The "What's Up" Thread

[Gustav 6,469]

3 hours ago, jhatty8 said:

I'm a high school track and cross-country runner. Not the best, however I'm one of the better distance runners on my team and could probably run at a local D3 college if I wanted to. Right now, I'm in my junior year track season and it's technically my first ever. Freshman year was COVID, sophomore year I suffered a stress fracture and was out for pretty much the entire track season.  My goal at the beginning of the year was to run a sub-5:00 mile and I (barely) accomplished that last week with a time of 4:59.8. Now, I'm just trying to keep pushing that time every meet and also stay in shape for my final cross-country season. My best time there is a 17:23 5k (3.1 mi.) and my goal is to run a sub-17:00 5k.

 

For those curious, no running is not fun. Here's to doing it six days a week.

 

Not fun, but what little I've done has been rewarding! I feel like I'm working at something and improving myself. I certainly wouldn't call myself a runner yet, but I'm starting to understand the appeal of it (even though I feel like I'm going to die after a mile and a half).

 

Hope all goes well this season!

[McWolf 3,116]

On 4/21/2022 at 11:16 PM, Gustav said:

If you like rock, listen to this.

Got surprised by this, wasn't expecting a PT song in here. I love everything Steven Wilson does, and this album as a whole is one of Porcupine Tree's best.

[fonziGG 1,071]

[Gustav 6,469]

3 hours ago, McWolf said:

Got surprised by this, wasn't expecting a PT song in here. I love everything Steven Wilson does, and this album as a whole is one of Porcupine Tree's best.

 

I remember you briefly mentioning them at one point like...a year ago maybe. One of my friends is very into them as well. I started listening to them recently and I love it.

 

I think some of their stuff is very similar to Riverside, who we talked about at one point as well.

[frescoelmo 1,282]

On 4/21/2022 at 10:16 PM, Gustav said:

Hi everyone! It's Thursday night, and I'M BORED.

 

I want to know what's going on in your life--good, bad, ugly, exciting, or even boring. Literally anything is cool because I love a good bit of insight into who you are and how you work. I'll start!

 

I've been trying to mix up what I listen to on Spotify because for WAY too long, all I did was listen through my liked songs over and over. I ended up hating quite a bit that I should love and did love for a long time. Lately, I've been finding a lot that I really like by just picking a random playlist or a random artist every day.

 

If you like jazz (or even some forms of chill hip-hop), listen to this. I'll add that it's an absolute masterpiece if you know a thing or two about chord progressions and music theory.

If you like rock, listen to this.

If you like funky pop-rock (or just want to listen to something really fun), listen to this.

 

 

School-wise: it's final project time, and this semester I've got FOUR of them. It hasn't picked up quite yet, but I've got two weeks straight off from work at the start of May and I'll need them.

 

I've started going to the gym for the first time in, well, ever! I have a lot to learn, and two of the three times I've been, I just ran on the treadmill. I haven't run a mile straight since...I don't even know when, but both times I managed to do three miles in total (with breaks). I definitely need the exercise, because even though I've never needed to lose weight, I've also never been in shape, and those are two entirely different things.

 

I'm also trying to spend less money. Usually, I spend how I want because I never blow it all on anything huge, but I recently downloaded Truebill and found that I'm saving a bit less than I'd like to. I'm not in financial trouble at all, but it's made me a bit more conscious of things like "do I really need to buy a snack on my run to the store for something completely unrelated?"

 

Also, HOW DOES ONE FIND AN APARTMENT? I'm poking around a little at listings for next semester, and my problem isn't that I can't find anything so much as it's that I have no idea what to pick and there's so much available. I don't know what to look for, and I'm not confident I can pick anything without seeing it in person.

 

 

But enough about me. What's going on with you?

 

Hello

 

Hmmm life updates are fun.  Lot of traveling this year which is great, however I loved covid travelling cause it was half price and I wasn't expected to be in the office much.  Have been to Breckenridge, Austin, Vegas and Nashville this year so far, with plans for Michigan 2-3 times, Italy and a few weddings in the midwest.  Maybe Oregon for Labor Day.  Work has really picked up and it will likely be a career year, however materials and labor are really getting strung out with regards to availability so I would suspect 2023 to be a tough one.  Might eventually leave and go back into project management but that is for another time

 

I had a moment in jazz music, played a lot of it in school.

 

I also LOVE that you pulled an absolute GEM from Porcupine Tree (also easy to play on guitar).  Would love to see them live sometime.  If you haven't watched Rick Beato yet I HIGHLY recommend.  He does a lot of cool music breakdown and theory stuff that you would adore.

