10 lbs lost *finally*. I had been clammy, sweating, sick, dehydrated, weak and literally crawling (sorry for griping).

I keep hearing my mother’s words of wisdom “I was so depressed and sick that I couldn’t eat- I lost 20 lbs!” <-she’s always bragged about that, and I wonder why I’ve had this lingering eating disorder.

My diet and exercise has stuck… but it’s frustrating that there hadn’t really been a dent until I had to get ill.

It’s not like I’ve been sick *that* long… but I’m already thinking I’ll take the long wait of eating healthy and doing moderate exercise over being sick.

After seeing myself under the horrible invention called ‘flash photography’ it has me full force on my diet and work out sessions (old Tao Bo tapes). I’m sweating like a… like an… like a… like some sort of animal that sweats a lot twice a day. Once around noon- an intense 25 minute work out and at night, a brief yet intense 8 minute work out, no wine… just slim fast, Asian noodles for lunch and salads for dinner. It’s only been a few days, but shoudn’t I have lost a zillion pounds by now?

The Deadbeat Club

Synopsis: When a man loses his house in a cataclysmic fire and all his possessions go up in smoke, a group of young local misfits stages a talent show to help him raise money and rebuild his life. Problems arise, however, when small-minded townsfolk question the teens’ motives. Attacked for being different, the kids are labeled “the Deadbeat Club.” Daphne Khoury, Brandon Dixon, Jennifer Wetter, Nicole Cook and Jason Magee co-star.

My take: Based on a true story- this near first time indie flick was actually a good view. I was pleasantly surprised at the topics it covered in a very gentle manner… although disappointed in Cyndi’s character so rude. It wasn’t uplifting- but it was sincere and real. I gave it 4 supportive stars.

Ryan and Sean’s Not So Excellent Adventure

Synopsis: On the verge of losing his cushy studio job, a movie producer (Michael Buckley) sets out to revive his sagging career by casting You Tube sensations Ryan (Ryan Higa) and Sean (Sean Fujiyoshi) in his next film, a buddy flick for which he thinks the pair would be perfect. Convinced that they’re Hollywood’s next big thing, the producer forces the two to jump through a series of ridiculous hoops, resulting in one hilarious situation after another.

My take: I knew this wasn’t going to be the best film out there. Yes it was low budget (so low budget that apparently they couldn’t hire a professional editor when I saw a camera man’s reflection in the window of the vehicle) but it was really… dare I say? Oh I so don’t want to say- I *like* Ryan and Sean- I really do… on Youtube. In film… dare I say? I’ll just say it- Horrible.

There I said it.

Here’s Ryan in his latest… that he should stick to. Silly little shorts.

How many times can this topic be brought up? Since it’s my website, I guess as long as I want it to be brought up! Today I’m hitting upon it again because Ben flashed a link that made me double take.

There was a time when I was younger and told what to think by parents and peers who were members of ‘the church’- Christianity- branch unknown… I don’t think my folks even knew the difference. It doesn’t matter because once I stopped forcing myself to hear voices and talk to imaginary zombies with power, my interest to find out waned.

I do recall gasping when it was mentioned that someone was an Atheist. “GASP! UNHOLY!” What argument could you have with them? None, you just felt sorry for the soulless bastards who have no heart, no emotion, no understanding of life and the afterlife. “Oh how can they manage to wander on the Earth without purpose?”

Being a born again Atheist… I do have emotions. I do feel for the world and people around me. Oddly enough that I have morals and a sense of right and wrong. I fear… hurting others because that doesn’t feel good to me. I love- strange how you don’t need imaginary parental figures in order to do that. I pay taxes, I abide by mans law, I teach my kids that stealing is wrong, hurting others is wrong, in fact- causing harm to anyone is wrong. Not because of damnation, but because that’s a mean and crappy thing to do.

Why are we so ‘hated’? More so than Muslims? (not that people should hate anyone… but still…) Parents would rather their kids marry anyone but an Atheist. WHY? Most crimes are committed by either a Christian or devil worshipper or a confused soul who angrily says “There is no God!” and strikes out against the “God” by performing unlawful and unmoral acts… which IMO isn’t an Atheist- because how can you feel any sort of emotion for a deity that you find silly to believe in?

I did what most people would in extensive research… I Googled and when to the first thing that came up:

University of Minnesota Study on American Attitudes Towards Atheists & Atheism
 Every single study that has ever looked at the issue has revealed massive amounts of bigotry and prejudice against atheists in America. The most recent data shows that atheists are more distrusted and despised than any other minority and that an atheist is the least likely person that Americans would vote for in a presidential election. It’s not just that atheists are hated, though, but also that atheists seem to represent everything about modernity which Americans dislike or fear.

