Vampire Rant Addendum
Correction from my last post: the main vampire creep in Vampire Diaries is not 140 years old. He is 162 years old. I'm not sure whether he is a huge creep or the world's biggest stud.
You know what else is creepy about vampires?
Standing over girls who are sleeping in their beds at home and caressing their faces is NOT okay. I'm positive girls think this is the sweetest most romantic thing ever.
What makes the vampires in Vampire Diaries ultra creeps is their ability to "compel" humans. They can look into a human's eyes and make them believe whatever they want. And you better bet these vampires know all about abusing the hell out of this ability.
Vampires are F$^# CREEPS
So I've been watching Vampire Diaries recently and these are a bunch of random thoughts I have on vampires:
How fucking creepy are vampires? Those are the creepiest of the creepiest motherfuckers out there and they have totally succeeded in making vampires appealing to females. Think about what a creepy concept this is. You have this vampire who is 140+ years old going to high school in 2009 and trying to score with a high school girl. Buddy I know you are a fine male specimen and all but dude you 140+ years old.
But then again vampires stay young forever and are probably virile as fuck and there aren't exactly any chicks their age chilling around. That's the sad thing about age. Women, to most people, are probably most attractive when they're young and as dudes start getting old, they think why not just get at a young chick instead of all the old geezers your own age.
Women don't get that same benefit of dating down in age drastically, so society has royally fucked women by deeming it a little "weird." I mean did anyone think it was at least a LITTLE weird that Ashton Kutcher was going out with Demi Moore? I mean yea you're still hot for your age, but Ashton Kutcher at one point completely closed his gates to a whole world of hungry for sex women. Do you have any idea how much a guy like Ashton Kutcher would destroy if he went to a place like a night club? And he gave all that up for a woman that's almost 50.
Moral of the story, if you have the option to date young, date young. And these vampires have it MADE. They walk around looking all 17 forever, and in Vampire Diaries they wear these rings that allow them to be in sunlight. OMG what a bunch of cheaters. H4X!
Anyway, some things about Vampire Diaries (tempted to say VD but it's weird saying VD this VD that):
What is UP with this supposed super hearing they have? Do they have to concentrate to hear super well or is it on all the time? Sometimes in the show I'm like DUDE you could have totally avoided that if your super hearing heard it coming at the time.
Also, while it's probably ridiculously awesome for him to stay 17 forever and blessed with model looks and a ripped body, how is it not annoying as hell to try and go out with a 16 or 17 or whatever year old girl? I mean do you NOT age in maturity or something. How the hell are you holding intellectual conversations with a girl in high school? And on the OFF CHANCE that a high school girl happens to be reading this, I am not saying you are an idiot but you and a 140 year old dude will have different maturity levels. Does being a vampire retard their maturity levels or something?
The brooding vampire thing is annoying the hell out of me. Stefan has this emo look about him and always speaks in that brooding way. I get it you tortured soul!
Homebody Fridays
Had a fantastic training day today. It's nice to have one of those days where you can see the culmination of your efforts finally amount to some success. I train with a regular group guys who are all pretty tough, more experienced and higher ranked than me. I have so much trouble with these guys who beat me down on a regular basis and a lot of times I find myself demoralized.
However, today I trained with some fresh faces that I don't normally train with and I felt great. All of them were bigger than me and I was able to dominate and control them for the most part. This one guy who I was performing well against did succeed in catching me with a footlock from under my mount, but this guy has some insanely uncanny flexibility and escapes my mount in such an unorthodox manner. But other than that weird setback, I crushed it on the mats today.
Anyway, I decided to be a homebody today and went home after training. I started watching Vampire Diaries so I'm catching up from season 1. All I have to say is, Nina Dobrev is SO CUTE.
Home Ec 101
I made marinated and cooked my very own dish for the first time last night!
Ever since I moved out, I became reliant on pre-marinated meats from a certain supermarket in Chinatown. It was easy and hassle free, but eventually I realized how crappy the cuts of meat were. Loads of fat everywhere! It's also more expensive by about a $1/lb, which is pretty significant.
