Hello to all of my 92 followers, friends and anyone who happens to find my humble little place on Suicide Girls. And @zelena, who asked in her own recent blog what we've been up to, but I wouldn't comment since I was already planning this blog.
I realized last week that I hadn't written a proper blog since I got back from Mississippi and finished my series of travel blogs except for WCW and blog homework. I was going to do a video blog, but it's a lot more difficult than it seems. And I probably have way too much to say for this blog so the video would likely be way too long. So, this might be a long read. I hope I don't bore you too much and you make it to the end.
Pop Update
First off, I talked with my mom and dad two weeks ago and my dad is doing great! And from what my brother told me last Thursday, Wayne (one of my cousins' husband) went over my parents' house, changed the blades on my dad's riding lawn mower and put a knob on the steering wheel so he can drive it one handed. So, apparently, he's able to mow his large yard now, instead of asking the neighbors to do it. I guess that sums up how well he's doing.
Getting Healthier
I don't think I've mentioned this on Suicide Girls before. Not because it's any kind of secret, just that I never thought to say anything. I was diagnosed with Diabetes in February 2013. For a lot of people this diagnosis is bad news. But for me it was a revelation! I was irritable a lot at work, I was always tired and sleepy regardless of how much sleep I got the night before, my toes tingled (like when your feet fall asleep from sitting in the same position too long, except it never went away fully) and I was constantly thirsty. My diagnosis explained all of this and it was this diagnosis and the resulting treatment that put me on a road to eliminate these issues. I was put on insulin temporarily, just to lower my blood sugar to normal levels and then use medication and diet to control it. I was doing well for the first two years.
But, over the past year, I haven't been compliant with my diet. Too much fast food, too many sweets. Over the past few months, my blood sugar levels have been high. And I've been having a very hard time saying awake at work (some of that's due to the fact that I'm a night owl and don't often get enough sleep).
Last October, we found out that EOS Fitness was building a new gym 10 minutes from our house. I decided to join during the $0 set up fee promotion. So did my wife. The gym was supposed to open in early January 2016, but due to various delays, it didn't open until mid-March. But we didn't start going, even though they were charging us the monthly fee.
While I was in Mississippi, I told my wife that I was going to start going to the gym when I got back. Well, I didn't start going right away upon my return home. But I did start going. Tonight began my third week. It's crowded at the normal times (before work and right after work) so I try to go later in the evening when it's not so crowded.
The first week I just did cardio, walking on a treadmill. The first night, I also talked with one of the personal trainers. I told my wife about it and she was less than enthusiastic about the cost of the personal trainer. I was disappointed that she didn't seem to be very supportive. Later she told me it wasn't that she didn't support me and my desire to hire a personal trainer, she wanted me to shop around. So I did. I got two offers from personal trainers via Thumbtack. They were more expensive per session than the person I spoke with at the gym. So I hired him. I start my second week with him this week. It's been so long since I've worked out in a gym that I feel like a fish out of water and a little self-conscious, but that's slowly going away.
Along with that, I've been eating healthier: more salads (Cafe Rio with grilled salmon, Panera Bread, chicken taco salads from the Mexican place at the food court in the mall near where I work and salads from other places when we dine out); homemade chicken salad sandwiches, fish filets (breaded, but it's not all bad) and fresh fruit. I've cut way down on the amount of diet soda I drink substituting unsweetened iced tea and water. I've also started barbecuing again... lean chicken breasts/tenders, lean steak and lean pork chops... various fresh vegetables like green beans, asparagus, zucchini and summer squash... sweet potatoes and yams. There's nothing I can't cook on a barbecue grill.
I'm happy to say that my blood sugar this morning was 121... which is in the normal range, though I'd like to get it down to around 100 with regularity.
That's not to say that I won't indulge occasionally... buttered popcorn at the movies, occasional fast food (like on Friday nights after bowling), occasional pizza and pasta, or the occasional treat. But I plan to stick with healthier foods for the most part.
I will post before and after photos and measurements as soon as I start to see some progress.
Collecting
In the 90s and 2000s I collected sports cards: baseball, football and hockey. I have a couple of basketball sets in the collection as well. My wife collected comic cards. But I grew disenfranchised with the industry, specifically how graded cards were priced on the secondary market, and I quit collecting. Here's what happened:
In the early days, there was one company that graded cards, PSA. Grading cards is much like grading coins and stamps. A mint card is worth more than a near mint card and so forth. In early 2000s I got lucky and pulled an Upper Deck Sammy Sosa rookie card, which is/was his most desirable rookie card. Be mindful, this is before Sammy's fall from grace and during the home run race he had with Mark McGuire, during which he gained a lot of popularity. Ungraded, it was worth about $90 on the resale market at the time. A memorabilia shop not far from my house at the time brought in a small card grading company to do onsite card grading. I took them my Sosa RC and it came back Mint (Perfect). Graded as Mint, my card was worth around $450.
