Character and Empathy

I apologize in advance if this post gets a little ranty. One friend said I should get angry and explode about this, while Kitten said I should keep calm and take this objectively.

Honesty is one of the most important things in a relationship for me. If there isn't honesty and trust, there's no room for lasting love. Now, I'm not talking about lying about your plans so you can surprise your partner with something. I'm talking about the things that cause damage. Repressing your opinions, not bringing up pet peeves or issues. What I didn't count on was what people say after a relationship has already ended.

Relationships end for all sorts of reasons, but rarely in my experience do the people involved part on good terms. Some people are hurt, or bitter, or even spiteful. The hope is that after a period of time, which is different for everyone, you both have moved on with life and let the other person go.

I recently discovered that an ex of mine has been spreading a rumour about me. Normally, I wouldn't really care about what an ex says about me. This situation is different. She is telling people who really don't need to know about our past that I cheated on her while we were together. This offends me on so many levels. First and foremost, she is lying to people, and I hate when people lie. Secondly, she is discussing our private matters (fictitious or not) with people who have no business knowing those kinds of things about me. Third, my reputation and character are being tainted to people who don't know me. I think I am a fairly moral person, and value faithfulness in a relationship extremely high. When I meet new people, I'm always worrying about what preconceptions they have about me because of what my ex says about me.

Now, to be slightly less ranty, onto the discussion of character. A person's character is massively important to how they are perceived in the world. It colours how people interact with you, how you interact with others, your morales, and even your sense of humour. There are far too many comics about how doing things you dislike builds character, and not enough explanation behind it. Doing things you dislike gives you a source of empathy, an understanding of others difficulty based on experience. Many people now only have sympathy, the pity of pain they don't understand. While both are important, empathy is more effective than sympathy. Building this empathy does make you stronger in character, because it allows you to relate to more people on a real level and be more accepting of their plights. Many times you don't even know what has happened  to someone, but you know what the look on their face, eyes, or body language represents. When that happens, give them a smile, an ear to talk to, or a shoulder to cry on. You never know what people have gone through, and you never know what information you think you know about their life is true.

Give people the benefit of the doubt. Treat them better than you've been treated. It might mean the world to them. 

Toodles!

The best kind of tea

Tea has become an incredibly important part of my life. It changes my mood when I need to calm down, when I need to relax, when I'm feeling happy or fulfilled. It remains ever changing, and I constantly learn new things about it.

How you handle tea and treat the leaves makes all the difference in the world. Some can handle extremely intense temperatures, while others require a much more delicate treatment. Timing and attention is very important, otherwise it can become unpleasant or at the very least, not fulfilling the potential you can get from it. Some teas require a very precise or constant attention, some require time to cool down, while others are much more forgiving, or simply easy to enjoy.

People develop their own personal tastes for tea over time, preferring one kind over another. Some people never find that one tea that they love, some change their taste as time progresses, while others choose one and stick with it throughout their life. 

This post may seem a little different than my normally detailed posts on tea. The reason behind this is because Kitten jokingly challenged me to compare tea to relationships. I'm always looking to evolve as a writer, so I took the joke as a goal. So now go back to the beginning, and reread this post, replacing references to tea to your preferred gender(s) of significant other.

Kitchen Life

For those of you who are looking for this week's List (capital letter intended), I do apologize. I have been asked to not continue it, and shall respect their wishes. In place of the quotes, today I'll be talking about life in the kitchen, from the view of a lowly dish monkey.

The day begins absurdly early, shambling around in the dark while alarm clocks and backup alarm clocks go off. After finding clothes that I don't mind getting bleach stains on, a mug of tea is thrown together on the way out the door. The weather at the time ranges from sunshine to rain to insanely thick fog. 

After stumbling into the kitchen (sometimes face first into a locked door), the daily process of washing hands, finding an apron, and donning a colourful chef's hat takes place. Duties are distributed, coffee or tea is consumed by all, and we become functional humans again.

After cleaning up from the meal, the next one is prepped. Singing, grumbling, and innuendo all fill the air, and the procedure is repeated for the next meal.

Good days involve breaks to see the sun, while less productive days lead to 12-13 hours of work. Afterwards, we all meander back to shower, then spend the evening around the people we just saw. 

Every day brings new jokes, different issues, and a few stages of community that takes other departments weeks to cycle through. In the end, we all are one weird, loving family. And the best kind of family: one with access to cookie dough. 

Toodles!

Borderlands 1

One of my favourite video games of all time has got to be Borderlands. It was introduced to me by a good friend of mine about 6 years ago, and I've been hooked on the series ever since.

Borderlands is a fairly unique game, in that it combines the action of a shooter with the level and equipment scaling of an rpg. A selling point of the game was that it had "millions of guns". And it did. Each weapon that drops is randomly created from a table of available parts, making for more combinations of stats than you'd think of. Adding in the bonus factor of rare equipment, which often has a special ability or bonus, and you end up constantly upgrading your gear and looking for more powerful items.

You play through the game as one of four distinct classes:

-Soldier: a tough assault rifle specialist who can drop a turret with a variety of effects

-Berserker: a massively tanky man who loves explosives, rockets, and punching people to bits

-Hunter: an agile fighter, flexible with both long range sniper rifles and close range pistols, he can send his pet bird to harass enemies

-Siren: a magical being, with a focus on SMGs and elemental damage, she can temporarily hop into a different dimension to escape or close gaps. 

Each class has three skill trees you can spec into as you gain levels. These progression paths allows you to become specialized in a play style you prefer. For example, the Soldier can progress through a tree focused on weapon damage, one based on your turret, or one that allows you to heal yourself and allies.

