Simply Put, My Grandpa is Awesome

So if you haven't heard by now, I have some bad news. My grandfather passed away last month at the age of 93 years old....

Most everyone who reads this will not have met him, but just know that he was a great man who will be missed by many. Now most of the time when someone passes there is a lot of sadness and depression, but my grandpa's passing was a lot different, at least for me. (By the way, I always called him PawPaw, and that's how I will reference him for the rest of this post, as will the majority of my family forever.)

 Long before PawPaw passed away we had a talk about life and death, and how he was ready to pass whenever his time came... That conversation really prepared me for what happened, but it was surprising how well I was able to handle it all. I figured I was going to put on a happy face, crack a few jokes, and when I was alone break down uncontrollably, but the break down never came. If anything, I was happy. Now I know it sounds weird to think of someone's death as a time of joy, but this is the one time in my life where it was true. My grandfather had led a long long life, full of joy and pain, of triumphs and failures. He had traveled the world and created a family, survived threats both physical and mental, and was an all around incredible person who had the unique ability to consistently keep me grounded in reality and encourage me to follow my dreams to their full potential at the same time.

 Honestly I have been trying to write this post about how amazing he was for weeks now, but I don't think that anything that I could ever write would be a proper enough tribute to him. Luckily, he solved this problem for me long ago by taking the following picture:

 Now that's worth much more than a thousand words.

 I'll miss him for the rest of my life, but I'm so honored to have had James Rorie as my grandfather. I loved him so much, and I'm happy that we got to spend as much time together. I'm the luckiest guy in the world, plain and simple.

 And I think I'll just leave it at that.

It's a Geek Week Extravaganza!

I just punched myself over how lame that title was, but seriously, it's Geek Week on Youtube, and I am insanely excited!!! Even better, it coincides with Shark Week.... Yeah, that Shark Week. Seriously, go watch some sharks. They're the aquatic dinosaurs of our time.

That's one of the highest compliments I can give an animal.... or anyone else by the way. You're welcome sharks.

Ok, now back to my original post topic: Geek Week. If you don't know what this is, this video will probably help a bit:

So I figured in honor of Geek Week, I would make a post about my personal favorite YouTube channels, just in case you were ever interested in what I waste my time watching. Warning, some of these videos will have graphic language, if you don't like that sort of thing. I'm going to post links to each channel I mention, but I'm only going to post a random assortment of videos so this post doesn't go on forever.

First up, I watch a lot of gaming videos. I really enjoy watching people play games, do commentary, and generally be ridiculous. Though I'll watch some random people now and again, I mainly follow 3 channels for my gaming, with my personal favorite being a guy named Jerma who does a bunch of variety gaming. By far the best thing he does is "Scare Saturdays" where he plays scary games and yells a lot. And what's better than watching a grown man scream in fear of a video game?

Next up is pure entertainment. Now I know there are tons and tons of channels that make incredible original content, but I'm only going to mention a few gems here. Freddie W. (who made Video Game High School, now in its second season), Epic Meal Time, Cartoon Hangover, Cinema Sins, HISHE, and something that appeals to Dr. Who fans and puppet lovers, HelloDoctorPuppet:

Yeah, that's a puppet Dr. Who.

I'm constantly amazed about how much time and effort put into these labors of love. These people had an idea and completely ran away with it, and that's something that is way too rare. Or whatever. As long as they continue to make with the chuckles for me, that's what really matters.

Finally, and mainly cause I'm a bit tired, I'm going to wrap the rest of these channels in a category I'm going to call, and quite originally I might add, "Miscellaneous". A more accurate description might be "Informative/Educational" but who has time for that? Amazing channels include MyHarto (location of My Drunk Kitchen), Daily Grace, Mental Floss, Minute Physics, ASAP Science, Cars and Water, Numberphile, Smarter Every Day, Laci Green, VSauce 1,2, 3, and my absolute all time favorite channel, at least for now, PBS IdeaChannel:

That pretty much wraps it up. There are tons more channels out there, feel free to let me know if I missed any amazing channels, or if you just want to open my eyes to the awesome that is your favorite channel. I'd really appreciate that... Like that would be super cool awesome. Thanks. Oh yeah, go watch Geek Week please.


