Biff Hardbody
Member
This shit is long, so read it only if your bored.
Some time last week I became aware of the painful reality that I would be without my pc for a week. You see, my ram died on me and there was no way getting around it, I had to send it back. I called crucial, and with the receiving, testing, and sending back of the ram it was going to take me a week to get my pc up and running again. This meant no music, no forums, no fights (except for the few I have on dvd) no games (aside from the few console ones I own), and no sweet sweet porno for a fucking week. What did I do to kill the spare time that takes up my life as a waited for the UPS man? Read ahead and you'll see...it just may save your life if your ever in thes same situation.
Actually, this post will be a review of the stuff I did. Books read, places went, countries conquered...ecd. This shit is long, so read it only if your bored.
Read allot. I finished Raging Bull, In This Corner, Best Judo, Kodokan Judo, The power of your subconscioud mind, and assorted magazine articles. I think out of all the books, Raging Bull would be the most interesting to anyone, especially those not just interested in boxing. I ended up renting the movie, and although there was allot of stuff left out and some changed, I felt they did a pretty good job of capturing the message of the book. Still, you owe it to yourself to pick up the book and read it if you like stories of redemption. Jake Lamotta doesn't necssisarily find redemption, but he does attempt it and you look at a man who has done a hell of allot of terrible things in a much more human light.
In this corner is a fantastic book that has bios on around 42 or 47 of boxing's greatest champions. The bios are short, but telling. After the bio they have an interview with each fighter. Its interetsing reading the interviews, because some of the fighters are very politically correct and don't dsay a bad thing about anyone, while others tell their true feelings. The only bad thing about the book is that the interviews are ussually over very quickly. Duran is probably the most dissapointing onterview, because he doesn't go into any detail at all about his two losses, instead just saying "There are many things people don't know about those fights that will never be revealed". Most interesting/likable interviews go to Joey Giardello, Jack Dempsey, and Tommy Loughran. Loughran is especially interesting because he breaks down his thoughts on boxing. I would have loved to read a book by him all about the essence of the sport, he seemed to be a real master.
Watched TV. I rarely watch TV since I have a pc. sitcoms don't interest me, and the only things I'll watch are espn classic, sopranos, news occassionly and a movie on HBO if its good. I actually went on an old movie kick after seeing Ray Milland in "Dial M for Murder". I'm no Hitchcock fan, but this movie is in my top ten. Its the predecessor of a perfect murder (Michael Douglas and Gwen Paltrow), and a much better movie in my opinion. Mainly because Ray Milland is just so fucking cool. He has an answer for everything, think of him as a evil version of Cary Grant. I especially enjoyed his conversation with the "Car seller" and detctive later on. Slick and cool.
I ended up renting another Milland movie, "The big clock" which was boring. But hey, it had Milland in it so I was cool. Other movies Biff watched. King Kong (original version, allot of fun), Yojimbo (Mifune is the coolest motherfucker ever), and Man On Fire (Enjoyed it more then in the theatres, probably because I could fast foward the lame scenes).
Finally I found myself watching the history channel most of the time. I watched bios on Julius Caesar, Caligula, Ivan The Terrible (Partially), and Atilla the Hun. Caesar seemed like the prototype politician, even though he was a warrior. I felt bad for Caligula, which I had not planned on. It seemed like the lack of love he got as a kid, and the "attention" he received from Tiberius really warped him. I zoned out of Ivans story, so no comments. Atilla was pretty interesting, the huns were a crazy bunch. I had read that Atilla was a dwarf, but the bio made no mention of this.
Finally, I watched the 3 hour Alexander documentary. Alexander>>>>All those guys.
Uh, what else?
Started eating better. Went down to china town fish markets after internal/boxing class and scored some fish. Red snapper and salmon steak. I'll tell you right now, I hate those fucking fish markets. Its hypocritical of me to say since I'm eating them, but I feel fucking bad looking at those fish laying there, struggling to breathe. I don't think I'll go back there, and just spend the more money to buy the cleaned, dead fish.
Oh yeah, I also screamed like a girl in the middle of a packed chinatown when I looked inside my bag o' fish to find the souless eyes of of the unfortunate staring up at me. They had included the heads after I asked them to clean it and cut it up.
Made my way down to Renzo's. Finally. I had studied at Renzo's two years or so ago briefly. While I liked it, I just felt I was in over my head. Little instruction, and I needed someone to hold my hand in the grappling department. Time goes on and I ended up studying internal martial arts and boxing most of the time, but found myself loving the grappling of Judo, Greco Roman wrestling, and of course Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Since Renzo's place is the mecca of BJJ in NYC, I had to go there again...
I had been at their new location a couple times in the past months, but I never trained. Anyhow, if you haven't been there and your interested in martial arts and in NYC, its one of the places to be, the facilities are fantastic. Personal showers, boxing ring, and the biggest mat space I've ever seen.
