Happy Halloween!

A First Step

As of Friday of last week, I am on medical leave for my health. Things have gotten weird, and it has become increasingly clear that it is time for me to take care of myself. Tentatively, I’m off until February 23rd while we (my MD and I) figure things out. So, today will be my first step towards getting healthier in 2018.

Today I restart Weightwatchers, but without any of the meetings or the person to person support. It will be a lonely path, but it is one I must take. So here is how I’m going to deal with that lack. Every Monday I will do my weekly weigh in, and tell you my reader about my successes and my failures of previous week, and what my goal is for the upcoming week. I will be starting off slow, focusing first on diet, and then as early as next week start transitioning into more physical activity. I need to be careful as only 18 days remain at this point of my leave, and I still need to rest my weary body.

So today is my first weigh in of 2018.

Current Weight: 361.4

My goal for the week: Focus on my caloric intake and stay within the “WW points’ allowance.

Thank you for listening. I’ll have additional posts this week on other topics, so keep an eye.

Randy

RandyTheBlog in 2018 Part 2

I've been putting some thought into what exactly this blog is. RandyTheBlog is an encapsulation of who I am as RandyThePerson. The things I like and love, the things I hate, and moments in time not yet lost like tears in rain (:P). I hope to do something I've never done before; To open up to complete strangers. I'm not comfortable being sociable. Which is weird for me to say as anytime I've been out with friends, I'm the one who does the majority of the talking with random people.
Well, moving on, I've decided that the month of February will be the beginning of the renewal of Randy. I'm going to be focusing on my health, both mental and physical. Expect to see a lot of posts related to that process in the foreseeable future. Just to give a little background, I've always been a rather "large" person. I'm six feet tall and currently weigh in the area of 360 pounds, give or take 5 pounds. The lowest I've ever weighed was 235 and that was back in High School. I am currently the heaviest I've ever been. I'm a morbidly obese nerd, who wears glasses, and keeps a blog.
Now before you run away, I'm going to make it clear that I won't only be writing about my "weight loss" journey. I've got vidya games to talk about, and movies, and TV shows (oh so many TV shows), and books, and anime (oh so many animes). As I said before I'm a morbidly obese nerd, who wears glasses, and keeps a blog.
See you next week,
Randy

RandyTheBlog in 2018

I don't know why I'm here. I know, weird, right? I bet you're thinking the same thing at the moment. I originally started this blog in 2011 to give me something to do with the abundant time I had then found myself with. I was unemployed, not attending school; a man with no idea what to do with himself. 7 years later, I'm still that man.

Yes, things have changed. I have a full-time job with a steady income. I don't have to worry overly much about my bills, these were things that I had written about in depth in the past on this very blog. The day to day minutiae of being unemployed, of the anxiety, of finally getting a part time job, the stress of the job, and so on. But still, I'm still that man who has no idea what to do with himself.

I'm still a young man, 33 years old (soon to be 34), but I've gotten to the point where I've isolated myself. Every day is the same. I get up, go to work, come home, go to bed. 5 days a week. My weekends are spent taking care of my chores that I've neglected during the week. I go out with my elderly mother and help her with her groceries or just to go with her for general shopping. I don't go out an socialise. Friends do come over usually once or twice a week to keep me from getting weird and twisted from lack of human contact (I've always been weird). Most times it still feels like work, but that is a topic for another time when I reveal what I do on the weekends with these friends.

My life has become empty. I've become empty. I feel my brain decaying from disuse. Once upon a time I thought of myself as an eternal student. I wanted to learn things, many beautiful things. I love (loved?) literature, the window into the mind of others, the chance to walk in other worlds, and to see the world through different eyes. Since I flunked out of university, all those years ago, my ability to think critically has lessened. That's not to say I've become dumber, but I tend to avoid the headier books. I sometimes think something broke in me then.

But enough of my whinging, I'm here to talk about the state of RandyTheBlog in 2018, and really the state of Randy. I think I'm back. I think I want to change, to grow, to become a better person. I want to write, I want to read, I want to think critically. For too long have I let my abilities languish, but no more. So, what does that mean for this blog? Well, I'll be writing more. In case you haven't noticed I've already posted a few times this year. Ok, I know you're looking at me funny, thinking that posting a random video in reaction to something in lieu of writing about the topic doesn't really count, but it does. It fits into a long tradition of this blog of me just posting randomly. But hey, I've also posted an update for an old post. I solved a mystery that had bugged me, Pizza Ghost has been found.

