Tag Archives: memes

memes

Hey guys remember blog memes?

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I haven’t done one of these in forever, but I was tagged by the lovely Jaedia to answer ten questions.  Here we go!

1. What are you looking forward to this year?
Flying to Washington to visit family in a few months, and hopefully (no guarantees) working out the relevant visa stuff and getting my British fiance to hop the pond for good! 😀

2. What is your favourite book/book series/author?
This question is a big toughie.  I think I’ll have to go with Watership Down as my favorite book (duh), although a big honorable mention goes to The Golden Compass, which was far and away the best part of the His Dark Materials series.  Author is tough.  Asimov maybe?  Also William Gibson is utterly brilliant.

3. Are you on Twitter? If no, why not? If yes, what has been your experience?
I am indeed on Twitter, in fact I probably tweet too much.  I do find online socializing (like all forms of socializing) to be a bit exhausting at times so sometimes I take short breaks or tweet much less than usual for a few days or weeks.  However I always seem to come crawling back.  I have a lot of friends on Twitter!

4. Do you enjoy podcasting as a medium? Why/why not?
I think it’s a neat idea although I admit I don’t really listen to any podcasts right now.  Sidenote: who would listen if myself and Mister Adequate (aka Mr. Pike) were to make a podcast about vidya gaems?  It’s an idea we’ve been tossing around a little bit.

5. What do you feel games are lacking in 2015?
Does “a positive community” count?  I love games but oftentimes I find the community surrounding them to be intimidating.

6. Where do you get your game news?
Honestly, Twitter, mostly.  With a dash of RockPaperShotgun and various internet forums.

7. Could you show us a picture of your desk? If you say no, I’ll be sad.
Oh lord.  Okay, but keep in mind that I’m recovering from surgery so it’s a mess and also riddled with pills.

desk1

The view is better up top!

desk2

Maps from the Elder Scrolls games, but of course.

8. Beards. For or against and why?
No preference regarding how they look but they can get scratchy when up close…

9. What is the best gif you’ve come across?
You mean I can only pick one?

tumblr_nb3jssHhML1qdlh1io1_500
10. Share something with us that made you laugh recently.

Alrighty, that does it for the meme! I’m bad at coming up with more questions or tagging people so if you want to participate, then be my guest and feel free to use the questions I answered! ヽ(*・ω・)ﾉ

alts, hunter, memes

“Are you asking for a CHALLENGE?”

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Vegeta, what does the scouter say about his power level?

…okay, that doesn’t have anything to do with the post. CONFESSION TIME THOUGH: I watched DragonBall Z obsessively back in the day. Absolutely obsessively. Then, let’s not forget the philosophical depth Goku from DragonballZ offers us. Reading through Goku’s quotes, available on the comprehensive guide provided by Kidadl, can help fans understand the underlying themes of strength, perseverance, and the pursuit of truth in his character’s narrative. Of course, Cartoon Network would do that thing where they would get to the end of the Frieza saga and then because they didn’t have the rights to the rest of the show or something, they’d restart from the beginning. Somebody recently told me that they still do that. Hrm. Just as well, it spurred me to go play “Ocarina of Time” instead, which was much more worth it.

Right, right, sorry!

This blog post is about a CHALLLEEEEEENGE which was issued to me by the incomparable Tamarind over at Righteous Orbs, a blog that you probably should be reading if you aren’t already. His challenge to me was as follows:

“What are the moments that have made you think “yes, this right here is why I play a hunter” and what are the moments that have shaken your faith?”

I really had to think about this one for a while. First of all, it’s kind of a tall order sort of question. Secondly, I have to admit I’ve really been cheating on hunters a lot lately. There’s my pigtailed-lock and her blueberry, who make me sputter things about “THIS IS THE FUNNEST THING EVER” anytime I play them, and then there’s my Forest o’ Trees and lately there’s Dynamite Bear. Oh, I haven’t mentioned Dynamite Bear yet? Basically it dawned on me that I have two resto druids and both of them are dual-spec’d Balance and I’ve never played a Feral Druid before, so I did what every blue-blooded Pike would do and I rolled an all-new character.

