Dan is back and posting again

So maybe I will?

Lots of stuff going on for December:

Moving to new Apt (yes!)
Ran my 5k? (yes imma pretend this happens when it already happened)
Lady Gaga concert (whoa, i am so pringles for free invites)
Wicked (going with gf! woo)
Warriors Game ( i hope so? )
10 Day Vacation!!?! (fuck yes)


I'll write something everytime I do one of these things. Yes. New things.

Still Procrastinating

I think I get a little caught up in wanting to write something good, so I end up putting it off and not doing it so that I don't end up fucking it up.

Hawaii was supposed to be a 3-4 part tale of a young man's inability to relax.

Evo was supposed to have shorts and bios on a few players, images of referees with their cracks showing, and a warning about how I betting on Black only works for Wesley Snipes.

And, I think i'm supposed to write about how I like and dislike the social pressures in attending a wedding. Mostly the dressing up part, I like the food part, the dance part, the drink part, and the food part - I really do. I even like the marriage part.

Maybe this is the time to really start talking about going to the gym at 11 PM at night even after the murder/suicide that occured. My overpriced gym, the dangerous atmosphere, the seemlingly beached whales that are starting to compete with me for dominance - maybe i'll get to writing about that.

I don't know what I will or will not write about or when it will come out. Right now Vi is scrambling to find materials to make one of her 3 costumes for this weekend's activities. I spent the afternoon buying random sweatpants and sweatshirt from the local Target. I don't know why, but I always get a little uncomfortable in the girls section of that store. Something about "not belonging there" or people thinking I am some kind of creep if I get lost and then found in the bra section of a store.

PEOPLE CAN GET LOST.

I'll write about something... later.

So Before I go to the Gym.... Procrastihate

Going to work on getting 1 first.

Emotionality - Difficult times being the King

I think that as we get older we have to make difficult decisions about our future that do have real consequences. Just last week, I decided to eat a different dish than the one I wanted at a restaurant because someone else was going to order the bacon burger. I immediately had food envy of what I could have chosen for myself.

These choices had real consequences. I couldn't make it bacon simply because I didn't want to seem like a copy-cat (clearly a juvenile decision ingrained in my food choices).

I remember having to pick a different shoe other than the rest of DLDL so that I would not get caught wearing the same shoe at the same time. I would not have wanted to fight in the resulting cat free for all when people deliberately copy others peoples shit. The consequences are real.

So now at 25, I am unsure if I want to go the same route as others or pave my own way. I really don't want to end up with the chicken bbq burger, i mean, its "ok and all" but, I dont know. I think I know what I want to do - maybe.

There is a reason I put Sagat up here btw, not just the King reference.

25 - Midlife Crysis Time - QQ

For a few weeks I have been QQing about me getting older. I guess I have been complaining about getting older since college. There was alway something to work towards that had an age requirement to it.

Now that I have reached the "high level" of my life it is up to me to spend it. I hope to have a plan for this soon. I can't let this time just slip away.

Heres a pic of Hawaii. People love their free breakfast.



This picture was from our hotel room. We never once ate breakfast in these little red sacks that they provided. I would not have woken up on time nor would I have been particularly interested in that.

All I ate in Hawaii was Korean food - for the most part. :)

Hawaii - Part 2 - Kinda

...in the search for air conditioning I found myself at an overpriced arcade. It costed $1.50 a turn but I managed to fight against a random JP Scrub my first day in Hawaii. (much to the disgust of our female companions)

After winning 3 games in a row against the man from japan, his friend says to me "you SOOOOO guuuuuddddd". Half laughing, I walk away from the machine at Kathy and Vi's request. I took 4.50 dollars from that man - it was only right that I leave.

Hiking Vent Session - Gawd

Why does my body hurt from an "easy" hike? Jokes aside, I felt great during the actual hiking part yesterday; however, my body hurts more than when I lift weights and run in the same day.

I will have to get in much better shape to make hiking a few times a month type of thing - more details soonish.

- L

Hawaii - Part 1

Grinding is Grinding.

Wake up, go to work, go home, play street fighter, grind out some xp, and do some running. No problem.

All of a sudden its time to take that vacation. A real one this time. I took 6 days off for the first time ever since working at a "real job". As a result of this long time without a real vacation, I found it difficult to change gears and just relax.