The game has a fairly solid, though sparse, storyline. There are many aspects of the world that aren't really explained, but nothing glaring enough to take away from the gameplay. The characters you interact with are iconic, hilarious, and honestly heartwarming. You grow very attached to NPCs throughout the game, both good or evil.

Combat is hugely important in both RPGs and shooters, and the combat in Borderlands is always entertaining. Humanoid enemies shout great one liners at you, fight fairly intelligently based on their weapon type, and will actively try to flank you. Animal enemies follow their specific attack and defense patterns, and pose just as much threat with their claws, teeth, and fluids as other enemies pose with guns.

I will always remember playing through Borderlands for the first time and finding my first shotgun. It was the strongest weapon I had at the time. A skag (basically a dog) jumped at me, and not only did the shotgun slow its momentum, it stopped the skag mid-jump and sent it flying in the opposite direction, very very dead. 

Another great selling point of the game is how easy it is to play either solo or with others. Borderlands has amazing couch play for your real life friends, well done online gameplay, or simply a single player campaign. The other bonus of this game is that you can drop in and out of modes whenever you like. If your friend is online, you can play with them. If they log off and come over, you can till play your character with them, and then continue on with the same character alone when they leave.

Borderlands was recently rereleased as part of The Handsome Collection, a game bundle that includes all three Borderlands games and all the DLC for them. I'll be reviewing the other games and their DLC at a later date. I definitely recommend you pick up the entire collection, they were all good games in their own ways.

Toodles!

Words for those who need them

I want to let you know how much it actually means to me that you actually read this blog. The fact that there are people on the internet, some of which I have never met in any form, who are interested in what I have to say means the world to me. Whether or not people leave comments is irrelevant. Just knowing that people take time out of their day to read this blog fills me with a sense of accomplishment. I'm telling you this so that I can make the follow statement with some meaning behind it:

I care about you, and your well-being.

I may not be in the same city, provence, country, or even continent as you right now. But know that someone, somewhere, cares about you. Take some amount of comfort, if you please, in the fact that you make my life better simply by being you. That's you as you are right now. Not the you from yesterday, or the you from next week. The you, right now, reading this, in whatever state of mind you currently are in.

Now, I know that there are different kinds of depression, big and small. Some of you have been diagnosed and are taking medication. Some of you may be struggling with the decision of whether or not to get that check-up. Some of you may not even be aware of the fact that the depression is there. And still some others may be totally content with the state they're in right now. What's important to know is that regardless of what state you're in, it's alright. You are who you are right at this moment, chemically balanced or not. People around you choose to be there because of the who you are now.

For those of you who are skeptical, thinking "What does he know? Having depression is hard, and he couldn't possibly understand what I go through ever day," know that I do realize what it's like. I have been where you are, and I know how much of a struggle it can be to simply get out of bed. I want you to know that it does get better. It doesn't happen instantly, or in a day, or a week. It happens at your own pace, a little bit at a time, and with help from others. If you want advice, ask someone for it. If you want to vent, ask someone to just listen. If you just want to sit in a room and not talk to anyone, ask someone to sit in silence with you. If you don't know who to ask, ask me. I'll sit silently in front of my computer on Skype if that's what you need. You will find out who your lifelong friends are by finding out who will help you when you ask.

I realize that I don't know a lot, that I don't have a medical degree or a firm understanding of what depression actually does to each individual person. All I can offer is to tell you I care about you, and I want to do whatever I can to help you feel even a little bit better. I also have some tips and tricks that may help you get one step higher on the ladder climb out. They helped me when I needed it.

-Stay away from processed foods. The chemicals and preservatives don't help you when your body is already out of whack chemically,

-Cut down on carbohydrates, especially empty carbs. They convert into chemicals that, while good for sustenance, are oddly bad for mental health. Switching to a more protein based diet from my carb based one made me feel immensely better.

-Open the blinds (And a window, weather permitting). You don't have to go outside, but getting light and fresh air into your environment can help.

-Eat spicy food or drink chai tea (And anyone who reads this blog know that I mean REAL chai tea [There is a dramatic difference]). The chemicals in both help to balance your own levels.

-Talk to someone, even if it's just yourself. Using your voice can help lift your spirits. Being alone in silence keeps you bottled up and unable to let go of thoughts.

-Try to do something you enjoy every day. Even if it's just one small thing, and you do it once a day, it can help. If you can, find that thing that makes you smile.

-Overcome the negative stigma behind seeing a doctor. Their job is to help you, be it through an exercise routine, a diet change, medication, social changes, or any number of other possible solutions. 

One last thing. Somehow, our society has conditioned us to believe that those with depression are weak, broken, damaged, or lesser people. Don't believe this for even a moment. Those who suffer from depression and anxiety do exactly that. They suffer. Don't judge others because of a condition they have, embrace them for the strength they possess.

I can't promise you that these things will help you. I can tell you that these things helped me over time. If nothing else, remember that I think you're awesome. There is, at the very least, one person in the world who cares about how you are doing.

Toodles!

Regions of Tea

The tea plant grows in many places across the planet (Canada is unfortunately not a great one for it). What makes the tea plant so interesting is how the taste of the liquor changes based on where the plant is grown and processed. I touched on this briefly last week, but I'll go into a bit more detail this week.