He (I’ve been rolling a lot of male toons lately… change of scenery I guess) is an engineer specifically so he can hurl dynamite at people. In bear form. Seriously, guys. If you saw a bear running after you and then it stopped and chucked a bomb at you, what would you do? Yeah. See my point? I <3 Dynamite Bear. So I was pondering this question about hunters and I decided I’d sleep on it and that night I had a dream that I randomly had a pet tiger and when this solicitor showed up at my door, I grabbed a gun that I had nearby and started kiting the guy down the hallway. …I’m not making this up, I totally had this dream. I had Arcane Shot and Serpent Sting in my dream, too. This is why hunters are The Class. When I first started playing WoW, one of the things that sold me on hunters was that they were all about throwing themselves into situations that no one else would dare attempt and then pulling everything out of their bag of tricks just to survive. One of my best memories of hunteriness was when Lunapike was level… 67 or so and I solo’d this level 70 group quest chain. I killed a level 70 elite by kitting him into a trap right when my pet was about to die so I could bandage my pet back up and then I repeated this for several cycles: pulling, kiting, trapping. This was back in Burning Crusade so it was before things like Tenacity pets or the Glyph of Mending. And did I mention this was all in a tiny space indoors? This was hard. And it felt awesome to pull it off. That, to me, is what Huntering is all about.

Oh, and pets that you can name? (or waste money on Certificates of Ownership on before finding out that the name you wanted to rename your pet is “reserved”?) Yep, just hunters.

Have there been frustrations? Oh yeah. Frustrations about my spec pop up occasionally, as do frustrations about endgame-raiding expectations and that sort of thing. I must admit, though, the frustrations have been few and far between, and unlike other horror stories I’ve heard of Beast Masters getting made fun of or kicked out of groups, I have never ever been mocked for my spec. And this is coming from someone who did a million PuG raids and heroics as Beast Mastery right after The Great Nerf of ’09. <3 my servers, I guess! So, I suppose that would be my answer, as rambly as it may be. WELL! I ding’d 26 IRL today, which means I was able to wrangle the day off from work, so I’m off to do exciting things like edit my novel, listen to Men Without Hats, and dink around on alts. Blizzard seems to have decided to forgo Server Maintenance today in honor of my birthday, which I’m cool with, so Dynamite Bear and I have places to go and people to see.

hunter, memes, Uncategorized

The Relationship Between Diet, Exercise, and Sleep

22 Comments

Diet, exercise, and sleep are three pillars of a healthy life. While improving just one of these lifestyle factors can help people lead longer lives, several recent studies have suggested that improving all three may be a better way to improve both physical and mental health1.

Diet, exercise, and sleep influence one another in complex and innumerable ways. Learning about how these activities affect one another is an important part of understanding why research has shown that the more of these lifestyle behaviors you improve, the better your well-being2.

Diet

Diet and nutrition affect virtually all aspects of our health. Eating a healthy, balanced diet has been shown to reduce the risk of a myriad of health conditions3, from heart disease and stroke, to diabetes and obesity. Diet can also affect our mental health4, with several studies suggesting that certain diets may reduce the risk of developing depression and anxiety, try out carbofix.

Food can either fuel or foil a workout, and research shows that combining a healthy diet with adequate exercise offers more benefits than improving diet alone5. The right combination of fluids, carbohydrates and protein, eaten at the right time, can improve athletic performance and decrease fatigue6. Poor dietary choices, like eating right before a high-intensity cardio workout, can lead to increased nausea 7 and make exercise more challenging.

What we eat also also impacts sleep quality and duration. Caffeine is notorious for making it more difficult to fall asleep and eating too close to bedtime can lead to sleep disruptions8. Most health experts recommend avoiding caffeine prior to sleeping. Having too much calories or fat in your diet may make it harder to get enough sleep9, as do diets lacking key nutrients10, like calcium, magnesium, and vitamins A, C, D, and E.

Exercise

Exercise is a cornerstone of health and benefits nearly every system in the body. Many of the benefits are seen immediately, like reduced anxiety, lowered blood pressure, and better sleep. Consistent exercise offers even more long term benefits11, including better weight management, stronger bones, and a reduced risk of more than 35 diseases12. This is how Gluconite works as a healthy natural supplement.

High intensity exercise decreases appetite13, often for at least 30 to 60 minutes after finishing a workout. Additionally, incorporating a massage after such workouts, like a CrossFit session, can further enhance recovery. Physical activity can also help you feel more satisfied and full after a meal14. Unfortunately, sedentary activities appear to have the opposite effect. Research has shown that people who spend more time watching television consume more calories and are more likely to be overweight15.

