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You can subscribe to Hooshcast through iTunes here.
Behold: My New Podcast!
I always wanted to do a podcast. This thing is going to be my new personal outlet. The first few episodes are going to be me interviewing my dad about his past. Hopefully it'll get really awkward and uncomfortable. Enjoy!
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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hypoglycemia
I used to eat a lot. I wasn't exactly happy but the high carbs and sugars kept me full of energy and motivation. My brain worked. However, when I hit puberty I didn't understand why girls weren't all over me. Instead of realizing there was nothing wrong and it was just my perception that was holding me back, I decided to blame my body weight.
After struggling with yo-yo diets, I had finally started to starve myself in college. I began to document it in a LiveJournal which I was hoping it would give me the exposure I needed to become a news celebrity ('cause that's gonna get me women.) It didn't work but I did lose a lot of weight and kick start my male pattern baldness at the age of 19. It also gave me weird circulation problems and mood swings. My hands and feet were always cold as a corpse that before going to job interviews I would always make a conscious effort to warm up my paws before giving someone a handshake. I had a short temper and at times I would catch myself not being myself. I would either be sullenly slumped in a corner or the biggest asshole on this side of Lake Ontario. Often friends and family would be upset with me and I would forget what I had done. I felt like the abusive husband, spinelessly apologizing to his wife in those PSA ads for domestic violence. I chalked it up as this being my shitty character flaw and I was fucked.
I lived with these symptoms for decades. I started to eat better but because of my foray in anorexia, I had learned to suppress hunger pains which would cause me to forget to eat. I would drink a lot of coffee which also suppressed my hunger but also accelerated my heart rate which I thought was good because it gave me energy. This energy also came with extreme anxiety that I medicated with weed. Amongst my pothead friends, I gained the ridiculous reputation of being the guy who never gets the munchies. On top of all of this, my erratic behavior was getting worse and worse.
With all the caffeinated anxiety and THC-laced paranoia, there was no way I could maintain a relationship with anyone. I couldn't deal with dating and the few friends who would put up with me would get sick of my chronic flakiness. Family was always a source of unconditional love but they were struggling with their own problems. Ironically, it wasn't until I started to pay attention to their health problems that I was able to identity my own.
Everyone in my family has type 2 diabetes. Both my parents struggle with it and my sisters were diagnosed with gestational diabetes after they had kids. In case you don't know, type 2 diabetes is the one you don't need to inject insulin for. It's partly from genetics and mainly from a shitty diet/rough life. The poor man's disease. Everyone told me that if I didn't watch out, I would get it. I accepted the inevitability but always assumed it would happen when I'm old and gray. I would get yearly check ups from my doctor and everything seemed fine so I paid no heed.
Just as I lost my hair prematurely, all of these mood swings were pre-diabetic symptoms and I was on the edge of getting full blown type 2. It's called hypoglycemia and explains a lot of my problems with bad circulation and horrible mood swings. I was just hungry and human beings need to eat.
As I am typing this an alarm is sounding off on my phone reminding me that it is time to eat. To deal with my disassociation of hunger with hunger pains, I use a small app (3 Hour Diet) on my phone to remind me to eat and drink enough water throughout the day. As stupid as it sounds, it has helped me manage my hypoglycemia. Incidentally, eating every 3 hours is what you are supposed to do to keep your metabolism in check. Doing that and getting the right exercise everyday has helped me become a little less of a psycho which I'm sure the people around me appreciate. In fact, it has allowed me to be around people instead of shutting myself in.
Part of me wishes I (or a medical practitioner) had figured this out a decade ago but I also know dwelling on the past and blaming others is worthless. I'm happy that I was finally able to identify my weaknesses and treat it properly. I'm much more optimistic about life and excited to focus on my career and relationships that were being neglected do to my ailments.
