One Month of Posts!

With today's post going up, I have officially written something every day for the last month. Four weeks of perfect posting!

Thanks to everyone who comes here to read my ramblings. I've gone from having a couple of views a day, to a solid 15-20 daily readers, plus a few extras on Mondays. I can't express how much it means to have people actually care about the things I have to say.

You may notice that some of the posts look a little funny. I adjusted the width of the blog to allow for bigger pictures. Future posts should look better.

Here's to more posts in the future, and looking forward to getting more comments from all of you!

Poro loves poro-snacks. No reasons necessary.

I love you all like how Poro loves his snacks.

Toodles!

The Pit

Depression is not a sign of weakness. It means you have been strong for far too long.
 - Robin Williams

Last week I talked about the wall that anxiety can throw into your face at any given moment. Anxiety attacks can be abrupt, violently changing your mood at a moment's notice. Anxiety is often visible to others who pay enough attention. Depression is a different beast. Depression is patient. It eats away your sanity, your motivation, your very energy. It lets you be happy for periods of time, allows you to show those around you that you are feeling okay. It allows you to construct a mask that you put on in front of others to let them think everything is fine. Then depression decides that the next day you physically won't be able to get out of bed. Depression is a terrible dungeon master who knows that in order to create the most pain, you allow the victim to feel hope and happiness before ripping it from them.

Anxiety is a wall. Depression is a pit.

The pit can form for many reasons. Personal setbacks, loss of loved ones, toxic relationships, physical abuse, chemical imbalances that are entirely out of your control, and countless other things. What makes depression so awful is that unlike anxiety, it doesn't always have an immediate onset. It can build over time, slowly dropping you further and further into the ground. It can do it so subtly you don't even realize it's happening. But once down in that pit, it can seem impossible to climb out.

So people accept that they are living below ground. They build their lives down there, devoid of sunlight and true happiness. Sometimes, other people in their lives wonder where they have gone, so the depressed put on their public face and show themselves. The happiness they show can be real and they can feel like they are living in the sun again, and sometimes it is simply a facade to make the people around them feel like nothing is wrong.

Depression has a strange way of manipulating the way you perceive things. It causes you to think that you are a burden to those around you, that you don't deserve the care and love from the people in your life. It makes you want to sit in your darkness so that you don't trouble anyone else with your issues. These issues are all consuming in life, but somehow they seem to be trivial things that others shouldn't need to see or help with.



I want to try and explain what this life is like to those who don't fully understand.

If you are living with depression or anxiety, please be careful with reading this next part. I know what that life feels like, and this next part could be a little too real. Please feel free to skip ahead if you need to.



Imagine, if you can, living in the pit. Alone, dark, without drive or purpose. It's like being asleep but not resting. Life without living. You decide you are done with this non-existence and want to take the healthy next step. You decide to try and climb out of the pit. You can see the light, the laughter, above you. You see people who could care about you.

Now imagine that the wall of anxiety hits you.

You fall crashing from the heights you've achieved. You lay broken, crying, struggling to breath. No one is there to help. You scream, words stop making sense, only primal sounds escape your lips.

No one is there to hear your cries.

No one is there to tell you to breath.

No one is there to hold your broken body.

No one sees your pain.

Now you gaze up at the top of the pit, which got a little deeper from the impact of your crash. You see those who are happy, who are living their lives with a purpose. You want to join them. But now you know that the wall could appear from anywhere. And you know how agonizing the fall is now.



This is what living with depression and anxiety can feel like. It's not how everyone feel it. But what I can tell you is that everyone wears a mask. Be it just to get along with that one friend of a friend who you just can't stand, to hide depression so others don't feel it's burden, or simply because the mask has been in place so long that you've forgotten how to take it off.
This tattoo is me. Literally. I had this done within the last week, and it holds so much meaning to me. I will forever have inscribed in my skin that the smiles may hide the pain. Some people become so skilled at acting, at portraying the role of a happy person, that others are convinced. They don't see the actual face under the mask. They don't see the pain, the tears, the anguish.

If you suspect someone you know is struggling with depression, don't push them to talk to you. That can be so incredibly difficult. Just stay close. Watch them. Notice the small changes in their being. You'll know when you can talk to them about it, when they want to talk to you, when you need to just listen, or when you need to simply be there for them.