 

So the funny thing about the gym is it can be super intimidating.  But honestly, ask anyone (as long as they aren't mid-set or wearing headphones) if you have any questions and they would not only help you but probably show you how to do it properly.  2-3 days of cardio a week is great for everything including your heart.  (which reminds me, I really want to invest in a stand-up desk soon).

 

Financially I have a pretty good idea of my patterns and basis, so it works out, but I could certainly stand to monitor it more and not just look at my credit card statements thinking "hmm, guess I'll spend more/less next month" lol.  It is interesting though, over time you learn that you are comfortable cost-cutting in areas that you don't find as much value in.  For instance, I could care less about dining out (unlike fong) so I cook a lot and find it both a good cost-cutting method, along with being a good hobby.  I do, however like to travel and drink, so I try to balance those two   (not 50/50, but close.....)

 

Lastly, I ironically have had a lot of success apartment hunting on CRAIGSLIST of all places.  Met a lot of good roommates the first 4 years out of college in great areas.  I would not recommend living with one other person (2 total) unless you are friends with them.  If you can find it.... in-unit washer/dryer.  You won't go back.

 

 

[Nykonax 1,566]

this is a nice thread

 

i'm graduating high school like exactly 2 months from now, which is exciting but also weird. i've been going to the same school since kindergarten (K-12), so kinda crazy that I will hardly see any of these people that I've known for 4-12 years again. I've technically already graduated, so this semester is kind of just a formality. Just taking religion (required), psych (really fun course), and then AP Math and AP Eng Lit. AP exams are in like a week, and then after that I just have 2 pretty chill classes for the rest of the year which is dope.

 

For Uni I accepted an offer from Dalhousie in Halifax, so I guess I'll be terrorizing Bek in person in 4 months. I'll be studying Commerce and probably specializing in finance, but not really sure where I want to go with that yet, don't really want to work on wall street or anything, I've settled for just working at some chill company office job. I think working in E-sports would be cool, but no idea how to get into that + most are American companies and I don't really want to live there lmao.

 

Also went on a few dates with this girl in my class, was really good and have the next one this sunday, no idea what we're doing yet but if people have ideas hmu

[diamond_ace 3,112]

On 4/22/2022 at 8:33 AM, Arce said:

We are almost 3 months in with kid #2 and for having 2 kids 10 months apart, I would dare to say we are killing the game. Our son is 1 year, and 1 month. Our little 3 month sweetheart found her smile, and is sleeping for us 7-9 hours straight at night which is wonderful. My wife and I switch on and off every night for her to keep ourselves fresh, even though she has given us a nights sleep. I instituted the idea of getting her used to her crib off the bat and it has worked nicely so far. Our one year old is running around the house, blabbing away and loves books already. Overall being a dad has been a chaotic, but amazing experience. It is as they say. The older they get, the more I fall in love with them. You put in the hard work to get to the better steps I would say. Not that the toddler stage is not challenging, but I enjoy it far more than the newborn stage. My son is my best buddy, always with me and wants to be apart of what I am doing.

 

Work wise, we are busy as hell despite me finding Discord time to unwind when I can. We are rolling out two-factor authentication, implementing a new e-mail routing security system, getting a completely EDR solution, getting 2k+ new Chromebooks ready for next school year the fun just never ends. it is going to be a very busy summer for us.

 

Personal life, the baby stage has meant not seeing friends as much which has been the one downside since I love getting together with people. I know this is only a temporary "set back" so my wife and I are setting something up for a day/night out in Atlantic City which is one of my favorite places to go. I went there for my 21st and usually go 3-4 times a year. We haven't been since the start of COVID so this will be an incredible reunion as the 2+ years of not being there is by far the longest stretch. There is nothing like getting down there during warm weather early, and doing a bar crawl in the casinos, sportsbooks, beach bars, hitting the beach, then going in for a shower. While the girls get ready, me and the guys hit the casino and gamble a bit then we do dinner, and the whole night is ahead!

I've also been to AC a few times, fun place

[diamond_ace 3,112]

On 4/24/2022 at 1:30 PM, jhatty8 said:

I'm a high school track and cross-country runner. Not the best, however I'm one of the better distance runners on my team and could probably run at a local D3 college if I wanted to. Right now, I'm in my junior year track season and it's technically my first ever. Freshman year was COVID, sophomore year I suffered a stress fracture and was out for pretty much the entire track season.  My goal at the beginning of the year was to run a sub-5:00 mile and I (barely) accomplished that last week with a time of 4:59.8. Now, I'm just trying to keep pushing that time every meet and also stay in shape for my final cross-country season. My best time there is a 17:23 5k (3.1 mi.) and my goal is to run a sub-17:00 5k.

