Just a little Pinterest humor for those of you in the cult.

Frigidity

How can you tell if a San Diegan is cold? They are wearing any two of the following:

-beanie
-hoody sweatshirt
-pants
-socks
-closed toe shoes

and now....

I played tennis at 7am this morning. It felt good. Having played in jr high, high school and a college club I didn't look too silly inspite of not playing in well over 3 years.

Fun! If it just had an element of danger to it, I might play more often. I often think about going back and learning to skydive. I've done the wind tunnel 3 times. I've done the tandem jump three times. I've done one AFF jump.

Jiu jitsu has been a bust, I've done all I can on a mnt bike unless I lived in an area with summer resort riding. So looking for new thrills. Guess I should surf more, but I am a little afraid of drowning.

The graduate school search continues. What were my first choices are now off the list due to some requirements I can't meet in the time I have given myself. I am actually OK with it. To me, the college doesn't matter, getting in and doing well and getting the job I want afterwards matters the most!

From the initial 24 schools I looked at these 8 are now my top choices:
Loma Linda, U of Washington, Red Rocks CC in Colorado, Stanford, U of Utah, U of New Mexico, U of St Francis New Mexico, San Joaquin Valley.

My costume plan for the Warrior Dash this Saturday is similar to last year's. I am going to wear tennis shoes, some sore of speedo type swimsuit/undergarment, a fake fur leopard print loin cloth, black body paint, fake blood and possibly a toy plastic sword on my back. Accessorized with sunscreen and my GoPro camera. No leather this time, no arm guards.

Thoughts on a Tuesday

Just returning home from watching the Hunger Games and have a couple of thoughts.

-The audience was over 66% male, which surprised me. Even at a Monday 9pm show time. Reports I had read showed over 90% of girls age 18-24 in the US knew of this movie, so I really thought it would be predominately a female audience. Maybe they all went over the weekend?

-Why do people have to conform to stereotypes? Why? What is it about being black that has to do with talking loudly through the whole movie?

-I think I know a reason why these types of books are popular. Beyond being just easy to ready, the junk food of literature as it were.

Most teens and young adults do not live an 'outside' life. Not the way I did, I can assure you. Their life experiences lack even mild danger, adventure and/or peril. The xbox and ipad generation.....Why learn a sport when you can play it on the wii?

When everything is situational, every thing is at your fingertips, nothing is right or wrong. Effort counts as much as results. The only way to value something is with money. 50 shades of gray in your morals and ethics where everything is OK and to be tolerated.

These are all empty. Corrupt. No wonder such a large group of kids yearn for characters who are alive in a way they never will be. Who have deep thoughts. Who are active. Characters who yearn. Who face danger and fight and win. Right and wrong.

Yes, these books are written at 8th grade level, or below. Yes the plots are thinly veiled and characters painted with a broad stroke. Yes they are overwrought and angst ridden.

But something resonates with these younger readers. And I think it is unconsciously know they, the readers themselves, are empty. Void. Their lives have no honest fulfillment, and these give them a hope. An escape.

In the end, nothing real though either...........

This Saturday, Not that Saturday

For the first time since getting my blue belt, I will not be competing in the Pans aka Pan Ams aka Pan American Jiu Jitsu Championships. Basically one of the biggest bjj tournaments in the US. In my mind second only to the Mundials.

For 3 out of the 4 years I've gone I have also medaled. A silver in my age group, blue, light feather was the absolute highlight! But at purple in my age group I've gotten a bronze at rooster and light feather. Rooster means I weighed less than 126lbs and light feather means I weighed in less than 141lbs.

One time I was just two weeks out of the hospital and I was trying soo hard to hide the bandages under my gi. Of course I guy I had long ago beaten at blue belt choked me pretty quickly, but we became good friends out of it all. He is now a brown so I don't have to face him again.

I haven't seriously trained in well over a year, but bjj is still in my mind. And heart. The last huge surgery was in December, so I tried coming back the end of February. A little early but I was doing OK. Then one week into that I caught a stupid skin infection on my right wrist I haven't been able to get rid of!!

No training. No competing. No nothing. I'm definitely no longer a purple belt skill wise. Probably more like new blue.