China
A large amount of tea comes out of china. The huge amount of landmass there makes for many different climates and regions. Black, green and white teas all make their ways out of china, as well as a few variations that I haven't discussed yet (Pu'erh and oolong). Chinese tea makers also take huge pride in the presentation of their tea. The leaves are often rolled into pearl-like balls, or small pellets. They also make tea bricks, which vary in size from a single serve "nest" about the size of a quarter to a foot long brick that becomes a family heirloom, passed between generations.
Chinese teas are heated mostly through exposure to smoke, which makes the tea taste smokey or drier. A small number of teas are dried in a wok, and have extremely complex flavours. They also cost an arm and a leg, but are well worth the cost. Chinese (And Taiwanese) white and oolong teas are some of the most sought after and expensive teas in the world.

Japan
Tea grown in Japan is almost exclusively made into green tea, and they have made it an art form. There are so many different kinds of green tea that come from Japan, each with unique flavours. The word for tea in Japanese is "Cha", and the types of teas usually incorporate it into the name of the blend; Matcha, Genmaicha, Hojicha. So the next time you order a macha latte from somewhere, don't say you want a matcha tea latte. That means you want a tea tea latte.
Japanese teas have the oxidization process stopped by steaming the leaves. This process creates a sweeter flavour, sometimes similar to artichoke, seaweed, or grass. For those unaccustomed to the flavour pallet of teas, this might sound unappealing. I personally love Japanese green teas. I love the flavour profile, the smell, and how I feel after drinking them.
There are also pan dried tea made in Japan, and these end up being nutty instead of grassy. Japan also is the home of matcha, a finely ground, bright green tea that is served in many ceremonies. Because you ingest the entire leaf in this ground form, matcha has more health benefits than normal green tea (and more caffeine, be forewarned).

Sri Lanka
History lesson! Sri Lanka used to produce massive amounts of coffee, and developed a huge industry around it. Unfortunately, the coffee crops were devastated by a infestation and the plants died. Like, all of them. The farmers didn't want to have a total crop wipeout again, so they changed to growing tea. They already had huge amounts of land suited for growing tea, and multiple elevations for variation. They used this land to become the world's largest exporter of black tea. At this time, Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon. That's why when you buy black tea, it's often called Ceylon, referencing the original name of the country. Most black tea on the market for general use comes from Sri Lanka.

Tea comes from many places, all over the world. These three happen to be large producers, so I'm mentioning them. Africa is another large producer of tea, but they also produce large amounts of rooibos. I'll talk about rooibos later, don't worry.

Toodles!

Shaco Poro

Poro returns! He's dressed as a clown today, albeit an evil one. He likes to laugh at kitchen quotes. Because reasons.

What has been heard...

For those of you who have never worked in food service, there is something you should know about kitchen workers. We get a little crazy in there. We arrive really early, we work all day, it's hot, and the work can be a little monotonous at times. All of this together makes for a dangerous situation, because we get bored. Getting bored leads to bad things.

Specifically, getting bored means that everything said in the kitchen gets turned into an innuendo. So, here lies the list of terrible things heard in the kitchen, without any context. This list also only accounts for about 4 days worth of material. 

"So how do you go down?"

"Just shove it in! Worry about it later."

"Uhm, did you remember to pull it out?..."

"You got it in his hair, now it'll never come out." "What is his girlfriend going to think?" "Not the first guy I've done it to"

"We'll see how long it gets"

"I made her scream last night"

"I had a really bad habit of putting things in my mouth." "Yeah, I've got a 28 year old friend who does that"

"It's a special relationship when two guys shamble around in their underwear at six in the morning."

"I know what to do with my hands, but I don't know how to twist it"

"You don't need a spoon bro, my hands are all over it"

"We've done it both ways"

"She's complaining about her arm being sore, and then not letting me do it."

"It's worse when I pause and then keep going."

"Just pull me in when you start doing it."

"Just give me your balls."

"It's almost there, it's almost there!" "There it is!"

"It's going to be huge and awful." "Maybe you just suck."

"That must have been hard for you." "No, I'm good at multitasking."

"Your weiner looks so much better than mine."

"I don't think about it until it comes out of my mouth."

"It gapes open every night."

"They might need to screw in a new hole."

"Well, you can finish today by yourself."

"I finally figured out why the melons are so big. They're from Texas, and even our melons are bigger in Texas."

"Okay, now I get to find out if I fit." "Sounds like me yesterday."

"It's in there."

"I don't want to squeeze right now."

"Are you enjoying your melons?"

""Can I watch?" "Yes." "Sweet..."

"Yeah, it got soft."

"It would feel really good though." "Not for her." "Depends if she likes pain or not."

"I like to bang things on the table too."

"Pull one out and give it to me."

"It doesn't work with three people because it would be done really quickly."

"Can I borrow your hand?"

"You guys can take it or leave it, but it's going in my mouth."

"Is it big and puffy?"

"Stick your hand in. Is it soft and sticky?"

"Jack is too small."

"It's so much effort though." "But it tastes so good."

"He's not coming today! I'm so upset!"

"It's literally everywhere. The counter, the stove, the floor..."

Just remember, no matter how difficult things seem, or how tired you feel, sometimes a good laugh is all you need to keep it all going

Watching a coworker shove a handful of chocolate mousse into his own face works too. 

Toodles!

Working with Children

One of the reasons that I love teaching music is that I get to experience the students' success right alongside them. I can't even count how many time I've worked with students as a clinician and physically jumped into the air when they achieve a goal. Moments like that are reminders to me that, while I love to do a lot of things, teaching music is what I want to do as my career.

As I am still working on my education degree, I don't have any students that are "mine". I work with kids for a few hours and then they disappear back to their actual teacher. In that short amount of time, I learn about what makes these kids individuals, what they strive for, what their limits are. I see them struggle and attempt new ideas, some that contradict what they thought was right. And I almost always see them succeed, and in a way that they realize that they made progress.