“I hid my wound under my clothes. Nobody could see it, including myself, and I completely forgot about it. Then I met someone who, filled with love, held me tight in that point. The pain was devastating, and I hated him, o how much I hated him, the cause of all my suffering. Then I met someone, beautifully dressed, and I loved him so much, holding him tight with all my passion. And he suffered badly, and he hated me, o how much he hated me, the cause of all his pain. So the story went on till I met someone who undressed himself, standing completely naked, with all his horrible wounds. Hence I also undressed, and I saw my horrible wounds, which he could also see. Then...” 
― Franco Santoro

Toodles!

Caffeine and Tea

Caffeine has become a huge part of Western culture. People make clothing about it, food infused with it, and (not surprisingly) some become addicted to it. That said, caffeine is naturally a part of a lot of things, including coffee, chocolate, pop, and tea. As tea is included in this list, I thought today would be a good opportunity to throw some information about caffeine in tea at you.

Available on Thinkgeek. Just saying...

FACT

There is less caffeine in a cup of black tea than in a cup of coffee. A British study showed that a typical 8 ounce cup of black English breakfast tea contains 40mg of caffeine vs the 105mg found in an 8 oz cup of drip coffee. There are studies that try to say that coffee has less caffeine than tea, but they contain misinformation, comparing coffee and tea in their dry forms. In this state, yes, tea has more caffeine, but the amount used per cup is what makes the difference. On average, 2 grams of dry tea is used verses the 10 grams of dry coffee per 8 oz cup.

FACT

An amino acid found in tea (and only found in tea, not in anything else), is called L-theanine. It reduces stress and works alongside the caffeine in the plant to calm the body while allowing the caffeine to keep the mind attentive. Tea is unique over coffee in the way that it creates "calm alertness".

FACT

The high amount of antioxidants actually help to even out the rate that caffeine is absorbed into the body. Coffee and pop deliver a high amount of caffeine quickly to the system and have nothing to bind to chemically, so the caffeine is quickly used and the body crashes soon after. The caffeine in tea binds to the antioxidants and absorb slowly, allowing the body a longer duration of alertness without crashing.

Another common myth about tea is that black tea has more caffeine than green or white tea. This is untrue. The oxidization process has ZERO impact on the amount of caffeine. What makes the difference is the process of brewing the different types of tea. The amount of caffeine that gets transferred from the leaves to the liquid is determined by the temperature of the water and the length of time the leaves are infused. A cup of black tea contains more caffeine because it was steeped for LONGER PERIODS OF TIME and in HIGHER TEMPERATURE WATER. Green and white teas use lower temperature water and shorter steep times; they have less caffeine in a brewed cup.

Caffeine content in a cup of properly brewed tea

One last little tidbit about tea is that decaffeinated tea has doesn't actually contain zero caffeine. Different processes can be used to leach some of the caffeine out of the tea leaves (CO2 being an incredibly effective method that retains a lot of the tea's taste), but none of these processes remove ALL of the caffeine. A cup of decaf tea will retain around 5-10mg of caffeine. In order to drink something without any caffeine, you have to switch to an herbal infusion like rooibos, peppermint, chamomile, or fruit infusions.

Now that you are a little better informed, go forth and enjoy the calm focus of tea!

http://robthedoodler.deviantart.com/

Toodles!

I Wrote This For You // The Song Across Wires

The "baggage" that people carry around with them, their history, is something that for some reason has become kind of negative aspect. That the choices that made them precisely who they are today are somehow a burden for the people they let into their lives. Being a mess doesn't make you messy, it makes you unique. No matter how many times you spill milk on the floor, it'll never look the exact same twice. The real trick to dealing with your past is to find people who accept you for who you are, not who you used to be. That old version of you is important, for sure, they grew into the current you. But remember which one of them you live as. You can dwell on the old one, as the current one stands still in life. Or you can live as you are, and be able to look back at the footsteps that you've made up to this point, and the paths ahead waiting for you to step there.

The Song Across Wires

I'm a picture without a frame.

A poem without a rhyme.

A car with three tires.

A sun without fire.

I am a gun without bullets.

I am the truth without someone to hear it.

I am a feeling without someone to feel it.

This is who I am.

A mess without you.

Something beautiful with you.

*Reminder that I take no credit for this work. It does not belong to me, I did not make it, I make no claim to it other than the feelings it evokes in me.

Toodles!

Red Square

In a world of video games that are getting progressively more detailed and more complicated, sometimes it's the simple things that make you feel the most accomplished. It's also nice to play a game every now and then that doesn't take 2 hours to finish the tutorial levels.

