Famous last words ...ha!

I find it oddly ironic that the last thing I said was, "expect to see more miniblogs".
Alas, this is the stock of Hak...Always hoping, never finishing. HAHAHA

Well anyhow...I really doubt people are even reading this blog to begin with...no real target audience, am I right?

- Hak

Mobile blogger: Very interesting

So it appears there is an app for T-mobile Dash which allows me to easily post blogs to my blogger account.

I expect there to be a lot of mini blogs in three future. (hopefully with pics!)

Till then

-Hak

- Posted using Pocket Watch Software Mobile GBlogger.

Farewell my friend, i'll miss you

Many people have brothers and sisters to cry with, laugh with and share memories with, or childhood friends who they have known for most of their lives to do the same.

My father was in the military for almost half of my life so I only knew friends for 2 years at a time before having to move to the next post. As an only child such a situation is only made more difficult, because there are many lonely days without friends who can understand you, and remind you of past memories.

To offset this, my father got us two simple pets to share our longest memories while we were on the road and then some. These two simple pets were with us through one "conflict" (with mortars hitting only 3 houses away from our home on base in Panama), two different countries, 4 states to live in, 30 years combined between them, and many...many miles travelled.

One of them, a dog, died several years ago. (some of you may remember it, I got into a car accident right after I found out...er...sorry Shouse! I think it might have knocked the stupid out of your at least! :P ). The other was a cat, who many of you probably remember me talking about, even in passing.

For those of you who have known me through our crazy high school years, and have had the pleasure of meeting Chitty Kitty, my siamese cat and villanous sidekick, I have some bad news to relay.

On Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 Chitty Kitty, friend and constant companion who has been with me for 18 years, passed away in my arms due to health compications.
It was a sad day for me, and just as bad of a week. I've been hesitant to mention it to anyone, but he was in my life for too long to just not say anything at all. In combination with my mother dying, my grandparents (on both sides), my dog, and now my cat; My father and I are now the only living people alive on our branch of the family.

We buried his remains near the large garage built by my dad and I (right next to the other family pet I mentioned above.)
He was buried wrapped in a blanket i've always found comfortable for us to nap with, two fuzzy playballs which he ripped off of the end of two play "fishing poles" he would drag EVERYWHERE (like a prize fresh after a kill), and a simple collection of pictures which were focused on him.
To many it may seem stupid to talk about my cat like he (not IT) was a living breathing person, but to me he was a unique individual who was closer to me as a friend than many other people could ever have in two lifetimes (let alone one).

Farewell my fiend, I'll see you on the other side of the meadow where the sun will warm you until I can wake you up and scratch your ears and chin until you purr. When we meet again we can take that nap I meant to take with you before you died in my arms.

Goodbye Chitty, I'll miss you.

Thoughts on Beverage: Sobe Green Tea

This is the best drink on the planet!

I recently spent a relaxing Saturday afternoon with my buddy Pat at the Winter Haven library which now sports a pretty neat little coffee shop with free wi-fi (B not G unfortunately).

It was a pretty hot day, and after drinking a few Daisani's I spotted a fridge with a whole rack of these babies:
http://www.sobebev.com/product_info/exotic_green.shtml

I've drinken this before, but having it again in a "thristifying" moment is such a wonderful thing!
It has the usual green tea "tang and gulp", but also has some mint along with other flavors to offset the usual bitter aftertaste of the tea. Overall it gives are very refreshing feeling, and leaves your tongue sighing.

Hak's Scale of Awesomeness: HOLY FUCKING SHIT YOU GOTTA DRINK THIS!!

Thoughts of Food: Chili's

We just returned from dinner at Chili's, and I have to say i'm plesantly surprised. Normally Chili's is a place which I have completely avoided like that skank jailbait you don't EVER want to get caught inside of (teeheee), but I went there because Constance (now 'The Fiancee') has been craving a special salad they have there.

One dish....one dish has completely changed my mind about my original opinion of Chili's.
ONE DISH!

Tonight I dined on Chipolte Honey Glazed Chicken Crispers, and baby. That was THE SHIT!

The Sauce? It tasted mostly of sweet, sweet honey. Ohhhhh so sweet
The Chicken? Fried to perfection with such a juicy and tender texture.

BIG appaluse to the cooks at the new Chili's on International Drive! You guys kicked fricking ass on this one!
(And the Baked Potato Soup also rocked! Which i'm hoping isn't a really ironic thing to say..... a la Fight Club)

I will definitely go back there again!

Trivial Tutorial: Just feel the drive!

Time again for another trivial tutorial, number two of an unnumbered series of tutorials meant to help you enjoy things that you normally wouldn't think about.

In our day to day rush to get from place to place, we sometimes forget the immense joy of being able to cruise along at speeds well beyond our human capabilities.

**Side Note**
At least beyond our capabilities if you're not the Bionic Man, Superman or any other kind of "man"/ "noun-verb" that can be used as a moniker for, "Holy shit look at what I can do faster than the rest of you putzes!"