I get so much joy from seeing students succeed and improve. I can't even imagine what it will be like when I go from having maybe 4 students to 40, from 3 hours to 3 times each week, from short term corrections to long term goals.

If you're not sure if you want to be a teacher, do become one. It is a profession of passion, of sacrifice, and immense effort. But nothing compares to seeing a student realize that they've grown, as a musician, as an adult, as an individual. Teach for that. Everything else is just bonus. 

Toodles!

Find a Reason

I do apologize to my readers that haven't been posting on my regular schedule. Between the insane work hours, and talking to a pretty girl, my posting has definitely suffered.

Speaking of a pretty girl, I smile like a complete idiot when I talk to her. That grin is the topic of today's post. The difference in my mood has been huge since I started talking with this girl (I'll call her Kitten, for the sake of giving her a name on the Internet). I can have an absolutely abysmal day, but two seconds into a Skype call with Kitten has me smiling and laughing.

This isn't a post intended to be a bragging thing. I simply want to illustrate the impact that having a reason to smile can have. It might be a book you love, a video game, a cup of tea, a person who understands how your brain works. It's different for everyone, but there's something out there that never fails to make you smile. If you know what that thing is, make sure you hold onto it, and treat it well. You never know when something will happen and you might lose it. If you haven't found that foolproof source of a smile, don't give up. You might go for quite some time without a genuine smile source, but you'll find it. Trust me.

This might not be as profound as some of my other Monday posts, but it certainly an important one. Figure out what makes you happy, and do it. It's better to enjoy your life and embrace the pain of loss afterwards, than to sit in fear of being hurt and not enjoying anything. 

Find your reason. It's there. It might seem small, but it's huge to you, and that's what matters.

Thanks for making me smile Kitten. 

Toodles!

Differences in Tea Leaves

I have a feeling that some people only read my blog to learn about tea (I love all my readers anyway). You may have heard about all the studies about how tea improves your health and aspects of your life. I totally agree with a ton of these studies. Most of these studies are done using green tea, while many people may have only heard of black tea. Today, I shall explain the differences between tea leaf types.

Technically, only drinks made from the leaves of the tea plant can be called tea. Everything else (peppermint, chamomile, rooibos, mate, etc) is not tea. These are infusions, though it is common practice to call any drink that involves the steeping of plant matter "tea".

The tea plant can be "processed" to produce three types of tea leaves: white, green, and black. All three processes involve the picking of the tea leaves (specific parts are plucked for different kinds of tea), rolling, allowing the leaves to oxidize (this is the crucial factor), and stopping the oxidization through the application of heat (this is very different depending on where the tea is made).

When the leaves are plucked, rolled, and immediately exposed to heat, very little oxidization occurs. The leaves retain almost all of their original colour, and create an incredibly delicate tea. White tea is extremely good for your skin. You should also NEVER EVER EVER use boiling water over white tea leaves. This scorches the leaves and immediately creates a bitter liquor. If you do not have a kettle that can precisely raise water temperature, you're best bet is to let the water reach a boil and then let it sit for 8 minutes. This allows the water to lower to a more appropriate temperature so you don't burn the leaves. White tea is often much subtler in its flavour, and unflavoured white tea is probably better left to people with a broader tea pallet. It also costs more, because the leaves are harder to transport and are much more selective in the picking process.

Green tea is created by allowing the leaves to oxidize slightly, so the leaves darken to deeper shade of green, and then have heat applied. Depending on the way that the heat is applied changes the way the tea tastes. In Japan, the tea is often exposed to steam as a heat source. This creates a grassier, sweeter tasting tea. They also create some teas by heating them in a dry wok, making a much darker, nuttier tasting tea. In China, green tea is exposed to different kinds of smoke. As such, Chinese green tea is much smokier in flavour. When brewing green tea, it is again crucial to NOT use boiling water. Allowing boiling water to cool for 5 minutes should let you make your tea without making it bitter. Green tea has been the focus of many studies regarding cancer prevention, prevention of mental diseases, and improved daily mental ability. Both flavoured and straight green teas are fairly friendly to new tea drinkers, just make sure you don't use too hot water or steep the tea for too long.

Finally, black tea gets it appearance from allowing the leaves to fully oxidize before having heat applied. Black tea has an extremely wide variety of flavours naturally, as well as being extremely friendly to having flavours added to it. Black tea is often smokey, tart, or full bodied. Black tea can easily stand up to boiling water, but steep time should be carefully watched. Different teas have drastically different steep times. One tea I own has a very precise steep time of one minute. Any longer and it becomes undrinkable and bitter. Another I own uses a different strain of tea leaf, and can be left to steep for hours without getter bitter. Black tea is believed to help your cardiovascular system, as well as to help kill bacteria that causes bad breath. As it is the easiest to ship and uses lesser quality leaves, black tea tends to be the cheapest of the three types of tea.

I hope that this post has helped some of you get a little better at making tea, or served as a refresher for what you already knew. If you have any questions about the types of tea leaves, leave it in the comments below. I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU ALL

Toodles!

Seeing Yourself

Something that I've noticed as I get older is that I see myself in more and more places. I don't mean literally, like my world is becoming filled with mirrors (that would be super creepy). I mean that I see my personality and mannerisms in people younger than myself. I see people who are still a teenager doing something, and remember when I was that age, and did the same kind of thing.

For example, a younger coworker of mine tries incredibly hard to be funny and to make people laugh. Once he finds a joke that works once, he tramples it into the ground trying to keep it funny. I remember doing that exact kind of thing when I was younger, and received an interesting perspective on how other people have viewed me throughout my life. I see how I used to be more annoying, invasive of people's space, argumentative, and show off-y. Now, that isn't to say that the people I see these traits in now are bad people. It just gives me the insight to understand why they behave this way. Having this to look back on has made me more patient with others. I realize that people act this way for acceptance, and having me shun them for being immature would be cruel. That would mean I am shunning them simply for acting how they think they should to receive accreditation from others.