My first day there was pretty brutal. I went to the no gi class, and instantly had my leg cut open by some guy who didn't cut his nails. After that I got a few more scratches from him and rolled with someone else. I think I wrestled 6 guys that day, one after the other for about 3 hours. Most of them just destroyed me. Especially the two best in the class who had been at Renzo's for years. I was happy how I did in the clinch and in pummeling against everyone I went, I could do pretty good there. When I went to the ground with these guys, oh forget it man...they ate me alive. If I countered a triangle they effortlessly turned it into an armbar, if I countered that, they would find a way to sweep me...I was really impressed.
Perhaps the most impressive thing was how tight and methodical their technique was. My wrestling to this point has always been very fast, very explosive. I can see after practicing with these guys I disregarded fundamentals I took for granted. The way they would work your arm to their body when you were being mounted Vale Tudo style was nothing short of surgery. They had the confidence in their technique to just take their time, and the poise not to worry about if they botched a move...because by the time that happened they were finding a new one.
After the initial beatdown of the first day, I did much better. I managed to hold my own a bit, instead of being a crash dummy. I think I wrestled one guy for 10-15 minutes and I was in absolute shock when I managed to armbar him the first time. I honestly thought as soon as I would sit back that he'd reverse it somehow, that's how badly I did my first time there. I ended up really hitting it off with this guy, who tapped me quite a few times as well. Great guy, one of this coolest cats I've trained with. No cheap shots, at all.
Suffice to say I'm hooked. I'll be there for awhile.
One of the hardest things I did was do Renzo's for 3 hours and then go boxing fucking around at my internals school for another 4 that night. That was exhausting. I got punched in the throat and chin, and immediately felt nauseous for the rest of the night.
Uh...lets see what else?
Friday went home fine after Renzos. Did the best Tai Chi I've ever done after being physically spent from grappling. I think you really get good technique that way, you can't muscle it. Later on that night, I developed a limp. It was really weird, because I'm sure I got it from being heelhooked (had a bruise where he got me), but it didn't hurt at all until about 6 hours later.
Last night went through pc withdrawl. Had hung out with enough people, read enough, exercised enough...I just wanted to chill out and listen to muzac. Fortunately, the ram from crucial worked just fine and I got my baby back.
Final verdict is, my life was more enriching without my pc...I think. Then again I have my porno back.
Some time last week I became aware of the painful reality that I would be without my pc for a week. You see, my ram died on me and there was no way getting around it, I had to send it back. I called crucial, and with the receiving, testing, and sending back of the ram it was going to take me a week to get my pc up and running again. This meant no music, no forums, no fights (except for the few I have on dvd) no games (aside from the few console ones I own), and no sweet sweet porno for a fucking week. What did I do to kill the spare time that takes up my life as a waited for the UPS man? Read ahead and you'll see...it just may save your life if your ever in thes same situation.
Actually, this post will be a review of the stuff I did. Books read, places went, countries conquered...ecd. This shit is long, so read it only if your bored.
Read allot. I finished Raging Bull, In This Corner, Best Judo, Kodokan Judo, The power of your subconscioud mind, and assorted magazine articles. I think out of all the books, Raging Bull would be the most interesting to anyone, especially those not just interested in boxing. I ended up renting the movie, and although there was allot of stuff left out and some changed, I felt they did a pretty good job of capturing the message of the book. Still, you owe it to yourself to pick up the book and read it if you like stories of redemption. Jake Lamotta doesn't necssisarily find redemption, but he does attempt it and you look at a man who has done a hell of allot of terrible things in a much more human light.
In this corner is a fantastic book that has bios on around 42 or 47 of boxing's greatest champions. The bios are short, but telling. After the bio they have an interview with each fighter. Its interetsing reading the interviews, because some of the fighters are very politically correct and don't dsay a bad thing about anyone, while others tell their true feelings. The only bad thing about the book is that the interviews are ussually over very quickly. Duran is probably the most dissapointing onterview, because he doesn't go into any detail at all about his two losses, instead just saying "There are many things people don't know about those fights that will never be revealed". Most interesting/likable interviews go to Joey Giardello, Jack Dempsey, and Tommy Loughran. Loughran is especially interesting because he breaks down his thoughts on boxing. I would have loved to read a book by him all about the essence of the sport, he seemed to be a real master.
Watched TV. I rarely watch TV since I have a pc. sitcoms don't interest me, and the only things I'll watch are espn classic, sopranos, news occassionly and a movie on HBO if its good. I actually went on an old movie kick after seeing Ray Milland in "Dial M for Murder". I'm no Hitchcock fan, but this movie is in my top ten. Its the predecessor of a perfect murder (Michael Douglas and Gwen Paltrow), and a much better movie in my opinion. Mainly because Ray Milland is just so fucking cool. He has an answer for everything, think of him as a evil version of Cary Grant. I especially enjoyed his conversation with the "Car seller" and detctive later on. Slick and cool.