Further examples: "The Flash", "Quicksilver", "Super Atomic Mega Ultra Ass Kicker Man now with 500 times the speed of a regular human times Infinity! (and beeeeeyyyyouuuuunddd uuunnndd uuuun nnnndddduuuunnnnddddddddddd)"
**END Side Note**

In addition, here in Florida we basically cruise around using air conditioning, so we particularly end up being a little detached while riding around.

Trivial tutorial today? "Just feeling the drive".
Caution: This should only be done if you are already a decent driver (if you're inattentive or inexperienced then you could risk having an accident or two while you daydream :P)

Best to do this when you have an hour or two to not worry about anything as you'll feel less stress overall.

1) Find a road or area which is kind of a "back road".
By "back road" I mean a road in which you don't have to be worried about being pushed along by aggressive drivers with occasional patches of trees and shade.

Note: This will be easier for those of us who don't live in huge cities

2) Open up your windows. Yes I mean ALL of them! If you have a sunroof, so much the better as it will help you move a lot of air inside of the car.

3) Find a comfortable speed to follow along the road with around the speed limit.
Stick with it for a time. Don't concentrate on acceleration or deceleration too much, just let the car cruise along at a steady pace so you don't have to make a lot of adjustments or feel the transmission jerk into different gears.

4) Take a few breaths and enjoy the scents and the air going by. Hopefully you're not near a cow field or something...that would stink....

5) Look around at the various things along the road and don't think particularly too much about them, just enjoy how they look or how the light goes off of them. I'm getting kind of mumbo-jumoish, but you know what? It works.
You never really get to enjoy anything nowadays since it's mostly just, "Oh I've got to get here!" or "I've got to get there!" This is time to just relax and actually see how fast you go in a car.

6) If you feel like it, turn on some music. Nothing hard core, or particularly fast.
Just put on something that is enjoyable to listen to while letting yourself enjoy the ride. Classical, oldies, acoustic guitars, hip-hop or pop. Rock even!

I personally like to hook up my I-pod and play some Incubus.
"Make yourself" being one of my favorite albums with a little bit of "A Crow left of the Murder" for a couple of other songs I love.

er...now that i think of it, it's kind of ironic I listen to "Drive" while driving
:P

7) CAUTION: Don't let your mind wander too much, you still need to pay attention to the road!

8) Do this for a bit, and just enjoy the sensations of going down the road without a care. I've done this a few times when I've got a weekend coming up with nothing else planned (which is rare nowadays) It really does help!

I particularly like roads with several twists and turns, a straightway and then some shady forests/woods to let some cool air come in. Smells great! and the buzzing from insects is oddly relaxing.

This exercise also has an added bonus of airing our your car.
Which is probably already pretty stuffy because you never open the windows....right?

YES YOU! *finger pointing*


Enjoy!


-Hakai

Trivial Tutorial: Breathing to slow down perceptions

I woke up this morning and suddenly had an idea to create a series of simple tutorials for trivial things which can change your mindset and let you just enjoy living.
I figured, what the hell the world is made up of much worse ideas, why not?

SOOOOOOOO I'd like to start off with part one of an unnumbered part series I'm going to title as "Trivial Tutorials" *cue space music and eerie echo*

Trivial Tutorial 1:
"Breathing to slow down perceptions (and enjoy life a little more! Because you need air! And it sucks without it! I love 20 fragmented sentences with exclamations....!!! :) ) "

CAUTION: Only attempt this if you are comfortable with swimming in a "deep" area. (deep meaning an area where your feet do not touch the bottom of the pool)

1) Find a swimming pool that allows you to submerge yourself and sink for a bit.
Caution: NOT too deep that you can't push off from the bottom to quickly jump back up!

2) Float and breathe several times to expand your lungs
Note: Make sure to breathe with your diaphragm and not your chest.
Using your diaphragm is like letting your stomach stick out while breathing in...if your shoulders rise instead of your stomach while you breathe in you're NOT using your diaphragm!

3) Close your eyes and breathe out slowly while you sink, letting bubbles go up slowly.

Some may find the, "Oh god I'm going DOWN so I should life my arms straight up and make myself sink faster!" position VERY useful in this manner.
This is also known as the "TOUCHDOWN!!!!!!" position - which also can signify the death of non-swimming football teams in certain situations. (and possibly you if you were dumb enough to bet on the OTHER team with money you don't have... :P )


(Diagram 1)