Before you tell someone to go away, that they're annoying, think back to how you acted when you were their age. If they're older than you, think how you want others to see you when you reach their age. Hopefully it'll help make you a little more tolerant, and give more people a smile instead of a scowl.

Toodles!

Solforge

If you play any collectable card game, chances are, you probably play Magic: The Gathering. It's an extremely popular card game that has been around for literally decades. Today, I'd like to bring to your attention a video game called Solforge. It is made by the same company that works on Magic, in collaboration with Stoneblade Entertainment.

The game has a fairly simple core concept: Each player starts with 100 life points, and you want to bring your opponent to 0. You can do this through persistent damage from summoned creatures, or instant spikes of damage from spells. Each player creates a deck of 30 cards, of which you may only have a maximum of 3 of any individual card. These cards become more powerful as you play them each game, and reset after the match ends. 

The game has five lanes that you can play creatures in, and unless you have a special way to make them move, they remain in that lane until destroyed. Creatures attack each turn in their lane, either doing damage to a player (if left in an open lane) or to an opposing creature (if set in a lane against an opposing creatures). Creatures do a specific amount of damage with each attack, and have a set pool of hit points to take damage from.

The game has a huge amount of strategies that you can build decks around. Speed rush strategies try to overwhelm your opponent before they can gain access to more powerful cards, often using creatures that attack immediately, or have high damage and low health pools. Defensive decks use high health or resistant creatures to stall for time, gaining access to more powerful creatures as the game progresses. Mob or zoo decks simply pump out more creatures than an opponent can handle, dealing damage by always filling and getting through an open lane. The strategies go on and on. If you find one card you like the mechanic of, chances are, you can make a deck around it.

Another great point to Solforge is that it is free. You do not need to spend a single cent on the game, though you can spend real money to buy card packs more frequently than usual. It is available for IPads, as well as being on Steam for PC.

I've spent a lot of spare time playing Solforge, as a game that is easy to learn and difficult to master. I hope you. Give it a try!

Toodles!

The Princess Bride

Sorry for the late post, the Internet is spotty at best here. I often need to wait for people to leave and take their devices with them in order to get enough bandwidth to even connect to the Internet.

Now, onto a movie that EVERYONE should see. The Princess Bride. Holy crap, what a movie. The characters are smartly written, well acted, and charismatic. The story is captivating for everyone. If you like action, there's tons of sword fights. Romance? Basically the central theme. Horror? Have you ever seen a machine that literally sucks the life from you, because this movie has it. Comedy? Uhm, tons.

Seriously, this movie is a classic for a reason. It's amazing. Stop reading this and go watch it. Then go buy it. Then buy it for your friends. Even your friends that already have it. It's okay to have two copies. 

WATCH THIS MOVIE

Toodles!

Plantie's New Home

Plantie made it to the Peace Gardens! He can't go to the States though, I'm still waiting on his passport...

Caro Emerald

Happy Wednesday, curtesy of the border!

Now that Plantie and I have moved in a little bit (I still have a ton of unpacking to do), it's time for today's post. 

I was introduced to Caro Emerald, an amazing musician, a few years ago by a friend of mine. We decided to swap music libraries with each other (No small feat for two music nerds). Among the masses of music exchanged, one artist I was introduced to was this amazing woman. Caro combines an almost jazz/big band sound with a great grove. She uses really interesting combinations of sounds in her songs, like one that uses record scratching alongside a clarinet and trumpet. Think modernized ska.

Her amazing singing voice, well chosen lyrics, diverse genres of music, and creative instrumentation make Caro Emerald an artist I highly recommend to anyone looking for some great new music to listen to. Just go listen to her. You'll see what I mean.

Toodles!

Inspirations from Sp4zie

It's Tuesday! Plantie and I are headed away from home for the summer today. There will be pictures of the ride and our new living quarters for the next couple of months.

Some of you may be wondering where the inspiration for Plantie came from. I do not take credit for the idea. I totally ripped it off from my favourite Youtube personality, Sp4zie (Pronounced spazie, like someone having a spaz attack). Sp4zie streams regularly on Twitch and creates videos from his gameplay to put onto Youtube. He mostly plays my favourite of games, League of Legends. Sp4zie's videos are hilarious to me. His skills as an editor and his personality as a comedian make for content that I have watched and rewatched countless times. I've adopted some of his more frequent sayings while I play League (I often shout "JUKE IT" with a terrible Swedish accent on a regular basis, "derp" has made it back into my vocabulary, as well as me making terrible noises while narrowly escaping with my life).

I posted earlier about the band Instalock, and how their content is easily appreciable to people who don't play League. Sp4zie's game content might not be appealing for those who don't play the game, but in addition to his stream footage, Sp4zie also does a ton of work with the development of new media content creators. That is to say, he speaks at conferences, radio shows, and other forms of media about what it is like to be a full time content creator in today's society. He is extremely charismatic, and has taught a lot of people how to become better content creators.

Sp4zie's channel is here, you can look through his videos at your leisure. However, there is one video of his that ALWAYS makes me laugh. A reminder that this is my personal opinion, so if you don't think the video is funny, well, too bad. I like it.

Toodles!

Surprise!

Surprise double post today! Plantie has moved into his new home! Hopefully he likes it, and continues to grow. 

Plantie is still alive

I'M SO SORRY. I haven't been posting Plantie in a few days. He is still doing well. He even has some nice little flowers.