Links to My Favorite Channels:

Variety Gaming:

Jerma: http://www.youtube.com/user/Jerma985
Star: http://www.youtube.com/user/Niichts
Shibby: http://www.youtube.com/user/Shibby2142


Entertainment:

Freddie W. http://www.youtube.com/user/freddiew
Epic Meal Time: http://www.youtube.com/user/EpicMealTime
Cartoon Hangover: http://www.youtube.com/user/CartoonHangover
Nerdist: http://www.youtube.com/user/Nerdist
HISHE: http://www.youtube.com/user/HISHEdotcom
CinemaSins: http://www.youtube.com/user/CinemaSins
Hello Doctor Puppet: http://www.youtube.com/user/HelloDoctorPuppet

Other:

Daily Grace: http://www.youtube.com/user/dailygrace
MyHarto: http://www.youtube.com/user/MyHarto
Laci Green: http://www.youtube.com/user/lacigreen
Mental Floss: http://www.youtube.com/user/MentalFlossVideo
Minute Physics: http://www.youtube.com/user/minutephysics
Smarter Every Day: http://www.youtube.com/user/destinws2
VSauce: http://www.youtube.com/user/Vsauce
PBS Idea Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/pbsideachannel

Random Memory at 2:24 A.M.

So I can't sleep, mainly due to me laying here in bed playing on my laptop watching Batman Beyond on Netflix... Ladies. But I started thinking about my past, like I usually do, and one memory has been plaguing me for the last couple of days. Okay, plaguing is a putting it too seriously. How about.... standing out among my thoughts? That sounds a better and takes this post in a much less serious direction.

Before I get to my memory, I just have to say that I really like Batman Beyond a lot. It's well written, smart, full of strong characters, and it has Batman The Musical. Seriously, go watch that. I will wait. (Actually I'm probably rewatching it) So everything is perfect right? WRONG! I have one glaring problem with the show, and it's how they portray Bruce Wayne as this decrepit and bitter old man who has been abandoned by everyone he ever cared about or was close to... and that just doesn't fly for me. He just stops fighting crime entirely, which is the most un-Batman thing I can think of him to do, and locks himself away for years and years until Terry McGinnis randomly comes by one night.

I've gotta stop before I go off on a rant that is much better suited for in person with elaborate hand gestures and possibly an impromptu sword fight. Back to my memory that has been rattling around in my head.

When I was in elementary school there was a school wide celebration for Earth Day, complete with guest speakers that no one cared about and poems written by students about saving the Earth and where will the penguins live? (I did not win the poem contest, in case you were curious). All in all, it was probably a really boring day but my young mind loved it, especially since I didn't have to go to class. What made the day stick out in my head was this game they made us play. I actually think they made us play a bunch of different games, grouped by grade, but that isn't what I'm focusing on. That was just a bit extra for you to enjoy, to put a better mental picture of the Rienzi Elementary School Gymnasium and my Earth Day experience. Dang, I'm rambling again, and instead of just deleting what I wrote I decided to call attention to the situation.

Dancing Taco

Anyways, the game I remember so well had us all pick a card, and on that card was something in the food chain. We had to go around and find everything that we either ate or that ate us, and when we did we were connected by a piece of yarn. Since there were about 40-50 of us doing this, things got pretty chaotic pretty quickly. Finally, after we were all connected, and some people were really cool animals (I think I was some kind of berry) the people running the game started incorporating things like poisons and pollution into the system. The idea was that if you were poisoned, then everything up the food chain that ate you was poisoned as well. That turned the tables entirely! No longer was I this ineffectual berry, I was core of the existence of the people who got really cool animals. The power was in my hands!! I would be the one berry to rule them all!!! MUWHAHAHAHA!!! I actually started hoping that I would get poisoned so that I could collapse this fragile excuse for an food chain, so I could bring down the powers that be and change the world! (Or at least the gymnasium), but alas, it was not meant to be for me, the berry best of the bottom of the food chain. I think that some sort of grain got chosen to be poisoned, lucky guy, and really the whole thing ended quite anticlimactically with everyone connected just sitting down and the people running the game yelling "See!? Just one small link in the chain can pull down an entire ecosystem! What does that tell you??" like this game was going to be the single reason that I chose not to go poison grains or whatever. And maybe for one of the other kids it was exactly what they needed, but for me it just felt like a big waste of time.