You're still wondering what exactly to expect from this blog in 2018. I don't know. I'll post something at least once a week, that is a promise. It could just be about anything. Reviews of... things, random videos that amuse me, idle musings, and maybe even some creative writing. Maybe I'll document my attempts at trying to better myself.

So, please dear reader, join me as I grow and try to become a better person.

Until next week, I remain

Randy

UPDATE: I’m Trying To Find A Specific Clip

On 6 November 2011, I wrote a post titled, "I'm Looking For A Specific Clip". This post can be found here. Unexpectedly, It has since become the second most viewed post on this blog. As I've not been updating this blog in a LONG time, I felt that it was time to post an update.

Sometime in the last two years my search came to an end. A friend of mine, with the help of some fine folks on Reddit, were able to find it. I post for you now the clip in question. It is as ridiculous and absolutely glorious as I remembered. ENJOY!

In Response to the Premiere Episode of “POP TEAM EPIC”

Hello, 2018, Pleased to Meetcha. Can We Be Friends?

I guess introductions are in order as you’ve just arrived. I’m Randy and this is my blog. More or less my home on the internet as I eschew most forms of social media. I might be getting old.
I’m sorry that 2017 gets such a bad rap, but it wasn’t a fun year. In fact, I say that it was a little frightening. 2017 was a year of hate, of hurt, and a world at the brink devouring itself. At least more so than normal. I hope that you don’t take offense.
2018, we place our hopes in you. We hope that you’ll be a year of heart, happiness, healing and redemption. If 2017 was the dark middle chapter, we hope that you’ll be our happy ending, a light in the dark.
I hope to speak with you again soon.

IGNORE ME!

Um...Hi?

Hello...Hi...Greetings...Yeah...

Has it really been 4 YEARS since I posted anything? Sad to say I never got that one last post out of Mass Effect 3. A shame really...

Anyways, I was fiddling with my settings on my Google Dashboard, when I suddenly remembered that I had a blog. So I did what any sane person would do, and I re-read all my old posts. To use a tired (BUT APT) cliche, the more things change, the more things stay the same. I'm sick, I'm broke, I'm tired, that is life.

So internet, here's an update on the life of Randy in 2016: I got older. I have a full time job (with all applicable benefits and responsibilities that entails), and am currently looking into what it will take to build myself a new home. I have jokingly said that these are the steps I must take to be a real adult. As I have become older, so has my dog who is now roughly 14 years old. He's the oldest puppy I know. He's healthy, but needs to take medications for his heart (dogs are people too), and every day I look at him and see the clock ticking down. I know one day that I will wake up and my little bastard hound will no longer be here with me, which saddens me greatly. But he's had a long and hopefully good life up to this point. But that is a thing for another time. He is still with me, and I will enjoy his company for however long I have the pleasure of being here with him.

Yeah, I know I'm just rambling, but that has always seemed to be the style of this blog. Who knows if I'll ever post again, but I didn't want it to just sort of end, y'know? There are things I regret not doing in my time with this blog, those oh so many years ago. I never wrote that one shitty novel that everyone has inside of them. I never completed Eternal Darkness, or wrote my final thoughts on Mass Effect 3. I never sat down and wrote the "true" story of The Slacker Chronicles; it's failures, it's triumphs. From time to time I revisit these things in my head (maybe not Eternal Darkness, and Mass Effect 3), and see what could have been. I have tales I want to write, and things I want to create. I WANT I WANT I WANT I WANT.

And with all that said, time for bed! Until we meet again.

Randy

Lost In Thought

I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around the ending to Mass Effect 3. Since my last post I’ve made zero progress in articulating my feelings regarding it. So I’m just going to come out and say it, and if it results in an eventually mega-post, so be it.

The ending to Mass Effect 3 was awful.

I mean REALLY awful.

So awful in fact that not only does it ruin the game, it ruins the whole series. I see what they were trying to do from a literary standpoint, but the result is a mass failure. It almost feels like they were rushed, or that they didn’t have an ending in mind when they started Shepard’s story.

I’ll probably get one more post out of this before I move on with my life.

At least the multiplayer portion of the game is entertaining.

A Minor Update

I beat Mass Effect 3. I’ll write more substantially on it. A small post about it has blown up and I don’t think I’ll have it done any time soon. Oh well. I’ve to start supper, as I forgot to do it earlier. Oops. Maybe I’ll post some more tonight, but more than likely it’ll be tomorrow. Until then.

Dread

On my the precipice, I can feel it in my bones. In just a few more missions I’ll have beaten Mass Effect 3. I’m scared. I don’t know how I’ll take the ending in context, since I accidentally spoiled some specifics of the ending. Soon it will be done.