You never quite know what will happen when you put your time and effort into something. But the times that it works out are totally worth it.

Uses for Fear

Monday mornings are always a little slow to start for me. Because I usually take a little while for my brain to boot up, it gives me a chance to listen to some calmer music, get my thoughts in line, and sip at some tea at it's intended temperature (instead of forgetting I have a cup and ending up with that gross lukewarm temperature). I decided that this setup would be perfect for me to write about a little heavier topics, about things happening in my life, or my opinion on certain topics. If you're not looking to read what will probably be fairly rant-y or repetitive (Look, blog name!), you might want to avoid Monday posts. But these posts in particular are how I process, and I've been told that my ranting have helped every now and then.

Something that I've heard before is that "You should never be afraid". This gets applied to a lot of situations, don't be afraid to try, to fail, to put yourself out there. There are lots of circumstances that you're not "supposed" to be afraid. The truth is, people are only human. Fear is what has kept people alive for so long and caused us to evolve to the point that we currently are at. Fear keeps you from doing something that could hurt you, kill you, and leave you in a place you really don't want to be in.

It has it's uses, for sure. It gives us those shots of adrenaline that help us accomplish things we didn't know we could do. It causes you to think about what you're doing, to weigh the outcomes. But what fear should not do is stop you from living. I'm not saying that you should just do whatever pops into your mind, regardless of consequence. Fighting a bear probably won't end well for you. What I am saying is that if you let become a CONTROLLING factor in your life, you will not move forward. Life is about taking those calculated risks and either gaining something or learning from your decisions. If you ask out that cute guy/girl/person, they might say no, and yeah getting rejected sucks. But they might say yes. They might end up being the person you marry. You could end up spending the rest of your life with that random person you saw at the bus stop.

Fear should be a tempering force, not a limiting one. If you don't take risks in life, you won't move forward. Living a life that is stagnant, where nothing changes for better or worse, isn't living. It's something that I have massive anxiety about for no particular reason. But you can overcome your fears. Speaking from experience, my own life has vastly improved because I stopped being afraid of people's judgements of my life. I embrace the mistakes I've made, focused on what I learned from them instead. I've made leaps of faith that haven't worked out so great, but I'm still here, I'm still moving forward.

Take the chance, see where you end up in life. You either win or you learn. Don't let fear control you, let it help you.

Toodles

Dustings VS Loose Leaf

Hello peoples!

Today is Sunday, and I do apologize for the late posting. I was fairly groggy today and didn't get to writing earlier on.

I have worked in a wonderful tea shop, and fell in love with the massive culture and traditions around loose leaf tea. There's a lot that I can write about when it comes to tea, hence why it gets it's own day each week to be discussed. I'll start my first Sunday posting about tea at one of the basics: the difference between dustings (Tea bags) and loose leaf tea.

While handling the tea plant in the various processes that create loose leaf tea for consumption, some pieces of the plant break off or have particulate sifted out. These small bits of plant matter are collected and put into tea bags, then sold in what a lot of people assume is "real" tea. Red Rose is a brand of tea bag that is extremely popular, but is is comprised entirely of dustings. There are a few reasons companies use dustings. First and most logically for a large company, it's cheap. Much cheaper to buy the discarded bits of a process than the actual product. It's kind of like bologna. Second, because of the makeup of dustings, they steep MUCH faster than full tea leave. They are also much less susceptible the scorching, which occurs when you use water that is too hot for a particular type of tea leaf (There will be a later post on it, trust me). Using tea bags simplifies the process of making tea, basically the same way that instant coffee affected how coffee's culture when it became popular. It was cheap, fast, and awful if you knew how to make coffee from beans.

Loose leaf tea, while requiring a bit of knowledge and proper equipment, creates a significantly more flavourful liquor (The proper term for the liquid created by steeping tea), less bitter, more money efficient in the long run, and much better health benefits. Loose leaf tea retains more significantly more polyphenols, a natural chemical in the tea leaf, it creates a "calm energy". That is to say, you get the energy from the caffeine from the tea but not the jitter or crash, because of the polyphenols. They are also what helps keep loose leaf tea less bitter than dustings because they dull the impact of tannins, the chemical that causes tea to become bitter. Tannins are the reason that a lot of tea becomes bitter when over-steeped.

There are tons of studies done to show the health benefits of loose leaf tea, specifically white or green tea. Take information on the internet with a grain of salt, but generally, drinking tea should help prevent cancers, improve various body systems, and make for a much healthier life. Plus, loose leaf tea tastes awesome.

Thanks for listening to my rant today. If you have a specific question about tea, or want to share your favourite kind of tea, leave it in the comments. I'm always looking to try new teas.

Toodles!

Questionable Content

While the title of this post may be a bit misleading, Questionable Content does not mean that I will be posting scandalous pictures (Although Plantie is totally naked and flaunting those roots). QC is actually a web-comic that I've been reading for a number of years now, run by Jeph Jacques. It follows the lives of several characters, all in their twenties. It's a little difficult to explain why this comic is so amazing. The art style has evolved significantly over the years, and it's a nice nostalgia trip to go back to the first pages after reading it for so long. The characters are relatable in many ways. It's funny, well written, sad, and causes so many other emotions. The comic covers a massive amount of topics, including bi, gay, and straight relationships, alcohol (both for better and worse), life as a musician, owning a business, germ phobias, AI as normal parts of society, and cybernetic limbs. Just to name a few. The comic is so well done. I honestly couldn't recommend this comic enough. To top it all off, because the artist updates multiple times each week and has been doing so for years, it feeds into the amazing culture of binge consuming media. Trust me, I am no stranger to watching entire seasons of a new show on Netflix in a single sitting.