To summarize; Mortal Kombat taught me that knowledge is power and GZA from the Wu-Tang Clan preached that knowledge of self is the ultimate power. These are both Westernized, pop culture versions of ancient Eastern philosophies that I wish more people would take to heart. The struggle of life is never over but it's important to keep on fighting.
Deconstruct everything around you so you can learn to build a propitious future.
Losing Faith while Praying the Bad Men Away
You may lose me here but I used to have a strong relationship with "God" when I was a kid. My mother was very religious and together we would pray before I went to bed and when I would wake up everyday. The praying wasn't like in the movies where kids would kneel by their beds and actually talk to god asking for something like writing to Santa. It was more of a mantra that would put me into a meditative state–sort of like a trance. I would do this ritualistic act twice a day and it would put my mind at ease. It would allow me to easily fall into a deep sleep and wake up refreshed in the morning.
I remember I was so good at getting into this meditative state that I believed I could go deep enough into this world that I would never come back. I firmly believed I could shut my brain off and die. Not in a scary suicidal sense but in a crazy metaphysical way. I also felt this childhood magic was beneficial to my well being as I was getting good grades and praise for my creativity. I was able to do anything because I could focus on the task at hand with the utmost clarity.
So what happened?
I entered high school and was bullied almost every single day. I would tell my mother about the bullies and her answer was to pray more. I then put it upon myself to wake up at 6 AM on school days and pray for hours to make the bullies stop. It was torture and I was miserable. I wont go into detail but they were picking on me because I was a visible minority. The bullying went on for a year and so did my praying. It wasn't until the second year when it finally broke me and I lost my faith. I stopped praying and confronted the bullies. I sarcastically would play along with them to the point they would laugh at how ridiculous it was and the situation would diffuse. The evil smoke hole kids found a lot of respect for me. I had won and realized through humour I was accepted into every clique. I was the plainswalker. I then dominated my entire high school from starting as the outcast nerd to becoming the most popular kid.
So what happened?
I peaked. The rich hipster kids introduced me to alcohol and shitty music. The poor smoke hole kids gave me access to drugs and even shittier music. I felt a big hole from the absence of my daily prayer routine and turned to psychedelic hallucinogens to continue my adventures in metaphysically spelunking. I would trip on psilocybin mushrooms twice a week for a year until I couldn't keep them down anymore.
I was at my peak and done. Nothing made me happy. I had zero motivation to do anything. My mind was full of so many thoughts, doubts, and worries that I ruined my academic career. I was emotionally tired all the time and stopped showing up to class in my senior year when I was student council president. It was really bad and lead to an avalanche of poor choices.
Now I'm not saying I've become some sort of hippy dippy religious freak or anti drug lamer. I'm just saying balance is important and don't knock meditation. I understand now what "prayer" is all about and why it worked for me. I hope I can do it again and it's not too late to regain the power to focus on my dreams and achieve what I set out to do 20 years ago. And I'm not afraid to admit my mistakes, swallow my pride, and do the right thing for myself. I don't care if I'm an old, bald, white whiskered Billy now. I'm still that kid from 20 years ago full of fire and hope. Something burning inside of me kept me young at heart, kept me from doing anything too stupid that would keep me from being here and typing this out to you. Now let's stop being cheesy and do something with ourselves.
Say your prayers and go to sleep.
Wake Up and Smell the Rotting Carp
I'm going to try to blog at least once a day to keep my mind from going like a 70 year old doing their Sudoku after an unsatisfying lunch. It feels like I woke up from a coma or walked away from serving 15 years in solitary confinement. I don't know what happen–know exactly what happened but I don't feel comfortable writing about it yet. Is that bad?
Writing in a LiveJournal or my ghetto geocities page 17 years ago had a sense of anonymity. The internet was this secret thing that didn't matter to anyone except us dregs of sorrow. Now you are weird if you aren't connected to the web at all times with a smartphone radiating your tender parts. When did people stop caring about the people who actually care about them and start chasing likes, views, and favorites from strangers and spambots?
