Kalphite

Thanks for the advice guys, sorry for taking a while to respond. But anyways, if it seems sort of unclear what my goals are: I won't really have time to do real workouts until at least may after AP tests are done, when i'll have my lisense and I might be able to get a gym membership. Until then though, I'm just trying to fix my diet enough to lose maybe 10-15 pounds by then. Its winter now, so the sidewalks are pretty terrible right now for running. Once it starts warming up again I'll start running, which will help. Thank you for the ideas. Also, I don't drink sports drinks or anything either, just water for the most part. Thing about just doing that though is that yeah, you'll lose weight, but you won't look any more muscular or anything. If his goal is just to lose weight, then yeah, eat less. (multiply body weight in pounds by 14, that is the amount of calories you need to maintain your weight. Eat 500 less calories a day and see how it goes for a couple weeks/months, then readjust if needed) yeah but he said he's not exercising yet. so either way he's not going to be looking any more muscular. cutting carbs will burn away his body fat. I'm not necessarily trying to look muscular yet; I'll start working towards that when I'm at a place with proper equipment and stuff to be able to do most exercises (all I have access to at home are a 10 pound and 25 pound dumbell...). I was thinking I would lose the extra fat, and then start adding muscle. However, if my end goal is to eventually start putting on muscle, would it be better to just maintain my current calorie intake and do the exercises listed here with what I have available rather cut it down 500 calories?

Hi, I'm Dominic, I'm 16, 5'4", and weigh 134 lbs. I realize I'm not overweight and I have a healthy BMI, but I am still self conscious about my flab and would like to finally do something about it. I'm not asking for routines or anything yet, because I do not have enough time currently to be able to invest in a workout and be able to stick to it due to advanced classes and after school programs, nor do I have the money or driver's license required for a gym membership. Currently all I am able to do is run when it isn't icy out. Because of this, I'm interested in trying to simply make my diet healthier to try to lose some of this extra weight. Breakfast: Normally I eat a serving or two of sweetened cereal in skim or 1/2 % milk with a glass of water for breakfast. Some days I make myself a breakfast sandwich (just an egg and a slice of cheese between two pieces of toast), though this is not frequent. I know the cereal is way too sugary to be healthy, but really I don't have any other ideas for a breakfast. Lunch: Lunch I normally have to eat out of a bag on a bus, without access to any cooking equipment aside from a microwave (I go to a magnet school for half the day and normally have to eat on the bus as we dont have a lunch hour). I normally have two servings of fruit (oranges, bananas, apples, or grapes), a serving of carrots (not sure what other vegetables could easily be eaten on a bus), some sort of carbohydrate (pretzels, wheat thins, cheeze-its, not normally chips though) and a sandwich (just bread, cheese, and either balogna, salami, or occasionally turkey when my family has it, no condiments or vegetables. Dinner: Dinner is really a mixed bag for me. When my parents cook its normally rather healthy, a lot of vegetables and normally turkey or chicken or pork. However, half the time they order fast food, which I otherwise try to avoid or at least talk them into ordering subway. However, there are still some days that they bring home McDonalds or pizza or the like, in which case I eat it as I really don't know how to cook for myself. I really don't know what I could change about this. I don't normally snack outside of these three meals, and if I do its normally either another fruit I had not already had at lunch, another small bowl of that cereal, or a small cup of the carbs I talked about for lunch. Beverage-wise I stick almost exclusively to water aside from the milk I have with my cereal. I know that juice and pop are bad, though they basically have the same amount of sugar as my morning cereal. So what I'm asking is, how can I improve this to lose some more weight? Keep in mind that any suggestions for lunch have to be transportable via paper lunch bag. Thank you!

I've never heard of JumpBeforeWeJump, I only know Alive in Standby because one of my friends knew the guys, but I'm not all that big into local bands.

I haven't listened to any recordings of these guys, but I've seen them live and am seeing them again with one of my friend's bands in January. They blew all the other bands away live, I'll definitely take a listen. They're all really cool guys too, me and some of my friends got to meet them after the show. Edit: The recordings weren't as great as I remember their show being, but still decent, sort of sound like our Last Night.

Lol, the Catcher in the Rye still isn't allowed to be taught in my school district because it takes a stand against authority or something, though people can't be stopped from reading it on their own.