Looking back, that game had to have some lasting effect on me. Otherwise why would I be thinking about it all these years later? And I'm pretty sure I've come to a conclusion: I hate stupid things that are supposed to teach you lessons. I get bored and my mind starts to wander, usually to dreams of world (or gym) domination (or waffles). I just want you to tell me what I need to know, and then we can spend the rest of that time doing something awesome instead. For example, instead of the game where we knew everything was gonna die we could've played kickball. I love kickball. Boom! And winner would be proclaimed King of Earth.... Day. Or something like that.

I'm tired now, and I think I'm good to put this memory to bed. Thanks so much for reading, you really are my favorite. I'll probably do a few more posts kinda like this one where I dive back into my memories, but no promises. I don't want you to get all spoiled and junk.

Where Have I Been?

I swear, I haven't abandoned you. Well, I kinda did, but that's ok cause I'm back now.... Sorta. Let me explain.

As you know, or maybe you don't since you may not have read all my posts, one of my assigned goals for this year was to blog once a week for three months. Now I kinda bent the rules in some parts, but I finally achieved my goal not too long ago. Honestly, I'm pretty proud of that... which is probably a weird thing to be proud of but it was something I actually set out to do, and I achieved it. So go me and whatnot. Huzzah!!!

But where does that leave us? Do I now stop blogging? Do I move on to bigger and better things? NAY I SAY! There is no bigger nor better thing than blogging for you six people who read my written word. (Originally I wrote spoken word there because I typically speak things that I type like this, and since I'm writing in the empty classroom of McCool right now I bet this seems really weird to anyone walking by. Also, I don't use brackets properly since my typical bracket is longer than the sentence or piece it is explaining.) ((Also, there are better things than blogging, like nachos, jet skis, and swordfights, but since I have none of those currently, this is it. And I know there are more than six of you reading this... hopefully. I did just pass a 1000 views for this blog, which makes me feel really tingly.))

Since I'm no longer on a dedicated timeline, this is how my posting schedule is gonna go: There is no schedule. Boom, plot twist! Right now I am swamped with grad school stuff, and for the next couple of weeks I'm gonna be a wreck. But I still love to write, and I may start posting some of the random things I write during the week and when I can't sleep at night. It might get weird.... In fact, I know it's gonna get weird. Some weeks I may post a ridiculous amount, but we may go for awhile without speaking to one another. I hope our relationship can survive. This is what my grandfather must've meant when he said relationships take hard work and dedication. I'd always wondered about that.

Anyways, that's what gonna be happening over the next few weeks. Onto other things:

It's been a really dark last few weeks with all the crazy that's been happening, most notable being the Boston Marathon bombings. I'm not going to go too in depth about the situation since you should already know everything about it. I was gonna post some things I wrote about the situation, but I feel like other people have already said it better and with a much larger vocabulary... All I'm going to say is this:

Anytime someone tells you that we are living in the worst of times, where evil runs rampant and no one cares, where everyone casts a blind eye to anything that does not involve them and people are only looking out for themselves, they can go jump in a lake. The worst of humanity played their cowardly hand and we responded in force with goodwill, kindness, heroism, and unity. I saw men and women put themselves in unknown danger willingly to try and help those who were injured. There's a lot of bad in the world, but we often forget that there's a lot of good as well. The darker the shadows, the brighter the light.

As always, Mr. Rodgers said it best:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-LGHtc_D328

Patton Oswalt did a pretty good job too:

https://www.facebook.com/pattonoswalt/posts/10151440800582655

Thanks for reading and go hug someone,

Tim

Dear Body

Dear Body,

What's goin on? Allergies??? Really? We are supposed to be a team. Like Batman and Batman. Please quit failing at this pivotal time. I've got finals, projects, and a life.

