Ara Ara, Robzilla!

  It’s the end of the quarter, also known as the Bonus Chapter of a manga or light novel. We get to do Volume 3 starting next week!  Oh, some parts of this entry will get a little spicy so I'll warn you what section to skip later in the post. — Robzilla WHAT’S ON MY MIND My health. My blood work results were reviewed on Friday morning, and in my PCP’s words they look excellent. I’m not sure when I’ll need to do lab work again, but I’m thrilled that I can continue living a medication free existence for the foreseeable future. On the flip side, there’s a certain part of my anatomy that thinks I’m young again after stepping up my cardio workouts. While that sounds glorious to a middle aged man, it’s not when it disrupts my sleep. If I decide to seek medical counsel, I pray to God the doctor is male to spare me the embarrassment of discussing the matter on camera or in person.  WHAT I ATE That red velvet bundt cake I bought on Thursday? I demolished it in one sitting. Whoops! WHAT I BO

I’m so done with being a good boy and ready to celebrate my belated birthday. I feasted on Del Taco for lunch, and now I have this red velvet bundt cake that serves two. While I’m savoring half of this decadence with a healthy dinner, let me riff on a few things on my mind… The physical exam went better than expected. No issues whatsoever. I also had a great discussion with my PCP regarding my weight loss. She advised me to contact a plastic surgeon to remove the excess skin off various places on my body. I told her I already plan to do so once I reach my target weight range, regardless if insurance will cover it for valid medical reasons. I expect that to happen in about two years.  I want to look scrumptious if I ever appeared in Mistress Maddie’s Candy Shop. Well, in my dreams anyway. Even if I magically got a ripped body when all is said and done, I’d need to guzzle a tanker truck’s worth of liquid courage to pose for one of those risque photos. *** I don’t mind doing blood work as

  WHAT’S ON MY MIND Too much of a good thing? I’m not getting proper rest for obvious reasons, and I believe I might be pushing myself too hard with this exercise thing. It’s something I’ll have to mull over this weekend before it’s Zumba Time on Monday morning. WHAT I ATE Other than Steak & Suntory this evening, nothing of note. I’m on my best behavior until I have my physical and then submit myself to a lab for blood work in the coming days. WHAT I BOUGHT New clothes! I have several pairs of 3/4 length men's leggings for workouts and lounging around the house. I also bought new tops, including a pink printed golf shirt that I can’t wait to wear. WHAT I LISTENED TO New Heights is back, so it’s fun to listen to the Kelce brothers first thing on Wednesday morning. WHAT SACRED TEXTS I READ Fly Me To The Moon, Volume 25 I Can’t Say No To The Lonely Girl, Volume 4 How To Treat A Lady Knight Right, Volme 7 (final volume) We’re New At This, Volume 17 The Shiunji Family Children, Volu

Even though I had a birthday, the only sinful thing I’ve done since Sunday is try chocolate peanut butter mochi. It’s only 90 calories, but unfortunately it’s not as decadent as it sounds. I’ll stick to MyMochi next time. I’m taking a mental health break until October 1st, but it’s not a license to eat all the processed shit that I used to. Sometime after my blood work I’ll have red velvet cake to belatedly celebrate my birthday. There’s this place nearby that makes slices that can feed two, and if I’m lucky I’ll get Sensei to share one with me. That three-piece Spiced Chestnut kitchen essentials set I bought the other day smells so good that I picked up the Winter Berry and Winter Forest sets this morning. They’re also inducing me to be more proactive with kitchen cleaning. I hate to admit this, but house cleaning is not one of my S-rank skills and I fear someone will pull my Virgo card someday. Ara ara! I expect my upcoming physical to go better than last year’s, but I still feel app

  This morning I decided to document part of my day in photos for giggles. Here we have a near disaster on a plate. When I make a veggie omelet, I'll lift the edge of the egg off the skillet so any "runoff" can go beneath it and fully cook before I assemble the ingredients. This morning the egg accidentally slipped to one side of the pan, but luckily I fixed it so it at least looks presentable. This should be a "before and after" workout picture. On the left is a Nintendo Switch Joy-Con. This tracks my right hand's movements when I play Zumba: Burn It Up thrice a week. On the right is the Owyn protein drink I'll have after my workout is done. According to the Fitbit app, I burned 648 calories via Zumba today. While recovering from my workout, I hung out on Reddit and then ordered three pairs of men's leggings. With the change in weather that will come soon I need something to cover my legs while  exercising or if I'm just hanging out at home. But

  This is my first ever video, and unlike Spo I'm no expert at this. The original clip was shot in 4k on Saturday, but in order for Blogger to accept the file size it had to be converted to 720p. The horror! Hopefully this is the only thing to disappoint me on my milestone day.