You guys all need to check out La Dispute. Just fantastic music.

ruerin, I highly suggest you listen to the letilive. song I posted. They're heavily Glassjaw influenced, but still definitely have their own sound, and they have an insane live show as well. They are newer, but they really don't sound like any new post-hardcore. I wouldnt really consider Refused post-hardcore though. Also, where do you recommend I Start with Fugazi?

La Dispute - Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair (Album) FANTASTIC post-hardcore album, especially the vocals and lyrics. Highly reccommended though I know basically nobody would listen to it anyways.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfP4tgWrCZk A lot more people need to listen to them. Anyways, I love good Post-hardcore. Thrice, Glassjaw, Trophy Scars, BATS, Unwound, letlive., A Static Lullaby, and Dance Gavin Dance are all really great. I'm sort of surprised by the lack of attention Glassjaw and Thrice get here though to be honest.

Hey, thanks for all the advice from that picture. A couple thinks I have to respond to though: The smirk: Yeah I normally would do a full-out smile, just when I took the picture I was getting frustrated with them always looking fake so I took what I figured would be the easy way out xD. Tanning: This normally is an issue for me, seeing as I dont swim and I feel really awkward laying out in my backyard or something to get sunburned. However, i suppose that would be better than my eternal farmer's tan. In the picture is actually basically the darkest I've gotten, I'm normally really white and only really get a farmer's tan at band camp. Regardless, it'll probably last until it gets too cold again, next summer i'll find a way to tan more xD Piercings/Tattoos: While I recognize their advantages, I personally couldn't see myself doing them. I just don't really like piercings on guys, and I don't want to be 80 with some stupid tattoo I got when I was younger. Not to mention that my parents would kill me if I got either (only 16 here lol) The rest of the advice that was given was very helpful, especially the part about the brightly colored shirts. I'm trying to lose weight first (I've seen people my size and larger fit into a small, i currently wear mediums to cover up some weight but smalls do fit me), then I'll be gradually upgrading my clothing.

Yeah its just like you guys said; after being with her at a bonfire today I know she isnt attracted to me. I don't actually mind though, so I probably wasn't all that attracted to her in the first place. Also, this part of my post sort of got overlooked, but I would still like some help with it.

Great list, I've heard about half of them and quite like those that I've heard.