And yet, there I was on the plane. The first thing I noticed was that the plane is a lot larger than a normal flight to LA or Las Vegas. The second thing I noticed was the ignorant kid kicking my back seat and resting his feet on the back of my armrest. His feet were pushed up against my tricepts. Needless to say, I tried to make mean faces at the mom to encourage her child to mind her manners.

After arriving in Hawaii, I rushed to eat some of their cuisine since the flight was 5 hours. I moved quickly to the nearest Burger King and ate some chicken fingers and some french fries. Acculturation had hit this place hard, but I was still trying to get myself in the vacation mode. I would tell myself "yes, I am here, on vacation, its time to rest".

We arrived at the car rental spot and were greeted by natives in button up shirts and an ice chest full of guava drinks - I had truly arrived.

Hawaii, Blizzcon, Sick

My posts have been delayed on this blog. I am supposed to be updating each Monday to keep people satisfied. I will post three posts so that I can get this stuff moving. I will post Hawaii last since I am waiting on pics. Hopefully I can get some pics from Blizzcon from Alvin.

Pics of me being sick? I will not have pics of that. I had a temperature of 100.8 degrees and I just can't handle that kind of sickness. I act like such a baby when I am sick. I need attention, soup, and people doing shit for me.

[R3] - November 1-ish

I've been lucky enough to keep myself busy with tournaments, vacations, drinking, and work. My recent family issues caused necessary attention to be paid elsewhere and my future trips to Hawaii, Anaheim, and Lake Tahoe are filling up my schedule. I am happy to say that after a years time I am getting a stronger foothold in life than usual and I am hoping to never be on slack-status mode again.

And so a grind artist is born....

I just got back from the gym and I have been trying to get a routine down. It is pretty difficult to do that since I heard that you have to do something a for about 21 days uninterrupted. Hawaii is in a few days and I will do a lot of hiking but not a lot of lifting and running. We will see what happens as the weeks unfold.

Short post but I'll post more later!

- L





Game Juggle: (post coming before hawaii)
Dead Space
Tales of Vesperia
Gears of War 2
SF4

[R2] - Someone was murdered/found in the bushes near my gym

Late yesterday night, I found out that a 41 year old man was killed near a shopping mall in San Mateo*. Reports indicate that the person was killed around 12am near the bushes in a San Mateo shopping mall. The actual article itself provides better and more accurate details where it tells the reader that it was in the "Borel Square Shopping Center".*

Thats strange... Oh yes, thats the 24 Hour Fitness center that I frequent. No, its not the ghetto one where people steal other peoples iPods (located less than a mile down the road). This is supposed to be the "Super Sport" gym, the nice gym, the tvs on every headrest, smiles with every hand towel hand out gym.

My obvious reaction? I found the motivation to go to the gym earlier than 9pm-11pm or even my late night 11pm-1am sessions that I would do after a long day of work/raiding in 2008. I think I am going to start doing this as a habit since it will probably save my life. Not only will I avoid murder, I will avoid obesity, heart disease, and...sun cancer?**

I'll let you guys know if there are any shady figures near my gym. If someone comes between me and my workout routine, you know the deal.




Cool Notes Indicated By A Star:
*San Mateo - KTVU
**You have to add a third item to every list when providing reasons for doing something, I swear you do - its only proper...

SF4: New Arcade Stick

Rare F*Arcade Stick

I just got confirmation that I will be getting one of 200 XBOX 360 MadCatz Tournament sticks pictured above. I am really fortunate to have friends who can help me get this item.

Will it make me better? Of course not! I'm hyped though.


-End Hype

[R1] Hows My Running Going? - We got a Blog for That

Running has been tough. It seems that the only couple times that I really got into physical fitness without a sports related goal were right after breakups.

My tolerance for running went up as well as my tolerance for alcohol. I drink the most when I am between girlfriends.

So I went to the gym yesterday and I was surrounded by mirrors and buff guys with accents. There was one guy that said, "that guy thinks this is muscle beach" motioning to the super buff ambassador of the gym. I support feverish enthusiasm towards a goal, regardless of the goals nature. For his sake, I hope the night crowd at San Mateo's beachless gym becomes a muscle beach of sorts.