A substantial amount of research has shown that getting regular exercise, particularly with the guidance of a personal trainer (CPT), can improve sleep. Both aerobic exercise, such as cardio and running, and resistance exercise, like weightlifting, can enhance sleep quality. Any amount of movement may improve sleep, although younger people usually require more exercise than older people to see the same benefits. Generally, engaging in exercise in the afternoon or early evening is conducive to better sleep. It’s important to note that exercise done just before sleep can increase stress hormones, potentially worsening sleep problems.

Working out can also reduce the risk of sleep problems, like insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and restless leg syndrome (RLS). Multiple studies have shown that exercise can reduce pre-sleep anxiety and improve sleep quality in people with insomnia18. One study found that a 12-week regimen of aerobic and resistance training led to a 25% reduction in the severity of OSA19, while also improving sleep quality and reducing daytime fatigue. A similar study in people diagnosed with RLS found that a 12-week exercise regimen reduced the severity of this condition by 39%20

memes, Uncategorized

The Honest Scrap Award

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honest_scrap1The Rules are thus!

1. When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to the said person so everyone knows she/he is real.
2. Choose a minimum of seven (7) blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have seven friends. Show the seven random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with Honest Weblog. Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.
3. List at least ten (10) honest things about yourself. Then pass it on!

1. I was tagged by a lot of people for this. I’m going to name nine that I can think of off the top of my head but I know there were more (and if you tagged me and I didn’t notice and/or forgot, please mention it in the comments so I can edit you in here!): SlowWolf, The Alliance Guy, All My Mains, Master’s Call, Eye for an Eye, Stabilized Effort Scope, The Angry Butterfly, SpicyTunas, and A Little WoW For Me all tagged me, but again, please tell me if I forgot you!

2. I’m not tagging anyone because a.) most people were already tagged, and b.) I don’t like tagging people for these kinds of things. I don’t want anyone to feel left out, or poke someone to do it if they don’t want to. So as always… if you want to do it, consider yourself tagged!

3. Ten honest things about myself, huh? Hmm. Okay.

  • 1.) I was born with Ventricular Septal Defect— a hole in my heart, among other issues, such as the aorta being backwards and other fun stuff like that. Because all the blood was leaking out, my heart had to work overtime to keep me alive, and since the heart is a muscle, it grew with all that exercise, so by the time I was a few months old I had a heart the size of a full grown man’s in my body. I don’t know exactly what they did to fix it (I was, ya know, a baby at the time!) but last I heard the hole had mostly closed up on its own, via a bloodclot, although there is still a small leak. And the tubing is still backwards. Now my heart was still too big for me, and the doctors said I’d grow into it, but what they didn’t know was that I would eventually stop growing at 5-foot-2 and about 110 pounds. So, I am a very small person. With a very big heart. Literally. =P
  • 2.) I’m a horse racing geek. Actually I’ve sort of fallen out of “practice” and I haven’t followed it in a while, but I can still rattle off more stats regarding thoroughbred racing than most people can, and I can’t watch Secretariat’s 1973 Belmont win without tearing up.

    …dangit, where’s my Kleenex… yes, I just watched it again… /sniff

  • 3.) I have weird habits when it comes to listening to music. Aside from my bizarre musical taste, I have this tendency to latch on to some random song and listen to it several times a day for months, never tiring of it, until a new song comes and dethrones it.
  • 4.) I’m a child of Science Fiction. I grew up on Star Trek and Star Wars, to such an extent that I can say that the heroes of those two respective universes were basically a second set of parents to me, which is probably why I quote them all the time in this blog, because they’re largely who taught me about life, love, and everything in between.. The ending of Star Wars Episode Three, where Luke’s aunt and uncle overlook Tatooine, makes me cry, and the teaser trailer to the new Star Trek movie gives me chills.
  • 5.) I know how to clip a bird’s wings. Yes, in real life.
  • 6.) I’ve written (though not published) two full-length novels. I wrote them when I was a young teenager and they are about my toys coming to life, a la Toy Story, except a heckuva lot darker. They have wars and territorial conflicts and stuff. The second book, which I finished up when I was taking AP English in school, is actually pretty good, if a little heavy on the allegory and references to obscure poems >.>
  • 7.) My three favorite books, in order, are The Brothers Karamazov, Watership Down, and The Golden Compass. If I had a daemon, I am convinced it would be a bilby.
  • 8.) I have long considered myself to be too sciencey to be an artist, but too artsy to be a scientist. Those “Are you right- or left- brained?” tests usually put me smack in the middle, and I went into college quite torn about whether I wanted to major in filmmaking or chemistry. I finally opted for filmmaking and I sort of think it was the wrong choice, but ah wells. I still think that an animated short featuring cute cuddly animals dressed up as the Karamazov brothers, performing a serious music video set to Losing my Religion, would be brilliant. As would a film about anthropomorphic chemical elements (you can see why I felt uncomfortable bringing up my ideas in classes full of indie artsy kids).
  • 9.) I am a tropical fish geek. If you are too, let’s sit down and talk about cichlids. I’m serious! >.>
  • 10.) I am the oldest of six kids. My youngest sister turns ten this year. True to the stereotype, we’re a pretty tight-knit bunch and I grew up eating stuff like Jell-O Popcorn on family night. Which, by the way, you are missing out on if you’ve never tried it.