Enter today's game: Red Square

This is a picture. You can't play this. Sorry.

The premise is simple: You click and drag the red square, trying to avoid the blue blocks (that begin moving the moment you click the red square) and not touching the black border. The site challenges you to "survive" for 18 seconds.

The popup that tells you that you died and exactly how long you survived is a little annoying, but trying to get your best time is strangely addicting.

Give Red Square a shot, it doesn't take long (until you want to beat your best time...). If you make it to 18 seconds, leave a comment to flaunt your awesomeness!

Toodles!

Batman: Year One

I've always been a fan of the Batman series. Something about having an entirely mortal man fighting crime in a city with chemically, magically, and cosmically enhanced heroes and villains. However, it's easy to look over the fact that as a human, Batman didn't always kick as much butt as he does now. He's come a long way from his first days as a crime fighter. Batman: Year One is an animated movie that shows exactly that, his first year of being Batman in Gotham.

In a style of production that reminds me a lot of the Sin City movies, Year One is supported by a large amount of narrative. Bruce Wayne covers a fair amount of it but surprisingly, this movie focuses more on James Gordon. It shows a lot of James' struggle with the corrupt police force and his first interactions with Batman. It also is an interesting view of Gotham, pre-Batman. It looks incredibly dirty, shady, and sad. 

She knows that long hair is how you get dead

The movie tweaks a lot of details that are different than what I know about the Batman universe (HUGE disclaimer: I haven't read the comic books, so I don't know that mythos. Don't rip into me for this please). One example is that the idea for using a bat as his symbol comes to Bruce when a bat literally crashes through his window instead of from a traumatic interaction as a child. Another small detail (That could be comic-accurate, I don't know) is that Batman trusts Harvey Dent before he trusts James Gordon, or the fact that Catwoman is a prostitute before becoming a master thief.

From his humble days of getting solidly decked by a hooker, to dodging the unavoidable death beams from Darkseid, Batman has certainly come a long way.

Look at that hook! Not like she just jumped out of a two story building...

Story: I'm a sucker for Batman stuff, so getting a larger view of what Gotham was like before Batman cleaned it up was a great time for me. It's also somehow satisfying to see Batman get his butt kicked in a street fight, no super villains involved.

- 5 out of 5

Visual: Some of the scenes are a little disorientating because of the older style animation getting crossed with more modern movement animations for backgrounds. It does do a very good job of emulating the old style of animation.

- 4 out of 5

Overall: It's a nice addition to the Batman universe, and worth the time to get a little more background on just how cool James Gordon is.

- 5 out of 5

He holsters the gun and gives the other guy the bat. Because he's awesome.

Toodles!

Mackenzie Johnson

There are a lot of musicians who make their beginning on Youtube, doing covers of popular artists (for better or worse). One such musician worth noting is Mackenzie Johnson. She takes music back to it's simplicity, before auto-tune and electronics took such a huge role in popular music. It's just her, her acoustic guitar, and a microphone. With a beautifully melodic voice, and a subtly artistry on the guitar, Mackenzie is the prime example of what I wish popular musicians tried to be nowadays (Others include Ed Sheeran, Jimmy Wong, Steam Powered Girafee, and more). Mackenzie does wonderful acoustic covers, and has also been making her own original music for a while now.

Check out Mackenzie's Youtube channel and see if one of your favourite songs already has been covered. If not, I bet you could message her and see if she'll do it! Help support young musicians, they pour their souls into this kind of life. She also seems to be a wonderful human being, with one of her original songs calling out on intolerant people (Careful when you listen to the link below, it has a few swears in it). It's such an adorable song, give it a listen.

Toodles!

DAV-19

Cubone and Marowak anthros

There are people on the internet who are CRAZY talented. The amount of artistry the web has to offer is staggering. From art, music, games, stories, poems, comedy, web shows, comics, and so much more. One such talent is Anastasia, also known as DAV-19 on an art site called Deviant Art. The domain name can be a little misleading, as the large majority of the art is not unsafe for kids or work (Though there are artists who do that kind of thing, behind an age filter setting).

Anyway, the art that this girl does is so amazing to me. She is obviously a nerd, based on what she draws. Video game characters, anime, and even personal ones to her, the art is all great.

Saber from the Fate series

This one is my personal favourite.

And of course, adorable Eeveelutions

To see more of her art (and stuff that isn't just Pokemon), check out Anastasia's Deviant Art page. Know an artist that's got some really cool stuff? Leave a comment about them so I can check them out!