Seriously, please don't be a jerk. I know we haven't always gotten along. You got me pretty good during that whole puberty thing, but I've forgiven you for that. You even pulled a fast one that time I was on a date and you decided stomach problems were appropriate for the occasion. So good job, but I'm willing to let bygones be bygones. I listen to you, I take care of you, I make you smell good, so now it's time for you to do your part.

Sincerely,

Me

Boom!

I purposely waited until today to post this, the last of the required blogs on my goals. I can officially check one item off, which feels pretty dang good if I must be honest. And this week/next I'm definitely going to check off a couple more goals, just cause I'm a butt-kickin ninja like that.

Last week I produced a pretty lackluster post, and I do apologize for that. Posting once a week for three months was much more difficult that I had ever thought it would be, and I then to think things are impossible so..... yeah.

Instead of giving you another subpar post this week I'm staying up way past my bedtime to talk about one of my least favorite days of the year, April 1st. Also known commonly as April Fool's Day, April 1st sucks. At least it does to me. I know there's a rich and beautiful history behind it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools'_Day

But I simply don't care. I hate it. I hate that I can't find a news source that isn't trying to be what the Onion is year round. I hate that I can't accept something from someone without questioning their motives. I hate that everyone tries to be funny but they end up being Carrot Top funny, not Steve Martin funny.

Also, how creepy does Carrot Top look?

Instead look at these tacos!

Maybe hate is the wrong term. I just strongly dislike the day really. Plenty of amazing things have happened on April 1st, such as:

Susan Boyle was born.

The Great Britain Royal Air Force was founded.

Riverboat gambling was made legal in Iowa.

and many more http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/april1st.html

I dunno. I might just be a stick in the mud. I typically do enjoy what Google does (This year it's treasure maps, Google Smell, and Gmail Blue). YouTube isn't too annoying either, in fact I did chuckle a tad when I saw the YouTube Collection today. But I think they're ok because their jokes are usually funny, poke fun at themselves, and I can ignore them for the most part if I really want.


As long as I'm talking about things I hate I'll talk about a couple more, cause that's what blogs and the Internet is really for right??

I hate surprise parties. I hate them so much. Please don't ever throw me a surprise party. Just punch me in the kidney a couple of times and give me cake. That works for me.

I hate when a restaurant puts onions on something I asked for sans onions. I hate that sometimes I forget to check and bite into it. And I hate when I do check, they put onions on, and they are the diced kind that you always end up leaving one on somewhere, probably hidden in the lettuce.

Oh, and I hate Bojangles, the chicken place. There are far too many chicken places in Starkville. I am still mad we didn't get a Dairy Queen instead. I don't even like Dairy Queen!!! BUT I HATE BOJANGLES!!!

I was gonna put a really funny picture here of something hating something else, and use that to represent my hate for Bojangles. But I'm kinda tired, and I need to get to sleep. I'm sure there are many typos in this post, and now I'm just rambling because that's what I tend to do when I'm sleepy and am typing. I'm gonna stop now. Well after this:

Thanks for reading. It really means a lot that people continue to read the inane things I write on this blog. The simple act of you taking a bit of time out of your life humbles me more that I can say here. Just know it's a lot. Especially you. Yeah, you. You know exactly who you are, I don't have to call you out by name. Thanks...

TTFN, Ta Ta For Now

Things I'm terrible at...

Planning ahead, not eating bacon, and bringing exciting content to you in blog form. My life hasn't been too exciting this week, but it has been really busy, which means that while I am posting this sexy mini-post to tide you over I really don't have much to talk about. So please forgive me, new delicious content will be coming soon.

I heart you,
Tim

Spring Break and such

So I have experienced my last Spring Break ever, and I must say it was pretty great overall. I didn't really do too much exciting stuff, but it was really nice to just relax for a bit, recharge my batteries, and catch up on all my reading. I've read so much this break, and it has been glorious, especially since the weather has been really nice and I could just go hammock it up in random spots.

Luckily I was able to do a lot of writing this break. Sadly very little of it was for this blog, but I did get some major personal projects finished. I also taught myself how to make eggs in a couple of different ways to keep up with my list of goals for the year. I've kinda slacked off recently but in my defense, it's a marathon not a sprint.

One of the biggest things I did over the break was I started looking for jobs for when I graduate in December. I guess it is about time I started, since it would suck to be unemployed. Not as much as it would be to on fire, but still pretty bad.