Shortly thereafter, Beckett's (the primary company reporting secondary (resale) market prices and the second largest card grading company), started breaking out the prices for graded cards in its price guides. If the card was graded by PSA or Beckett's the price for the card in the price guide was accurate. If the card was graded by any other grading service, it was worth 50% or less of the price in the price guide. So, my Sosa RC was now worth $225 simply because it wasn't graded by PSA or Beckett's, which I felt was bullshit. That's when I stopped collecting cards. Plus, I felt it was a conflict of interest for a company to report resale prices on graded cards and break them out by grading service, of which they are one.
Anyway, I haven't really collected anything since. I guess you can say I collect guitars. I have 7, including one bass. But I don't find myself wanting to buy any new guitars. While I play them, I don't play them frequently enough to justify the purchase of a new one and they can be quite expensive.
Recently, I decided I wanted to find a figurine to include in some of my photos. I have a friend who does this with a toy tiger. Well, I couldn't use a tiger. I decided on a bulldog, but I can't find a toy bulldog, not even in Mississippi State University country (MSU's mascot is a bulldog). So, instead of using one figure, I decided why not get a variety of figurines and use a different one each time I go out and shoot. So I picked up Gumby and Pokey, the dog from the movie Pets (a McDonald's Happy Meal toy) and Pop figurines. So far I have Agent Carter with the Nitramene Bomb (a Hot Topic Exclusive), Spider-Gwen Unhooded (a Hot Topic Exclusive), Captain Marvel and Drogon (GoT). I also have Spider-Gwen, Black Panther, Loki, Captain America, Punisher and Groot Pocket Pop keychains. (see photo below). I definitely plan to use the Pocket Pop keychains in my photos, along with Gumby and Pokey and the puppy from Pets. Not sure about the regular sized Pop figurines as they might be too big for photographs, and they are most likely to go up in value upon being vaulted... though I'm not collecting them for their future values. So, look for these characters and others in my future landscape and cityscape photographs.
Cosplays
I've never done cosplays outside of the occasional Halloween costume. In the early 2000s my wife and I attended a Halloween party where everyone was expected to wear a costume. I went as Jack the Ripper and she went as Lizzy Borden. More recently, I've dressed up as Slash, complete with a guitar (not a Les Paul like Slash's though), Cereal Killer and Fat Axl Rose, complete with a working microphone. Photos are available in my Blog Homework: What is your favorite past Halloween costume? on my page.
That said, I've been contemplating creating some cosplays just for fun and to wear to comicons, should I ever go to one. I'd really like to go to The Amazing Las Vegas Comicon next June and SDCC next July. The cosplays would need to be simple enough as I have no seamstress or fabrication skills, though I could probably figure out makeup and prosthetics. Here are my ideas:
1. Punisher from the 1994 movie: This is a simple costume: black tactical pants, black military jump boots, Punisher t-shirt, black leather duster and weapons - one assault rifle and one handgun. I already have the t-shirt, though I'll be on the look out for a better one, and a duster. My duster is oilcloth, not leather, but it'll work just fine. I can get the pants and boots online at one of the many tactical gear websites and the weapons are fairly easy to obtain and modify so as to make them inoperable. Additional accessories such as a thigh holster, tactical belt with magazine pouches and a tactical vest would complete the costume, although the tactical vest isn't necessarily part of the costume... I just want one.
2. Anakin Skywalker just after he turned to the Dark Side: This should be easy since the scene I'm thinking of he's wearing a Jedi robe with the hood up over a black outfit and has yellow eyes.
3. Han Solo from The Force Awakens: This is the older Han Solo, which I can definitely pull off. The clothing isn't hard to find and the blaster should not be too hard to find either, even if I need to make minor modifications.
4. Peter Quill / Star Lord: I know @kyloren_sith is putting one together, but I think I can pull it off too. I'd probably need help with the helmet.
5. Dungeons & Dragons Characters: Primarily wizards, elven archers, rangers and thieves.
6. Shadowrun Characters: Some of these characters would be really cool to create. I'd primarily create human or elven characters though I might be able to learn how to do the prosthetics for orcs and trolls.
7: Post-Apocalyptic Characters: In the vein of Mad Max.
Music
Unfortunately, I haven't made any progress on my song, Toxic, but I do hope to get back to work on it very soon.
New Phone and Camera
Last week, my wife and I changed cell providers. In the process I upgraded from an iPhone 6 to and iPhone 6s Plus. My wife an I sold our old phones to Amazon, for which we are expecting about $600 from the sale in the form of an Amazon Gift Card. My wife insists that I use the gift card on a new camera. So very soon, I will be buying a DSLR camera. I haven't decided on which one, but I've narrowed it down to either a Nikon D3300 or a D5500. Either one will be certified refurbished since they are a hell of a lot cheaper than brand new. I haven't decided on lenses, but I'm pretty sure one of them will be a 50mm f/1.8 Prime. I'll also get an adapter from B&H Photo that will allow me to use my Konica lenses on the Nikon body. I cannot wait to get this camera and start taking much better photos.
That's pretty much all that's been going on in my world over the past couple of months. Thanks for reading.
Stay Tuned....
DeadGuitarist