Toodles!

The Wall

The amount of reality in this picture hits me right in the feels. For people who have never had to deal with anxiety in their own lives, count yourself insanely lucky. To be clear, anxiety and depression are two different things, though they often go hand in hand. Depression makes you feel like shit, that you don't want to do anything. Anxiety makes you think about why you'd fail, who you're letting down, what could go wrong, and anytime you've failed in the past. That's the worst part about anxiety. It makes you think. You get caught up in your own head and tear yourself apart, without even attempting the thing that is causing you to panic.

Now, people experience anxiety and depression differently on a person to person basis. Some people shut themselves down, refusing to feel anything. Some feel too much, and get overloaded and breakdown. Some yell and scream, logically or irrationally. Some might even get violent, with objects or (unfortunately) themselves or other people.

If you're someone who has anxiety, or are simply trying to help someone who has it, one method you can use to fight against an anxiety attack is with a method called "grounding".

Grounding does not solve an anxiety attack. That is not what it's purpose is. Grounding is essentially a very simple form of meditation that helps you calm down, to put your brain back in control so you can deal with what is actually bothering you. Anxiety and depression have a nasty habit of blowing a small problem way out of proportion.

I'd like to mention one more thing before I finish up. It is OKAY to not know what is wrong. It is OKAY to not know how to fix why you feel this way right now. It is OKAY that you don't feel the same way as some other people. It is OKAY to feel that things in your life are difficult, even without being a kid in some place in Africa.

Right now, everything might feel like a pile of shit. But it will be okay. It might not be okay in the next minute, or the next hour, or tomorrow. But it will be okay. It will work out eventually. And there is ALWAYS at least one person who cares about you.

Remember that. I care.

Toodles!

FORLIFE Teaware

One of the defining features of a good teapot is to have a spout that doesn't drip. I can't even begin to explain how annoying it is to make a pot of tea and have it spill all over the place. Enter the solution, the best line of tea products I've ever used: FORLIFE. I've been a supporter of this line of teapots ever since I began getting into tea. My favourite little teapot is a pretty little black thing, it holds two to three cups of tea. The best thing about my teapot, and every teapot that FORLIFE makes, is that the brand has a guarantee that all of their products will not drip. 

Another great thing about the brand is the huge amount of colour choices you can get their stock in. All of the items on their website (aside from the glassware) comes in a variety of colours that you can choose from. For those looking to acquire a full set of cups and pots, you can get all your purchases in the same colour if you like. The matching set thing appeals to some people.

I highly recommend that for anyone looking to buy some teaware check out either the FORLIFE website or an authorized seller. The products are amazing, well designed in both use and aesthetics, and backed by the best kind of guarantee a teapot can have. Check them out!













Toodles!

I Wrote This For You // The Heart Rides On

Being in a long distance relationship isn't easy. Like seriously, for two people that are very physical in nature, long distance is freakin' hard. But I can focus on the time we've already spent together, and use those memories to weather the time between visits.



The Heart Rides On

I love you. I love your eyes. I love your smell. I love your hair. I love your laugh. I love your skin. I love everything inside you. And I'll try to make all the parts that I find, happy.

Because you make me happy. So much.



*Reminder that I take no credit for this work. It does not belong to me, I did not make it, I make no claim to it other than the feelings it evokes in me.

Toodles!

League Community Art

League is obviously one of my favourite games. Part of what makes it so great is the majority of the community that follows the game (There's always toxic people, let's just ignore them). One of the amazing things about a game as huge as League is that people all over the world get inspired by it, and some do absolutely amazing things as a result. Since I don't have a specific post lined up for today, here's a small collection of the awesome things people do with their love for League.

I do apologize for all the artists who made such great work, I don't have the link to the sources or the artist names in question. I will be VERY CLEAR that I DID NOT MAKE ANY OF THIS. Don't abuse Creative Commons, people. Just enjoy the art, and don't steal for profit.

DJ Sona rocking the house

The Meeps are pretty awesome little buddies

Seriously people. Supports aren't the only ones who can buy these

Don't mess with these ladies. They'll destroy you with their balls.

Unnnng. Thresh is so good....

Dat yellow card lock tho

No art collection is complete without some gender-swapping

I'm glad Diana can't go full eclipse in game. Hard counter to Leona. 

SHOOT ALL THE THINGS

Gotta save that ADC when he does the dumb

How can you hate that face? LOOK AT THAT FACE 

Only a technomaturgist would see eye to eye...

