Other What currently makes your life awesome?

Yeah, that's my thinking too. I've got photos that are the best part of forty years old and while they're fine just now, they won't last forever and they're only a flood or fire away from being permanently lost.

 

My mum is 70 this year. 70 !!! FFS I remember being at her 40th Birthday party and thinking "Wow, it will be forever until I am 40 !". IIRC I was 12 at the time and paid my first visit to the just opened, yet now defunct in the UK 7/11. Mmm, Slurpee.

Any way, yeah, this year she is 70 and I am now 42. Where the hell has the time gone? Is that awesome? not really.

What is awesome is that for her 70th my lady wife and I have bought her a 55" TV. She has absolutely no idea whatsoever. We got it from Argos, who have a timed delivery slot so all we needed was an excuse to be there during that time. Given my wife and I are both Aspies and terrible liars we decided to do something truthful, and I phoned mum and asked if we could dry some washing there (something we do often during the winter months) and also asked if we could go earlier than usual at 2pm.

She's got absolutely no idea at all. I'm like a kid at Christmas. She's going to pee herself lol.

So yeah. After the most incredibly tough life she deserves it. I can't wait to see her face when the enormous box comes through the back door.

 

I'll be sure to keep you posted, man. - but I'll only pick them up when I visit Europe in December... Shipping to Namibia is stupid-expensive, and VERY risky.
That RG of mine must be the only generation of Ibanez Prestige that shipped with godawful DiMarzio IBZs.

I actually looked around at some more interesting pickups, and the bareknuckles aren't THAT steep compared to, say, the custom-shop-only Duncan Alpha/Omega set or the (also periphery-based) DiMarzio Titan set.
I opted for something very modern-voiced, since I am refurbing an old strat-klnockoff of mine, which is getting a whole new body and Duncan JB/59 pickups. So there's "classical" voicing right there (if you're into stadium rock sounds).
My Jackson DKA 8 has DiMarzio D-Activators in it, which are angry as all hell.

 

S'cool man, I'm still in the design/wood picking stage so I'm no where near buying hardware!

Oh, absolutely, there's way more expensive things out there, but compared to what I'm used to (EMG 81/85's, DiMarzio Area 58/61's & D Activator's), they're really pushing the boat out in terms of cost

 

The Lace stuff has me REALLY intrigued as well... specifically the Mastodon-signatures - and they're SO NOT CHEAP. They'll have to wait, though.
Priorities are: BKPs, then some form of Line 6 unit (cheap and cheerful for emergencies when the backline is crud - probably an AmpliFi FX - can't afford an AxeFX), then the JB/59s and the new body for "the strat", and then a Kiesel (probably a VM6)

 

Got the first start to my sleeve on Friday, I knew my mum would be pissed off considering I'm supposed to be saving for a house deposit and she absolutely despises them. I left her a little gift with a funny note to break the news at the time it was facebook worthy but I chose to leave it off. I didn't want to come across as 'That guy' 'Hey guys I'm getting a tattoo!!' none of my friends know about the tattoos on my legs because they're my own things. I enjoy their aesthetic but if i was getting things for the sake of other people they certainly wouldn't be the ones i have there currently.

I feel more confident for being my own person, She's basically given up on nagging at me (it wouldn't make a difference anymore) mainly because she can see I'm happy... happier being me. I'm no longer self-conscious as a slimmer built guy because I'm proud of who I am on the inside and now on the outside. I've joined the gym and my work situation has levelled out meaning my stress levels have reduced dramatically and my alcohol intake is no longer a self-medicating spiral of self-loathing destruction.

On Saturday night I went out with a pal, Met a girl, danced with her and then ended up kissing her, getting her phone number and now arranging a date. Was I heavily intoxicated... no. Do I see anything coming from it? who knows... It was a bit of fun and life goes on if it doesn't go well.

Me a year ago wouldn't have been able to look that same girl in the eyes let alone do any of the rest. If that's not progress i don't know what is. Small steps to self-improvement gents... small steps.

 

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Doesn't look like much, does it?

That's a Motorola Minitor 5, a piece of technology from the dark ages. It's not about what it is, it's what it symbolizes...

I am once again officially a volunteer firefighter!