What made me once feel ahead of the times is no longer my secret something. This private world which I would once run away to is now closely monitored by potential employers, government agencies, and friends you sometimes need a break from. What happened? Did I grow old and the world passed me by? Am I going to be bitter with the rest of my generation who didn't cash in on creating insidiously monetized social networks, boring business app middleware, and manipulative free-to-play mobile games? Oh the dreamer that never woke up in time for class, didn't chase a lucrative career, and stopped bothering to keep up with his peers. Where did you go? Fishing I guess.
Canada's Post-War Benefit (November 6, 1998)
I wrote this for grade 9 history. The citation page is missing.
Man's greatest abomination is war. After the world had just gotten over the First World War, the madness imerged once again. Hitler had unveiled and unleashed the Nazi war machine upon the world. Hitler's Nazi Germany was essentially about hatred. Hitler blamed innocent "scapegoats" of being the cause of the 1932 Depression. The German people were unemployed, hungry and very angry. Hitler's ideology, of the "superior race" and the cleansing of all other inferior races through genocide, was brainwashed into the minds of Germans. Thus began the Second World War.
For all the horrors of war there were some countries that benefited from its outcome. Canada, a colonial backwater had achieved being of international importance. The war had dragged Canada out of the depression. Canada had been strengthened, not only economically but socially as well. It is hard to believe that good could actually come out of war, but it stands to be true.
Car Deal (Sept. 14, 1998)
This is a recently unearthed journal entry I wrote in grade 9 destreamed English.
My uncle has always told me that if I ever go to buy a Honda, check the serial number for a "J" in the third digit. That would indicate the car was produced in Japan. If there wasn't a "J", the car was most likely produced in North America, which meant a snot nosed, over paid person had made it with the least in effort.
You see, my uncle had taken pride in his 1985 Honda Civic. He always said, "Japanese engines will last forever." He was right, the engine did last. The only problem was it out lasted the body. We had all agreed that it was time for my uncle to get a new car.
Retcon or Interesting Multiverse Possiblities in Film
You know how Hollywood always glosses over things in history? Like if it's in a multimillion dollar blockbuster film it will be sanitized to not step on anyone's toes and get the maximum market appeal. I'm drawing blank on some examples at the moment because I'm excited to write down these thoughts: imagine a movie set in the past but void of racism and traditional gender roles. Like what if a social justice warrior was able to rewrite history.
Yeah like maybe a time traveler that goes back to prevent slavery, religious persecution, and patriarchy and how it changed present day. Think about everything slaves and cheap labour built. How long would it take society to build infrastructures without subjugation and war? Would present day be total shit?
Wonder if this was ever explored in a Quantum Leap episode.
Coffee Should Be Made Illegal
So as you may know I got a G.I. track infection from eating some expired blue cheese after performing at an open mic. It gave me explosive diarrhea for an entire week and then the following week I had massive constipation. The insane push and pull on my anus caused monsterous hemorrhoids and a fissure in my hairy butt. Every bowel movement felt like giving birth. I couldn't figure out why I was so terribly constipated until I realized I haven't drank coffee in 2 weeks.
I'm horribly addicted to coffee and after some googling about I found a lot of people get constipated once they stop drinking java cold turkey. Holy shit! My body forgot how to shit without a Starbucks blast of bean water to the colon.
What the fuck? I need to drink coffee to shit. What happens if I survive a plane crash on an island or something? Do I need to carry instant coffee in a back pocket at all times in case of emergencies? This is a goddamn nightmare. I don't want to be dependent on a substance to shit. I read people who give up smoking go through this. I'm don't want to be a caffeine junky!
I also read that the only way to really give up coffee is to ween yourself off gradually. I never understood what decaf was for until now. Now I'm gonna be that guy with the decaf at checkout.
What I learned: Don't drink coffee or drink it all the time.