Some awesome contest art Riot received. Everyone wants Teemo dead.

And of course, my buddy Nautilus getting ready to STOMP.

Got any awesome video game art? Shoot me a link in the comments!

Toodles!

Happy Endings

Something I really enjoy binging on Netflix is comedies. How I Met Your Mother, Friends, Better off Ted, all great shows in my opinion. Another that might be a little less known to some people is Happy Endings.

Focused on the lives of six people in a variety of social dynamics (2 are married, 2 are ex's, 1 is hopelessly single, and 1 is all about hookups), the show quickly establishes each character's relationship with the rest of the group.

Max's mind is a strange place

The comedy is great, with bits of different genres to appeal to many people. There's slapstick, sexual humour, wit, dry humour, sarcasm, and just flat out oddball moments. While each episode is part of the larger story, each one stands alone fairly well (If you are watching it with someone and they cheat an episode or two, you won't be totally lost).

"Bring the guns out!"

With the various personalities of the characters, there's sure to be someone that you'll enjoy watching. The situations the group gets involved in are hilariously outrageous, but you often know "those people" in real life who would totally do stuff like that. The couple who's way to comfortable getting it on with people around, the guy who never listens and is off in his own world, the girl who NEVER understands what's going on. Everybody has friends that act like that, in one way or another. Come on, if you pranked a friend by putting stripper glitter into their body lotion, do you honestly think they wouldn't try putting on a show, just once?

Happy Endings is a great, lighthearted show to watch. It's well worth having a Netflix account, and worth re-watching with people familiar with it or newbies alike.

Toodles!

Cage the Elephant

As far as games that I will remember throughout my life, Borderlands is definitely on the list. As someone who loves to play EVERY possible combination in games (Dragon Age was a nightmare for me...), I saw the opening credits to Borderlands many, many times. The title song for the game was Ain't No Rest For the Wicked, by Cage the Elephant. After listening to the song so many times, I was hooked on the band. Their lyrics are clever, and the use of slide guitar adds a unique sound to the group. For those who don't enjoy louder music, or are looking for entirely clean lyrics, maybe give this group a pass. But otherwise, definitely check them out (and actually pay for the music, musicians work hard).

A big thanks to my friend Vil for introducing me to the game, and letting me invade his room constantly to play it. I'll never hear this song without imagining a skag getting run over.

Toodles!

This Is Why I'm Broke

Haha! Almost didn't get a post out in time for today, but the streak shall continue!

Anyway, as another Tuesday rolls around, let's talk about another geeky collection website. This Is Why I'm Broke is a website that has a massively eclectic assortment of stuff. Seriously. There's everything from replica medieval armour:

 to glitter bomb postcards for your enemies:

to sriracha bacon:

Each item on the TIWIB is linked to the actual website that you can purchase it from (there's a lot on Amazon). The writers for the website also have a pretty wicked sense of humour, so just seeing all the weird and wacky things the web has to offer keeps me coming back to the site, even without the money to actually buy anything.

Check out the site when you've got some time. There's bound to be something there for everyone.

Toodles!

Two weeks! // And a humble request

Woot! Two weeks of perfect posting, and I'm even starting to get ahead of schedule for posts. I'm pre-posting whatever I can to make sure I got content out to you all right on time (Hence why my posts are pretty much all coming out at 5:00 am now).

Now, some of you may have noticed a few changes to my blog's layout recently. The day by day headers are there to (hopefully) make navigating easy for you. I also disabled the ads because, seriously, who actually likes ads? One thing that I have added, and am a little guarded about, is the addition of a Donation button. This is TOTALLY OPTIONAL, hence donations. But being a writer and a musician isn't exactly the most glamorously paid combination, and my computer is pretty crap-tacular. Any money that I receive (If any at all) will go towards me upgrading my toaster of a computer. This would allow me to get better content out for you all. I will also give shout-out posts to anyone who donates, unless they wish for it to be private. Hell, I'll hand-write you a letter.

Anyway, let's keep it up! Don't forget to leave comments, or suggest new topics for me to write about. Thanks for reading and continue being awesome, folks!

Heck yeah! Victory pose!

Toodles!

Pacing

Something that has always been interesting to me is the pace at which people take relationships, and what is considered an acceptable pace by our society. Every relationship I've been in has taken a different pace, but each one felt like the right speed at the time. I wonder what it is that constitutes the rate a relationship develops? How do you get from that first touch to the first kiss, when the closeness in private becomes public, when you talk about the next weekend and then you're talking about years in advance?