So rather than fighting this weekend to prove I'm one of the best in the US at my age and weight, I'll be dressed up and running Warrior Dash again. My feelings are decidedly mixed...........

Not this Saturday. (ATOS!)

But this Saturday.

Sunday Photo Day

I'm done with the lines and hype at Phil's. Brazen is closer, easier and good enough. This platter was $24.
The secretary keeps this under her desk....
This is the view from the employee toilet. A case of drinks, a red chair and a wheelchair. This strikes me as amazingly odd.
Pics or it didn't happen!
Be a hero.
The ultimate sadness in home schooled kid's toys.
Camping inside? Fake fire? Fake everything. Safe. Sane. I can't think of a more sad and pitiful bit of toys!
Super Serious Super Hero

I must have a lot of self confidence to keep showing myself looking sooo foolish and silly.....

fun on a friday

If you are feeling blue, tired or whatever..... there is something to do about it....
time for some action!

Hints it is going to be a rough night for sleeping.

-You are too aggressive while flossing your teeth, cutting your gums and making them hurt so bad you need Vicodin. (note to self, a huge dinner of bbq chased down with gummy candy is not good if you have a place for food to get caught)

-You wake up in the middle of the night yelling, "Kill me! Kill me!". This was just one portion of the three nightmares I had last night, each waking me up for about an hour. Or so it felt like. I purposely don't have an alarm clock where I can see it. Knowing when I wake up and how long I've been awake would be interminable.

-You've recently cut your hair short but don't bother to put sunscreen on the top of your head and then spend 4 hours outside. In direct sun. Thus burning the top of your head. Causing pain and the desire to scratch like crazy. Super distracting.

-Rain and grey weather. In college in the mountains of Oregon, I had to go to a tanning booth during the winter just to feel even halfway normal. No Prozac for me, just UV please. Just like 4 minutes, once a week. I think I still have the little eye glass thingys.... If anyone truly has SAD it is me. The sound of rain disturbs enough to make sleeping fitful. Couple it with a grey day and then a dour mood is just the rotten cherry on top.

So, time for some action. Just gonna make sure I do stuff today. And of course eat two huge homemade chili cheese dogs for lunch.

Thusday Top Ten +1

Here are my top ten schools +1 where I will be sending PA school applications:
(in no particular order)

University of Colorado in Aurora CO
Loma Linda in Loma Linda CA
Stanford in Paolo Alto CA
USC in Alhambra CA
Uni New Mexico in Albq NM
Red Rocks CC in Denver CO
UC Davis in Davis CA
Uni of Utah in SLC UT
San Joaquin CC in Visalia CA
Western UHS in Pomona CA
Yale in New Haven CT

It would be nice to get into a California school. Or Yale, just 'cause it's Ivy League. But I just want to get in, get going, finish and get a real career using my brain to help people.

Truth on a Tuesday

Transcendent

I realized recently I transcend age. Chronological age is nothing to me. Thus it can be ignored.

It doesn't effect my body. I live my life and hobbies with no respect to the normal chronological order.

Examples, I don't look my age. No one ever guesses it. I start sports out of the blue meant for youngsters, like bmx and downhill. I listen to current music still, not just what I liked in hs or college. My career and education paths. Both non linear and unbound by the restrictions of age.

My friends range in age 18 to 60.

Me. Skateboard. Proof.

Hail yeah! Yeah, it hailed in SD today.....

So I did get the latest and greatest version of the GoPro camera. I have now had all three version. Sadly it rained and hailed all weekend, so no fun mountain biking to film. Or car stuff. Or motorcycle stuff. Or surfing stuff.

Then I just had to make do with other things. I forgot to add music, so best to watch with the volume off.


I added a dedicated mount to my surfboard, so be prepared for lots of that footage this summer!!

You want more Rowdy??? You can't handle more Rowdy! But if you think you can, then scan your lovely eyes to the left and see 3 new options for you to get MORE ROWDY!!!

-follow blog by email. no need for google friend connect or a rss feed
-follow me on pinterest. but you probably shouldn't
-follow me on twitter. i don't have a smart phone, so this will be rarely done as it is such a spur of the moment style of thing.

