Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

One of the things that really freaks me out when I'm watching American news television is how different it is than news pretty much anywhere else in the world. Not only is the style radically different, but the content and what's focussed on is also radically different, and the facts presented are just bizarre when you put them in context of the international picture and all the information. For example (via), here's four covers from Newsweek's different editions:

Latin American Edition

Asian Edition

European Edition

USA Edition

Although I think the thing that makes me angriest is the current trend in the US media to oppose Bush — these are reporters who spent six years radically supporting him and pushing his agenda, and ultimately being one of the main forces empowering the problems in the world today. By flipping now, all they're doing is ensuring they can support the next false government, rather than being a real voice of truth, reason, or even come close to the media's purest cause — rebellion. In some ways, I think their heads ought to be the first to roll for their betrayal of the American public and their outright support of the slow coup that took America away from the people.

Hey, did you know that if you cover your eyes, I can still see you?

I'm combining this car and gym entry because I figure they're part of the same fetish.

So I've been going to the gym now for about a month. My schedule is already very full, so it's only three times a week for an hour, but even from just that I feel dramatically better, and I think in relative terms (as in relative to very-out-of-shape-Shannon, rather than, say, relative to Kilean who's currently cutting down for his next MMA fight) I'm seeing nice changes. That said, I'm still pretty soft and flabby everywhere, ha… But small steps still get you where you're going, you know. My general plan for 2006 was healing and getting myself put back together, and I feel like I'm slowly achieving that. I certainly feel better now than I did ten years ago.

One of the things I like most of all about going to the gym is mind-body connectivity. I know that everything I'm saying is old hat to most people reading this (certainly the average BME contributor is far fitter), but I really was (and still am) in attrocious physical condition. But anyway, I really like feeling things hurt that I didn't even know I had, and slowly learning to isolate those muscles and control them. It's kind of amazing how “disconnected” we can be mentally from our bodies. It's my hope that by really understanding how to physically control my body that I gain much more control over tremors and seizures as well.

It's also funny to me which parts of my body are messed up (inflexible, weak, and so on), and which ones aren't. I have a bad ankle on my right side (and always have), which has made me favor my left side, so in some areas my flexibility and strength is almost non-existant on that side (so for example, it's very difficult to coordinate a squat), but at the same time, I have weird flexibility in my upper legs from (I suspect) years and years of judo when I was younger.

Anyway, I've been having a great time, and I'll repeat something I've said before: The worse shape you're in, the nicer you get treated by everyone at the gym. Which is good, because I'm in pretty bad shape as you can see from the picture. That said, the terrible tattoo distracts from what terrible shape I'm in… I'll also warn people reading this that are younger than me (until Friday I'm 32) not to wait, because like investing money, the earlier you start the more you're going to appreciate it as you age.

Other than that, my request for the “NATA2″ (ie. “SATAN” in the mirror) license plate got turned down (no suprise there). That's OK though because I've decided to go with a completely different look on the 997 anyway… I'm going to chat with some of the people who do SM gear about doing up the interior of the car in canvas and rubber, with restraint straps on the seats and everything… Should be fun, and who knows, maybe I can do it on trade because it would be great promotion for them as well… And later this week I should have the “family truck” back ('87 Jeep Cherokee or some year like that). I've put a little more aggressive tires on it (still 33″ though; I've already lifted it 5″), all of the rusted bodywork has been torn off and rebuilt, and it's getting painted satin black with dark camo over that. In addition it's now got very aggressive fender flares (so I can legally run it in the winter), new front and rear bumpers, and an 8000lb winch.

I'm slowly building it to show condition (as well as being a great functional trail and offroad vehicle, while still being a solid daily driver)… Other than a snorkel and maybe some more lights and a roof rack the exterior is largely complete, so next (probably in the spring when I've saved up enough to do it) the interior gets tackled, which will mean tearing everything out (replacing the carpets with truck bed liner), putting in a roll cage, and other finishing touches…

Oh yeah and I cut my hair off again.