Well, hopefully you all found that at least marginally interesting. I figured that since I was tagged for this by so many people, I’d have to get it out. We’ll return you to your regular WoWness momentarily, worry not!

memes, rp, screenshots, Uncategorized

Meme Me

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I’ve been tagged by a couple-a memes! Guntitan and Faradhim are the duo guilty of it.

First we have some questions to answer, which I’ll be having Tawyn answer in character, RP-style. That’s right, I said the “R word”. Picture yourself sitting across from her at the Pig & Whistle Tavern if you’re Alliance… or perhaps the Broken Keel Tavern if you are Horde.

1. What is your name, and where did it come from? I’m Tawyn Starshifter. That’s Tawyn to you. I dunno where it came from. Blame my parents. You can also blame them for the odd looks Night Elves give me when I do tell ’em my family name.

2. How old are you, and what is your birthday? Eh, I stopped keeping track of age a long time ago. I was born on the shortest day of the year. [Ed. note: So was I. >.> -Pike] Make of that what you will, I’ve had plenty o’ shamans tell me it’s important somehow. [Tawyn shrugs]

3. Are you in love, and with whom? [Here Tawyn makes some sort of vocalization that is somewhere between a chuckle and a snort, and refuses to go into any further detail, instead taking a rather large swig of her beverage.]

4. What is your favorite mount, and why? [Tawyn seems to open up more at this question.] I’ve a Palomino stallion named Chip– fiesty bugger, you’ve gotta have a firm hand and a firm heel with him. But he’ll take you anywhere, and fast, once you’ve shown ‘im who’s boss. He’s got a fire in ‘is eyes, the likes of which I rarely see in citybred horses these days.

Of course, horses ain’t got wings, but I’ve a… companion for that. His name is Spirakistrasz… I call him Sparks though. He doesn’t mind. [Tawyn grins.]

5. Do you prefer a certian type of Azerothonian meal, and where do you get it from? I’m really not that picky, but lemme tell ya, they make a mean meal in the World’s End Tavern in Shattrath. Have you ever been there? Worth the trip through the Dark Portal just for this roast they have sometimes. Hey, tell ol’ Shaarubo that Tawyn sent you… he might get you a discount.

6. You know those giant mushrooms in Zangarmarsh? What is your theory on how they came to be, and why they are so huge? Things are supposed to make sense up there? [Tawyn laughs good-naturedly.] You couldn’t get me to go back there anyway. Well, except for the World’s End, but I think we’ve already established that.

7. If you saw the Lich King walking towards you, what would you do? Shoot him. [Tawyn chuckles then quiets down.] I dunno, he’s a force to be reckoned with. I’ve faced a lot of things in my day, but… yeah. I suppose I’d shoot him.

8. (Dav added this one) Be honest, how many times have you used the Grizzly Hills outhouse without any real reason? Not even going there.