There you have it. Three easy ways............ Oh, and there is some quid pro quo. You add me, I'll add you.

Q is for quitter

I quit my first real job when I was 16 because they wouldn't give me the time off I wanted. (I later got this job back)
I quit tennis in high school my senior year after a fight with the coach over playing time. (I refused to accept a varsity letter in tennis that year)
I quit my first real job in a very unprofessional way after college because another hospital offered me more money. (And then quit it in 6 months for more money)
I quit rock climbing 'cause all of my climbing friends moved. (i even had a climbing wall built in my garage i tore down and sold)
I quit being married. Twice. (yeah, divorced twice and in my 20's)
I quit working in Iraq because I was mildly sick and also tired of getting shot at and not having a gun.
I quit racing bmx as I realized I would never be competitive as a novice in a pro class.
I quit getting my personal training certification because it was harder than I'd anticipated. (i thought my medical knowledge would make it a cinch. i was wrong. and my business partner dumped me along the way)

There are more, these are just a few I'd admit to and even then some of them still sting and give me a sense of shame and guilt.

I haven't quit on myself. I haven't quit fighting Crohn's disease. I haven't quit loving my family. I haven't quit my plan and preparation for PA/graduate school.

But there are two things that have been a huge part of my life that I'm thinking of quitting. Both have been with me for the same amount of time and both have been a deep part of how I see myself.

Nuclear Medicine. I want to be a PA. My license for nuc med in California expires this November. I want to take the easy way out and just let it go. Leave nuc med behind entirely and just focus on the future and becoming a physician assistant. But mostly because I don't want to go through the paperwork hassle of renewing it for another five years. I'll leave it eventually, but this would be convenient to do now, if a bit premature. If my undergrad gets me into PA school I won't feel it was a waste, like I do currently.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I was into it hot and heavy way back int the day aka 1998-2001. This is actually bjj v2.0 for me. I'd be considered an OG in it if I'd stayed..... With my freaking medical nightmare of the past few years I have not been able to train more than 3 months since February of 2010. Two years!!!

If you've noticed I haven't posted hardly anything about bjj. Wanna know why? Because I haven't been going. I can't go. Oh, I was all "hey, it's my comeback. i'm gonna be sooo super dedicated and awesome." But then two weeks into that a small scratch on my arm turned into an infection.

That 3 weeks later I still have!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, I thought it was gone. I went to open mat today thinking I would be good to go. I was amazingly buoyant and happy. I went to show Andre my wrist and he said "no man, you can't roll yet." I asked other people I respect at the class what they thought. 3 out of 4 said no.

I really wanted to cry. Tears welled up inside me. Only the fact that I am a grown man kept me from breaking down and crying. I have loved jiu jitsu that much. Devoted that much of myself to it. I explain as dating the girl you think is the one for 5 years and then having her dump you 3 times in two years. In a cruel, capricious way each time.

I feel like that is what my relationship with jiu jitsu has become. Is. And for the first time I wanted to just quit and walk away from it. To no longer feel the pain of being denied something I love. In a sense, to choose to no longer love jiu jitsu.

To quit. The deal with my wrist would have been healed a week ago in a normal person. But the medicine I take for Crohn's, Humira, just wrecks my immune system. What should of been something little and minor is just not going away.

I am tired of the highs and lows. Looking at all my "List of Quit" in no way encourages me. But I don't know what to do................

Subversive Saturday aka "I'm in your website, messing with ya!"

To all my female readers, the next few sentences are sure to be "triggering" for you.

I know that the website with 10 million addicts, Pinterest, is totally online crack for women. I know it.

But I'm thinking I want to join.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.Sit down, calm down. It gets worse ladies.
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.
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.
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.
.
I'm doing it with the full purpose of making it a manly, "rowdy", atypical Pinterest account. So I can 'pin' things like mnt bikes, motorcycles, guns, sharks, explosions, hot chicks, Godzilla and thinks like this picture.A cigar smoking, machine gun shooting grizzly bear that's surfing a shark.

This is exactly what I think that website needs! Rowdystyle.

