Assassins Creed 3

Assassins Creed 3 is a good game.

The core gameplay has not changed much.  The only real differences are in the fighting.  In AC3, the fighting is more fast paced, and while you can still counter attack and just kill every one without taking any damage, it is much more difficult, mainly because the enemies are more aggresive.

I feel that the pacing of the game is different.  While this is not a bad thing, I dont think that it is a good thing either.  The story makes a bunch of leaps in the time line of Connors story, but also, I dont feel like i am as free to do what I want "early" in the game by early I mean a third of the way through the game.  Normally in the other installments of Assassins Creed, you could do what ever you wanted to instantly, while in this one, the world seems limited, and you as the player are pushed to do the story very quickly.  This doesnt make me mad, i just dont want to be guilt tripped into playing through the story, and then not exploring.

I have found some minor bugs, NPCs dissappearing, or NPCs not following.  All of these bugs were fixed by simply reloading a check point, but its still irritating when something like that happens.

First one in a while

Okay, lets try this again.


I am trying to get back to blogging frequently.  The problem I have right now is that I feel like I have no time to put in a decent effort.  So lets just talk about what I have been able to do.

I have lost a fair bit of weight, and I have been putting on muscle.  I have also gotten a second job working retail.  This second job has really cut into my free time, and my gym time.

On the gaming side of things, I have been trying to keep up with the big games.  I just picked up Mass Effect 3 and want to go back and play through the first and second game so that I can get a better character. That however, would take a long fucking time and I dont know if i have that much time.

Well, here is a first blog in a while, so I will be making them better.

Bye

Hey guys!

I am going to try and get back to blogging regularly. So lets catch up on what I have been doing.


I have recently taken a job as a writer over at gamer fit nation.  They are a cool website that does what i do, but better.  They have more writers, and have two separate sides too deal with gaming and the fitness sides.

Here is a link to Gamer Fit Nation,  And here is my profile on the website

I have been doing a lot of writing on the gaming side, mainly because I dont know a lot about fitness.  I like what i have been doing, but it makes gaming hard.  I know that that is a weird statement, but it just makes me so critical of the game.  I cant enjoy a game if i am being asked to review it. The other thing about writing about video games is that i have to come up with an article a week.  Typically, I want to write about something topical, and that means that i should write about the game that i am playing, this means that I cant play anyone game for too long.  I want to be able to take as much time as I want on a game, but its my job now.


The games I have been playing, I am still playing skyrim, I picked up Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. That is about it, I think.  I still haven't beaten Batman Arkham city, and I want to beat Trials Evolution. But i haven't played Arkham City or trials because Skyrim is just sucking me in.

In terms of fitness, I have gotten a membership to 24 hour fitness, but havent gone as much as i want. I have also lost about 10-15 lbs from the start of the year. Now, instead of being stuck at 255, i am stuck at 245. My problem now is that I drive to much and do eat the right stuff.  My girlfriend who has been in Seattle, is coming back for the summer, and she is insisting that we ride our bikes every where.  I have no problem with riding our bikes, I love my bike.  But the food part is going to be hard.  I think that I need to not eat the unhealthy things.  I also think that i should only eat at meals and no where else.

I feel like raging

I was dumped by a bitch.  (a year ago)

I cant tell you how angry i am at her still.  We broke up about a year ago.  yeah, thats about right,  it was valentines day when i stopped hoping for her to come back.  the funny thing is that she already had a new boy friend, which was why we broke up in the first place.  She wanted to try dating other people, i said i was fine with that.  I bet she had a date lined up for the next day.  What ever, she was a bitch,  I hate her so much.

have you ever seen the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm trailer, (here is a link)  i have so much pent up rage.  hate is not even a strong enough word to describe my anger.

I dont know why i am still angry about it,  I have found a new amazing girl friend, she is 100X smarter then the Ex.  my new gf is also more dedicated, there was no fire with my Ex.

and yet i still rage about it.  it doesnt make sense.  well, who ever said emotions made sense, right? 










really cute girl with leopard cub by Flaneur 

the amazing spider-man

i just watched the trailer, and it looks awesome!

the trailer shows you that in this relaunched version of spider-man, it looks like spider-man is actually going to be funny this time.  In the Tobey Maguire series, he always looked like he was whiney and bull shit.  In the new version though, Andrew Garfield looks like he has a bit of a temper and wont fall over when you punch him.