Hello, its been a while since I posted here, but I have a couple things to bring up. First, I don't know if any of you remember this story from about May: [hide]This girl I've sort of liked for about a month just got dumped by her boyfriend of 4 months. I started becoming friends with her in mid-February, but we still aren't really too close of friends. I mean I talk to her every couple days because she's in band and English with me, and I've texted and imed her a couple times, but we haven't hung out yet, so I don't think I'd be friendzoned (besides the last few people she dated were already friends with her beforehand, so I don't think friendzone is that much of an issue with her xD). Um, about how much time should I wait before making some sort of advance? Also, um, I don't really know how I could do so without it being awkward, because most of the techniques in here are for people you don't know, while I actually know this girl (Bekah for future reference). I don't know if I'm forgetting anything, so if you need more information than this let me know, its late here.[/hide] But basically nothing came of that. Almost all my friends I talked to it about said it would be a bad idea because when she wants to she can be one of the most dramatic people ever, and plus she had already started trying to get back with a different ex in a couple days. Not to mention that i started losing interest anyways about a week after I posted. ah well. Also, at the time of that post I said I'd post a picture of myself so that you guys could give me help with style/looks/whatever, and though I've forgotten about it until now, here it is. [hide=Picture][/hide] Lastly, the more important part of this post. Again, I realize this was from quite some time ago, but it gos back to this story: [hide=Old story relating to current situation] [/hide] I chickened out yesterday at the last minute. Today, however, I asked her to snowcoming just as I was about to leave. She said maybe, and then explained that she didn't know if she could go yet or not, but if she could go then she would go with me. I guess I'll just have to see if this is a soft let-down or not, but I can hope. EDIT: Guess not. She texted me later and said that she couldn't come because she had to sing at church and babysit and her parents wouldn't let her out of it or something. Ah well, at least rejections are getting easier to deal with. [/hide] If anyone was wondering what came of this...Nothing did. I talked to her on facebook later on that day (last Saturday), and everything still seemed normal. After that I didn't talk to her on Sunday at all (I didn't see her and I didn't want to look desperate by starting to text her), and I didn't see her on monday either as she had been put into a different English class at the semester. Tuesday was the next rehearsal and as such it was the next time I saw her, but something was different. She dropped basically all of the IOIs (thought they were admittedly small in the first place) that she had been giving me all last week and she spent all the time she could away from light crew and with her other friends in the pit (band members, its a musical). We started talking again on wednesday, but it was still awkward and I just ran out of things to talk about, and by Thursday I had started to accept it. However, on Thursday things changed direction again. We had started talking a bit, but it still was nothing like last week. the light crew started playing truth or dare in the light booth, and someone asked her who she was crushing on most right now. She quickly turned around and looked out the window and said that she didn't want to say because they might be in the auditorium and she didn't want them to hear. I didn't know if she actually liked someone in the pit (she doesn't talk to any of the actors) or if it was a coverup, but I started hoping it was the latter. Yesterday was the first competition, and I again dropped any thoughts of her liking me as she basically stopped talking to me again. By then. I wasn't worried about it anymore and just talked to other people up until the competition. Our school got a first division rating on the play, and the light crew got a superior award. .After that, a couple people hooked their iPods up to the auditorium's sound system and started an impromptu dance for about 2 hours. After I was basically dragged on stage, I started dancing and it was some of the most fun I've had...well, since homecoming. I danced with like half the people there, had a circle mosh pit stated me, got carried around a couple times (I'm rather small xD), and was basically a center of attention at the beginning, and I just felt like I was on top of the world. I don't think I've ever felt that confident about myself any time before, and i figured, what the hell, maybe I could try getting to dance with Stacey again. However, I tried about 3 times throughout the dance and she just kept denying me every time just to dance with her friends again as soon as I looked away. But by then, I didn't really care. There are other things to life xD. In summary: this week she stopped all the IOIs and I'm done worrying about dating her. I can still eventually find someone else xD. [/hide] Anyways, for the current situation. After about a month after that competition I started talking to her on facebook chat again, and continued to do so on and off for a while. I figured I had basically blown my chances by then, and even though I was interested in that other girl I mentioned for a little while, I still liked her a bit as well. We kept having some pretty interesting conversations during this period, and eventually I invited her to a get together wit some of my friends. It, er, didn't go so well. She felt awkward only knowing one of them, and she ended up leaving early and said she didn't really want to come to any more of the get-togethers. heh. Anyways, after that I basically figured she wasn't interested, but i kept talking to her on facebook/texting her, and we kept having fun conversations so I didn't mind xD. In June we hung out for a while before pre-auditions for next year's musical, and I haven't actually seen her in person since then. Then in July those "like this status and I'll tell you something about what i think of you" games started coming up on facebook. I tried a couple to see her responses and... First impression: Dominic, The first time I met you I believed you were the smartest kid at [our school]! Yeah you knew alot about lighting and just talked with an intellegent tone. I thought you were super nice when you showed me how to work the light board and showed me around the cats. Then I realized you were in my engish class! Anyway..., I thought you were smart, kind, and just a great person. :) Some other one: Like: How nice and funny you are :) Dislike: Havn't really seen you since [the drama competition] ended First Impression: Why is this kid sitting ontop of the scaffolding? I think I've seen him somewhere before...in English class?....No thats not it! Confession: You helped me alot with lights and I realized after you were in my English clas...s that you were the guy who played Hamlet when we reenacted it and You're a really good actor :) I'm soo glad I met you But basically though now it probably seems like its grasping at straws, at the time that seemed like she might actually still be interested, so of course my interest started to flare up again. Then she asked to hang out, and we tried a couple times but it didn't end up working out before I had to leave for band camp, so we said we'd hang out the monday once I got back. We obviously kept texting/ facebook iming at this time, and before i left for band camp she ended up saying I was hilarious or that I made her day in every conversation we had. Well this brings me to the present. I just got back from band camp yesterday, and things are basically still where we left off before that. On monday we're going to be meeting up at a mutual friend's bonfire and we might go to a nearby park beforehand for a while (her suggestion). Though I realize this isn't too much information, I waited too long to post this and its hard to remember everything from that time span and obviously however monday goes will have a large impact in this, does it seem like I might have a chance, or that I'm looking way too much into it?

I really liked the first book, so I bought the next two. I sort of got bored halfway through Deadhouse Gates though. I'm apparently weird for that as most people think that's one of the better ones in the series. Gardens of the Moon was great though.

What have you already heard that you like?