If you want to read an amazing comic, relate to someone no matter who you are, and watch an artist improve their craft over time, please, PLEASE read Questionable Content.

Sorry for the short post today, but I want the comic to speak for itself. That, and it's hard to write while watching the LCS...

Toodles!

Lee Sin Poro

Poro is doing his own version of the LCS workout. Because reasons.

The LCS Workout

Happy Friday, folks!

Today is video-game day, and what better game to discuss than my favourite one, League of Legends. The most played game in the world, with literally millions of players, League of Legends is a based on a hidden mini-game within the old Warcraft III game (Not World of Warcraft, it's much older than that). The main game mode for League puts you on a team of players against an equal team of opponents, both made up of five players. The game has an ever-evolving "meta", which is to say, certain strategies that are strong at the moment. This meta changes constantly, as the game is updated every few weeks for balances, new features, and new playable characters. This constant evolution makes the game feel fresh and fun to play over longer periods of time than other, more stagnant games. On top of it all, the game is free!

I could talk about the intricacies of League forever, and it will probably make a lot of appearances in my Friday posts. BUT, today I wanted to talk about the professional tournament that League of Legends puts on. The League Championship Series, or LCS, takes the best teams in North America and Europe and pits them against each other each week in a series of games. Korea, China, and Oceania all have their own separate tournaments. At the end of these tournaments, the winners from all around the world come together and duke it out to be the best in the world (It's usually the Koreans, spoilers). Basically, the LCS is sports for nerds. They have analysts, coaches, shoutcasters, referees, tech specialists, and a butt-load of production money. There's a Fantasy League of Legends League, more on that in a moment! Players in the LCS have even been given travel visas as professional athletes because of their position in the world's biggest eSport.

Like a bunch of people hanging out to watch football, the LCS matches take place over several hours. Each match takes anywhere from 20 minutes to more than 60, depending on how well a team performs. There are usually four or fives games streamed in a single day, and there are two days each for Europe and North America. Doing the math, that's a ton of time sitting and watching.

It may come as a shock to some of you, but not all gamers are out of shape. There are several members of the LCS that are in extremely good shape. One of these players started a workout regiment for people watching the tournament, based on the player performances. As I am part of a Fantasy league myself, I decided to throw together a workout regiment for my group of friends. How many follow this, I don't know, but I sure am going to do it!

Player point exercises:
1 kill = 1 push up
1 death = 1 sit up/crunch
1 assist = 1 jumping jack
1 CS = 1 second of wall sits
Triple Kill = Add 5 to everything
Quadra Kill = Add 10 to everything
Pentakill = Add 20 to everything
10+ Kills or Assists = Add 10 to everything

Team Point exercises:
First Blood = 5 burpees
Towers = 5 squats/tower
Baron = 10 lunges/Baron
Dragons = 5 russian twists/dragon
Match Victory = 10 high kicks
<30 min Victory = Plank time equal to CS count

Bonus Stuff:
Having a player worth negative points = Double all exercises
Dragon Steals = Double dragon score
Baron Steals = Double baron score

Enjoy your workout, folks!

Download and try League of Legends here
Watch the LCS here

Toodles!

Scheduled Postings and Brooklyn Nine-Nine

I've been blogging now for a few days in a row, and finding topics to write about has been a struggle. In order to help with that issue, I've decided to schedule what I'll talk about each day. The schedule is posted on the right side of the blog, near the top. This will help me keep topics interesting, and for those of you who like certain topics but hate others, you can just check out the blog on the days you prefer. It also means that if I think of an idea before a scheduled day, I can write it and postpone the publishing of it (Yay, tech!). Of course, everyone will check on Fridays, because PORO. Yes, this does mean that Poros shall become a weekly does of adorable instead of a daily one. I may sneak some extras in there, because reasons. Plantie shall continue to receive daily posts so his growth can be charted by his government stalkers.

SO. Today is Thursday, which means TV and movies are the area of interest. I recently began (binge) watching the show Brooklyn Nine-Nine on Netflix. It's about a group of police officers and detectives that, somehow, solve crime. Pretty staple cop show description, I know. But BNN is actually really funny. The humour used hits a ton of varied tastes. Characters involved are very slapstick, dunder-heads, dry,  sarcastic, juvenile, romantic, cheesy, punny, and pull them all off well. The characters are almost instantly likable and there is at least one that is relatable in the small, but individualistic, cast. The shows uses cutaways for short jokes, similar to How I Met Your Mother or Family Guy, but keeps them brief. The story moves at a good pace, and episodes tend to start a story and finish it within the episode. There are broader arcs that run throughout the show, but each episode is fairly self-contained.

As someone who "watches" TV a lot by putting something on and then going to do something else, BNN does a great job of combining visual interest with well written comedy. Together, I actually find myself watching the show instead of using it as background noise. That's a pretty big compliment, coming from me. I highly recommend watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine if you're looking for a good comedy.

Now, as this is the internet, I feel I should say the following. THIS IS MY OPINION. You are more than entitled to disagree or agree, based on whatever reasons you like. Feel free to leave your opinion in the comments, or recommend a show that you think is worth watching.

Toodles!

HE LIVES

Plantie's roots are growing! He's ALIVE!

Teemo Poro

Poro has decided to become the evilest version of himself. How he pulls that off with a heart patch on his stomach shall remain a mystery. Why he does it, because reasons.