("Blub Blub!")
Translation: "OH FUCK! I needs me some O2!!"

~~~~~~~~
" <=== *Bubbles*
"
'
'
\ 0 /

/ \
==========

4) Once you reach the bottom kick up so that you raise at a steady rate (but not too fast otherwise you'll never enjoy the rise!)
Caution: If you feel VERY out of breath, do it quickly! No point in doing this if you're going to drown yourself. :P

5) Once you break surface take a breath (or a few if you're feeling short) and repeat so that you sink again.

6) While doing this exercise, mentally imagine the air leaving your lungs and what little bubbles look like going toward the surface. Then concentrate on every ticking second or heartbeat, you'll notice everything kind of slows down for a second or two...I think this is pretty neat!
(If you're like me you always have your swimming goggles so you can actually WATCH the surface...it's like a big shiny, wavy mirror!)

7) If you really want to appreciate this, every time you come back up, only allow yourself a very quick "normal breath". The rapidly repeat.

Note: Normal in this case is defined as "NOT one of those huge ass gapping breaths that everyone seems to love taking right before they go under water and they go, 'hhhhhaaaaawwwwwoooooooooooo!' like a fricking siren..... I mean good lord man...you realize you make it HARDER to hold your breath when you do that?!" kind of normal.

8) Once you feel tired or ready to stop, resurface and just breathe normally with deep big breaths. You'll notice that you now focus on and appreciate being able to breathe much more (at least I do!)

I personally feel this is a very simple way to mentally "slow down" time to give myself a moment or two to appreciate several things, or to solve a particularly problematic issue.
It is possible to also do this while sitting in a chair, or laying down (breathing exercises are the usual for mediation) but I like to do this while in the water quite honestly.

I like to feel the sinking and rising sensation while going up and down in a pool on top of being able to "sense" the light being reflected to the bottom.

It makes for a very interesting experience overall since NOTHING makes you appreciate the two molecules of oxygen which make up most of your air more than being surrounded by a ton of single oxygen molecules attached to two hydrogen molecules which you CAN'T USE to breathe!!

Too technical? Lets try this....
"BREATHING is not possible for us in WATER!!"

:P

Overall this is a very trivial exercise (as in you don't NEED it or anything) but it's something useful to help yourself enjoy every breath you take, and to just concentrate on every second instead of hours and days.

After a while you get this zen-like feeling of understanding the power of a single second.....and to think we let 60 of these things go every minute!

Dammit!
THERE THEY GO AGAIN!

COME BACK!!!!!!!!

Enjoy! :)

-Hakai

Harassment in an online community

Redstar Gaming Log: 7/22/2007

I recently started up an online gaming community with a buddy of mine called Redstar Gaming. (howdy Weegee!).
Basically he and I were on the same wavelength in which both of us were very tired of playing as part of a clan. It had reached the point where we both felt it would be more enjoyable if we could just find a community where we could see a group of regulars who we could feel comfortable just playing a few rounds of whatever game we chose.

Once launched we decided to focus on a single game with a fairly large following and an enjoyable experience. Our first game was Counterstrike: Source.
For the most part we've found quite a few excellent gamers who just enjoy playing in the same style we do, but as with any game you see your listing of bad eggs from time to time.

From our 2 month timespan of running the Redstargaming Counterstrike: Source server, i've discovered a majority of the annoyance factor is really because of these 12-13 year old gamers who feel they need to change their personal online. (not counting rager clans, which i'll finish making the huge ass bitchfest I want to make about THAT topic....)

I once read an article about how a lot of America's youth try to make their online avatar an excess of what they don't have in real life.
Take a meek, shy and introverted kid, and give him a way to express himself online without having to worry about repercussions. Suddenly we have a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde routine going on.

For the most part there are the simple problems of trash talking, the cravings to be l33t, and the occasional plea for attention. (this is natural...everyone went through this at one point or another.)

But then you get the really bad eggs. The ones who make racial slurs, curse, and seriously disrespect other players they come in contact with in the game world.
(not even counting people who feel they need to trash other people to make themselves feel better, or the ones who continuously try to ruin the game for everyone else)

Generally we can just ignore people like these, but some things you just can't ignore them when they're so darn prevalent!

As a specific example, I can seriously say that I have empathy for most of the female gaming community. I didn't understand before, but I can now understand why a lot of female gamers feel they can't talk over the mic while playing any game.

I've witnessed several instances of this on other Counterstrike servers.
A female gamer talks over the mic on a server. All chatter ceases and she is bombarded with either questions of her gender, non-stopp; irritating as hell comments about "vaginas", or various other "descriptions" of lewd acts against the individual.

To read about it is one thing, but to hear it is quite sickening.

I've both read and listened to what amounts to threats of rape against some of our regular female gamers and it's disgusting...Utterly disgusting.
Those of you who do these actis? You're no worse than the real life counterparts.

In the end, Weegee and I are very happy we both decided to start up Redstar Gaming. It has become even more prevalent now that a lot of gamers (regardless of gender and creed) need a place to just log in after a hard day at work/school, and I'm really happy we can ban the little shits from coming onto any of our hosted servers.

Anyone who feels they would like to enjoy a great online community are welcome to come and join us at http://www.redstargaming.net
(Just join the forums. say hey and maybe log onto our Vent server and you'll be as welcome as anyone else!)

Off to shoot some terrorists!
-Hakai