  WHAT’S ON MY MIND Technofuckery. Hey, I invented a word! My Friday the 13th got off to an ominous start. My scale didn’t sync with my new phone. The MSI laptop’s audio no longer worked due to the latest Windows update. Then the WiFi took a Trump while I attempted to fix these things. Ara, ara! I also have Sensei on my mind. We had a great talk on the phone the other day and I learned some very interesting things about her in the process. As in maybe she’s not as unavailable as I previously thought. WHAT I WILL EAT & DRINK I’m off antibiotics and I don't need to return to Urgent Care. Steak & Suntory Saturday will proceed as scheduled, but this time it’ll be for dinner now that the weather’s back to normal. WHAT I BOUGHT A pricey screen protector and a telescoping tripod/selfie stick for the new phone. The latter even has a remote to operate the shutter. WHAT I ACCOMPLISHED IN GAMING My first perfect score in a Zumba routine! I accomplished the feat on Wednesday, and I app

  I did not survive the recent heat wave unscathed. I was bitten alive over the weekend and I headed to Urgent Care on Monday morning due to an adverse reaction. It’s unknown if I ever had an infection, but I’m on antibiotics and a steroid cream to be safe.  Other than the fact one of my legs briefly looked like ground beef, I’m perfectly fine. I didn’t even miss a workout once the indoor temperature dropped below 80 degrees. *** I had every intention on buying a Motorola Razr+ to replace an ancient Samsung A42 5G, but due to an experience with a terrible salesperson I purchased an unlocked Google Pixel 8a from a jovial Best Buy representative. I hope the young lad is cashing commission checks like I used to when I had his job back in the day. Adjusted for inflation, of course. *** File this one under the perks of losing weight. I’m down an NFL jersey size, so I purchased this white Davante Adams Las Vegas Raiders jersey plus a throwback Charles Woodson one from the Oakland days. The t

  I snapped this picture of Miku while running errands yesterday. She's a little dusty, but after touching up her paint a few weeks back I can't take her to the car wash until next week. I posted this for her introduction to the MINI Reddit yesterday, so it's only fair you get to see it.

  I drove Miku on our freeways for about 30 minutes after sunset, but this time I had the top up and the AC on the middle setting. Even in Sport Mode she got just over 30 MPG? I'm so used to her getting about 22 MPG with the top down. I'm also adjusting to both Miku and Artoria's adaptive lighting. That's a really nice feature to have.

I snapped a quick photo of myself just before Artoria and I bought food that doesn't require a stove or an oven to nourish me.  Today will easily be the most brutal in this heat wave. I awoke to an indoor temperature of 82 degrees, and that's with all of my pedestal fans running full blast overnight. As I write this, it's 99 degrees outside and I'm thankful I've shed 91 pounds so far. Speaking of which... I've owned this Hunter Renfrow jersey for three seasons, but this is the very first time I can properly fit in it. I don't care if Hunter never plays another NFL down. I'll proudly wear the 13 for as long as I can stand the heat today... which might not be for too much longer. It's so hot right now I'm contemplating streaming the Raiders - Bolts game on my tablet so the big screen TV doesn't turn my living room into a sauna.

 

  WHAT’S ON MY MIND The ongoing heat wave. Temperatures could be as high as 100 on Sunday, which means driving Miku in the morning hours with the top down and in Sport Mode is a dicey proposition. This also means Monday’s Zumba classes are canceled unless I want to risk heat exhaustion or worse. The good news is that at around sunset and afterward I can sit on a chair beside my front porch and give my body a break from the nonstop heat exposure inside the house. I'll also have my tablet with me so I can stream my favorite shows outdoors. WHAT I'M GOING TO EAT Del Taco. I require red meat once a week, and I really shouldn’t use either the stove or the oven to cook lunch or dinner during this heat wave. I shall have two crunchy tacos and a medium fries for lunch today, and a Japanese vodka seltzer to wash it all down. I’ve earned it. WHAT I BOUGHT You saw the damage to my debit card yesterday. Moving on... WHAT SACRED TEXTS I READ High School DxD, Volume 14  Rent-A-Girlfriend, Vo

My Zumba classes were canceled this morning for my own safety. When I woke up all sweaty at six in the morning, the home's interior was 80 degrees and the air was as stuffy as a hamper with a week's worth of laundry. Things did not improve as time passed, so I went with Plan B for my cardio. First, I pampered Artoria at my favorite car wash. She always get the premier job so she looks her best for hopefully the next two to four weeks, and then we parked at an upscale shopping mall that I've literally grown up with. I was about eight years old when it opened, and I not only played hockey in the lower level rink but had my greatest success as a retail sales rep there. I quickly grew tired of moving the same pair of Ray-Ban Clubmaster shades back and forth between Miku and Artoria, so I purchased a second pair. I've settled on keeping my gold tone tortoise shell shades with Artoria, and Miku will get these silver and black beauties. I then dropped by my wireless carrier

  Even though I didn't know it at the time, it's been two years since I retired from the worst employer I've ever had. I still regret nothing.