The most recent study was conducted by the University of Minnesota, which found that atheists ranked lower than “Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians and other minority groups in ‘sharing their vision of American society.’ Atheists are also the minority group most Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry.” The results from two of the most important questions were:
This group does not at all agree with my vision of American society…

Atheist: 39.6%
Muslims: 26.3%
Homosexuals: 22.6%
Hispanics: 20%
Conservative Christians: 13.5%
Recent Immigrants: 12.5%
Jews: 7.6%
I would disapprove if my child wanted to marry a member of this group….

Atheist: 47.6%
Muslim: 33.5%
African-American 27.2%
Asian-Americans: 18.5%
Hispanics: 18.5%
Jews: 11.8%
Conservative Christians: 6.9%
Whites: 2.3%
Lead researcher Penny Edgell said that she was surprised by this: “We thought that in the wake of 9/11, people would target Muslims. Frankly, we expected atheists to be a throwaway group.” Nevertheless, the numbers are so extreme that she was led to conclude that they are “a glaring exception to the rule of increasing tolerance over the last 30 years.” It’s not that bigotry and discrimination against Muslims is appropriate, but at least it’s not hard to understand where such attitudes would come from.

Every group except atheists is being shown much greater tolerance and acceptance than 30 years ago. “Our analysis shows that attitudes about atheists have not followed the same historical pattern as that for previously marginalized religious groups. It is possible that the increasing tolerance for religious diversity may have heightened awareness of religion itself as the basis for solidarity in American life and sharpened the boundary between believers and nonbelievers in our collective imagination.”

Some respondents associated atheism with illegal behavior, like drug use and prostitution: “that is, with immoral people who threaten respectable community from the lower end of the social hierarchy.” Others saw atheists as “rampant materialists and cultural elitists” who “threaten common values from above — the ostentatiously wealthy who make a lifestyle out of consumption or the cultural elites who think they know better than everyone else.”

Given the relatively low number of atheists in America, and the even lower number who are public about their atheism, Americans can’t have come to their beliefs about atheists through personal experience and hard evidence about what atheists are really like. Furthermore, dislike of atheists doesn’t correlate very highly with dislike of gays, immigrants, or Muslims. This means that dislike of atheists isn’t simply part of a larger dislike of people who are “different.”

Why are atheists being singled out for special hatred and distrust? “What matters for public acceptance of atheists – and figures strongly into private acceptance as well – are beliefs about the appropriate relationship between church and state and about religion’s role in underpinning society’s moral order, as measured by our item on whether society’s standards of right and wrong should be based on God’s laws.” It’s curious that atheists would be singled out for special hatred on the basis of church/state separation which religious theists, including Christians, are usually on the forefront of fighting to preserve separation. It’s rare to find a case filed by or supported by atheists which is not also supported by theists and Christians. In fact, I can’t think of any off hand.

Although people may say that they consider atheists inferior because atheists don’t believe that civil law should be defined according to some group’s conception of what their god wants, I don’t think that’s the whole story. There are too many religious theists who also want civil law to be secular rather than religious. Instead, I think that a much better case can be made for the idea that atheists are being scapegoated the same way that Catholics and Jews once were: they are treated as social outsiders who create “moral and social disorder.”

Atheists can’t both be lower-class drug users or prostitutes and upper-class elitists and materialists. Instead, atheists are being saddled with the “sins” of American society generally. They are “a symbolic figure” that represent religious theists’ “fears about … trends in American life.” Some of those fears involve “lower class” crimes like drug use; other fears involve “upper class” crimes like greed and elitism. Atheists are thus a “symbolic representation of one who rejects the basis for moral solidarity and cultural membership in American society altogether.”

That’s obviously not going to change, because as long as atheists remain atheists, then won’t be theists and they won’t be Christians. This means that they won’t agree that any gods, much less the Christian god, can serve as the basis for moral solidarity or cultural membership in American society. Of course, neither can adherents of many other religions who either don’t believe in gods or who don’t believe in the Christian god. As America becomes more religiously pluralist, America is going to have to change and find something else to serve as the basis for moral solidarity and cultural membership. Atheists should work to ensure that this is as secular as possible.

So there you have it.

Is this the majority of thinking of Americans? Land of the Free? Land of religious freedom as long as that religion is of some sort of Christian sector or approved by Christians although possibly frowned upon at the same time… and as long as it’s SOME sort of religion apparently.

I still have a difficult time being shunned by people who talk to pretend dead people just because tradition convinced them it was ‘normal’ and existed! It’s freaking weird, psychotic and a form of mental illness! Seriously!!!! UGH!

I am not a monster because I don’t see. feel and or hear dead people!!!!

Current Mood: GRRR!