Avant-Garde to MTV: Appropriating Pure Cinema
The influence of the 1920s French Avant-garde film movement is clearly evident in the techniques used in the production of modern day music videos. These techniques birthed by post war French cubist, surrealist, Dadaist, and futurist artists, who according to Cook, "had [become] intensely interested in the possibilities of film to embody dream states and to express modernist conceptions of time and space," (Cook, 2004, p. 303) had crafted a style of film making that heavily relied on a visual rhythm. The rhythmic ballet produced through the repetition of shapes and images as seen in Fernand Léger's Ballet Mécanique (1924) and the incoherent, dream like brutal and erotic images of Luis Buñuel's Un Chien Andalou (1929) were key influences in the development of the aesthetics of MTV style editing. However, despite sharing similar visual styles and themes, they part ways in vision, as the French Avant-garde's purpose was to achieve a pure cinema, an art form that was strictly filmic and void of influences from other media, whereas MTV's appropriation of the 1920s art was clearly used for commercial purposes such as the sale of musical recordings and lifestyles. Continue reading


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The 2011 NHL draft is upon us, and most eyes will be on the young prospects and what jerseys they put on.
But another interesting side note to pay attention to is the numerous potential trades that could happen in one day.
There are a number of general managers that have been very upfront about wanting to trade their first-round picks in order to either move up in the draft or acquire a current NHL star. Banter like this is not uncommon in the days leading up to the big day, but this year's draft seems to have stirred up more discussion than in previous years.
Of course, no one really knows what will actually happen when push comes to shove. However, if there are going to be deals that take place involving first-round picks, here are a few teams that will likely be in the middle of them.


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Photo Galleries »
Super Bowl press conferences | Jan. 27, 2014
Photos from the Seahawks and Broncos Super Bowl press conferences Monday.
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Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett listens to a question during a news conference Monday, Jan. 27, 2014, in Jersey City, N.J. The Seahawks and the Denver Broncos are scheduled to play in the Super Bowl XLVIII football game Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
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Bachelor of Games Design
Griffith University
Bachelor Degree (Pass)
|OPRank Cutoff
|Mid Year Intake?
|Study Mode
|Entry Requirements
|South Bank, Qld College of Art
|Full-time internal
Year 12 or equivalent; Prerequisite: English
Course Description
Students will learn how to create the games that people love to play the world over. Students will receive a thorough grounding in the creative development of game art and design, moving from art-foundation skills to storytelling, storyboarding, cinematography, 3D modelling, human movement, game level design, computer interface issues, sound design and the influence of games on society. In the final year, students will have the opportunity to participate in a major group project, with the aim to ship their first game title to market. Students will also have the opportunity to engage with industry practitioners and gain hands-on experience with games production.
Subjects you can Study
Animating; Art Direction; Computer Generated Imagery; Game Audio; Player Experience
^ Shows the minimum tertiary entrance ranking needed by Australian school leavers to get into each CSP-based course. Cut-offs are not determined in advance. Course data and cut-off scores published on Good Universities Guide are indicative of the 2016 academic year.
About Griffith UniversityGriffith University is one of Australia's most innovative universities and is focused on producing graduates ready to lead the new world of work. Its comprehensive offering of programs allows for extensive interdisciplinary teaching and learning, unleashing potential and delivering excellence.
Griffith University ranks in the top five per cent of universities worldwide. It is Australia's ninth largest higher education provider with over 50,000 students across five campuses in the Brisbane - Gold Coast region of South East Queensland. As an Official Partner and the Official University of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, Griffith University will deliver hundreds of tailor-made internships and student opportunities along with staff secondments and placements related to the preparation and delivery of the Games.
Griffith's teaching and research address many of tomorrow's challenges and prepare graduates for the future. Griffith offers undergraduate, postgraduate and research degrees in disciplines of humanities, social sciences and languages, health, environment, planning and architecture, music, visual and creative arts, education, science and aviation, business and government, engineering and information technology, criminology and law.
