A Day In the Life of Nolan: Herp. Fighting! Tai Chi! Fighting! Intrigue! Violence! Betrayal! Generic word that belongs in a title for a romantic thriller movie!

Derp.

Forgot to blog yesterday.

Got sidetracked.
Then when I was about to blog, I promptly fell asleep.

Oops.

Oh well.

At least I'm blogging now.

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Not much has happened the past couple of days.

Yesterday was Friday.. Hmmmm.....

Woke up, played video games, Skyped with Lizzi, went to work, Skyped with Lizzi.

That's my day in a very brief nutshell.

Played Marvel Vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds yesterday. Most of the day. Again.

I see no problem.

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Today, woke up late-ish, then had some breakfast.
Caleb and Shaun dropped by after they went to MBU, which was pretty cool.

Got to say hi.

Nifty.

Then I got on Skype with Lizzi!
Yay!

We talked and watched some Youtube videos, listened to music, then we each went to the store to pick up foodstuffs.

I picked up lots of food that we wanted, but then realized that the ORIGINAL reason I went to the store was to get some chocolate candy.

I got home then realized I forgot it.

Damn.

Oh well.

THAT actually led me to an interesting realization I'll cover later.

Lizzi and I Skyped again, then she went off to hang out with some friends.

At that point, I proceeded to play video games.

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OH interesting thing, I finished my first castle-type thing in Minecraft.
It was in creative mode (like a sissy), but I'm honestly too lazy to collect materials to build massive structures for fun.

I make cool stuff in survival, but creative is... creative.

I'll post pictures of it eventually.

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ANYWAY.

I've decided that I am going to become a connoisseur of fighting games.

I've recently discovered that I really really LOVE fighting games.

Over the summer, I had twenty dollars to spend. I went and picked up Street Fighter IV at Best Buy, because I had remembered renting it and LOVING it.

I returned it the same day.
And I got two dollars for it.
FML.

I returned it so quickly because after about 5 hours, I hated it because it was too hard.

The reason I decided that was because I had been playing Guilty Gear and Blaz Blue.
Fast-paced, sprite-driven combat.

Switching to Street Fighter IV's comparatively slow feel really pissed me off I guess.
Cause I wasn't able to pick it up and win.
Cause I was used to Guilty Gear.

I should have kept the game.

Like I said, I've been playing Marvel vs blahblahblah recently.
Fast fighting.
LONG combos.

That sort of thing.
I've decided on my three reserve teams!!

Team 1: Deadpool, Dante, Akuma

Team 2: Captain AMERICA, Iron Man, Demruaerklj. (some crazy dimensional mastermind.)

Team 3. Wesker, Chris, Trish

Team 3 is what I'm currently working on.

I didn't like Wesker for the first forty-five minutes of playing him.
WAY different playstyle than my Team 1 characters.

Until I figured out that he specializes in teleporting all over the stage, poking people with a pistol, then slamming them into the pavement repeatedly.

I stopped trying to play him like a brutal front-liner, and started playing him like a complete jerk.

Pew pew people with your pistol until they mess up..
Then punch them into the air.

Then into the ground.
Then in the face.
Then shoot them some more.
Then stab them with a missile (seriously. he does that. it's a reference to resident evil 5).

Then teleport behind them.
And repeat.
Repeatedly.

I love him now.

I tried Chris Redfield for the first 3 or 4 hours of playing it, and I never really got the hang of it.
I played him because... Dude. It's Chris. He punches boulders into the lava.
He was a little too hard to figure out because I simply wasn't used to the play style.
Now that I've played it, I'm picking him up again.
I love him.

Yeahp.

That's Marvel vs awkljerlb;lakj.

I've also been playing Super Street Fighter IV for the pc.
I have a pc controller, so I decided to give it another try.

It's still a HUGE change from any other fighting game I have.

But I'm SLOOOOOOWWWLLLYYYYY getting the hang of it.

It's SO much weirder.
The combos require EPIC timing and frame-reading skills.
Don't have those yet.
But I'm working on it.

I picked it up because goddammit I wanted to play as Akuma in his native game.
He's weird.

So I tried Oni.
Too hard.

So I tried Fei Long.
Interesting.

So I tried Balrog because lots of pros use him.
He's fun!!!!! But people use him.

