t even sure anything was gonna happen for them, but they clearly did some things right. Ugh so obvi we celebrated when we got back to Philly, going to a few bars and ending up at Frankford, where we got some amazing soft pretzels and other snacks. Best day ever.

1.26 mi 9'21" min / mi

1.32 mi 10'03" min / mi

Sun Mar 26 Long ish run and relaxing. Got up and was worried about the weather forecast for Monday because I was supposed to be doing my long run for next week then, and it was going to be torrentially downpouring all day, so I was hoping to switch my days because the weather was decent enough that I could’ve done it on Sunday. But then I updated my app and A, it changed my schedule for this week anyway, and B, I remember I could’ve moved it anyway if I wanted to. So instead I went and did that 5K Sunday challenge thing that it introduced. And I ran back from there, so it actually was closer to the 5 miles I had wanted to do anyway. So ya.

I felt a little subconscious in these leggings because, though they are a spectacularly bright and amazing color, they also show my cellulite on the back of my legs… but I thought, fuck it, people will see me, and if they give me a look, I’ll just push harder and show them that cellulite means nothing if you’re fast and capable and strong. So. I used it to empower me, I guess.

Spent the rest of the day relaxing and watching ICCA videos, still hyped up on the Snovas victory. Legit it’s still coming to me in waves, it’s actually incredible.

3.11 mi 9'41" min / mi

1.53 mi 9'44" min /mi

Mon Mar 27 Full body circuit and a benchmark run. Work is starting to bore me so much lol on Monday I think I may have done approximately 2 work related things all day, otherwise I was just distracted. I decided to do a NTC workout and then my benchmark, so I chose Body Flexor 2.0, which worked a lot of different areas and was pretty fun. Then I ran on the treadmill for my benchmark for the first time, which was weird knowing my exact speed at certain times and being able to force myself to a certain pace. If I have to do it that way again, next time I’ll just cover the numbers and just focus on how it feels to push hard. The picture up there is me literally dying because of how sweaty I was. Plus fun leggings from Marshall’s.

1.54 mi 9'49" min / mi

Tues Mar 28 Abs / some arms, plus 20 minutes on the elliptical. I was an idiot today, and not only forgot a hair tie after my shower, but I left my phone at home, which I realized too late in the elevator on the way to work. Nice. So I had to go without both all day, though Kelly let me borrow a hair tie so I could work out thank GoD cause I was looking at using a legit rubber band, which would’ve been awful. The moves I chose for abs today ended up also working my arms a lot, which was nice to combo them. Because I didn’t have my phone, I just kind of had to make up my elliptical workout, which was meh but whatever. Next time I’ll be prepared. That’s definitely not my favorite type of cardio anyway.

Tonight I made these AMAZING baked zucchini fries, I probably could’ve eaten like 90 million in one sitting they were so crunchy and good. My sweet potato fries didn’t turn out so good (I actually burned the shit out of them, but I’m going to attempt to eat them tomorrow for lunch anyway 🙃) but I’m happy I’m trying new things in the kitchen, even if it’s taking me like 3 hours each time lolol.

I’m down a few pounds from last week, though, which is kind of nice! A little affirmation after working hard every day.

3x each 15 reps dumbbell side bends alt. sides 8# 15 reps twisting core stabilizers alt. sides 8# 15 reps bow extensions alt. sides 8# 15 reps woodchops 8# 10 reps windmills 5# 40 reps russian twists 8# 30 s plank 7 reps full extension inch worms 15 reps in-&-outs

Wooooof I’m going to try to post more often now that I’m all caught up. Lol it may last for a day but you know. #Goals.

[my31styear-blog]

Tuesday 27th Feb: Come Fly With Me !!!

Had the most lie in that I could this morning, said goodbye to Sarah and Bowie and after wolfing down the last on my banana bread loaf, it was off to the airport! Obviously didn’t get much chance to eat, drink or get any steps in, but following a nice long flight, I am going straight to the gym for a mega cardio session (steps, cycling and a blitz on the cross trainer too)

Arrived after a long, bumpy, not fun flight with a horrible selection of airline food; I had to have a glass of red wine with my ‘meal’ to wash down the taste of horrible chicken and potato (thank goodness I pre prepared myself some cheese sandwiches before I left the house). Name Dropping here for the first time, but NEVER FLY UNITED AIRLINES !!! The service is average at best, not what you want for a 10+ hour flight (they walked by my whole row, full of people TWICE without giving us food or drinks, we thought they were just filling the trolley, but they just never came back!)

Body clock is a bit messy, as I landed 6 hours before I took off, and following ANOTHER long wait, I picked up my hire car and checked out the BEAST of a Toyota Corolla I picked up … as it shall be known for the remainder of this job !!!

Due to the time and date, my Fitbit had a royal freaking out session because it thought it was Wednesday morning, then when my phone synced, it suddenly erased my steps and stats for the last 12 hours - will have to see if it corrects itself anytime soon once I’m done and resend this evening.