Thinking, thinking. Always thinking.

I had a fun game of tennis this morning. But the conversation after kicked the thinking gear into high. And while not directly related to the conversation on the drive home my mind would not let this topic go; how do you impose your will on another person? Or more specifically, how do you get another person to do what you want when it isn't really what they want?
(Rasputin, not Rowdputin)
And not just the brutish or obvious ways, but the more subtle ways. Consciously manipulating another person. How do you do that? 'Cause I don't think I know this.

Secondly, the idea of retiring to Vietnam has gained real traction in my mind.

Finally, I am upgrading to the latest GoPro camera and really need to think of some good 'action' to film. Self filmed. Any action ideas for Rowdy readers?

TMI Thursday or an early Flashback Friday

I started my undergraduate degree during the mid 90's. In Oregon. Rural Oregon at that (hahaha, no jokes please. if you're there you know the distinction).

So it should be no surprise the punk/new wave kid from high school was pretty full on grunge and alternative rock. Which lead to major crushes on Tank Girl. First the 'comic' and then the movie.

No wonder this lead to day dreaming about Gwen Stefani. Back when I was spending every free cent and second on mountain biking (pre full suspension) and rock climbing (no anchors, placing all your own pro!) a girl who was 'punk' and could do push ups.... how was I not in love?

I was working in a bike shop when I heard on the radio that Kurt Cobain was dead. Take that all you hipster, fixie riders. I remember friction shifter and coaster brake hubs from the first time around!

This is not meant to be a VH-1 style "I love the 90's" post, just a little bit of Rowdy. Kinda how the various times and their soundtracks shaped my life. If my life had little musical epochs of 3 years they would be something like this:

-classic country and rock&roll from my parents
-intro to pop music
-classic rap/break dance music
-punk, new wave
-gangster rap
-electronic dance music and ambient
-grunge and alternative rock v1.0 (the post above)
-hip hop
-revenge of pop music/indie
-now everything and all of the above

There is no requirement for....

caffeine in the human diet. Zero. It is just not needed.

You know what else is not needed? Us to be in Afghanistan. Think of the "blood and treasure" used since 2001 and answer yes or no to the following questions:

-Is the taliban still in control of the country's government?
-Has it been replaced by a secular or democratic alternative?
-Is bin Laden dead?
-Is America's standing in the world better than before the war?
-As the largest producer of heroin in the world, has this been stopped?
-Are women and children in Afghanistan better off in society?
-Do you realize the '3 cups of tea' novel has been debunked?
-Has state sponsored terrorism in the area decreased?
-If ended today, could a clear cut winner be decided?
-Do you know someone who has served there or perished there?
-Could the area again be a safe haven for international terrorists?
-Does a majority of the population want us there?
-Has there been any appreciable increase or creation of trade and industry? Any sort of economy beyond the territorial level?

At one time I was all for an intervention, or call it war if you will, in Afghanistan. Now I am not so sure.....

you get what you pay for aka today there was no free lunch

the office i work at on wed and thur has free lunch for employees. today the menu passed around was from subway.

i hate subway. always have, always will.

and today's experience just reinforced that feeling.

i write on the form to be faxed, faxed!, 'blt on italian 6"" and what do you think was delivered to me?

foot long (not 6" so strike 1), italian bread and inside...... bacon. just bacon! no lettuce (strike 2) and no tomato (strike 3) and no mayo (strike 4) or anything else!!

if they know the 'b' in blt equals bacon and put that on my bread i really hope they also know the 'l' and 't' stand for some other topping they might have in front of them....??

sandwich artists indeed. more like minimum waged jobs for minimally thinking minds.

Talk louder, I'm wearing a towel!!

At my church, everything is volunteer. None of the teachers or leaders or anyone is paid. So that means occasionally I have to spend my Saturday morning vacuuming the whole church.
Of course that also means I get to stand at the pulpit and say whatever I want! This time is was loud monster breathing just like when a monster is standing behind an unsuspecting Scooby Doo.
Get used to it buddy, you're gonna be eating Korean food for a while....

If a spoon+fork=spork then spoon+chop sticks=?X?