Its teachers are consistently awarded among the best in Australia and the work-integrated learning available to Griffith students empowers them with professional connections and understanding from the start of their careers.
Griffith is one of Australia's leading research universities exhibiting national and world standard excellence in areas of strategic focus that include water science, criminology, health and chronic diseases, drug discovery, quantum physics, climate change adaptation, music, sustainable tourism and political science.
Griffith has a comprehensive research portfolio with many world leading research areas and the University has set a strong foundation to grow its research strengths.
Provider CRICOS: 00233E
Bachelor Degree (Pass)
South Bank, Qld College of Art
- Full-time internal = 3 years
240 credit points
Entry Requirements
Year 12 or equivalent; Prerequisite: English
Study Pathways
Honours is available.
How does this course perform?
How do study fields for Bachelor of Games Design at Griffith University perform?
Life after Study
Computing and information technology
Where are graduates that studied Computing and information technology at Griffith University?
|Public sector
|Private practice
|Private industry
|Working overseas
Creative arts
Where are graduates that studied Creative arts at Griffith University?
|Public sector
|Private practice
|Private industry
|Working overseas
Related Careers
Games Developer
Games developers design, create and produce computer or video games. They work in games development teams with artists, programmers, producers and marketing staff. Games developers usually specialise in a particular game platform (PlayStation, Xbox or Nintendo, for example) and a particular aspect of game development, such as programming artificial intelligence or gameplay.
Graphic Designer
Graphic designers produce visual communications, including art and layouts of text for reproduction in print and electronic media such as magazines, newspapers, books and websites, as well as image designs for corporate identity programmes, exhibitions and advertising.


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Leveraging Your Mortgage As An AssetIf you've got a mortgage, then you've got an asset. Put it to work for you and learn how to spread that loan out to best help your financial situation.
Survive This Economy: Refinancing Your Home LoanA recent survey reveals that nearly a third of Chicago area homeowners are still underwater – meaning they owe more money on their mortgage than their home is worth. CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker reports, even if you don't have equity in your home, there is help available if you want to refinance your home loan.
Illinois Homeowners To Get $1B From Mortgage SettlementAs part of a $25 billion nationwide settlement with the country's five largest banks, struggling Illinois homeowners are expected to get about $1 billion to settle allegations of fraudulent and improper foreclosure practices.


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******** 2015 World Grand Champion Emerson and Raymond Shively ********
Welcome to the new updated American Road Horse and Pony Association website. Over the next few weeks you will start to see more changes and additions. If there is anything you would like to see or think needs to be changed please let us know.


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October 21, 2016
Self driving Tesla
It's everywhere else so why not here too... self driving Tesla! Can't wait for it to deliver pizza!
Posted by Snaggy at 08:28 AM
October 11, 2016
The time of our lives....
Posted by Snaggy at 11:41 AM
October 08, 2016
Just a reminder of the real world...
Posted by Snaggy at 10:12 AM
September 29, 2016
Wow, scads of Snaggy tidbits! And what a nice one from Shooshie!
Shooshie says Ya gotta admit, ... ... and Snaggy loves Nero's rotating dining room, gets a Spiralizer, notes the Total Solar Eclipse next year, spys a Circumhorizontal arc, sees They Saw Evolution Happening, and sends out a call for SuperFan mailing addresses.
Posted by Snaggy at 11:22 AM
September 27, 2016
SpaceX's plans for Mars!
Wow, now that's the future I was promised!
Posted by Snaggy at 02:41 PM
September 26, 2016
Daddy's Car: a song composed by Artificial Intelligence
Hmmm, you can hear the programming...
-add songname to verse
-add BeachBoys harmony
-process using Beatles
Think I still prefer meat to write music. :-D
Posted by Snaggy at 10:23 AM
September 21, 2016
You gotta love Sassy Trump
Posted by Snaggy at 08:01 PM