They totally were the droids he was looking for...

It's really weird. Not that I'm looking for a job, but that I actually know what I want to do with my life. It just took me this side of forever to figure it out, but better late than never I suppose. Especially since my first choice of just retiring and playing shuffleboard is "unrealistic" according to society. I just really good at it. I should've honed my skills in my youth and tried to go pro. Alas, the path not taken. Though I guess becoming a fully functioning member of society might be cool too. Maybe I'll even get to a position where someone calls me "Mr. Rorie" and I get to respond "Call me Tim, Mr. Rorie is my father." 

Though I call him Father Supreme Numero Uno. Also, damn I've lost a lot of weight since then. Go me.

So yeah, not the most eventful of Spring Breaks, but pretty good overall. I also received this to hang on my bare wall, so be jealous:

Note the Tardis. 

That's it for now, I'll post again soon. Promise. Miss me.

Man I would've punched myself in the face....

I have a problem.... I made a deal of sorts with a one Ann Hamilton that if she finally update the blog she shares with her roommate I would post some of the poetry I recently found that I wrote in high school. Now I assumed that she wouldn't do it, cause it had been months and months since their last post. I was wrong. I was terribly wrong actually, but never let it be said that Tim "ThunderLips" Rorie is not a man of his word so here's a sampling of the terribly angsty, poorly written, and overall dreadful poetry I wrote once upon a time completely unedited. 

The first is oh so intelligently called:"Hurting from Pain". I can't remember why I wrote this one, but apparently it had to do with a girl.

"Hurting from Pain"

Dreams, 
Reality, 
What's the difference? 
Does it matter anymore? 
My reality used to be a dream, 
But now it's a nightmare. 
Whether I sleep or stay awake 
The pain stays with me. 
It's torture of the worst kind, 
On the inside, 
In my heart. 
I want to cry, 
But I have no tears. 
I want to scream, 
But I have no breath. 
I want to die, 
But without you, I have no life


This next selection apparently goes follows the same theme of despair over a woman. For a guy who didn't really date in high school I sure had a lot of lady problems. Or maybe I just thought I did. 

"Not Again"

The pain 
The hurt 
The cold knife in my heart 
The shattering of my soul 
The ache deep down in me. 
It kills me! 
At least, it did. 
But not anymore. 
I'm not going to let it do this to me anymore 
I'm taking away its power. 
It will not control me 
She won't hurt me again.


Dang, this is getting rough. Is there anything happy I wrote? This is about as close as I can get:


"My Dream"

I have a dream. 
And in my dream, 
I'm happy. 
I do everything right, 
Say everything cool, 
Win the girl of my heart. 
Then I wake up, 
And I mess up, 
Sound like an idiot. 
Lose the love of my life. 
And yet..... 
I'd rather be awake, 
Living in my nightmare. 
Cause while I'm dreaming, 
I can't make it reality. 
Soon, I believe my nightmare shall end 
And I'll wake up 
In my dream.


And to finish it all off, here's a quick poem that I wrote and I'll never forget (Probably because it's  so simple):

"Hate and Love"

If I hate haters for hating, 
Then do I hate myself for hating haters? 
If so, then where does it end? 
Will it end? 
Can it end? 
A better idea is to love lovers for loving. 
Then I would love myself 
For loving lovers. 
I Love That.


And that's all the high school poetry you shall get from me. There are notebooks, sticky notes, random pages and more that I was able to find, but luckily for you and I they will never see the light of day again.

In all seriousness though, even though I'm making fun of myself and the stuff I wrote, I'm really glad I had that outlet to help me deal with things that I thought were huge at the time. It was a safe way to try and make sense of everything that was going on around me, a way to put it all down on paper and let it go. I remember really enjoying writing poetry, and as I've gotten older I moved into writing short stories, then slightly longer stories, a blog, random thoughts, and even a continuing story that may one day be a novel if I ever sit down and write on it for long enough. 

Hopefully I can look back years from now at the things I am writing now and have the same fondness. Or maybe I'll just make fun of me again. Either way it should be enjoyable. I may even write a poem about it.