 

I've not even looked at Lace for at least a decade! I might have a dig through their line too..

Annd there you've lost me. I don't play, just put things together and get someone else to play! All I know about Line 6 is I have one of their amps for testing purposes.

 

How'd you get on Vault-Tech? Was she made up?

 

Finally done.

847 pieces, 3m of wire, and 32 LEDS make it the most complex thing I've ever built, loved every ****ing minute



Full Album

 

One of my favourite new manga Drifters got an anime, it seems to be popular enough. Written by Kouta Hirano, the creator of Hellsing. The first episode opened with lots of violence, that's what you expect from Hirano.

 

This really is awesome, good on ya bud

 

Workstation upgrades, just dropped 8GB more memory in it and there'll be another 16GB to go in on Monday (maybe tuesday but still). Was starting to have trouble using pdf underlays in AutoCAD, things are a bit better now and will be a lot better soon.

 

Complex carb diet and the HIML workout.

After 2 weeks, I've dropped from 11 stone 6 pounds to 11 stone and my body fat % is now 9% with a 21 BMI.

Not to bad for a 23 year old!

 

6'0?

Shouldn't you be trying to put weight on rather than lose it?

(Not trying to be a downer, just curious)

 

When I've always started a new diet I've always seen weight loss, so I'm not majorly concerned about it.

I've been taking progress pictures and my muscle mass is growing. I just have to make sure that I'm taking in around 120-150g of protein a day. Anything less than that and I'll be losing muscle mass.

Yes, I am 6'0 ^.^

 

Recently hit the monetary halfway mark for my "I'd like to have this much savings before I'm 30". It'll all get obliterated by a house downpayment in a few years, but that's what it's for.

His stats seem quite healthy to me. Maybe a bit light for 6', but with 9% bf I imagine it more of the lean athletic body than a skinny fat body.

 

Well if it's working, then keep it up

Not sure how it would fit into your macros, but the best thing I found for calories and a source of protein is peanut butter. Cheapest and easiest calories you can get unless you fancy bulk buying bird feed and there's loads of protein and healthy fats.
Eating half a tub of the stuff every day is about the only way I can keep my weight up. Putting on extra weight is a serious challenge.

Definitely healthy, but doing HIML, my assumption was that the goal was to put on weight.

 

Yeah, the HIML is to put on muscle. It is also an advanced workout...So I'm punching above my belt with it, as I've only ever done my own workouts. I'm planning to do a 5 week rotation with it.

So 4 weeks on the HIML workout, then move onto the PHAT workout for 1 week and switch back to HIML again afterwards.

I haven't really asked any personal trainers if that's the best thing to do, so any advice is appreciated!

When do you fit your peanut butter in? Because I have two snacks during the day already (Banana, greek yogurt and oats firstly and second a nutrigain bar )

 

I've always just stuck to doing my own stuff - read everything, take bits from some, piece things together and make something that works. Most beneficial thing does seem to be swapping things up though, so alternating between HIML and PHAT is probably a pretty good idea.

One thing I will say is maybe put more focus on compound, strength exercises (in the 4-6 rep range)...
I've always had trouble monitoring progress since my weight never changes (always between 80 and 95kg and fluctuates quite rapidly) and I don't personally see any difference in size. I could take measurements, but I can't really be bothered, so I tend to just judge progress by what I'm lifting. I spent a year doing mainly hypertrophy stuff, and my lifts went up a bit, but not by much. I got a lot of comments about how much I'd grown, but I didn't really see it.
In my 2nd year I switched to focusing on strength exercises, while still maintaining some hypertrophy stuff on the side (at the end of a workout and dedicating some days to higher rep ranges). My lifts almost doubled that year.
My weight still stayed the same, but comparing to the results of last year, there is a significant improvement.


As for PB, I just carry a tub and a spoon around with me and dig in every couple of hours. You get some funny looks, but I'm rather fond of the taste and at >600 calories / 100g, it's a very fast, cheap and easy way to meet my daily requirements. Or you can't go wrong with sticking it in a sandwich if you can't stand eating it by itself. Either that or you can make some peanut butter "flapjacks". Be prepared for your breath to stink of peanuts for the next few hours though - might wanna invest in some chewing gum.