However, I did get my weekly stats in from Fitbit and its a crazy improvement on previous weeks and sets a great benchmark for future weeks when I start adding some extra walks and cycling in !!! (see pic below)

Got to the hotel and was unable to check into my room, which sucks balls, so spent the morning (which felt like 2am to me) relaxing by the pool and researching walking routes and cardio workouts for the gym.

Checked into my room and once Id unpacked my stuff and watched a bit of youtube, I went to the gym; smashed out 2.5 miles on the treadmill in just over 30 mins (taking my steps to just over 16k) and finished with a few light 3x15 reps on chest and shoulders on the machines.

Washed it all down with a strawberry and banana smoothie from the veg juice and smoothie place across from the hotel - might be my new favourite place for the next 3 weeks as they have a variety of juices, smoothies and snacks which are all organic and healthy (will double check them with Emma and Jules though, else they could just be sugar and bad calories)

Went out for a meal this evening to a Mexican restaurant down the main high street with Jules and enjoyed a glass of red wine with some spicy pork and chicken fajitas with some spicy beans and rice. Then bumped into Hamish (gave him his posh Gin) and then had a cider whilst he ate some pizza in NYPD. Not so much pussied out of my ‘no booze’, but its a noticeable difference to having a few glasses on the plane and heading straight to NYPD for a few ciders before, and after dinner - and thats what this is about. Lets see how the weather is tomorrow, as its been cold as balls today !!!

[dine-on-nervine]

the ‘muscle simulator’ survey

Is there anyone in particular that you’d like to see and, if so, who is this person? Yes, and that would be Cara. Will do that on Valentine’s Day. :-D Have you been to the movies lately and, if so, what movie did you see? Nope. Have you ever used a muscle simulator before and, if so, did it hurt? I think you dropped a letter there, you meant “muscle stimulator”. Unless Microsoft has finally gotten around to releasing “Muscle Simulator 10″, a series which I haven’t played since the DOS version on a CGA monitor. Build your body twelve different ways in this ultra-realistic exercise simulation. You will need a video card produced after 2017, 40gb free hard drive space, a 100mb Internet connection, and 8gb RAM to play. Jocularity aside, I tried a relative’s electrical muscle stimulator once to see what it was -- and hurt isn’t the word, it’s draining being tight like that.

Do you hate it when people rudely interrupt you and do you want to hit them? I do hate that, and I do not want to hit them so much as give them a verbal smackdown for being rude. “Were people talking here??” Of course, what’s worse is when the person you are talking to does that when someone else approaches, like whatever you were saying was totally unimportant.

How many songs have you downloaded in the past week and what’re the genres? I don’t think I have.