Jonathon’s lunch is cooking, I’m resting my eyes from the numbers and sipping my water hoping to finally start shedding the weight I’ve ignored for too long… and yet obsessed about “It’s okay to gain since I’ve quit smoking…”

Ack, I’ve never yo-yo’ed this much in my life, but I’m starting to teach myself discipline and continue with Tao Bo and diet.

Even last night when Jonathon and I returned from VT’s birthday dinner I popped in the 8 minute work out. YAY me!

Noodles are finished… off to feed the boy!

I have a date tonight. It’s not a date… well it’s a “date” by definition but it’s not of the romantic type. It’s an outing with Jonathon and female friends! Why is this so shocking for me? Because it’s been a real long time since I went any where with my gender in which club hopping wasn’t involved- and even the club hopping ended 4 years ago.

Today is Van-Thi’s birthday (a friend from work) and the reason we’re heading out.

I have to admit that I’m a little nervous about it because I always suck around females… or most people in general. In order to socialize you need to have some sort of common ground and… common grounds aren’t very common with me. I always manage to feel VERY out of place and socially awkward; either I feel like a freak, a dork, a moron, <insert awkward and negative trait here>. WHY? I’ve no clue.

I always view get togethers with people who are not blood related as experiments. I think I try too hard to figure out why I don’t have a large circle of friends. I’m like the filler in the groups these days and not the person someone calls or wants to hang out with. 

So tonight I’ll get to try once more to chime into conversations and make the socially awkward side of myself less socially awkward. The odd thing is – if I’m with someone I’m in a relationship with- I shine in social settings.

How text book am I???

for film that is. Perhaps last year spoiled us so much that no one can really live up to the splendor that was last year, or maybe last year was such a magical year that this one is an all around let down where entertainment is concerned.

I’m not excited about the new Transformers, Terminator, or even Harry Potter. Everything that has been churned out this year hasn’t received a lot of great hype. Star Trek has… but I’m still waiting for it to pop up at the economy theater before I watch it since the young boy I’m taking with me isn’t all that excited to view it in the first place (who knows, maybe Jonathon will love it).

I do recall initially feeling excited about the flock of films, but review after review has everything in “meh” mode. From last years smash hits that just got better and better in all genres- perhaps it was the El Nino of Hollywood.

When will another magical year take place again? I think it can only happen once every ten years.

Actually I think I’m correct. 70′s- Star Wars, Grease, Superman… Rocky, Star Trek… they all came out about the same year, right? I think film wise the 70′s was just filled with great flicks… although I didn’t get to see them when they came out, but I wonder how they stood up at the box office.

80′s it spilled to Indiana Jones, E.T. Karate Kid (I’m not quite doing the full decade stretch) I think it stopped for a bit after 85 and the big block buster to follow was Batman. The 90′s hit us with the anticipated T2, and then of course Titanic. It was toture- pre Fandango days and it took FOREVER to get to a showing that wasn’t sold out. I still remember the eerie silence right before the ship split in half on the big screen. The story was kind of lame, but the effects were worth it ALL.

Then of course came Star Wars 1-3… which I REFUSED to see, but I did make sure I revisted Star Wars 4-6 when they released them before the “new” ones… which I still haven’t seen.

LOTR … okay, that was also huge… Spider-Man…

Ah dang it. I blew my theory.

There are hit and miss years and this year so far has been a miss. Granted I’ve only seen one ’blockbuster’ -Wolverine, and that wasn’t *bad*, but it could have easily been a rental. I do want to see the new Terminator, but I don’t mind viewing it on DVD.

I guess when I think or say HUGE films, I mean movies that you HAVE to see in the theater. Last year it started out strong and it ended strong. I can’t recall the last time it happened… (Spider-Man 2 maybe?).

Wow I need female friends.

This was sent to me from an old friend who no doubt got it from a Mafia War (the Facebook obsession that I will not be a part of) page.

The Mafia was looking for a new man to make weekly collections from All the private businesses that they were ‘protecting’. Feeling the heat from the police force, they decided to use a deaf and dumb person for this job. If he were to get caught, he wouldn’t be able to communicate to the police what he was doing.

Well, on his first week, the collector picks up over $50,000. He gets greedy, decides to keep the money and stashes it in a safe place. The Mafia soon realizes that their collection is late, and sends some of their hoods after the deaf collector. The hoods find the deaf collector and ask him where the money is. The deaf collector can’t communicate with them, so the Mafia drags the guy to an interpreter.

The Mafia hood says to the interpreter, “Ask him where the money is.” The interpreter signs, “Where’s the money?” The deaf replies in sign language, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The interpreter tells the hood, “He says he doesn’t know what you’re talking about.” The hood pulls out a large gun and places it in the ear of the deaf collector. “NOW ask him where the money is.”