I ended up renting another Milland movie, "The big clock" which was boring. But hey, it had Milland in it so I was cool. Other movies Biff watched. King Kong (original version, allot of fun), Yojimbo (Mifune is the coolest motherfucker ever), and Man On Fire (Enjoyed it more then in the theatres, probably because I could fast foward the lame scenes).
Finally I found myself watching the history channel most of the time. I watched bios on Julius Caesar, Caligula, Ivan The Terrible (Partially), and Atilla the Hun. Caesar seemed like the prototype politician, even though he was a warrior. I felt bad for Caligula, which I had not planned on. It seemed like the lack of love he got as a kid, and the "attention" he received from Tiberius really warped him. I zoned out of Ivans story, so no comments. Atilla was pretty interesting, the huns were a crazy bunch. I had read that Atilla was a dwarf, but the bio made no mention of this.
Finally, I watched the 3 hour Alexander documentary. Alexander>>>>All those guys.
Uh, what else?
Started eating better. Went down to china town fish markets after internal/boxing class and scored some fish. Red snapper and salmon steak. I'll tell you right now, I hate those fucking fish markets. Its hypocritical of me to say since I'm eating them, but I feel fucking bad looking at those fish laying there, struggling to breathe. I don't think I'll go back there, and just spend the more money to buy the cleaned, dead fish.
Oh yeah, I also screamed like a girl in the middle of a packed chinatown when I looked inside my bag o' fish to find the souless eyes of of the unfortunate staring up at me. They had included the heads after I asked them to clean it and cut it up.
Made my way down to Renzo's. Finally. I had studied at Renzo's two years or so ago briefly. While I liked it, I just felt I was in over my head. Little instruction, and I needed someone to hold my hand in the grappling department. Time goes on and I ended up studying internal martial arts and boxing most of the time, but found myself loving the grappling of Judo, Greco Roman wrestling, and of course Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Since Renzo's place is the mecca of BJJ in NYC, I had to go there again...
I had been at their new location a couple times in the past months, but I never trained. Anyhow, if you haven't been there and your interested in martial arts and in NYC, its one of the places to be, the facilities are fantastic. Personal showers, boxing ring, and the biggest mat space I've ever seen.
My first day there was pretty brutal. I went to the no gi class, and instantly had my leg cut open by some guy who didn't cut his nails. After that I got a few more scratches from him and rolled with someone else. I think I wrestled 6 guys that day, one after the other for about 3 hours. Most of them just destroyed me. Especially the two best in the class who had been at Renzo's for years. I was happy how I did in the clinch and in pummeling against everyone I went, I could do pretty good there. When I went to the ground with these guys, oh forget it man...they ate me alive. If I countered a triangle they effortlessly turned it into an armbar, if I countered that, they would find a way to sweep me...I was really impressed.
Perhaps the most impressive thing was how tight and methodical their technique was. My wrestling to this point has always been very fast, very explosive. I can see after practicing with these guys I disregarded fundamentals I took for granted. The way they would work your arm to their body when you were being mounted Vale Tudo style was nothing short of surgery. They had the confidence in their technique to just take their time, and the poise not to worry about if they botched a move...because by the time that happened they were finding a new one.
After the initial beatdown of the first day, I did much better. I managed to hold my own a bit, instead of being a crash dummy. I think I wrestled one guy for 10-15 minutes and I was in absolute shock when I managed to armbar him the first time. I honestly thought as soon as I would sit back that he'd reverse it somehow, that's how badly I did my first time there. I ended up really hitting it off with this guy, who tapped me quite a few times as well. Great guy, one of this coolest cats I've trained with. No cheap shots, at all.
Suffice to say I'm hooked. I'll be there for awhile.
One of the hardest things I did was do Renzo's for 3 hours and then go boxing fucking around at my internals school for another 4 that night. That was exhausting. I got punched in the throat and chin, and immediately felt nauseous for the rest of the night.
Uh...lets see what else?
Friday went home fine after Renzos. Did the best Tai Chi I've ever done after being physically spent from grappling. I think you really get good technique that way, you can't muscle it. Later on that night, I developed a limp. It was really weird, because I'm sure I got it from being heelhooked (had a bruise where he got me), but it didn't hurt at all until about 6 hours later.
Last night went through pc withdrawl. Had hung out with enough people, read enough, exercised enough...I just wanted to chill out and listen to muzac. Fortunately, the ram from crucial worked just fine and I got my baby back.
Final verdict is, my life was more enriching without my pc...I think. Then again I have my porno back.