*NOTE*
When it comes to video games, especially fighting games, I am a COMPLETE HIPSTER.
I want to play as someone that NO ONE plays as.

So I found the character Yun.
He fights in a tai chi - type stance.
So I automatically like him.
Spent a good forty-five minutes in training just experimenting with the way he moves and such.

I have to get used to NOT being able to combo with every hit.
It takes MUCH more skill to combo in SSIV.
So, hopefully, I'll be getting better at that.

Yup.

VIDEO GAMES.

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Got on Skype with Lizzi, and we basically talked and laughed and watched and listened and stuff.
Stuff we always do.
I wouldn't trade it for the world.
I absolutely LOVE spending time with her.
Even if it's from 183.56 miles away.

I can't wait till her birthday. I can't wait to actually spend time in her physical presence.
And hold her in my arms.

And all that mushy-gushy stuff that doesn't belong on a blog about video games I LOVE HER.
Jussayin'.

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I mentioned that the chocolate thingy made me realize something.

I have the WEIRDEST thought patterns, so don't judge me for this.

I feel amazing when I can actually focus on something.
I really have issues focusing on things.
All the time.
I give up so fast.. So fast.

So, I felt better by telling myself that I would focus my gameplay on fighting games.
That made me feel better for a bit.

Then I realized, the character I like uses tai chi.

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I haven't done tai chi in a while.
I love it.

The last time I did tai chi was when I was at Cameron's house.
I got REALLY stressed and freaked out, so I went out back..

It was about 1 in the morning, and there's a mini-lake type thing behind his house.
I walked down and stood a while from the lake, but close enough that I could see the moon reflecting off the water.

It was peaceful.
Not too loud, a little breezy, so I tried to do some tai chi.
The thing is, I still haven't memorized all 24 forms for the Yang style.

I think I learned up till about 13, then got punched in the gut by SCHOOLWORK.
So I need to do that again.

But the thing is, I find eastern EVERYTHING so interesting.
Religion, culture, history, norms, etc.

I love the idea of tai chi.
I'm not really heading into the religion side of tai chi, or meditation.

But I do believe that there is energy flow in the universe.
Bodies have their own energy flow, so does the earth, so does the surroundings, etc.

So I stopped for a while.. Thought about that..
Then started doing a few forms in tai chi repeatedly.
I didn't do them in correct orders, but I did the ones that I KNEW the best.
I made them more fluid and comfortable.

I thought about the purpose of tai chi.
Redirecting energy.
The stomach is where the biggest concentration of energy is.
I thought about the actual movements of the forms I was using.

They involve circles.
Everything involves circles. Endless, infinite circles.
I started making the circles more apparent in the way I was moving.
I focused on moving energy from my core out to my limbs, out to my surroundings.
It actually started helping, visualizing the energy moving from my body.

Interesting thing is, in lots of anime and such, a common form is the 'kamehameha' -type movement.
You know.

Palms together, moving your hands outspread from your core out, shooting a lazer beam or some'm.

There's a movement sort of like that in tai chi.
I mean, the kamehameha is basically shooting your energy like a boss.

But obviously, I visualized it in a more relaxed format.
I wasn't shouting RAWRRRRR and making lazer sound effects at 1 in the morning.
It did cross my mind.

But yeah.
The tai chi helped alot.
So now I'm looking into more eastern methods of relaxation.
Meditation, tai chi, etc.

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THAT WAS A HUGE TANGENT.

Back to my ORIGINAL IDEA.

I was happy because I decided I was going to start working on my body image more.
I'm extremely dissatisfied with my body.

Too much fat, not enough lean muscle.
I weigh too much.

I'm uncomfortable in my own skin.

SO I decided I'll be trying to eat healthier.

I even came up with a rewards system to keep myself occupied.
I'll just have to follow it.

Yup.
Gotta try that out.

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SO in case you are a TL;DR person, here's the outline.

1. I LIKE FIGHTING GAMES.
2. I PLAY FIGHTING GAMES.
3. I LOVE LIZZI.
4. TAI CHI IS FUN.
5. I'M FAT.

Ta-da!
There you go.

Yup.
I'm done for the night.
I'ma go play Super Street Fighter IV now.
Good night!

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