Merely Acting

No, not in the stage, lights and Shakespearean sense but more in the Newtonian physics sense of "acting". Which itself is a derivation of "action".

In the past week I've helped some people learn or refine physical activities they were involved in, like jumping a mountain bike or shooting a gun. In one instance poor technique needed correcting and in the other they were starting from scratch.

Both parties had breakthroughs and they all came down to understanding action and it's direction.

What I mean to say is you have force, movement, an object being used, a physical skill set to be performed and a human being. All of these things, tangible or not are "acting" and "actors" in the course of either jumping a bike or shooting a gun.

Where did their breakthrough come from? Once their skill sets were correct the biggest breakthrough came in each person being the actor rather than being acted upon. Mentally and physically they were in charge of the process. Acting on the inputs, either received or given. Where before they had only been reacting or just full on being acted upon.

You could see the switch flip in their heads when they got it. It was great!

Though they often annoy the heck out of me, the little motivational things you see on Tumblr or Pinterest or Instagram often do have kernels of wisdom in them. I think these are appropriate.

Actor>Acting>Observing>Reacting>Acted Upon

Where are we on the continuum? When things go good and when things go badly?

Total Freak Out!

So yeah, I decided to just quit Clonazepam cold turkey from 1.5mg a night to nothing. Bad idea.

For the very first time in my life I experienced the effects of a strong drug withdrawal.

-sweaty
-sore muscles
-rapid, shallow breathing
-hypertensive
-poor memory
-anxiety
-nausea

I felt absolutely freaked out! My "personal physician" had to look after me and thankfully my sleep doctor answered his cell phone and worked me through it. I was afraid I was a crazy person and was going to now start suffering from horrible panic attacks.

Thankfully it was just prescription drug withdrawal. (ironic smirk) But yeah, I've never felt like that in my life..... wow.
I have some new empathy for people who suffer from drug withdrawal now and legitimate panic attacks.

Follow Me on Instagram

If you want a little bit of day to day, real life Rowdy with much less reading, then please follow me on Instagram. My username is "rowdymatt". Follow me and I'll follow you back!

Click on the blue IG icon for a direct link or the smaller webstagram follower link. Or just whip out your phone and search my name, @rowdymatt






That way you don't miss stuff like this:

Food, travel, funny, selfies, motorcycles, bikes, shooting. Pretty much the subjects of most my pictures. #followme #followback

Unforced Errors

My raw times are OK..... But my vision is not keeping up with how fast I'm moving the gun and pulling the trigger. Thus not quite the accuracy I should be shooting.... Also you see me fumble a few reloads, one majorly.

At Expert you absolutely can not have any mid or major level mistakes and expect to win. I am two "clicks" off of the best guys locally. I need to make a major improvement in my accuracy at speed and round the rough edges off of everything else that I do.

I'm happier in my mental state, taking some pressure off of myself, but I do need to do more to improve my skill level. PPPPPP.

Sept 21, the US National Championships. 62 Days to get it together.........

Working on my Eye

Balboa Park, a set on Flickr.

Here are some of my most recent photography exercises from a walk in Balboa Park.

Hubris

Like everyone, I have a cycle or rhythm I seemingly live to. I feel like I am entering an "up" phase. A phase where I feel confident and invincible! Cue Busta Rhymes going "rawr rawr like a dungeon dragon".

Running this morning at the beach I almost did a Rocky and finished my run with my arms triumphantly in the air. Like my 4 miles was some major accomplishment. hahaha.

When I did finally voice my, "I'm feeling pretty invincible" feeling today, it was while Super D was taping me up for some bad tendonitis I've had in both elbows.

Me and Jorge Lorenzo, we think alike.

These are the songs of my life.

Well not really. But in today's episode of the Rowdy soap opera, these are the songs of my day. To paraphrase an old daytime title.

Hank Williams Sr., Ramblin' Man. I absolutely need to buy more of his music before Saturday afternoon.


Public Enemy, Harder Than You Think. Ignore Flava Flav's dialogue at the beginning and focus on the words of Chuck D over delicious horns.


These two songs make me feel like I can accomplish any goal I have, that whatever wellspring I have within me pours forth true and pure Rowdy-ness.

Be true to myself and do what I need to do. Have to do. Rowdy. Style.