Another part of this that intrigues me is how some relationships stall out at certain stages. I've been with a girl that had the relationship stop at being comfortable with each other's proximity in private, which occurred quite quickly, but never went public. Another took almost two months just to be comfortable with each other in our physical bubbles. After a lot of work and patience, we progressed to being public and making those short term plans with each other, but there was never a thought about spending our lives together.

Which brings me to my next area of interest for the norm of relationships. Talking about spending the future with your partner shouldn't feel scary. It should be exciting. Even if it's not easy, or is still a ways off in the future, I believe that honesty should rule in a relationship. If you are willing to move somewhere else for your partner's career or education, they should know that. If you want children or not, they should know. Most importantly, they should know if you can actually see a future with them.

It could just be that I've finally grown up, and want to be with someone for the rest of my life. I only want that one partner, who knows all the parts that make me up. But I'm still stuck with the issue of pacing. How long do we need to be together for me to know with absolute certainty that we will spend our lives together? How long before we begin making life decisions based around each other?

I'm curious as to what other people's opinions on pacing in relationships are. Please leave your thoughts, or stories you've experienced on the matter, in the comments below. You can always leave your comments as anonymous if you wish.

Toodles!

Lapsang Souchong

Congrats on being super curious about the post title!

A signature aspect of Chinese teas is the fact that they are exposed to smoke to halt the oxidization process. Normally the smoke is fairly subtle and kept at a distance, so as to not overly influence the flavour of the tea leaf. Lapsang Souchong is an exception to this practice. The tea leaves are exposed very closely to the smoke of a pine wood fire. Anyone that has burned an old Christmas tree after the holidays knows how strong a smell that is. This tea smells EXACTLY like that.

It has been a while since I have had this tea as a drink, and my palette has changed a lot since then. I have however used the tea when I cook, and it is an amazing spice. Putting it in a grinder with a few spices allows you to make anything you cook taste like you lightly smoked it. I've used it on chicken, bacon, pork, steak, and vegetables. It works amazingly on all of them.

Lapsang Souchong Spice Blend
-1 tbsp Lapsang Souchong
-1 tbsp white rice
-1 tsp coarse salt
-1 tsp black peppercorns

It's simple, cheap, and full of flavour. The rice serves as a small filler to make the spice blend go longer, as well as helping retain the smell of the tea to keep the blend fresh.

For an experienced tea drinker, someone who loves cigars, or just that avid cook in your life, think about giving this pungent tea a try.

Toodles!

I Wrote This For You // The Corner of Me and You

By now everyone who reads this blog should be very aware that I am a romantic, and I take my shot at being poetic when the mood strikes me. An old acquaintance  of mine reminded me that in order to become a better writer, it was necessary to read. Over this past (eventful) summer, I bought two books of poetry, entitled I Wrote This For You and I Wrote For You and Only You. Both of these books contain a number of beautiful, anonymous pieces of poetry. They vary in length from be only a line to taking up the entire page. Because Saturdays don't currently have a theme on my blog, I have decided to post chosen works out of the books.

The Corner of Me and You

I don't know if you felt that or not.

But it felt like two people kissing after hours of thinking about it.

It felt like two people talking after nights of silence.

It felt like two people touching after weeks of being numb.

It felt like two people facing each other after months of looking away.

It felt like two people in love after years of being alone.

And it felt like two people meeting each other, after an entire lifetime of not meeting each other.



*Reminder that I take no credit for this work. It does not belong to me, I did not make it, I make no claim to it other than the feelings it evokes in me.

Toodles!

Renegades into the LCS // Female Gamers

This week was the conclusion of the LCS Challenger Series in North America. This is a long collection of matches that take the best teams in North America that currently aren't in the LCS, and matches them up against the lowest winning teams in the LCS from the previous split. Essentially, the Challenger teams are fighting for a chance to become part of the LCS, and the relegated LCS teams are fighting to get back into the LCS and have another season as professionals.

A relegated team from this last season, Team Coast, made it up to the final round and only had one team left to beat. Up against them was Team Renegades, a challenger team that now only had to defeat coast to become an LCS team. The finals are played in a Best of Five games, and it got taken all the way. Renegades won 3-2, and secured their spot in the NA LCS in the upcoming season. A big congratulations to them, and I look forward to watching them play once the regular season starts up again.