Now I leave you with what I feel is an appropriate enough video. Thanks for reading, and feel free to mock me in the comments or in real life. Or buy me steak. Yeah... buy me steak.

Busy Week

Man, it has been a crazy week. I survived, which is obvious, but it was quite the struggle. Lots of good things happened, but the key word is lots. I've just felt very rushed lately, which I guess is a good thing. It means that I'm busy, but never bored. I haven't had much time for much of anything fun, heck I haven't even had time to read the new book I've gotten. I have a stack of about six books that I've only looked at longingly forever now. I'm just really thankful spring break up coming up soon.

Even tonight I'm working on a project that's due this upcoming week. I'm actually pretty glad that someone else kind of forced me to start working, otherwise I probably would have put this off to the last minute like I tend to do. This post is mostly an update about what is coming in the next few weeks:

I lost a bet, so I have to make a post that includes some of my angsty high school poetry. That'll be terrible.

I still have to finish my post about Veronica Mars. I've been waiting to write this one completely so my opinion isn't completely biased.

I went skating the other night and I'm not sure if I am going to write a post about how terrible I was at it or not. It's possible, but it really depends on the amount of time I have.

I also have to post about what I'm doing over spring break. It should be pretty epic.

Finally, there are some current issues that I'm writing about that I feel I need to write about. I may or may not post these. Probably may.


Oh, I must announce that I was able to convince my good friend Ann Hamilton to post again over at Shenanigans of E26. It has me licking someone's face. So go check it out. Stay tuned. It'll be amazing. Or ok. Maybe.

Later Days

Announcement number two: Butt soup.

Community is back. Words cannot describe how happy I am.... Wait... That's a dumb statement. Of course words can describe how happy I am, that's what words do. Usually when I say that I simply mean that I don't want to take the time to think of the proper words. Sometimes I have the words, but my brain doesn't communicate with my mouth hole so I am unable to convey how I feel. This happens more that I want to admit.

Like when I see Jennifer Connelly in The Rocketeer.

Side note: I love The Rocketeer.

Ok, back to business. I love Community, and I love that it's back. Community, for those of you who don't know, is a show on NBC set at Greendale Community College that focuses on a study group and their wacky antics. On the surface it just seems like a ridiculous show made for easy laughs, but it's so much more than that. There's something special about Community, something that most shows never even come close to achieving. There's a heart to it, characters that you fall in love with, that you care for, that make you feel in ways that a television show never should but does.

Whether it's watching "Troy and Abed in the Morning", reading #AnniesMove tweets, listening to "Baby Boomer Santa" on repeat, or just thinking about building my own Dreamatorium I just can't stop watching this amazing show. I doubt they'll get to #SixSeasonsandaMovie, especially since it seems like this their last season, but I'm ok with that. Hopefully when it ends I'll just get Changnesia and have to rediscover this show all over again. 

I know that last paragraph was confusing if you've never seen the show, and I apologize. I'm going to leave you with some wonderful Community gifs and videos, a suggestion to watch the first 3 seasons on DVD, and an offer to watch them all with you. 

I almost forgot, HAPPY VALLOWEEN!!! It's like October 19th all over again!

Time to get to work

I finally have all 36 goals in my hand. It's pretty amazing honestly. And the way that I got my last 12 were quite pleasing as well. As I walked into my office the other day, I was handed this:

I felt very spy-like

At this point I figure this is either an elaborate assassination attempt or.... Actually I assumed assassination attempt all the way. I haven't made too many enemies over the years, but the ones I have are ruthless.

Side note: I really like Danny DeVito

Slowly I opened my package, expecting the worst. But to my pleasant surprise I had been sent 12 brand new goals. 12 new goals that would challenge me mentally and physically, taking me to new levels of awesomeocity and IndianJonesitude. And even better, they came on their own individual notecards. AND WITH A BOOK!!! 

I probably should take better pictures, but I don't.

