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.
Monday, 8 June 2015
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.
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
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
Sunday, 7 June 2015
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!
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!
Saturday, 6 June 2015
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!
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!
Friday, 5 June 2015
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!
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!
Thursday, 4 June 2015
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!
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!
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