Now, you may be wondering why I'm mentioning and explaining all of this. Team Renegades represents something new to League of Legends eSports. The Support player on their team, Remilia (Current team picture on the right) is a female. This is the first time since League began that a team has made it to the professional circuit with a female member. I'M SO FREAKIN' PUMPED. I know how toxic the gaming community can be towards women who game, so I give her all the support in the world. I hope she just takes the encouragement from the positive members of the community and ignores the idiots that exist in any culture.

There was a team entirely made up of women that tried to get into the LCS, but they unfortunately fell to infighting and their in-game performance suffered too greatly. They now feed the terrible stereotype on Twitch that women just use their bodies to get followers instead of good gameplay. Those who follow the League scene know who I'm talking about, so I won't be mentioning any names.

Best of luck to Renegades, and kick some ass Remilia! Keep on rocking that Thresh!

Renegades website here

Toodles!

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Some movies are just bloody amazing (The Princess Bride), some are intentionally awful (Sharknado). So of course, there has to be movies that exist in the middle ground. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, is one such movie. The storyline is fairly interesting, taking the classic life of Lincoln and adding in the fantasy of destroying vampires. He fixates on one particular monster who killed his mother, and pursues training in order to become strong enough to fight against the vampires living in America.

As far as a movie goes, there are some clear ups and downs. When the fight scenes use a bit more CGI than normal, holy crap, is it obvious. Like, Neo-spinning-on-a-pole-to-kick-people levels of bad. On the other hand, Lincoln's signature axe serves as a primary weapon in his fight against evil, and the fight scenes that use the axe are really cool to watch. It's incredibly flashy, and makes the fighting interesting to watch.

Story: 7 out of 10 silvered axes
It's about a president fighting vampires with an axe. That's amusing.

Visual: 6 out of 10 stretchy bodies
The horse scene is so bad...But the axe scenes are so cool...

Overall: 7 out of 10 outrageous hats
It's worth a watch, maybe even two. It made for an entertaining evening. I've certainly seen worse movies.

A Little Organization

Last night I needed to stay awake to help Style during a long drive, so I decided to try and organize my blog a little more. Some people may only enjoy particular sets of posts from me (I don't expect everyone to love everything I write about, they're my hobbies), so I have added headings at the top of the blog. If you like reading about tea, click the Sunday posts. Looking for new music? Click on Wednesday. I hope this little tweak to my blog is useful to my readers. Feedback always welcome!

As always, thanks for being part of my blog with me!

Toodles!

Imagine Dragons

If you watched the League of Legends World Championships last year, you would know that the live show was amazing. For those who didn't see it, a group known as Imagine Dragons performed with their band, a full orchestra, and a collection of taiko drummers (It was in Korea). Imagine Dragons is an incredibly talented group of musicians who turned out to be massive nerds. During an interview, the members admitted to being late to perform for a concert because they were finishing up a game of League. 

I'm going to let their musicianship speak for itself below, so I'll talk about how awesome these guys are as people. They love League so much that when Riot Games asked them to make what was basically the theme song for the World Championships, they agreed wholeheartedly. The song was released to the public FOR FREE (Because Riot loves it's fans, and Imagine Dragons love League). Imagine Dragons is also known for it's more publicly popular song, Radioactive (shown second below).

For a group of guys to be this generous, this nerdy, and this talented, Imagine Dragons is doing music right.

Seriously, listen to these awesome nerds.

Toodles!

Sit and Be Calm

Life can get hectic. It can also be extremely overloading to your senses, with too many things to have on your to-do list, another article to read, another website to check. Sometimes, you just need a reminder that your mental health is important to maintain. It's not just a matter of "Don't be stressed and you'll be happy". Finding that moment of calm every day can be really important.

Calm is a website (and mobile app) that allows you to take a 2-20 minute meditation. You are able to choose a setting (Background, music/sound), the duration of your break, and whether or not your meditation is guided (having a voice give you directions on what to do with your awareness and body during the meditation).

Taking care of your mental health is just as important as your diet or physical maintenance. It only takes a couple of minutes. Check it out.

Toodles!

Perfect Week!

This is totally random, but I finally managed to get a perfect week of posting! I've posted every day since last Monday, and I'm super proud of myself for sticking to my schedule. Let's see if we can make it to two weeks!

Thanks for being part of this all with me!

Toodles!

Looking at You

I've been in a very poetic mood these last couple of weeks. For those who enjoy reading it, awesome, I'm always open to input. For those who don't, sorry, but suck it up. You're still reading, so you must be doing okay. I appreciate all my readers, whether they like each post or not. Anyway, Monday posts should be swapping back and forth between poetry and more perspective writings, like before.