As a reminder, here's the other 24 so far:

1. Walk at least 4 miles every single week until Spring Break
2. After learning to swim, learn one type of swim stroke and perfect it (for example: the breast stroke… he he he )
3. Tell yourself something truly positive about you every single day
4. Take someone to your favorite spot
5. Have lunch or dinner by yourself without any internet distractions
6. Watch season 1 of Veronica Mars
7. Plan a super date
8. Get more batman gear
9. Go down a slide or swing whenever possible
10. Dedicate 5 blog posts to someone or something
11. Live tweet 5 of the Bond films
12. Try a new and exotic type of cuisine
13. Blog once a week for three months.
14. Learn to swim
15. Create a geo-scavenger hunt.
16. Create an original superhero.
17. Write a short story about said hero.
18. Create an original recipe that must include bacon.
19. Run a 5k.
20. Watch every Bond film (All 23).
21. Learn a hobby of my choosing.
22. Eat somewhere from "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives"
23. Go on a road trip.
24. Ride a Batman themed ride.

And here are my new 12:

1. Read Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
2. Pick 3 people to intentionally pursue relationships with this year
3. Dress up for class twice a month throughout the semester
4. Write "The Ladies Guide to _______" My choice what.
5. Learn to cook eggs five ways: scrambled, fried, hardboiled, poached, and softboiled
6. Take someone stargazing
7. Watch 5 Hitchcock films, and choose a favorite
8. Give ten strangers a compliment
9. Design a tattoo that may or may not ever get
10. Treat a girl to bacon fondue
11. Mean an article of clothing 
12. Write "The Comprehensive Guide to Dinosaur Fighting"

So that's it. My full plate for the year. I've already knocked off a few, but I still have so much to do. So I'm gonna go get started with a nap and a late night snack.

Later days

Filler

This is really just a filler post until I can edit something together that is much nicer. I would've posted earlier but I was in Memphis this weekend and didn't even touch my computer. Lots of things have occurred in my life, and I'll talk about them tomorrow.

Sorry I'm the worst

I can cook, I swear

Well, maybe cook is a strong word. I have the ability to combine food ingredients and apply heat in a way that is reminiscent of a mad scientist. My creations tend to leave a lot to be desired in the looks department, even if they taste delicious and have a beautiful soul on the inside. 

He actually volunteers on the weekends.

So last week I decided it was time to definitely knock one of my goals for the year out, and I figured that the first one that I had to conquer was to create an original recipe/dish that included bacon. I struggled with this one though because everything that can be done with bacon seems to have been done. Then it hit me: What am I really good at making??? Grilled cheese, spaghetti, mac and cheese, and of course bacon. So me being the genius that I am decided to combine these beautiful foods into a incredible superfood. And since my good friend Niah is the one who decided to give me this goal, she had to suffer through this experiment into madness. So now I present: The Pasta Bacon Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Now I'm really bad at taking pictures, and Niah got distracted with some game on my phone so there's a severe lack of photo documentation in this post, but you'll get what I have. 

My first step is to have a plan if everything goes wrong. In this case I believe junk food is the best option.

I've got most of the elf food groups covered.

 The next actual step is to make bacon. I vary on how I like to do this, but usually I just use my oven. I feel it gives me the crisp I desire while still retaining enough moisture not to be crunchy. Though I usually do make a couple of pieces so on the stovetop so I can hear the sound of the bacon frying.

 Now these next pictures must come with a warning: I am making bacon... Ladies.

I'm not a model, I just play one on T.V.

Next I had to make the pastas. Instead of making two pots of different pastas, I decided to make a mac and cheese cup and a small pot of spaghetti so I didn't have too much food. Though you really can't have too much pasta.

Yeah, I'm pretty much ready to be an Iron Chef.

                       Well maybe not...

It was finally time to actually put this monstrosity together. I started by just putting down my bread, then placed my cheese and finally my pasta. This was the same process I used for both sandwiches, one that I've considered patenting.

 

Of course I then messed up and burnt my first one. Lucky for me I tend to enjoy slightly burnt food

I really prefer the term well done.

 And that was it. It was time for this to either be an incredible success or a colossal failure. Personally my nerves were getting to me

Sorry I'm not better looking.

And then..... SUCCESS!!!! My first bite was delicious. The cheesiness mixed with the heavenlike bacon and the pasta-y goodness made this tempest of flavor and consistencies. It was probably the greatest dish that was made that date in the entire world. Or something. It was pretty good though, seriously.

