James's Journal (And Alternate Alliteration)

Also, I have tickets to see the Will Ferrel Funny or Die tour tonight! So excited. Zach Galifinakis, Demitri Martin, Will Ferrel, and Nick Swardston. All funny men.
 
James said:
I'm 1/4 Irish

I think Guiness is overhyped over here, and I don't think it lives up to its name. Gimme a bock or a local microbrew any day of the week over a guiness.
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:cheers2: I'm cool with that--as long as you aren't going to start extolling the virtues of bud or miller. :ack2:

Have fun at the show tonight--that sounds like a great time. :)

I'm still waiting for the pic of your legs.
 
Dodgeball season is officially over, now that the arctic 40 degree conditions are finally gone, and softball season is picking up. We had our last two dodgeball matches last night. We won the first match 4 games to 3, each game coming down to the wire, and then lost the second match 3 to 4, meaning we got knocked out in the quarterfinals. boooo.

Anyways, softball season is coming up, and I couldn't be more excited. Of all of the "lazy adult" activities, it is by far my favorite. I'm setting up my team's first practice for about a week from now, and it should be friggin awesome.
 
So, I weighed in a couple of days ago, and after 9 days on this pill the doctors are making me take, I have dropped 12 pounds. I just have zero interest in eating. Easiest way to put it: It's like every piece of food I see has been dropped on a clean floor. I'd eat it if I felt really hungry, but until then, don't even show it to me. I have leveled off a bit since last week, though, and the lack of appetite is not nearly as bad as it was, but still my heaviest day calorie-wise was 1,500 Cal. I haven't weighed myself since the last weigh in, and I decided that to curb my obsession / depression off from losing all of the muscle I've worked years to build, to only weigh in every 1 1/2 weeks, so the next weigh in will be before my lift next friday. To give an idea, I am down two belt sizes, comfortably, and a shirt that was tight before is now comfortable.

I could not be less happy about all of this. I mean, I'm happy that I'm losing fat along with the muscle (who wouldn't be), but I'm not excited to see my arms and chest and back and legs shrink, especially thinking about all the sweat and pain and time and effort put into them.

But, sadly, the positive effects of the medicine so far outweigh anything else that they could make me 100lbs, and I'd still keep on taking them 'cause they improve my quality of life by an immeasurable amount. So, it looks like the cut I was going to start now that I was back at a place where I was uninjured for once is turning into a flat out dump.

The things I'm looking forward to the least are going to be the injuries that are going to come from malnutrition. I have started up a generic multivitamin, and actually started in on flax seed oil (couldn't bring myself to do fish oil), but nothing is going to fix the large gap I have inbetween Calories consumed, and Calories expended.

I have given thought to stopping my HIIT to try to narrow that gap, but I don't really know if I want to or not. Not only do I enjoy doing it (I'm a sadist), but I like the speedwork, and time spent at max for other sports benefits. I don't know... but there is a lot to decide, and I guess I gotta figure this shit out as I go.

Sorry for the long post... just been so busy at work all I've had time for is the random quip recently.
 
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Improving the quality of your life is a good thing...

Maybe if your muscles shrink up a bit the problem you were having where you culdn't stretch right (and I know I didn't explain it right i'm too lazy to find the thread) will resolve itself:)

you'll never be a frail little james so don't despair :) you'll still be a beefcake :)
 
So, after thinking about it, I have decided to keep with my training just as I have been doing until I see tangible evidence of my body being unable to keep up with what I am doing in the low-calorie situation it finds itself in.
 
Not gonna talk about the weight loss for awhile now. I figure I'll let it start to even out, and then I'll figure out what to do from there.

Instead, I'd like to talk about music!

I bought a new guitar a bit ago on a ridiculous sale. It was an Ovation Balladeer. I threw some new strings on it, and have been playing it non-stop recently. It is unbelievable the difference a new guitar has on the sound that you can produce. I played for over three hours today, and in the middle of my session, I had a brilliant idea...