Mom, I can't speak Chinese 'cuz I only know to say "hola"

Giraffes get Acacia leaves and rhinos get apples. What fun it was feeding them and I only had to go to Escondido, not Africa.

It's a risky business to always bet on black....
I've trained with this girl lots, and here she is a champion! And on PPV!

To Killer-

네가 섬기는 보는 것은 부모로서 내 인생에서 가장 자랑스러운 순간입니다.

$

This week I read a couple different articles that brought real numbers to things I had previously only had emotional reactions to.

From the Wall Street Journal online, for you to be one of the 1% in 2012 you need to have an adjusted gross income of about $350,000. That is it. Not a million or something huge, just 350 thousand US dollars puts you in the top 1% of income earners.

From the most recent issue of Foreign Policy magazine (which I subscribe to) for you to be in the top 1% of income earners world wide you need to make just under $35,000 US dollars. Pretty much everyone in the US is a 1%-er world wide then. To make 35 grand in a year you only need to make $18 an hour and work full time.

My nuclear medicine job pays me $45 an hour. Which does not make me nearly a 1%-er in the US but sure does in the whole wide world. What this all means, I don't really care to think too much about. But to have reliable sources give real hard numbers to the debate, that did give me something to think about.

So when you file your taxes, I think it is a good time to sit back and be thankful for what you do have. Or what you want and how you're going to go about getting it.

plastic fantastic
i took my new surf board to la jolla shores about 2pm today. the surf was admittedly small but i got up on my 3rd try and probably 50% of the time overall.

needless to say all that means is that i love my new surf board and i think it is a good choice for me. i may actually even learn how to turn!

i like how it is not a 'glass'/traditional board but one of the new 'plastic'/poly boards. it is lighter, floats super well and very resistant to dings.

a lot of people make bad choices son, they are called graduate students.-marge simpson
i started my gre prep work today by taking a baseline practice test. this took me almost 3 hours! and i did it with just the knowledge in my head.

let's just say kaplan has no worries about having to refund my money! my score was horrible. it seems the only math i know is addition and subtraction.

a perfect score on the new gre is 340. i scored barely over 100 on this initial test. looks like i am going to know a lot more math by the time i take the actual test.

and 8 kaplan classes won't hurt either. i'm actually thinking of taking the test on my birthday in may!! that will only be like 4 days after the classes end and i think it could be very appropriate.

epic food fail!
this is what i get for making a boastful post about my excellent ramen. what did i eat today? scrabble themed Cheez-it crackers and Easter themed Whoppers. With lemonade.

ect
i wore my new purple t-shrit. it looks good on me.

it was 83f today. that is 28.3c to my non US readers. and it is winter here!

i am making a true plan of things to accomplish by when, to stay on track with getting into physician assistant school. aka fake doctor school.

Rowdy-style Ramen You Can Make At Home!

This is not your college student days ramen. This is your new Rowdy ramen.

You can pretty much figure out from the pictures, but it is quality ramen and soup base. Seasoned squid and cooked shrimp. Green onions, carrots and celery make up the veggies. Finished all off with an egg cooked into the whole boiling mixture.



Please, please no longer eat smack ramen, or worse cup-o-noodles unless it is a survival situation.

lolz

from the completely serious and somber post about killing the leader of the LRA previous to today's "lol" post.

from my google+ feed:
me-white tea ginger bubble bath time!
commenter-is your taking a ginger bubble bath redundant?

ahhhh, gotta love humor at being a red head. when do the fire crotch jokes start? i wanna be back in middle school again.....

and even more head smacking, i actually have two real, hold in your hands books of lolcats that i read in said bath.

and i did LOL. loudly. so thank you professor happy cat.

kthanxbai

please watch

KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

oh, it smells sooo good

i love the smell of surf wax, or napalm or bacon or flowers or water or french toast, in the morning. but only if it is sunny. the water in SD is cold enough as it is, why would a newb like me bother to surf in cruddy weather? that's not the california dream, 56 degree water with gray skies and booties to go with your wet suit!

so here it is!! my brand new surfboard!! 8' 2" of mini-long board fun. my plan is to average going twice or three times a month. i should be able to make that.

blacks, tourmoline, la jolla shores. see ya there! (honestly, i do go into the garage and enjoy the smell of my freshly waxed board)

11 of 21 aka t-shirt Borg

So I was putting my clothes away yesterday and I counted that I have 21 t-shirts of the cotton, casual variety. Not sports event t-shirts, not technical tees for exercise, just regular old t-shirts. 21 of them.