And what did my fearless compatriot Niah think about my creation? I like to think it turned out it was Tim-tested, Niah-approved.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how everything turned out. I knocked a goal off my list, had a great time, and probably cut a few months off my life. It's nice to actually see things through for a change. Well, that's it for now. Sadly my next post probably won't be so delicious.

And for those of you who stuck around til the end, here's a plate of bacon:

'Merica 

 

A new challenger appears

I finally found a third person to make a deal with, so now I'm up to 36 goals for the year. I'm still waiting to get them back, but I really can't wait.

Here's a quick update on how my goals are going so far:

I'm struggling to make a superhero... well maybe struggling isn't the right word, since I've made a lot. The problem is choosing which one to go forward with since I kind of love them all. I may just end up with a huge universe by the end of the year. That actually sounds pretty cool: Marvel, DC, Tim, Dark Horse.

There are still so many Bond movies to watch. I'm really not sure where to start, but I'm working on it. Slowly. Very slowly.

This whole running thing is for the birds, like emus. But I went for a run the other day and didn't die. So that's exciting.

And most importantly I'm making the most incredible dish ever tonight. With bacon. Next week's update is gonna be epic.

That's it for now. Later days

GOOOOOAALLLLLs Part 2

This is just a quick update about my goals post. I now have another 12 to post about, though some of these work well together.

Here's my first 12 from the last post:

1. 1. Blog once a week for three months.
2. Learn to swim
3. Create a geo-scavenger hunt.
4. Create an original superhero.
5. Write a short story about said hero.
6. Create an original recipe that must include bacon.
7. Run a 5k.
8. Watch every Bond film (All 23).
9. Learn a hobby of my choosing.
10. Eat somewhere from "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives"
11. Go on a road trip.
12. Ride a Batman themed ride

And here's my 12 new goals to go along with them:


1. Walk at least 4 miles every single week until Spring Break
2. After learning to swim, learn one type of swim stroke and perfect it (for example:
the breast stroke… he he he )
3. Tell yourself something truly positive about you every single day
4. Take someone to your favorite spot
5. Have lunch or dinner by yourself without any internet distractions
6. Watch season 1 of Veronica Mars
7. Plan a super date
8. Get more batman gear
9. Go down a slide or swing whenever possible
10. Dedicate 5 blog posts to someone or something
11. Live tweet 5 of the Bond films
12. Try a new and exotic type of cuisine


So that's it, at least for now. I may exchange goals with one more person, I'm not sure yet. Though if you come to me with a great list I'll probably agree. Now I'm off to work, but I leave you with this:

Later Days

GOOOOOAALLLLLs

First, I was way too happy when I thought of the name of this post. Stupid happy. I'm still smiling about it. 

Ladies...

Now that I've got your attention, it's time for big news. Usually I make New Years resolutions, and that's all well and good but I get super bored about five or six days in. I think my record is four weeks. So what should I do? I think I've come up with an awesome solution this year.

I still have my own personal goals that we all make (be a better person, wrestle an alligator, eat said alligator, etc..) but this year I have made deals with a couple of individuals to exchange goals. We've exchange 12 goals each, three major and nine minor to be completed by the end of the year. This way, I'm not accountable to just myself but to my friends, who will in fact mock me relentlessly if I fail.... Or maybe encourage me or something. 

I'll be keeping everyone up to date on how I'm doing, as well as posting weekly now due to one of my given goals. I've got 12 so far, I should have another 12 in the coming week, and I may deal with one more person. So by years end I'll have completed 24-36 goals. Here's the 12 I have so far:

1. 1. Blog once a week for three months.
2. Learn to swim
3. Create a geo-scavenger hunt.
4. Create an original superhero.
5. Write a short story about said hero.
6. Create an original recipe that must include bacon.
7. Run a 5k.
8. Watch every Bond film (All 23).
9. Learn a hobby of my choosing.
10. Eat somewhere from "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives"
11. Go on a road trip.
12. Ride a Batman themed ride.

I'll post the next 12 when I get them, but so far I've got a pretty full plate. Any help or suggestions will be appreciated, and let's hope I don't fail miserably