BUT, for now, there is poetry to be done. I have a muse, so I shall use the inspiration.


Looking at You

I look at you

I see all the needs you ask of me

Just the brush of a hand

Against your hand, your leg, your cheek, anywhere with skin

To lock your fingers inbetween mine

Even when we fight over who's thumb goes on top

Wordlessly begging for a kiss

Your eyes widen then close,your head tilts

I see the pain too

A kind act, received with confusion

You were skeptical of my generosity

A tight embrace, trying to hide the whimper

You didn't want to let go

A warm smile, causes you sadness

You grow accustomed to being happy, you don't want to lose it

I see you watching me

An inquisitive quirk, an eyebrow raised

You question my expressions, seeking their causes

An adorable giggle, a full laugh

You enjoy my flusters, especially when you cause them 

The smallest of smiles, gentle but apparent

Sometimes you simple like to look

And while I watch you looking at me, I wonder.

Do you see what I see in you?
Do you see those things in me?



Toodles!

My history with Tea

With the amount of tea that I drink now, you'd think that I grew up around it in my family. My grandfather is was born in England, so I was told stories about "The Kettle". It was the kettle of black tea that was made every morning, and when the tea was gone, more water and teabags were added and simply reboiled. No rinsing out of dregs, no removing of the old teabags, just more bags and water. Suffice to say, that kettle was stained beyond hope and the tea was incredibly bitter. This led to my mother not really making tea when I was growing up.

When I was a teenager, I began drinking some brand or another of bagged herbal tea. I still remember drinking the peach one, with a ton of honey added in. Even then, tea was not a frequent drink for me. Hot chocolate was better. This was basically how I drank tea until I moved out of my parents' house for university. The city I moved to had two tea shops, one local and the other a chain. I began buying tea from both places, sticking to mostly flavoured black tea.

As my taste for tea developed, I began appreciating and drinking more types of tea. My tastes shifted from flavoured teas to straight ones, and from blacks to greens. Now I can't stand most of the teas from the chain store, it tastes very artificial and sugary. I even got a job at the local shop (which was amazing) until the owner moved out of the provence.

I currently have an entire shelving unit dedicated to my collection of tea, teapots, and accessories. The selection of tea is slowly dwindling, as I not longer have a good source of tea in my city. I have begun the hunt for another store or website that I can order from, as well as the very welcome additions my friends send to me from time to time. If anyone has a store that they recommend for good loose leaf tea, please leave it in the comments below and I will certainly check them out.

Never settle for anything less than what you deserve. You should have the best, and mediocrity can go suck a big bag of Red Rose.

Toodles!

Ahri Poro

Now that I'm back from working in the kitchens, my kitchen quotes are kind of done for a while. I also will probably busy this weekend, so I'm getting some posts out for you all ahead of time. So for now, here's a super fluffy Poro. Sometimes, you just need to be a fox-tailed Poro seductress. Because reasons.

I'M SO FLUFFY

Toodles!

Munchkin

Expanding on the Friday theme of video games, I'm adding board and card games to the collection of posts. And how can I talk about card games without mentioning the geekiest of games: Munchkin. Kill the monsters, steal the treasure, stab your buddy. That's honestly the main quote of the game. And it is incredibly accurate.

The core goal of the game is to take your character from level 1 to level 10. The first person to do so, wins. The first few levels of the game are fairly friendly, asking other players to help you have a higher total than the monsters that you have to fight. Once players start getting closer and closer to level 10, the friendly helping turns into calculated backstabbing. You tweak monsters to be just high enough to prevent your friends from winning, while trying to keep enough of the cards that modify fights to help yourself.

The cards are all jabs at various gaming and geek culture cliches, like how bribing the GM lets you go up a level, a person with the Thief class can't use the Dancing and Singing Sword (it's too loud), or Amazon enemy won't chase a female player if they flee (And has a massive bonus to fighting male players).

I apologize for the quality of this photo

Another wonderful feature of Munchkin is that there are TONS of expansions and alternate cards. You can add the expansions onto any of the alternative decks, or just play the alternatives as a standalone. Some include Munchkin Fuu (A martial art theme),  Munchkin Zombies, Munchkin Cthulhu, and many more.

If you've got a couple of super geeky friends, and want to have a fun night yelling, betraying, and laughing, try a game of Munchkin. It's a lot of fun.

Toodles!