Woldan

The pain I can't stand at all is headache, it interferes with my sleep and makes me feel desperate - fortunately headache is an extremely rare occurrence for me. (Hats off to those who have to deal with migraine) Any other kind of pain is quite tolerable, and I've had my fair share of injuries.

Pfff, people care too much, the day I got my wisdom teeth pulled I did deadlifts and squats, heck, the day I got a throat surgery I did bench presses and pull overs and went to work. And I never take painkillers, ever.

People around here mostly dig up unexploded 500 & 1000kg bombs from WW2. The problem is, if you dig out one in your backyard you have to pay its disposal by the bomb squad and specialists. And thats extremely expensive. Stupid laws.

I'm going to put it through its paces, thats for sure! Today I let myself fall in a garden chair and I completely crushed it, nearly breaking my spine in the process. Still not sure what happened.

Just ordered another lens for my camera, a Rokinon 12mm F2.0 NSC. Its probably one of the best commercially available wide angle astro-photography lenses which is good for extreme shutter speeds without star trailing (thats where its wide angle comes in handy). That thing is so good I could (with a few tricks) make breathtaking shots of the milky way in the middle of a brightly lit city.

Preparing myself for the national vintage military rifle championship on Friday, I just handloaded 20 7.5x55S match rounds for my 90 year old girl. Only 40m more to go.

I'll ask just to be sure: this is sarcasm, right?

So now that you can... will you? :> Of course not, simply taking comfort in the fact that I could make awesome photos is perfectly sufficient for me. Oh, today I bought some shoes...

Thanks! The world is marvelous, I think its everyones ''duty'' to find their own way to recognize and honor its beauty so it is not wasted. There are many ways, in my case its photography, and the great thing is it has made me see the world in a completely different way, my perception of the wonderful things around me has been greatly altered & improved. If I was a psychiatrist I'd recommend photography as a very potent tool to heal the minds of the depressed, it makes you go out and actively seek things you like, you make pictures of those things you can later look at if you bored or not feeling well. And it adds a competitive effect, eventually you'll get hooked and want to improve your skills, make better photos, get better equipment, you want to compete with the pros. I think photography is one of the most positive hobbies you can possibly have.

I know exactly how you feel, and knowing that it was just the stupid camera angle/tilt doesn't help either. Should I ever feel narcissistic enough again to make a still of myself doing a max lift I'll make sure the camera is set up properly. Speaking of narcissistic and avatars, a clean strict 90kg shoulder press. Bar power cleaned and pressed off the chest, no leg drive, no leaning, no belt.

Seeing the majority of teens run around obese and unhealthy nowadays almost makes me want to become a physical education teacher, besides providing them with a good general fitness program I'd make them read some really important books from established athletes for homework. Required-reading books shouldn't be limited to history, religion and language classes. I remember my physical education class, it was a joke.

I just bought this..... .....so I can finally make photos such as this:

Tonight I'll try to beat my personal best in strict standing shoulder presses. The last two days were nothing but preparation for the lifting today. I took a four day lifting break to deload, I tried to eat and drink the right stuff and slept 2 extra hours each day. Now I'll do some stretching and very light back exercises to warm up. Then I'll do a 75% lift, a 90% lift and then hopefully a big lift of 100+kg with no arching, using legs or belts. No pressure lol. And If I cant do it I'll use my belt, that should do the trick. Thats semi-cheating but oh well....

The fun of digging out an annoyingly evasive ingrown wooden splinter out of my finger with an extremely dull pocket knife. Lots of blood, lots of collateral tissue damage and no success. Note to myself: sharpen blades goddammit.

And Judge Dredd for easy juridical practice. I knew you'd say that.

Strange, I've heard there are many cases where criminals already registered in the DNA data bank kept breaking the laws after their release.

Sure thing! 90kg / 200lbs shoulder presses standing with no leg drive. I make vids and pics of my lifts to watch them later to identify potential posture issues and bad form. Extremely helpful.

(The world as will and representation)

I'm only qualified to speak about the political situation in my country, seeing the masters in charge being always the same people who let their elected puppets change a few minor things once in a while to keep the oblivious masses at bay- its hopeless. I still vote but I know its all a lie. To really change things to the better human nature would have to change, and I don't see that happening anytime soon, and checking a box on a piece of paper with a few fancy names on them won't change it either. To know human nature is to know fatalism.

I'd rather want to vote for a new puppet master, not a new puppet.

Because of this very reason I'm planning to fly to Iceland to make photos of the night sky and -hopefully- from the Aurora Borealis this winter. I'm thinking about a specific place in the highlands which is several hundred kilometers away from Reykjavik, and several thousand kilometers from the next big city. This should allow me to make spectacular photos which I couldn't shoot anywhere around here. Oh, and I'm especially thinking about making a photo from the Aurora Borealis reflecting on the ocean waves and...oh my I have so many ideas.

Thank you, though the ever increasing light pollution is even noticeable around here, 25 kilometers from the next city. 5 years ago I used to be able to see the milky way with my bare eyes no problem, now I can hardly spot it anymore and need to make pics with long shutter speeds to find it. Makes me sad.

Probably not, but my neighbors thinking I'm normal would be the greater insult.