Ugh.

It's 7 am. I've been up for about an hour. I'm headed downtown to train at the Gracie Academy and I left my coffee on the table by the door...ugh...I hate when I do that. This is probably my subconcioualy inflicted penance for splitting a Turkey Burger and salad last night when I am cutting weight for this fight on the third. Ugh.

Watching your calories when you're used to cramming as much food in your body as possible is a world of change. It's working, lost another pound, but this is why I'm convinced fasting food doesn't work well with me. A non eating athlete is probably counter productive. And ive discovered I like food. And that's an accomplishment bc I used to never eat.

On another note I'm down in Sumter next month for my buddy Dru's wedding! Yay!! Okay. No coffee and that's all the energy I have for excitement. It'll be swell and I'm going to ask my friend Craig for a ticket ok his airline. We'll see if it works. I've never flown Jet Blue but hear it's pretty awesome.

All staff meeting with CitiVision this morning when I get back. Yay. Those are always exciting and informative. All you could ever ask for in a staff meeting when you can't ask for tasty foodstuffs.

Well my stops next guys. The conductor told us to have a blessed day. That's nice. Peaces.

Jonthan

Currently listening to
John foreman: spring


-- Post From A Ninja On The Move

Some things stink

Like cutting weight. I'm fighting on next Sunday and am dropping weight for the competition. I'm on track and already dropped a pound from yesterday. I've switched to just resistence training to maintain my muscle mass and try and cut most of the weight in fat and water. I only hve 7 more pounds to go and I've cut down to a 2k calorie diet so I should e good by net week. But I've found out how much I like all the food I've been eating. When my lunch was only one PB&J sandwich I got sad. But I took my time so I could savor the goodness. So much for gluttony. :)

Peace.

-- Post From A Ninja On The Move

Dinner conversation

so a couple of weeks ago Tammy, JC, Noemi, Eric and I were at Dinosaur BBQ for dinner and the "Top 15 Most Influential Albums of Your Life" came up...so i've made a couple of changes from that day but thought i'd share just bc it's interesting... so in no particular order....here we go.

Top 15 Albums

1) Nirvana - Nevermind

A tremendously influential album that was the death knell to hair metal of the 80's. Thank God! Now in due fairness to a Relevant article, Yes Nirvana didn't create grunge and other bands were doing it before, but they made it popular. And Yes Cobain's death did boost them in popularity but you can beat the simplicity of their music and the raw power that it had. It gave hope to hundreds of crappy guitarist and drummers in garages again. Although i could have done without the flannel...

2) AC\DC - Back in Black

I mean come on...seriously this could be the greatest album of all time...speaking of raw power. These guys had it way before anyone else today did. And this was when they had their best singer...

3) Mortification - Post

 Momentary Affliction

Okay so most likely many of you have no clue who this is but they were my first real Metal band, my glorious and still favorite transition to death metal. This list is about influential albums and not favorite, but this falls into both. Very different from any other death metal bands at the time and since, much more rythmic and complex, and all from a three piece...nice.

4) Guns N Roses - Appetite for Destruction

While not my favorite GNR album, my very first real rock experience. I still remember getting in the car with my sister when i was young and singing "Paradise City" and her being shocked that i knew the song. Axel may you live on...

5) Michael Jackson - Thriller

Okay Bad and Dangerous are amazing albums but who releases a record and has like 13 number one hits off it? Michael Jackson thats who.

6) Chasing Furies - With Abandon

Okay so most revolutionary chick fronted ethereal complex rock band one album wonder ever. I still listen to their music loud and pick out layers i never heard before. A must for any music lover.

7) Finger Elven - Tip

Another album that rocked my world. The drummer here may have been one of the most influential musical forces in my drumming career. Not to mention every body loves canadians singing in falsetto...ala Our Lady Peace, but before...

8) Metallica - Black Album

Okay so there is a trend here with black albums. It's almost guaranteed to be revolutionary. This made metal live again. Second most influential drummer in my life...Lars.

9) Jay-Z - Black Album

Okay so lets keep it going. Amazing album while perhaps not his best. Jay was able to stay relevant in hip hop even when others of his day fell off. 

10) Weezer - Blue Album

Okay so an album that wasn't black but still a color. What's not to like about geeky guys singing about D&D, surfing, girls, being nerds, and awkwardness? This is one of those cult albums that will always be around.

11) Wu Tang Clan - Forever

This album rocked my world in rap. I mean a dozen different personalities and flows mixed with Kung Fu? Come on, thats amazing. And there hasn't been a single person from this group that didn't become a classic in hip hop.