One Corner of the Internet

Now, to be fair, Youtube isn't exactly a dark corner of the internet. There are a lot of piano playing kittens, dogs that can't catch, and unfortunate souls being kicked in the groin. You can get to some pretty weird stuff if you stay in the "Related" tab rabbit hole for long enough. After a large amount of thinking about what the hell I was going to write about today, I decided that the answer was right in front of me. Literally. I've had Youtube open pretty much all day, listening to music.

One aspect of this blog is to show people what I think is cool (Poros), and this Youtube channel is something I love to follow. Instalock is a group of three young guys who decided that they wanted to make parodies of popular music, themed around the video game League of Legends. I personally love the game, and have no idea what popular is doing anymore. So when I came across this channel, I probably watched all of their videos in one day. They are musically quite talented and their wordplay is clever, nodding to both the original song and the game at the same time. I often find myself hearing a song on the radio that everyone else knows, but I sing the Instalock lyrics instead. While amusing for me, I probably confuse the crap out of people around me.

If you play League of Legends (Which you should), the videos are doubly impressive. You can often relate to the situations in the videos and there are lots of little things you would only appreciate if you were interested in the game. An example of this is the fact that they hide a Teemo in every video. That said, even those who don't play the game can appreciate the musical abilities of these guys.

Also, one of them just got engaged. To a gamer girl. Lucky bugger.

Let me know what you think of Instalock in the comments below! Or leave a suggestion of another random piece of Youtube you think others should heck out.

Toodles!

Plantie and the Fallen

Plantie sits, surrounded by the remains of his fallen brethren. Do not fear Plantie, their remains shall be given the honour they deserve.

Yasuo Poro

Today, Poro shows off his musical side, though he prefers the flute over percussion. Because reasons.

Titles Are Important

There's a number of things I'd like to talk about today. The first being that I am going to split up the pictures I have been embedding into my posts. That way, if you just like Plantie, or random Poros, you can just look at those without having to scroll through my rantings.

The second thing I'd like to discuss is the name of this blog. It is called Repetitive Motions, and I chose that name because of how things in life tend to go. One of my passions is tea, and the process of making it is quite ritualistic (considering there are ceremonies based around it, that isn't too surprising). Certain steps followed in order, performed in similar ways. Another big aspect of my life is music. I'm working towards becoming a music teacher, and I specialize in percussion instruments. This particular branch of musical instruments is massive when it comes to gear and techniques you can learn. BUT, at it's core, there are basics that you apply to most areas. And honestly, nothing is more repetitive than practicing doubles on snare drum for an hour.
There are many aspects of life that could be quite monotonous if you let them. The things you love can become boring if you don't find ways to maintain your passion for them. Making the same pot of tea, every day, the same way, could be taken in two ways. It's either a comfortable tradition you can depend on, or a rut that you lay in without progressing. Realizing the difference between the two is probably on the list of the most important things you will learn in life (Pushes glasses up my very unexperienced nose).

Now, so far this blog has just been a way for me to dump out what's on my brain at the time. I have no idea how many of the views I've received are actually interested in my thoughts or just misclicks. So, in an effort to include the peoples of the internet, I open myself up to you all. Leave me questions in the comments of a post, tell me how a story relates to you (or doesn't), suggest future topics for post, art you'd like to share. WHATEVER. I'm interested in your lives. Truly.

So. Yeah. POST STUFF FOR ME TO SEE.

Toodles!

edit: The irony of this post is that I forgot to put the title on it before posting it originally... I'm so good at this!

A Trip down Memory Lane

So, this is going to get really personal. If you don't want to get into my history or just don't care about it, skip to the bottom for a Poro picture (It's why you all come here anyway). As I sit here typing, outside is absolutely pouring. It's hasn't rained like this in a while, and I find myself hating the weather despite the fact that many people love rain. Obviously people who farm (which is a lot of people where I live) enjoy the rain as it helps their livelihoods. But I personally know a number of people who see it raining outside, and rush out to stand in it. I usually stand under a roof somewhere and look at them in confusion.

Some backstory to my dislike is probably in order. A number of years ago, I met a girl (Cue groaning, tiny violins, and other forms of cliches). This girl had me absolutely smitten, to the point that the young me believed I was in love for the first time in my life. I spent a huge amount of time with her and did everything I could to impress her. I played piano for her so she had an accompanist, I sang songs for her despite my very unimpressive singing voice, I tried to get all the answers right in theory class to show off to her (This was all at band camp, so music stuff is basically all we did every day).
Anyway, this went on for a while and I began to slowly work up all the courage a geeky teenage boy could to tell the pretty girl how he felt. Literally the day a planned to tell her how I felt, the worst possible thing, in my mind, happened. A boy she knew from before showed up. He was athletic, he was suave, and he had history with her. He was also a colossal ass-hat. You might be thinking that I only thought this because he swooped in and stole the girl I was pining over, but this was an opinion shared by everyone I talked to about him. Somehow, he took my place in her affection within minutes of his arrival.
The next week was spent watching the girl I was in love with spend all her time with someone I despised. The worst part was that this guy saw that I liked her, and paraded her around in front of me, mocking me. After the week of came to a close, the girl of my affection (and Mr. Ass-Hat, thankfully) went home. There was only one week left for me at this point, but I probably didn't care at all. It rained for that entire last week. Not "Drizzling on and off for a few days". Every. Single. Day. For a week. So the skies matched my mood, and engrained the association with rain and depression into my mind.

Now, I look outside and see the rain. I remember my friends who love the rain and all those scenes in movies where the two lovers finally kiss while it's deluging out. They all seem so happy in the rain. I think it's time I was happy in the rain again.

Plantie has angered the Skygods. The mock him with water that he cannot reach.

Today's Poro is pretending to be a mermaid, and even has a few little fish-Poro friends. Because reasons.

Toodles!