Enter Shikari really annoys me, especially the vocalist. Slightly off-topic: Really? I thought their newest album, Desperate Living, was actually pretty great, though I haven't heard anything from before that.

neither is thursday that was my point. And for the sake of argument, what genre would you classify my links? deathcore/metalcore Metalcore, maybe. But certainly not deathcore. When I think deathcore I think Behemoth, Devildriver, Nile and Carnivex. Behemoth is Melodic Death metal, DevilDriver is NWOAHM, Nile is death metal, I'm unfamiliar with carnivex but apparently they're actually Deathcore. Still, nothing that you posted was screamo. LOLOLOLOL. Anyways, I don't think I've made much of a contribution to this thread yet. I like a fair bit of Emo/Screamo (don't quite know the difference), such as Circle Takes the Square, Envy, pg.99, Funeral Diner, and Saetia. I haven't yet checked out any of the French bands, though I've been meaning to. However, I like a fair bit of Post-Hardcore as well (Emery, A Static Lullaby, Trophy Scars, early Thrice, and BATS to name a few); the genres aren't really that related and both are good for different times.

Deftones is the only Nu-metal that I like. Diamond Eyes and White Pony are amazing albums. I don't care for "rapcore" though.

Yeah, Periphery rules, but I wouldn't class them as anything other than prog metal.

I played Crash Landing in high school. Great solo! Do you have that whole book of solos or just the individual one? Oh and electronic kits are so lame in my opinion. I can almost positively say that I will never buy an electric kit or pad for my kit. I don't have the whole book, but I have that, Lava Flow (which I can play as well), Sonny's Solo (which i can play except for the sextuplets at the end), and Tower of Terror (which I can almost play, but the triple stroke part and ending at that tempo give me issues). My drum teacher really likes his solos so he teaches a lot of them and just photocopies them out of the book. I haven't been able to find the book myself and just bought 4-way Coordination and the Double Bass encyclopedia as per your recommendation, plus I should be learning our show music for next year right now anyways, so I'm not too concerned about owning it yet xD.

I've been drumming for nearly six years now, though I've only really been taking it seriously for the last 2. I have a five piece Ludwig set. I've only had my set for the last 2 and a half years, but I think I've gotten pretty decent now, though my double bass ability is still not the greatest. I've recently joined a metal band though, so I finally have an excuse to get better at it. xD. I'm also on my school's snare line, and I'm the third best player on our drumline.I probably don't have anything on some of you guys, but I can play Crash Landing by Marty Hurley if any of you are familiar with that solo.

Yeah, one of my friend's sisters got married about this time last year, got a divorce in three months, and now is about to marry the guy's best friend. ...>_>. Today I found out that I did end up making snare line, which is awesome. Right after I got back from drum lessons I had about 15 people over too, which was equally awesome. However it's about 1:30 am and I still dont know what I'm doing for my mom for mother's day. crap.

Today I had my drumline auditon. It was an open audition, so everyone got to watch everybody else. I was probably the third best there, so I'm really excited because I'll probably get snare or tenors this year instead of cymbals like I had last year.

Alright, thanks xD. Yeah he does know that he's friendzoned, he's even asked her out like twice and has been rejected both times, and he basically said he thinks he'd be competing with me, which I think means he doesn't really care that much, and given my less-than-stellar track record with girls he doesn't expect me to get anywhere.

First off, just wondering here, but how old are you? I want to say Sophomore-Junior, right? Secondly, did you know her ex very well? Like were you good friends or what? If anything, try to be a bit more flirty with her than usual or so. I'm not sure how close you are but make her notice you, something I like to do when walking down the halls around some of the girls I know is to grab them and kind of force them into a hug or so. Maybe call her name out. Initiate some form of her noticing you, start small and slowly grow with it till you think she'd want to go out with you. Depending on how she takes something like that is whether or not you know she'll turn you away or not. Give her a little bit of time though, to get over this breakup she just had though. And post pictures if you like, I'm sure Lent or Harr will give you some great advice with that I'm a sophomore. Also, I didn't really talk to her ex that much, but he's close friends with some of my other friends in her group. I know I probably should wait a couple weeks before doing anything because of the breakup and stuff still. Oh, another issue that i realize I forgot to mention. One of my really close friends likes her as well, though he's been friendzoned for the last 2.5 years. When I told him about this he didn't get upset or anything, but is there a manlaw against that? @Dan: Alright, I'll check through your blog again xD