Instead of just complete this saga and bringing my Shepard’s saga to an end, I’m dicking around with the multiplayer. You know what? The multiplayer portion of the game is actually decent. Its superfluous, but still its decent. I’ve actually had fun playing with randoms on Xbox Live.

Next time I post I’ll have beaten the game. Here’s hoping its not as bad as people have been making it out to be.

Roleplay

The Mass Effect RPG series is one where I actually roleplay. My FemShep is fiercely loyal of her allies, dislikes authority, is unforgiving of stupid decision, and REALLY likes to collect model star ships for her cabin. She rolls as a paragon, but has a hot streak of renegade.

This connection I’ve created to this character I’ve played for THREE WHOLE FUCKING games is crazy, and I love it. Its very rare in videogames for you to actually have a choice in how your character goes about their tasks. Too bad that the ending of the game supposedly completely ignores what you’ve done with your character during the series.

I’m really hoping the ending isn’t as bad as people make it out to be. On the plus side, the DLC providing an extended cut of the ending will be coming out in the next few months to “personalise” the ending more.

I’ll write about my feeling further when I finally beat the game.

Nothing New To Share

I worked for 8 hours, I ate Shepherd’s Pie, and I listened to the Bombcast. My feet hurt.

That was my whole day.

Oh, and Caine’s Arcade!

This brought a tear to my eye, a tear of joy.

Now to bed.

Another Mass Effect 3 Post

So by now everyone has heard about the terrible ending of Mass Effect 3. I’ve avoided spoilers about it, wanting to experience it myself. At this time, I think I’m maybe 1/3rd of the way through the game, and so far I’m liking the story. It has a great sense of the epic, and the only thing I can really complain about is that there is no sense of urgency. Between missions I waste my time doing meaningless sidequests and the war just stops. I can take my time because once I activate the next “main quest” mission the war continues. Its a little ridiculous.

I’m dreading the ending though and I hope that its not as bad as the internet fanboys have made it.

An Uneventful Trip

I went to the US for the first time in 2 years yesterday. It was suffice to say absolutely terrible. We should have never went on Good Friday. We had a two hour wait at the border/ It felt like the entirety of Quebec had made their way to Plattsburgh, NY. Crowds of rude Frenchmen filled the malls, and the Walmart. It wouldn’t have been so bad if they hadn’t been rude, or maybe if there was just less of them.

Nothing went as planned. We had originally went across in order to buy groceries since we had heard about some good deals at the area supermarkets. Next time I go, I’ll go on a day that’s less busy.

A Very Long Weekend

I’ve got the next four days off from work. I go back to the shop on Tuesday. I’ll be glad to be off my feet for the entire time. My job really takes its toll on my feet and ankles. Probably because of my weight. Oh well.

Mass Effect 3 Initial Impressions

I started Mass Effect 3 last night, and its another Mass Effect game. My only issue is that my FemShep has been recast with a different actress. My FemShep from ME2 couldn’t be properly imported, and instead produced some sort of freak. It was sad really. I’m just going to play through this game with the default FemShep as she looks similar to the model I used in the previous games in the series.

Major issues with the initial part of the game. For the entirety of the opening cinema, the lip sync was off. It was distracting and took me completely out of the set up.

I caved and bought the controversial DLC, “From Ashes”, since it supposedly has payoff for those invested in the series mythology. I have yet to reach the point where I can pursue this quest line.

I’ll write more once I’ve played more.

On the other hand, I’m itching to get back into two other games I’ve been playing, specifically Kid Icarus Uprising, and Kingdoms of Amalur.

Jumping Into Mass Effect 3

So I’m going to start Mass Effect 3 tonight. I’ve been avoiding spoilers as much as possible, and don’t want to know WHAT the shitty ending is until I’ve experienced it myself. Like Soulcalibur, I’ve invested a good amount of time into the Mass Effect series, and specifically into my version of Shepard.

This investment almost lead me into replaying ME2, simply because I accidentally wandered down a romance path I hadn’t intended to take. I was hoping to maintain my relationship from the first game throughout the series, and failed miserably. Such is life.

An April Fool

This isn’t a joke or a prank, I’m back. My life sucks but so does everyone else's. I’ve not posted in TWO months, and its time for me to start again. I’m going to start posting semi-regularly while I figure out what to write. I need to do something with my time other than just work. I feel as if I’ve written all this before.

Tomorrow and every day after you will see at the very least a small inconsequential post from me. It’ll be about how my day was, or short fiction, or mini-reviews of whatever I’ve been reading/watching/playing/listening to.

So yeah, I’m back. Whatever.