I don't know if that is a lot for a guy or just average or small. But what I really did notice is that 8 of them were black and if you add black and dark gray together then 11 of my 21 t-shirts are all basically the same.

And I don't even like black clothes. I live in San Diego, not NYC!

I'm gonna cull some of those black/gray t-shirts and add some color. It is spring time, I live near the ocean and I just need some more color vibrancy and variety.

you gee h. UGH (me whinning if you want to skip it)

i feel like my abdomen is distended or that soo many surgeries has made it impossible to have a flat stomach. i feel fat through my middle and too thin through my arms and legs. like an ugly human spider.

i feel like my face is starting to show my age and experience. and not in a good way. it's like all the connective tissue has gone away and i have a soft, saggy face with sun spots and wrinkles. and crooked teeth.

i'm not happy with how all my jeans and t-shirts fit right now. my dress clothes are nice and my shorts are good. but i'm between small and medium on tshirts so none of them fit me how i'd like. and i dont like how any of my jeans feel. i only had one pair i did like how they felt and they've been worn out totally and had to be thrown away after i bled all over them and couldn't get the stain out properly.

my haircut. ugh. you know it's not a good haircut when people say maybe you should get it cut again, or a different one or maybe buzz it off and start over. i had that feeling inside me as well but if other people do to, you know it is true.

to me, my fitness sucks right now too. i feel weak and fragile. i feel unable to get any strength or aerobic capacity back. i compare myself to how i was 2 years ago and i just don't and can't measure up. i haven't been to jiu jitsu for 3 weeks due to a stupid skin thing and that's totally not helping me feel good either.

i'd say i don't care, but that is not true or else i wouldn't whine about it in such a public place. face, body, hair, clothes, fitness. none of them do anything to help me have positive feelings right now.

maybe i'm the one that's body dysmorphic? my confidence in my physical self is at a low. low low. maybe i'm the one who is really a troglodite and not one of the eloi?

i got a fever, and the only medicine is...

more camping! i had a ton of fun camping this last weekend. i used to camp at least 4 or 5 times a summer from age 10 to 17. i miss it.






i need to go again, soon!

chairman of the board

well, now that i'm 'watertight' again and it's gonna be summer again..... it's time to get a new surf board.

thinking of an 8' egg, fun board or 8'6" mini long board........

me, march 2008, nicoya penninsula on the pacific coast, costa rica. i'd like to be this comfortable in head high waves again.

I'm rowdy Rowdy. I'm 'bout it 'bout.

What did you do this weekend? Run a CBP check station? Sleep under the stars? Shoot off guns and fireworks? Ride in the bed of a pick up truck? Crawl on your belly in the dirt? Squeeze through cracks in the earth? Cook over a fire? Drive 60mph down a dirt road? Eat a two pound breakfast burrito? See road runners and jack rabbits?



My friends and I, we did!!!!!!!!!!!

You know how it goes....

"Go big or go home." Or also in less eloquent terms, "Aint no half steppin'."

$1,249 in 3 easy installments I am now signed up for Kaplan's GRE prep course that lasts a month.

If I don't get into physician assistant school this time, I never will. I'll do that course and get a killer score on the GRE.

On my own I am studying microbiology to be prepared for my summer course in it. Then in the fall I will take a semester of anatomy and physiology. PPPPPPPPossibly biochemistry at the same time.

So I have a BS in Radiologic Science. I have over 2,000 hours of patient care. I took the EMT course and passed. I will have good letters of recommendation. I will have recently shown I can do well in science classes. I interview better than any hollywood star. I'm going to shadow some PA's I know too.

I mean really, if it doesn't happen this time it just really isn't meant to be, 'cause I am going into it as prepared as I can!