The interpreter signs, “Where is the money?” The deaf man replies, “The $50,000 is in Central Park, hidden in the Third tree stump on the left from the West 78th Street gate.” The interpreter says to the hood, “He says he still doesn’t know what you’re talking about, and doesn’t think you have the guts to pull the trigger.”

Current Mood: Amused

Regardless of where you are or who you are, and even if you hate the Slurpee, tomorrow it’s free!

Some random Slurpee facts, courtesy of 7-Eleven:

• Slurpee drinks are all served at 28 degrees.
• Early prototypes for the Slurpee machine made use of an automobile air conditioning unit.
• Slurpee was “invented” when some sodas were put in a freezer to cool them down — and they became all slushy.
• Bob Stanford, a 7-Eleven agency director, coined the term “Slurpee” in 1967.
• Winnipeg, Canada is generally thought to be the Slurpee capital of the world, due to their amazing Slurpee fanaticism.
• When Slurpee first hit the market, it wasn’t self-serve. The machine was behind the counter and the clerk served the product to you.
• At Slurpee, we call it a BrainFreeze. The scientific name for it is Sphenopalatine Ganglioneuralgia. Really.
• Slurpee drinks are carbonated.
• Slurpee Day is July 11th.
• Sugar is the anti-freezing agent in most Slurpee drinks.
• American Slurpee is injected with air. Canadian Slurpee is not.
• Half of all Slurpee drinks are purchased between the hours of 4 and 11 p.m.
• Every day more than 11.6 million Slurpee drinks are consumed around the world.
• Pressing your tongue against the roof of your mouth is a known cure for brainfreeze.
• In 2004, 7-Eleven created an edible Slurpee straw.
• In 1998, Slurpee Lip Balm hit the market.
• More than 40% of all Slurpee drinks are sold during the months of June, July and August.
• Every year enough Slurpee drinks are sold to fill up 12 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
• Only one private individual owns a bona fide Slurpee machine. The rest are in 7-Eleven.
• The average Slurpee drinker’s age is 29.

When I was a kid there wasn’t a 7 Eleven in Alaska. The joy of the Slurpee was saved for visits to the lower 48 when my brother and I would visit family.

I don’t have a lot of great Slurpee memories to share because I don’t really care for the Slurpee- and thus will not be participating in the Slurpee event, but hey… I think it’s pretty cool they’re doing this.

Current Mood: BRRRR

Perhaps the show was brought to my attention by someone else awhile ago and my absent minded nature had me forget all about it. Maybe when I was logged into Netflix “Watch Now” it was the first time I had seen such a show.

It was the Average 4.6 star rating that nabbed my attention for season 2. I *had* to see what the hype was all about! Sooo… I started with season 1. It caused me to chuckle and appreciate the humor for the most part. A lot of it was tiresome jokes, but they pulled it off. I couldn’t wait to see the more hyped up season 2!

Moss, Jen and Roy are three people who work in the basement of a large corporation in the department that everyone doesn’t seem to appreciate as much as they should: I.T.

Character Profiles:
Roy> The smiling face of the I.T. Department, Roy’s spiky personality ensures he’ll always be kept away from normal people as long as possible.

He’s king of the basement, indulging his love of comic books, fast food, computer games and random arguments with his best friend, Moss.

Moss> Moss lives with his mum, who also dresses him, styles his hair and buys his clothes.

He’s highly intelligent, scared of spiders and has the social skills of a serial killer. The closest he’s got to a woman is Lara Croft, and he struggles to communicate with anything that doesn’t have a keyboard.

Jen> Jen knows nothing about IT, she only got the job because she said she had extensive experience of computers like using mices, clicking, double-clicking, and that thing that goes on the floor… the er hard-drive?

As well as being their line manager, Jen is Roy and Moss’ agony aunt, relationship coach and guru about life outside the basement. Not that her life is going particularly well, it’s just better than theirs.

Although season two didn’t give me answers to the ending of season one… and the “seasons” are VERY short– I look forward to watching the current awkward ensemble in their every day situations. They make me feel COOL and popular!

Afro Samurai: Samuel L. Jackson does the voice in the Animation adventure that is a little dark, gritty, swear languagy- boring series that I am trying to force myself to view all the way through because it seems interesting. I’m all for the action and violence, but I enjoy clever and witty writing- I haven’t heard any yet. It received remarkably high ratings… maybe if I just sit through a little more of it I will see why?

True Blood: Vampires are accepted in mainstream, or at least acknowledged. I began to view the first episode… and I found it dull. Again no witty or clever writing, boring concept, unwatchable characters. In all fairness I didn’t see it through, it very well may surprise me. Is it wrong that it feels like torture to find out?

Current Mood: Cynical