I'm going to work up an acoustic set. I have been playing guitar since I was in 6th grade, and I'm not bad (Although I'm not half as good as I could be... I shattered my left hand 5.5 years ago, and after the surgery and months of rehab, my hand was left completely different, and I had to completely relearn how to play guitar because after all the broken fingers and tendons settled, all my old muscle memory was worthless). I don't really have any buddies that play acoustic well, so I'm thinking I'm just gonna work up something for a solo set, and see if I can get on during an open mic night, or maybe something at a bar.

Here is the preliminary list I came up with as nice and easy songs to start with (both playing and singing) that do well when played live. In no particular order:

Desperado - Eagles
And It Stoned Me - Van Morrison
Elderly Woman Behind the Counter In a Small Town - Pearl Jam
Sweet Melissa - The Allman Brothers
Ballad of Curtis Loew - Skynyrd
Rivers of Babylon - Who hasn't done this song
Last Dance With Mary Jane - Petty
All Along the Watchtower - Dylan
Tuesday's Gone - Skynyrd
Childhood's End - Pink Floyd
Hard Days Night - Beatles
House of the Rising Sun - Animals
Have You Ever Seen the Rain - CCR
Knockin on Heaven's Door - Dylan
Time after Time - Again, who hasn't done this song

Now, you might be asking yourself: "Why after such an awesome list of kickass beats would James include 'Time after Time'". As none of you have talked to me, you wouldn't know that I have a really rough and gritty low voice. It smooths out a bit when I sing, but it actually makes that song sound pretty hot when I sing it with a little bit of power, and pick it pretty on the guitar.

I have been able to play those songs and sing those songs for a long time now. None of them are terribly complex, but I'm a pretty big fan of almost all of them. I'm gonna keep at 'em over the next couple of weeks, and then make a recording of 'em to show to try to get a gig. I'm not looking for anything huge in the least, just to go play for people (half the fun of playing).

Anyways... random thoughts for a saturday
--James
 
I love the song time after time... record yourself please :) I wanna hear -- :)

Can I also make a request for the beatles (and countless others) In My Life :)
 
maleficent said:
I love the song time after time... record yourself please :) I wanna hear -- :)

Can I also make a request for the beatles (and countless others) In My Life :)
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I'll most certainly throw it on the list. I'm torn between paying $50 and going and having a studio record me playing someone else's music (90% of the stuff that I have written is punk and ska from way back in highschool, and sounds like the angsty crap that people are making billions off of marketing to teenage girls... so that's out), or throwing down $300-$500 for an introductory recording system to plug into my computer, and never have to pay anyone else for studio time again.

Just gotta see how bills come out over the next few weeks... who knows
 
no, I know, that's why I'm saying that I'm not gonna record my own stuff right now. I pretty much quit song writing when my hand exploded 'cause I had to focus too hard on playing the guitar, and then when I got better again, I never picked it back up. Maybe it's time to get after it again. I got a couple of tunes kicking around upstairs... Might not be the worst thing ever.
 
Also, back to fitness... I've been talking the past few weeks about changing up my training, but I haven't really said why yet (aside from the pills). I often get lots of wild hares and spit out crazy ideas that I never follow through on, so I wanted to see how this played out first... but the training has been progressing REALLY well, and I just found out that it won't be as big of a hassle financially as I had anticipated...

I'm going to join a MMA team in my area. I already have the team picked out, and have started conditioning. My years wrestling and boxing won't really count for that much, but I'm hoping that my mat presence from wrestling and ability to take a hit from boxing will at least be worth more than starting at zero.
 
MMA is something I've always wanted to try.... look forward to hearing what you think of it.
 
What I'm going to be doing is a mix of Muay Thai (ALWAYS wanted to learn... go watch "Ong Bak: Thai Warrior"... SOOO badass) and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which is a pretty standard combo. Should be a good time.
 
I'll teach you a few Tae Kwon Do kicks. I kicked my H's finger, and tore up the ligaments in it. It's been several months and still not healed. :eek: I'm such a brute. :D

I like angst-y music. It's passionate, and I'm all about passion, baby. ;)
 
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