 

For those curious, no running is not fun. Here's to doing it six days a week.

I've found that running for speed is not fun, but running for distance (after you're accustomed to it at a certain level) is fun. Ran cross country in high school (we didn't have track) and my best time back then was an 18:57 so definitely nowhere near college level, but usually one of the point scorers for my tiny ass school (the whole team was like 10 guys, so I was usually 3rd or 4th even though on a larger public school team I'd have been only mediocre).

Now though, as the post-high-school portion of my life is now slightly longer than the pre-high-school portion, I've gone the complete opposite direction. I'm slow as fuck now but have done 7 marathons and a 50k. I'd much rather be out there on some long trail course, peaceful as hell, nothing but me and the trees for miles, than trying to shave a few extra seconds off a 5k time. Been out of commission for this since Covid, but 2017-2018 were some huge personal milestones distance-wise. Still slow as fuck though.


(Also, if you're interested, back in 2014 I wrote a poem about where my running journey was at that time, and it's on this forum:) 

 

[Arce 755]

8 hours ago, diamond_ace said:

I've also been to AC a few times, fun place

Super pumped to go back, especially with the COVID restrictions lifted!

[fishy 1,757]

good thread.

 

re: music, i like seeing how other people organize their interests. i'm a slut for creating spotify playlists, and i do a themed one each week. why? no good reason other than to say i have them. it's also a fun and easy way to get song recommendations from people–i just say "send me a song that has 'sweet' in the title, artist, or album name," and i get a handful of new songs to listen to. the only fault i've found is when i did transportation and @Garsh recommended wheels on the bus. it followed the rules, so i couldn't refuse, and now i just have to pray that no one is creeping on my spotify listening when that song shuffles in

 

in terms of my life more generally, i'm doing really well for the first time, like, ever. i moved to WI in october and was extremely depressed for a few months. multiple calls to the suicide hotline, inability to feed myself, actual anger at the fact that i was alive every single day. one night, finally, while i was journaling about how i didn't "want to do this anymore" i just kinda decided not to, but not in the negative way. i taught myself how to crochet, started walking on the treadmill while i read, and cooking. i have hobbies now, and the silly little corporate job i have doesn't feel like my whole life.

 

i've had a really great time learning to invest in myself. i do things that i like because i like them. i feel better when i eat and go to the gym, even if sometimes i just read a book while i walk for 30 minutes. i sleep better when i take time away from my screens. it's been a really pleasant experience to, for lack of a cliche term, actually learn how to be happy and like myself. small things go a really long way, and i also feel like i'm more interesting to myself and other people now that i do something that i actually give a shit about instead of watching discord all night waiting for it to be bedtime.

 

in terms of money, i've always been a saver because i am (for really no good reason) terrified of spending money. i built a really simple budget and started organizing my funds a few months ago, and it's easier for me to feel comfortable doing things like grabbing dinner with my friends or planning a somewhat spontaneous trip to europe or get the tattoo i've been wanting. it's the small things–i know that my pleasure account is there specifically to do things for funsies, so i frickin use it

[jhatty8 675]

12 hours ago, diamond_ace said:

I've found that running for speed is not fun, but running for distance (after you're accustomed to it at a certain level) is fun. Ran cross country in high school (we didn't have track) and my best time back then was an 18:57 so definitely nowhere near college level, but usually one of the point scorers for my tiny ass school (the whole team was like 10 guys, so I was usually 3rd or 4th even though on a larger public school team I'd have been only mediocre).

Now though, as the post-high-school portion of my life is now slightly longer than the pre-high-school portion, I've gone the complete opposite direction. I'm slow as fuck now but have done 7 marathons and a 50k. I'd much rather be out there on some long trail course, peaceful as hell, nothing but me and the trees for miles, than trying to shave a few extra seconds off a 5k time. Been out of commission for this since Covid, but 2017-2018 were some huge personal milestones distance-wise. Still slow as fuck though.


(Also, if you're interested, back in 2014 I wrote a poem about where my running journey was at that time, and it's on this forum:) 

 

 

An 18:57 is nothing to scoff at, I've known many dedicated four-year guys who couldn't crack 19 minutes. Especially for a smaller school, competition with teammates is one of the best ways to improve - it's harder without that aspect.

 

If I don't get lazy in college, I'll probably follow the same route of going longer that you did. Though I can run a fast mile, I prefer longer runs. It's pretty insane that you have seven marathons under your belt, mad props.