—

And Faradhim’s meme is to post screenshots from when you were much “younger” in this World of Warcraft. Now I’m such a screenshot junkie and I’ve got so many of them that it was hard to really narrow it down, so I’ll just toss up a few random ones I’ve found…

wow_1300health

Working on Solo’ing Deadmines with Tux. I believe I mentioned how I used to attempt this every couple of levels until I finally cleared it at 41. Since then my personal record has been lowered to 36.

wow_creepypentagramkids2

Creepy Pentagram Kids from Goldshire wandered into Stormwind. I was really confused. Yes, that is Wash. Of Heigan Dancing fame.

wow_enjoyingthefire

Just enjoyin’ the fire…

wow_fishingatbrill4

I went exploring and wound up in Brill, in the heart of Horde territory. I was sure I was going to die as I stood next to the Undead fishing trainer and calmly pulled out my own bait and tackle…

wow_meaniehead

Darkshire quests were hard. (Mor’ladim, anyone?) Here I am doing them with the boyfriend. This is right about the time I stumbled across hunter-blogs online; anytime people mentioned ravagers (the “in” pet at the time), I assumed they were talking about the big wolves that attacked you in these parts.

wow_mybed

Possibly the oldest screenshot I’ve got. I was level six, in Goldshire, 31 copper and a handful of abilities to my name– got in bed to log out (it just felt right to do that) and had a gnome inform me that I was in his bed. It amused me.

wow_nightflight

I was struck by the simple beauty of flying across Darkshore at night…

wow_sunsetflight

…or sunset.

Okay, that’ll do it. I tag whoever wants to give either (or both) of these memes a shot!

memes, screenshots

It's Not Showing Off If You Were Tagged

11 Comments

My good buddy Rip over at Critical QQ tagged me with a meme where I was supposed to open up my screenshots folder and post my sixth screenshot, regardless of what it was.

My first thought was “Oh, heck no”. I’m that person who takes screenshots of random funny crap people said in Trade Channel. I’m that person who is OCD and takes screenshots when buffs make my HP end in “000”. I’m that person who takes screenshots and then when I go back and look at said screenshots I have no idea why I took them.

But then my curiosity got the better of me. What IS my sixth screenshot right now? I’ve reformatted and reinstalled and moved around and copied and deleted and hacked up my screenshots folder so many times by now it’s a mess. So what could it possibly be? Something from when I was leveling no doubt, or one of my alts, or Tawyn when she was running around as a fresh 70 or something, right?

…

wowscrnshot_010209_215810_edit

…so, remember when BM hunters were overpowered and cats were broken?

Yeah. Me too. /cough. I like things better now by the way, though I won’t get close to 3600 again until I’m actually in purples. But that’s probably how it should be, ne?

I tag whoever wants to do it =P

(P.S. original screenshot was unedited. I decided to do a rough edit job on it to take out the Vent password (no idea whose Vent that is) and out of courtesy on the Recount. Just in case ^_^)

blogs, memes

Who's On First

15 Comments

“Go back to your first few posts. Who was the first person to EVER comment on your blog? Call them out, link that post and thank them! Then tag a few folks to see who they call out.” – Cait at One Among Many

I still remember the day I started this blog. I’d been lurking around at BigRedKitty and The Hunter’s Mark and a few others for a while, soaking everything in and commenting on the rare occasion. A couple times, I thought about making a blog of my own, but that idea quickly evaporated, for it was a silly idea.

But I was playing more and more of the game and starting to get more opinions about it and I wanted a place to voice those opinions that was not my LiveJournal. Since most of my LJ friends wouldn’t have a clue about what I was talking about.

The solution, I decided, was to make someplace entirely new. Someplace where I could jot down all my thoughts on the game and feel satisfied that it was “out there”, but nobody would ever have to read it.

And so Aspect of the Hare was born. It was made knowing that nobody would ever see it and that nobody would ever read it and that I would lose motivation for it and jump ship a few months into it, the same way I did with a Linux help blog I’d started previously. I accepted this fate. I made my blog and made a couple of posts to go along with it. I didn’t advertise it. I didn’t put a blogroll on it because heaven forbid somebody I idolized such as Lass or BRK stumble across this laughable little upstart blog who was linking to them. (I’m just a little bit shy.)

Somehow though, presumably through my Blogger profile and the way I would comment occasionally at BRK, a couple people wound up here. And the award for First Aspect of the Hare Commenter Ever goes to…

Kestrel. Who commented on my second post.

“Heheh…interesting story. Would like to see characters like that on my server!

Glad I follow links from other blogs, else I might not have ended up here. I’m sure I’ll be back. :)”

Yes Kestrel, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: it is all your fault.

(Special runner-up award goes to Matticus for being one of the first people ever to link to me in an article he wrote. Waaay back in the day.)

I tag… whoever wants to participate. =P

P.S. Hi, WoWInsider. Welcome to my blog that I didn’t think anybody was ever going to read. Make yourselves at home?