the P.Pole

5 things I bought for my Hi-Capa:

• PDI Black Recoil Spring Guide
• Airsoft Surgeon 140% Recoil and Hammer Springs Set
• 5KU Hammer Spring Housing with Lanyard Mount
• Aluminum and ABS Handgun Storage Case
• Airsoft Surgeon Recoil Shock Buffers and Washers (3 pcs)

Guess whose item arrived. I’ll be coming back home to pick up my new toy. I’m so hyped.

It’s been many years since I’ve listened to this band. Fun tidbit: the singer from The Academy Is… (William Beckett) provides the supporting vocals in this song. And of course, that’s another one of my favourite bands from that time of my life. I am still amazed to this day how something as simple as listening to a song from years long gone by can still bring to mind so many memories about those days. Sometimes inconvenient, sometimes necessary.

Lyrics and song after the jump.

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Today has been a bad day, starting with the fact that I could not pick myself up out of bed and have been unable to will myself to do anything of any use to anyone all day. I was unable to compute some statistics problems for my online quiz, after which I promptly returned to decomposing faced down in my bed.

I don’t remember the last time I felt so poor in spirit, which is either a good thing (if that means I do not have such episodes regularly) or a bad thing (I never figured out how to avoid these phases). My hair is falling out (a little more than the usual amount for a normal guy my age), and my knees hurt. My head is restless and so is my mind. I spent all day in bed and still feel tired, listless, syrup-like in terms of motivation. I wouldn’t say I’ve lost the will to live, but currently I do feel like all the drudgery meets drama is seriously cramping my rocketeering style.

In any case, I’m headed home this coming weekend. Should give me a chance to get away from this place and see my family again. I also need a haircut, some home-cooked meals, and to pick up my purchases after they arrive (hopefully). I would also like to see Amy, but that is for the fates to decide. And of course—continuing on with the theme of inconvenience—the freaking G8 Summit will cause many parts of downtown Toronto to be closed, including my Greyhound terminal. I’m hoping the Fedbus can take me where I need to go (i.e. directly to Scarborough Town Center).

Random Note: I still remember that time I saw a whole pick up truck full of bagels driving alongside the bus that Connie and I were taking to get to our respective homes. That was neat.

I bring you, the philosophy of the late Bruce Lee!

5 Bruce Lee-isms:

• On Mentality:
  Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless – like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.
• On Potential:
  Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one’s potential.
• On Love:
  Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.
• On Forgiveness:
  Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.
• On Immortality:
  The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.

5 rules of summer living:

• you mustn’t wake before the sun has reached its zenith
• when the day is hot, ice cream
• create new things whenever you can, and break stuff whenever you can get away with it
• look up new and interesting ways to entertain yourself (go build a kite, pick up a new hobby, etc…)
• get caught up on television series that you’ve neglected for a long time (I’m partway done season 6 of House MD)

Now that you know my creeds, go out, children, be fruitful and prosperous!

Disclaimer: Before all the Modern Warfare 1 fans and Bad Company 2 fans hate on me for liking Modern Warfare 2, might I clarify that:

1. I never bought Modern Warfare 1, so this game isn’t a rehash cash-grab to me.
2. I own and enjoy Bad Company 2 too.

So I’ve been getting some rave reviews from other players that I happen upon randomly in Infinity Ward’s “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2″. Half the people that play with me and contact me end up sending me friend requests, and the other half send me messages telling me how much they hate my funky fresh style, like this one:

danger close noob tube camping and oma means your a noob
- mbrooker91, spelling is terribad, but true to the message

doesn’t that mean you just went 0 and 6 with a noob?
- me the Awesome, my response to him

Note: For the record, I remember bombing this specific guy once as he ran right across the area in front of me, twice more when he was feebly hiding behind a dumpster in the distance, once as he was running straight at me down a tunnel, once when he tried to sneak up on me behind some barrels, and he ate a claymore in the face. I’m also pretty sure I called a precision airstrike right on his head, and shot him with a few howitzers out of an AC130 gunship. So, I mean, I can understand why he’d be pissed. I’d be angry too if I sucked that hard.

Bite me, mbrooker91.

Conclusion

I’m putting this at the start, so people who aren’t inclined to read the whole damn rant (there’s plenty of stuff that only matters to you if you play Modern Warfare 2) can still get my point. You can skip the rest of this rant if you don’t like reading about detailed nerdy stuff, but here are the main points:

• Haters gonna hate
• Some people are average at video games
• Some people are better than average at video games because they manipulate the game mechanics to do some neat/badass stuff
• Some average players hate on these players because their methods are difficult to play against with  illogical criticisms
• My opinion: tough luck, bitches—the scoreboard says it all
• I for one am not self-loathing enough to tell the guy who just killed me six times in a row that he sucks and doesn’t know how to play
• Some people are frustrated with sucking, as they should be, and take it out on the good players just looking to get some frags in
• If you don’t like losing, try getting better, playing differently, buying another game, blaming the developers, or smashing your controller into your face, but don’t come whining to me about your terrible skills
• Oh, and note that I don’t consider myself a pro at the game, but I just think it’s dumb to criticize other players on their styles—especially if they are kicking your ass, apparently

From the conclusion at the end of this post:

Point of the story is, don’t bitch about some guy who is creaming you just because he’s doing it with only one or two (really simple) tricks. Quality players adapt and change when things don’t seem to work. Stubborn/persistent players try the same thing again and again (usually to no avail), and little bitches cry and whine about how unfair the world is.

What a mbrooker91 looks like in real life.

This is true in life as well, from both points of view. For one, it’s just good sense to put forethought, critical thinking, and contingencies into your plans. Alternatively, when something doesn’t go your way, you can either avoid it, overcome the obstacle, stupidly attack it the same way every time, or lay down and die, bitching about it all way down.

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5 things I will enjoy this summer:

• airsoft research and hunting
• iPhone 4G launch (June/July)
• make a new body for Phoebe my bass
• help Amy with a clay replicas of various WMD stuff (and claysoft armaments)
• minor amounts of exercise, including some weights and running/squash/Frisbee

I’ve lots planned for this summer (not formally, but there’s a ton of things I want to do). I’m excited, but damn is it ever hot here. Our house does not have any air conditioning. I spend my nights laying in my undies on my bed waiting to die of heat exhaustion or somehow fall into a stickily writhing sleep (enjoy the imagery, children). I wake up with sticky knee-backs (you know, the back of your knees) and that nasty feeling of having a layer of something truly mysterious between yourself and your clothes. Are you sweaty? Good, now lick the back of your hand. Taste that? That’s me. In your mouth. Enjoy.