If you are a comic geek, or you watched the cartoon from the 90's then, maybe you noticed that the girl that Spiderman is trying to hook up with is Gwen Stacey. you can tell because Gwen's dad is a cop.  I think that this change is good.  I like it because it allows Spider-man to progress from movie to movie.  what i mean by this is that it gives spider-man to go from being happy with Gwen, and then have the green goblin throw her off a bridge, and then have Peter Parker mope about for a movie.





I also really like the villain that is going to be in the movie.  I really liked the Lizard in the cartoon, because it was so different from the lizards alter ego.  DR Curt Connors starts out helping Peter, and then what they come up with, Curt tries on him self first to see if it works.  The out come from this is that he occasionally turns in to a giant godzilla like creature.  it will be a fun movie.









i really love these pictures.  i dont know why, but they are awesome!


spideycat by mychoice
sexy spiderwoman by Redboy

workout time line

when should you do what.

You arrive at the gym and you have gotten changed.  Now what? do you go and do cardio? do you hit the weights? do you go stretch? well,  i dont know about the stretching part, so we will skip over that for now.  But you should always do your weights before your cardio.

Why is that? well, as you work out, you get more and more tired.  And because you are tired, you cant lift as much weight,  so if you do your cardio first, then you wont be able to work your muscles as hard as if you did weights first.  To optimize your work out even farther, you should work the muscle, or muscle group that you want to improve the most first.  I have done bicep curls at the start of a workout one day, and at the end of my weight session another, there was around a 5 pound drop in performance.

think about that,  a 5 pound difference,  just by switching the order in which you do things.


cute kitty by g1ggl3b0x

Everyday fitness

The hardest things to do are normally the best

I have found that the hardest type of exercises are normally the ones that you should do every day.  lets take push ups for example.  Push ups are one of the most basic physical exercises, but it is also one of the most tiring.  Even if you have a person who is in supreme fitness, they can still struggle with push ups.

So now lets try and do them every day.  This is also going to be one of the harder tasks to do because even though push ups are very simple, they take alot of effort.  If you want to do them everyday like i want to do, the best time to do them would be in the morning.  Now i understand that there are some people who hate the mornings.  I personally love them.

on another note, i remember reading a study somewhere that said people who established exercise routines in the morning where like 66%  times more likely to stick to the routine.  So if you want to do some sort of exercise thing, it is best to do it in the morning.



Oh btw i love deadpool,  such a cray character, literally, he is crazy, in his comics, he breaks the 4th wall all the time, meaning that he talks to the reader, which no one but the narrator ever does.
image by Dave Johnson

Dealing with stress

I was watching a show i watch and an article came to mind

The hardest thing in the world is to deal with everything at once.  lets say that you have school, 2 jobs, and home life to deal with.  If you try and deal with all that crap at once, you will be over whelmed.  alot of people are having to deal with alot of stuff at once, and currently so am I, which is why i havent been posting as much.  I really dont want to say that, because I still have a ton of time on my hands.

The way to accomplish alot is to think about things in small parts.  maybe you can look at the big picture every once in a while, but you really should keep goals, and objectives small.  Lets say that you have 3 pieces of college homework that are due, maybe one of them is late.  on top of that, you have work, and other misc stuff to do.  how are you going to approach all of that?  "start small!!!" but what if you cant even start? that is the problem that i have been facing recently.  not being able to start on any of the projects until it is almost to late.  i dont know how to over come this problem.  but maybe I shouldn't have let it get to be such a big problem. well, its a problem, lets go fix it!

so here we go.  lets get to work








cute foxes by Aheres

having focus (another thing on goals)

i have found that a real problem with working out is focus.

what i mean by this is that if you are trying to improve to many things at once, you wont really improve anything.  if you try and do every thing, you are a jack of all trades, master of none,  you improve alot of stuff a little, not one thing alot.

The best way i have found to find focus is to set a goal.  yes, every thing comes back to goals.  As soon as you have a goal, you can look at what you are doing, and ask if it is helping you get towards your goal.

But now more on focus, lets talk about focus at the gym.  It is really hard to stay focused when you have a bunch of stuff you can do.  So before you even get to the gym, you should have a plan on what you're going to do.  i like to group my workouts into two groups, upper body, and lower body.  Have only two categories allows me stream line my workouts very well.


really cute bunny by Lydsjedwards

a little update on life

I have succesfully written 3 articles for Gamer Fit Nation. 