I decided to give marinating my own dish because I saw my roommate doing it the other day and she made it seem pretty simple. I went to the market after work and brought home a few pounds of pork ribs. The whole experience turned out to be more laborious than I expected. First, the ribs I bought were still in strips, which meant I had to cut each one to separate them into bite sized cubes. It sounded easy in theory until I tried to wield the Chinese butcher knife and realized just how completely inept I was at using it. Prior to my new roommates moving in, I had used a shitty general purpose knife and I had never cut meat before. I didn't realize how difficult it was to do a simple thing like chopping strips of rib into pieces. First thing you need: accuracy. Every swing of the knife carried with it the fear of chopping off a finger. You can come down with the cleaver with less force but it does not cut as nicely. Every cut was like a golf swing. I would measure up against where I wanted to cut, give a few imaginary swings before actually chopping down. And I did all this really slowly.
The recipe also called for minced garlic. I've never really minced anything too fine before, and especially not with a Chinese butcher knife. It took me an inordinate amount of time to do a simple thing like mincing garlic.
I know this sounds retarded, but it was a humbling experience to realize how shitty I was at using basic kitchen cutlery. The finished product turned out pretty well though, and I'm super proud of myself and now I can cross off "marinating meat from scratch" from my bucket list and add it to my great list of insignificant accomplishments.
I have to say, living with somebody who cooks and is willing to give advice is awesome. Before I would randomly text or call a friend up whenever I needed to know how much of an ingredient I should use for this dish or how long I should be cooking that dish for. Now I can annoy my roommate.
Hopefully I'll be able to make a few more dishes by the end of the month, but for now I have black bean and garlic spare ribs in my utility belt.
My other roommate asked me if I'm going to go back to pre-marinated meats because of how difficult it was for me. I told him I'd stick with this because it's a skill I have to learn. I mean, something as basic as knowing how to use a cleaver should not cause me this much distress. It's like swimming. I don't really enjoy it but I feel like it's something I have to learn. If my future kid is drowning in a pool, I want to be able to save him. And if my kid is hungry, I want to be able to cook a home cooked meal and not have to resort to take out.
Random Jiu Jitsu Thoughts
1
I think I would suck as a missionary, because my conversion rate for bringing my friends over in into the jiu-jitsu faith is 0%. Usually if somebody is half-way interested, money will be the big factor. NYC prices are pretty high, and people are in shock when they hear that prices can range from 180-250 in the big apple. I'm not sure how much gyms are in the outer boroughs, but I doubt it's much cheaper than $180. They do a mental comparison to other gyms and think to themselves "well let's see, I'm paying $70 a month for NYSC and you're asking me to pay 2-3 times that amount for your gym?"
People usually think you have to be loaded to train at a jiu jitsu gym that costs that much, but that's far from the case. Training is a lifestyle. I spend 3-5 days training at the gym, where I receive specialized instruction from highly credentialed instructors. The monthly price tag is easily offset by cutting back on a few nights of drinking and partying. I'm replacing bad habits with good ones, and the cost of those bad habits are probably about the same.
Another objection I've come across is that people will tell me that they feel uncomfortable being in close contact with other men. Honestly, I don't know how to address that concern because I've never felt there was anything sexual about it. Two individuals are engaged in an activity where the ultimate goal is to force you to submit by choking you unconscious or breaking your limbs. I know it can probably look a little awkward, but trust me when I say that your survival instincts will kick in and negate whatever homophobic weirdness you might have.
2
I hate it when I pair up with an uncooperative partner when we drill in training, especially during the standup portion. Like, hey buddy, how am I supposed to rep this move out if you stand there completely planted with a strong base? The point is to allow me to work in some reps when we are drilling, not to try and simulate a live situation and prevent me from working in my reps.
And speaking of drilling, it seems like the majority of people I encounter do not enjoy drilling. I went to an open mat at my friend's gym yesterday and I asked a few guys if they wanted to drill or if they were just there to roll (roll = wrestle, train live, or however you want to put it). None of them wanted to drill. I was a little disappointed because I wanted to drill some moves I've been trying to work on. I think drilling is crucial to success, so it's a shame that most folks that train don't put much weight in it.
3
Final thought of the morning: Marcelo Garcia is doing something totally revolutionary in jiu jitsu with his website, www.mginaction.com. Every lesson he teaches is posted up, and a lot of his training sessions are recorded. The way everything is systematically broken down and categorized is amazing, and the delivery format is exceptional. You can even use it on your smartphone. I have so much more to say about the website but long story short, if you have the money to spare and the time to actually use the website, it's worth every penny.
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