[Lemorse7 1,021]

What's up!! I guess I good chunk of people are talking about music so I will talk about that too, I had a huge chunk of new artist add, new song add on insta this past week of two so I did start a playlist who is completely artist or song that I saw an add on Insta. They playlist is quite good surprisingly, well your phone know everything so not that surprising.  Except that its begin to warm up a little and its the prefect weather to play basketball and never being to cold or hot so that nice. I have a deke Hockey court in my backyard so I'm not walking 10 minutes to go at the nearest park so shoot some basketballs, I'm helping my little bro to win the gold Mario in Mario kart. Expect that its pretty much the same routines work and all that stuff and go Celtics. 

[Guest]

NOTE: If ya don’t like cussin and fussin, don’t read this

 

Glad to see this thread is still alive and well

 

Week to date has been a mixed bag for sure. Band continues to be a whole lot of fun, at least. The music is mostly fun (we’re playing Party Rock Anthem in jazz band!) and it’s really nice to be good.

 

At this point, I don’t ever feel like anything happens in a day, the day just kinda happens, save for band. At this point, it just feels like wherever I go, schoolwork and/or homework gets thrown in my face. I have a whole lot of stuff I have to do Sunday (day after I get home from Orlando) and it’s not fun. All this real life tires me and makes me lose time and makes it much much harder to find any motivation to do PTs. At least I get 12 TPE off of 4 EFL jobs (I actually have like 5 or 6, but I only get , but ofc I actually have to do lots of other things in other leagues to get any sort of meaningful TPE. 2 of them I wish I could quit, but I don’t want to go IA on them. If I were to do that, I’d let them know well in advance. Not sure if I should pull the trigger.

 

Soccer isn’t super great either. The coach isn’t terrible at coaching but I do hold some serious reservations, which I will list

1. He has one of the kids’ dads be a de facto assistant. Problem is, the dude sucks at coaching, I’m not sure he ever played soccer, he and his kid show up to like half or less of the practices, and nobody signed up for someone’s daddy to tell em what to fuckin do on the soccer field when he doesn’t fuckin know what to do either.

2. He puts me in goal all the time, which I also fuckin hate. I signed up to play center back in 11v11, and now I play and practice goalie in goddamn 7v7 for most of the time cause nobody wants or apparently can play goalie (though when I play center back we do better, because unlike the other defenders, I can actually run fast)

3. He’ll just randomly invite players who played for him in the fall to practice, and he’ll also just add people to the team as the season goes along. Most of the guys are fine, but having people practice with us who wont’ play does bad things. For one, it shows how much faith he has in us to actually play well (fuckin 0). It also completely destroys our already non-existent chemistry by just sticking these random assholes in our practices. 

Plus, the team is a bunch of people who I don’t know, and it’s a more toxic vibe than I’ve ever had a on a team. These types of hellholes are why people quit sports, guys.

 

Home life isn’t all that good, either, not because of my parents, but because of my sister. She’s just downright mean to everyone in the house ‘cept for the cats and she’s sposed to go to bed (to a lesser extent in the morning but there’s still problems there), she spends 2 hours doing nothing and then yells at whoever tries to tell her what to do and says all sorts of hurtful things. Obviously she’s not thinking rationally and I have no idea why, which pains me and everyone else in our house (except, of course, for the cats). So that isn’t super great either.

 

On the brighter side, the band trip begins tomorrow at the exceptionally healthy time of 4 AM. Can’t wait.

[Guest]

As for running, I like sprints and especially hurdles better. Idk why, I just do (long jump and triple jump are bops too)

[Vkobe-v 169]

On 4/24/2022 at 1:30 PM, jhatty8 said:

Not the best

False.

[Ledge 1,131]

On 4/24/2022 at 1:30 PM, jhatty8 said:

My goal at the beginning of the year was to run a sub-5:00 mile and I (barely) accomplished that last week with a time of 4:59.8. Now, I'm just trying to keep pushing that time every meet and also stay in shape for my final cross-country season. My best time there is a 17:23 5k (3.1 mi.) and my goal is to run a sub-17:00 5k.

Sick

[AJW 2,192]

This thread is so fun to read.

 

My life is just work and party right now really. Nothing crazy lately, but all the university students are finishing exams and moving home for the summer so a lot of my friends will be leaving. The positive of this is that I can focus more on working and not spending money at the bars since I won’t have any friends around to influence me in going out! So my body and brain are probably going to be pretty healthy this summer, looking forward to it.

 

Oh and also I just finished paying off my student loans which is a huge relief. Not having to worry about them is soooooo awesome.

[b ran 4]

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