12) Paramore - Riot

Chick rock became viable and good again with these guys. Thank you Haley.

13) U2 - The Joshua Tree

Okay so here is the other album that was all number ones. I mean it's Joshua Tree. Need i say more?

14) The Foo Fighters - Any Album

Okay this is obviously a stretch but as for a band that keeps producing solid material that still is just ballsy rock, you can't get any better than Foo. No matter the trends in music these guys always bring it back to plain unadulterated rock. "The Color and Shape" obviously was my first Foo album, but they all are amazing.

15) The Notorious B.I.G. - Life After Death

I mean come on it's Biggie. Classic album, though i do wonder his capability to stay relevant in the changing times of hip hop. I don't know that continuing to work with Puffy would have been in his best interest and i agree with Eric that Biggie's flow is what made him amazing, that and he went out on top of his game, like Cobain. Long term staying power....hmmmm don't know but for a smooth album. yes.

Alrighty that's it for me... i could give honorable mentions, but i won't bc i have to go train...love to all.

Peace,

Jonathan

Baby!!

So our friends Steve and Jane just gave birth yesterday to a 10 lbs, 1 oz. Evan. He's like a little hairy sumo wrestler, and we're very excited for them and pretty sure we got the best gifts for them too! HAHAH! Oh, excuse me, just feeling a bit competitive today :)

So Walter and i met on Monday with Mark Reynolds (no relation) the head of the Redeemer Church Planting Center (or something like that) and it was a good challenging meeting. Mark didn't pull punches, was excited about working with us, and presented us with a lot to chew on and consider. Apparently i saw him in rare form too, bc supposedly he's a pretty reserved and straight laced guy. But he actually was cracking some jokes with a straight face. I appreciated his sarcasm. 

So we are slowly moving ahead and weighing options. Unfortunately finances are among those we have to consider when looking at the future. We have the opportunity to take advantage of 2 different programs they offer there at RCPC: 1) The Incubator a 2 year once a month program you go through with other pastors that are currently planting that covers many topics and is very good. Walter did the predecessor program for over a year about 4-5 years ago and now they have only expanded and improved the previous materials, so we are excited about that. 2) The Fellows, this program is probably more only an option for myself and then to follow a year later into the Incubator possibly. The Fellows is more of an intensive internship with a current church plant to gain experience about the process for those who aren't yet fully ready to start a plant verses those in the Incubator which are starting or in process of a plant. The Fellows requires that it is the exclusive "job" of the participant, and as such receives a stipon of some sort though i didn't ask bc i didn't want that to cloud my judgement.

So we are looking at timeline and the spread of the approach we want to take for the church beginning. This may look like starting solely in one location and expanding in a year to two into a second and\ or third location, or starting in two and expanding into three. So based on our moving forward on the plan will affect our inclination for us both to go through Incubator or only Walter and for me to go through the Fellows and just be assigned to the church plant we are doing. The advantages of the second are that we then would have a full time person to address many of the time consuming issues with the plant on a daily basis, while Walter would still be free to work in another capacity to produce income for his family. And of course the theological training and practical mentoring would be beneficial to me as i received it from the Fellows leaders. However a negative could easily be that this is an exclusive program, meaning i would not be able to be involved in the HOC program teaching martial arts in the public schools, or teaching any evening classes (though as of now i am planning on ending those classes by August), and then who knows the impact on my personal training and plans for world domination. Supposedly the fellows is a 70 hr+ per week commitment. 

In addition to this currently the schools have not paid me nor has Walter been drawing a salary all this time and we both are looking at the possible necessity to seek income by other means. I suggested selling body parts on the black market, drug trafficking, or simply annexing our own country out of the US and printing our own money, but for some reason he didn't like those ideas. So then it is to the possibilities of other employment we may need to look. Tammy and i have been cutting back a lot of stuff in the hopes to reduce our bills. We canceled our cable and changed our internet provider and somehow wound up with a credit to our account for Time Warner. Thanks God!

And of course Walter and i have the Next Level commitment coming up for May-August that we have to fulfill so that impacts our capabilities to get involved in much else. Though all things work out and it's not as bad as it seems. We order Fresh Direct and still indulge our selves with organic brownies mom sent (which were amazing) and our hobbies. Life is good we are growing these are just the pains associated with the process. Like my soreness from Mondays training session that i haven't gotten over yet but will be adding to in 2 hours....

love you guys,

Jonathan

Currently listening to:

The sounds of birds, my street, and radiator....yes it's still cold enough here that the heat is on...