Have you ever owned a pet bird and, if so, what was this bird’s name? Not me but my sister, and that parakeet’s name was BoLuke. Do you have a friend who’s a complete and total flirt around everyone? I haven’t been around anyone who flirts randomly in years. Do you know anyone who’s addicted to drugs and, if so, are you friends with them? My roomie’s sister (who is staying here for a couple week waiting for housing) just got out of jail on drug charges, and says she’s learned a lot from rehab. I can’t say I’m friends with either, I just unfortunately live with them. How many times a day do you worry about dying and the afterlife? It rarely comes to mind. I’m alive and healthy, I’m not a total sinner (but indeed do sin, probably daily), and I prefer to look forward than down. Have you ever owned a golf cart before and, if so, what color was it? My family had one, it was white. Do you have a sibling who’s a complete deadbeat and, if so, which sibling is it? I don’t think any of my sibs is a deadbeat, they all work and have kids to support. Now, they could say that person is me since I work part-time and have fewer responsibilities than they do, but my sibs are all productive. Do you think that these questions are a little too personal? None so far. Keep trying. How often do you get photo comments on Facebook and who’re they usually from? The two people who comment most often on my FB stuff are Mary and Cara. Do you know anyone who has a name that you hate and, if so, who is this person? I can’t say I hate any names, but can say that some names just cast a mental image that isn’t flattering. To quote the comedian Sinbad, “I named my daughter Renee so they won’t know she’s black until the job interview.” Have you ever seen the really old movie The Birds and, if so, did it scare you? I have only seen a little bit of it, as a Saturday afternoon matinee movie on television, and I was probably 7 years old -- so while I had no context of what was going on or why, I can say that it was alarming to a little kid. Do you think kids who smoke at a young age are stupid and naive? Yes. And teenagers who smoke as well. Adults who smoke are no longer naive, just merely stupid and lowkey suicidal. What’re the color of the curtains in the room you’re in right now? Whitish but yellowing with age. Do you own the new Guitar Hero and, if so, what’s your favorite song on it? Nope. How long ago was it that someone you know got arrested and put into jail? Not in my own life, but the squatter here got canned 7 months ago, and just got out the other day. She says the thing that bothers her most is that it was a one month sentence... and chances are that despite her merely being an accomplice to others’ crimes, they probably got out before her. (One got out and wound up back in on new charges while she was there.) How long ago was it that you last ate Taco Bell and what did you eat there? Last month, and it was their new Crunch Wrap. The Bell advertises it as being part of their dollar menu but the place near work charges $1.50 -- uh? Either price works, it’s just a tortilla with cheese and a bit of meat folded up (w00t!) and put into the grill press, so about twenty-five cents of materials. Do you ever take pictures with random people in Walmart or anywhere else? Not in the ‘selfie’ way. More like a background or photobomber way. Do you ever make fun of people with disabilities and, if so, why do you do that? Only the disabilities that they themselves have created. Do you regret any decision you’ve made in the past week and, if so, which one? Nothing stands out in my mind so I must be doing something adequately. Okay, one very minor second-guess, the other day I wanted pizza so I went and got pizza, then later checked my bank account and noticed I came just over $1 from dipping below where my bank would give me a $3 fee for having a low balance... no fear, my paycheck was listed as a pending deposit, but it’d suck to get charged a fee for being under the wire for only eight hours. Have you ever done anything dangerous enough to have risked your life? I’ve risked it a few times foolishly, and one time intentionally. Where’s the farthest place you’ve been from home and why did you go there? I’ve been to a couple cities in Arizona, to see people. Do you ever watch MTV and, if so, what shows do you normally watch on there? Okay, I’m oldschool, and you did NOT watch MTV for the REALITY PROGRAMS AND GAMESHOWS. You were there for the music videos. You might have tuned in for music programs like London Underground, The Tube, Headbanger’s Ball, or Yo! MTV Raps... or there were fun shows like Beavis & Butthead and Daria and The Young Ones. The non-music shows were in the minority of programming, you still had 3/4 of the day of music videos. Funny was that when MTV was overrun with non-music programs, they created MTV2 to play videos again... which also was overrun in time. What kind of game consoles do you own and, if you own any, are they in the room with you? All of mine are in storage at the moment, but the consoles I own are NES, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, and Colecovision. (Sorry, Intellivision, I don’t love you.) The handhelds are Sega GameGear, Atari Lynx, and a DSlite. Do you get embarrassed when your parents talk about when you were a baby? Not really. I’d be concerned about them talking about me as a teenager. ;-P Do you have any friends you’re ashamed to be around in public? I’m not around my friends in public. ;-) But no, none. Do you consider yourself egotistic, or do people call you egotistic? I don’t consider myself egotistic, just looking out for myself. I don’t think others consider me egotistic or conceited, but that is their opinion if so. Do you ever compliment yourself on small things just because of popularity? I compliment myself on small things because I need my benchmarks, my means of seeing that I’ve accomplished tasks and done the things in a day. What was the most length you’ve ever cut off your hair and why did you cut it? I got a buzzcut once. Has anyone ever stereotyped you in a horrible or depriving way and, if so, why? I think through my youth that happened with some frequency, either out of bad behavior on my part or them simply not getting to know me to understand who I was. Different is weird. As an adult someone was doing that periodically in the recent past, and the two things I did in response were to take a hint that this is how others see or may see me so let’s turn the genuine faults around -- and walked away from them when what they were criticizing was me and they wanted to make it seem like I was terrible for not going along with the skewed way they saw life. What’s one food that you absolutely can’t stand eating and why do you hate it? Pancakes. They’re just gross, sorry. << Me too for just being sitting in my stomach like a rock, plus not being that appealing when slightly cooled. What I don’t like is cooked green beans. Those are just gross and icky. (But I do like them pickled or raw/steamed with other vegatables. Just not cooked.) What’s one movie you can’t wait to see in theaters or rent? Nothing to rent/download. See in theatre is the second Deadpool. Do you have any children and, if so, how old are they? Only my cat, who is now seven and a half. How many times a day do you brush your teeth and is that enough in your world? None, typically, and my teeth are telling me that I’ve made a mistake on this. Do you think you’re going to Heaven or Hell and why do you think this? Going up to the spirit in the sky / That’s where I’ll go when I die / When I die and they lay me to rest / Gonna go to the place that’s the best. Actually I have no idea where I’m going or if there’s something beyond the earthly plane, but that’s no reason not to be a good person here, right? What’s the latest you’ve ever stayed up just talking on the phone? Simply put, there may not have been sleep until dawn’s light. Do you ever make random signs from sticky notes and put them on people? That sounds silly. Have you ever overcome a disease that was life-threatening and, if so, which one? The downward spiral of suicidal thought. Do you think anyone who’s in the room with you right now is really mean? Ain’t nobody in the room with me. And none of the people in my house are mean, just going about their lives in the ways they choose presumably without causing others any undeserved grief. Is there one thing that you want more than anything you’ve ever wanted? Happiness. Money is great, I need a steady supply of it, but it’s possible to have everything you want yet not be happy. I want to be happy and have the things I actually need... and maybe a little more. :)