... Nearly Melted in Miku's Driver's Seat Thanks for the kind words y'all, but can we talk about the weather for a bit? The blistering hot weather I thought we avoided on Labor Day Weekend showed up a week tardy. I'm currently under a Heat Advisory or Warning, depending on which part of the city I'm in.  I took Miku for a topless drive to Sprouts for eggs, fresh veggies and protein drinks, and... I don't think I'm going to do that again until midweek. When we were driving at speed, the wind in my hair felt glorious. When we were at an intersection waiting for the light to turn green? I sat there baking in the sun as I awaited The Prince of Darkness to wish me a good morning. Those temperatures don't tell the full story. Last night was so humid that despite going to bed at eleven I couldn't fall into a deep sleep until after three o'clock. It didn't matter if I used a ceiling fan or a pedestal fan. The former was ineffective, and the latter wa

Late last night, I learned the hard way that no matter how much I prepare for the worst outcome I'm never fully prepared for it when it happens. Just before midnight, at the same moment I climbed out of bed to do something about my sinus congestion, I received the news I've been dreading for the past couple of months: the eldest sister that was in a convalescent home passed away. I had a gut feeling that when I saw her in person a few months back I was saying goodbye to her, and I was proven right. I know she suffered greatly since 2021, and a part of me is relieved that she's now at peace. Or at least I hope so. I heard her final few weeks were not peaceful. I got so little sleep last night that I'm shocked my Fitbit gave me a 51 sleep score, let alone any score. All I remember is that I passed out around 1:30, awoke at four and then lied awake in bed until six. When I climbed out of bed, I didn't want to do anything other than make it. I wanted to skip my Zumba wo

After this morning's weight training workout, I took a picture with Audrey on a whim. I'm still a novice when it comes to selfies, so here I am soaked in sweat. My hair was a complete mess from doing dumbbell bench presses and flyes while lying on the floor.

... Made A Dick Joke Don't worry, y'all. This one doesn't get spicy like last Thorsday's post. You can almost safely read this one at work.  Yesterday, Artoria and I were blissfully on our way home from Sprouts with this week's haul of plant based protein drinks and high protein bars. I had just finished chatting up a pair of ladies that climbed into a vintage muscle car that looks a lot like KITT from Knight Rider, and I was understandably feeling a lot taller than my listed height. Life was good at that moment in time. And then Artoria and I pulled up alongside a monstrosity that had to be seen to be believed.  It was a Ford pickup, and not the kind that you typically see on its way to a job. Its flanks announced in chrome plated plastic it was an F-450, and it had a dualie axle in the rear. Twin exhaust pipes wider than a bowling ball ran vertically alongside the rear of the cab. An assault rifle graphic was plastered on its rear window. I noted the absence of a

  I celebrate Hell Week the same way y'all celebrate Halloween or Christmas. Starting this morning, I get to play my role as the days lead up to Sunday's season opener between the Los Angeles (AirBnB) Chargers and my Las Vegas Raiders. I fly my Raiders flags with pride, especially this extra special one. Have you heard the phrase, "Talk shit, get hit"? It's often uttered in contact sports like football and hockey, and that flag on my front porch is the equivalent of that. It marks the three times the Raiders hoisted the Vince Lombardi Trophy as Super Bowl Champions, and every time a Bolts fan tells me my team sucks I get to point to that flag and ask them, "Where's yours?" Why am I a Raider fan living in the Bolts's former home? To be a Raider fan is to join forces with other misfits, eccentrics, and even a few bad apples for a common cause. In every day life, many of us are outcasts. We're brown or Black. We march to a different drummer. We

  This morning, I visited one of the two comics shops in my old 'hood. My friend used to work at both shops, and today I learned she's no longer works on Sundays at the one I didn't visit.  Miku and I had a good scare when I arrived. I had forgotten that the parking spot curbs at the shop are higher than standard, and guess what happened when I pulled in? Luckily Miku didn't suffer any structural damage, and I used a cleaner to minimize the appearance of her newly acquired scuff marks beneath the right front bumper. Talk about a close call! I wasn't planning on buying anything, but perhaps I harbored a little guilt for what happened as I entered the store. My old Doctor Who mug that died of old age not long ago was still for sale, and I look forward to sipping either tea or coffee from it after I wash it. To my delight, I found this cute Qposket figure of Hatsune Miku for sale. The store has finally noticed that many comic geeks and nerds have also become otakus dur