I have written reviews on Saints Row the Third and Batman Arkham City.  Both are realyl fun games.  I liked both of them a lot, however like i said earlier, saints row is missing a solid story.  I felt like the story was there just because if it wasnt there, the game wouldnt have made sense.  Dont get me wrong, its a really fun game and i like it alot.  batman, just about the most perfect game i have ever played.  I seriously can only think of one better game at the moment, and that is skyrim. but both games are great.

i also wrote a list of 5 really fun co-op games. that will be out soon. go check it out

shin splints

I hate those things.

shin splints are a variety of things that cause pain in your shins.  its pain that is in the front of your leg below your knee and above your ankle.  when its diagnosed, its diagnosed as an over use injury.  I have had these god damn things for forever.

There are several things that can cause the pain. one is your muscle have been over used and are tiring.  Another is that your have little micro fractures along your shin bone.  The final one is that you have low arches, i dont know how that causes pain in your shin, but they say it does so, i will go with it.

The only real cure for them is to rest, and get a better pair of shows, or get some inserts for your shoes.
I have tried to rest, and that just doesnt seem to be doing anything, so i went and bought a pair of inserts, lets see how that turns out.



Cute puppy by Bigwillw2k

kettle bells

Kettle bells are probably the most versatile weighting lifting piece of equipment.

there is so much that you can do with kettle bells, but first lets talk about the history of them and what they are.
first a short history lesson... i hope.  kettle bells started in Russia, originally there were developed so that goods could be weighed.  eventually people found that they could be used a  tool to develop fitness.  A modern kettle bell has a handle and then a weighted section.  they also come in various sizes and weights.

Since the Russians are such an industrious little country, the way that you work out is very efficient.  when i say efficient, i am saying that you use multiple muscle groups when you are working out.  look at the basic swing, you hold the kettle bell in front of you and swing it up to shoulder level when you do a squat.  That one movement makes you work your shoulders and legs.  It probably works more then that, but i dont know any more then that .

I really like using kettle bells because you work several muscle groups at once.







cute kitty by Frozen

Saints row the Third

I just picked saints row the third for 10 bucks.

it was really satisfying to get a $50 game for 10 bucks.  I was able to do it because i traded in dead island and had a coupon.  i think it was a good traded, because dead island you really should just play it with multiple people, and i just dont have that.  Its kinda like playing left 4 dead.  OHHH well, saints row is really fun.

I just wrote a review for it over at gamerfitnation.com... but its not up yet.  I will give a link when it is up.

yeah so to sum it up, i think the game is tons of fun, but the story isnt really any good.  when i say it isnt any good, i am not really saying that its straight up bad, its just that the characters dont have a lot of depth to them.  they seem a little bit shallow.  I may be completely wrong, i am not a gang banger, which is exactly what this game is.

What i really liked about the game was the humor.  I thought it was really funny in a crude and entertaining way. more humor comes from the side missions,  they are off the wall.  at one point one of your companions tells you to drive around town in a convertible with a tiger in the passenger seat.






melty tiger picture by Byron

riding the bike

I like to ride a bike at the gym for my cardio.

I think that the bike may not be the most efficient, how ever it allows you to read a book while doing it.  I think that the bike is the best for reading.  However you can read on the elliptical, but its really hard.  the reason i think its hard is because your upper body is moving alot.  

I had a really busy day today so i have a really shitty blog.  you cant always have really good posts, so a better one tomorrow. i promise.

Bike girl by Kanaszta

another post today and an update on stuff

i am really trying to be good about posting every day.

I said that my new years resolution would be to post once a day.  I thought that it would be good for two things, my writing and consistency. it helps my writing because it allows me the freedom to work on what ever i want.  I could say, i want to write a review of a game, but do it in such a way that i dont use the word "I".  stuff like that.  Also posting every day would get me in the habit of some how managing my time.

Also I am trying to become a writer for Gamerfitnation.com. (go check it out) The founder of that website contacted me and said hey do you want to write for us. I said yes, so i just have to write for 1-2 months and if they like what i do then i can just keep on writing. so far i have written one review, which i will talk about in tomorrow's post.  but i am working on my second article which is about 3 things gamers should do but dont.

if i get that gig, then i will have gotten a job completely by accident.  I really started this blog because i thought it would be just for fun.  I didnt think that it would end up as anything more then just putting my thoughts on paper.








typewriter laptop stickers by Danieleckler
God that cat is cute.... its by Kayleigh095

more talk on motivation

People are always searching for motivation to workout and get healthy.

I talked about this a little bit last year, but you need to find an internal motivation.  If you dont find an internal motivation, your motivation will only be there for a short while.  for instance, if your significant other wants you to get into shape, you can for a while use this as motivation. But if you have some sort of internal motivation then you can just keep reminding your self of it and you will be fine.