- ill talk objective stuff in the next update.

** L

My Evo Trip: Part 1

^^ Expand

So this is the scene from EVO during Semi-Finals. If you click on the pic you will be able to find me somewhere in there. Of course, I am the only one who is sitting on a chair - (i'm lazy.. can u blame me?)

I am trying to find time to post all about the several things that happened during EVO in Las Vegas, food, people, my matches, my friends matches, and of course, dumb shit that people do and say at these tournaments.

As a teaser, I am glad to say that only 1 person I ran into reeked of body odor. I am pretty sure he slept outside "Ping Pang Pong", the racist chinese restaurant outside of the Gold Coast Casino/Hotel. He and the guy with ripped tidey whities tie for the most disgusting thing I have seen/smelled. My respective senses were owned by their lack of social/body odor awareness.

I am going to have to take sometime to find the pics and stuff so... give me until Monday-ish?


Later.

This Week's Update: SFIV

I am a little bit behind on updates as I have been "semi-feverishly" training for the tournament. If you are really into countdown clocks, feel free to click this link that leads to the Evolution 2k webpage: http://evo2k.com/

Looks like I will be in Group 1 of the Tournament Group so i'll be playing as early as 9AM PDT this Friday. I will not have access to internet but if you are lucky you can look out for me on a random live broadcast if I am lucky enough to be grossly outmatched by a named pro in my first match.

Grind Update:

So I finished Balrog(Boxer) Hard Trial 5. Unlike some of the hard trials in SFIV, all of Boxer's Hard Trials are actually practical in matches and are essential to maximizing damage and stun opportunities. I believe having an available repertoire of combos to close out on an opponent is as necessary as it opens up a higher level of understanding for the combat situation. When to do a 6-7 hit combo with a lot of stun versus doing a quick combo into an ultra as well as character specific do's and don'ts all add up to someone's fight IQ.

Goals this Week?

Have fun, practice, study frame data, and try the super armor cancel ultra move that I haven't been able to pull off by accident yet.



Wish me luck you 5 readers!

SF4: New Age of Grinding

So I went to the Fuddruckers Tournament in Concord. There were about a 180 participants for SF4 and 30 or so for HD Remix. The total prize for SF4 was 1200 dollars - I had no piece of it.

180 Gamers packed into the upstairs party room of a Fuddruckers with only 3 Fans led to intolerable amounts of humidity. It was borderline disgusting at a certain point so much that my friend was cheering me on to lose my 2nd match so that we could leave.

If you are interested in the results it is posted on iplaywinner.com here.

I really do not have much of an update here. I have been practicing each day and working on a few things. I have given up on the EX Rush Upper loop for it's impracticality and am now focused on the rush upper jab jab headbutt combination for stun and mix-up opportunities.

15 More Days till Evolution 2k9

SF4: Championship Mode Grind

For my very first post I am deciding to stay on the topic of why this is called Grind Artist. Essentially this will log my grind of a life, from hobbies, finances, sports, entertainment. I hope to keep this blog generally positive; but, I know how that goes.

SF4:

It's been a very long time since I have done any real grinding, real life or otherwise. I have been grinding SF4 pretty hardcore between practice sessions with friends, online games, and tournaments that I have been attending.

For a while there, I had stopped grinding things altogether. In WOW I had to have Jon find me items, my gym sessions became short and sporadic, and I had issues focusing on my first take of the GMAT due to personal reasons.

But here I am practicing infinite loop combos with Balrog, spending time trying to discipline and sharpen my skills, and possibly turning this blog into Grind Arthritus, see a future post called "why I am cutting back on chatting at work".

Stats:

Game Volume: 1542 Games
Pointless Percentage: 52% Win
Time Spent: 177 Hours (on my console)
Tournament Progress: Nothing Notable (tourney in 2 weeks)

Grind Schedule:

I am playing about 1-2 Hours a day practicing and a lot of my "free time
consists of watching a lot of match videos and thinking about match up strategy.

How am I measuring success?

Top 16 Finish in a 128 Man Tournament, and any noteable wins at Evolution 2K I might be able to take down some cash games if I can hustle.

Wish me Luck.

First Post

This is going to be some work... I will procrastinate.