Every one has heard the saying chip on there shoulder.  This refers to having something to prove.  Having something to prove is a huge motivator.  currently it is my motivator.  My current motivation is to beat my fathers high school weight lifting amounts.  After that, i will be thinking about what it takes to become a firefighter, which is my end goal.  Overall I want to be in better shape then i was when i was playing sports in high school.

I think that the best way to find a motivation is to set a long term goal. My long term goal is to be in shape enough that i wont struggle with firefighting training.

The way another person could find a motivation or goal would be to say, i want to be able to do X.  most people just want to be healthy, and that is a fine goal. I just want to be extra healthy.  As soon as you find your goal, you should try to find a reason to get there. For me, it would be to show that it can be done.  Like if some one doesnt believe you.

every one has to find there own motivation.





Picture of the kitty from Gonzomovies

easing into the new year

the best way i have found to start doing something is to take baby steps.

For example, if i wanted to make some sort of change with my fitness, I would do it slowly.  So to get myself to do more cardio, i would start with say, 20 mins on the bike.  And then slowly work my way up to an hour or so.  After i know that i can do an hour of bike, I might slip in some running or jogging. just as a way to work in a different form of cardio.  

I think another important thing for cardio is having variety. For if you just do one type then you dont really challenge yourself after a while.  So lets talk about easing yourself into running.  Running is a GIANT pain in the ass.  I hate with a passion.  However, i know that once in my life i was really fast.  Along with that i know that at one point i could run for a very long time with out much trouble.  So to get back to that spot i would start with simple jogging and maybe only to it for 5 to 10 minutes a day, after i got comfortable with that it is best to increase the time, or the intensity.  I would probably first go for increasing the time.

The key to this kind of stuff, is baby steps.



super cute cat by Tissy

Second day of the new year

And I am EXHAUSTED!!!!!

I didnt do any excessive partying this new year, but like any decent person, i stayed awake. I wasnt able to get to the gym like i would have wanted.  But thats not really a big deal. 

The bid deal for today is that i have learned the importance of sleep.  sleep helps several things, your energy level, your mental faculties, and most importantly your beauty.  I know that i am i guy and we typically dont care about how we look, but we dont want to look like we havent slept in several days.

Sleep is a rest period for your body.  during this period your body starts to repair itself.  and while it is repairing itself you regain energy. Dont ask me how it works, i just know that when i take a nap or have a good nights rest that i feel great the next day. it probably has something to do with the fact that your body isnt doing anything so you dont lose a ton of energy. 

Now if you dont get alot of sleep what happens alot is you start to not think straight.  Again, i dont know why, I just know that it happens.  It is very entertaining to look at some one who hasnt had enough sleep, because they start saying things that dont make a whole lot of sense.

Last but not least sleep helps with beauty.  I looked in the mirror just a few miuntes ago and noticed that the bags under my eyes look so large that they could go on a trip.  I mean seriously, why does that happen?  I will never truly understand the human body.

The one thing that i do know about sleep is that it is very helpful, so you should try to get a good night sleep every night!!!!

Sleep well by Zireael1989

New year's resolutions

I have made three resolutions.

I decided to make small resolutions.  I figure that if you try and take small steps, its alot easier then trying to make giant leaps like saying "i want to stop smoking," or "i want to lose 50 Lbs."  if you get the basics in order, then you will be able to start working on the bigger things, and those big things, wont actually be that big.  

So here are the things i want to accomplish this year!!!!!

1.  I want to post a blog every day.  this could be on any subject that i want,  be it gaming fitness or just a really cool life lesson that i have been thinking about.

2.  I want to record what i do with my money.  I am currently a college student, and i dont want to go in to debt. Why i want to record what i do every day, is so that i can keep track of all my spending, and thus not spend as much. 

3.  this one is really embarrassing.... i want to brush my teeth every day.  Most people its been a habit since they were able to stand, but for my i never ingrained it into my system, and now i am paying for it. 

Each of these things can be expanded to broader topics, like with blogging.  I am trying to become a writer for gamer fit nation.com, (which is a really cool website that does exactly what i do, but on a bigger scale) and just reminding oneself that they need to work on something, like a game.... crap i am rambling, but it will help with that.

I think the most important one is going to be brushing my teeth.  I think this because i dont want my teeth falling out, but also if you are able to build a habit then you can start trying to make other things habits.  I would really like to eventually do push ups and crunches every morning, but you need to start with little things.  

Baby steps

Dog in a jacket by  ademiromano