Rae Roy's Blog, page 38
May 13, 2018
Special Sunday – Mother’s Day
[image error]I just wanted to take a moment to say Happy Mother’s Day to all those who are moms, will be moms, and were supposed to be moms.
To those who have poor relationships with your mothers, I hope you can improve them. If not, maybe you can be the kind of mother you always wanted.
To those moms to be, I’ve heard all the pain, nausea, and worry is worth it. I’ve even heard the sleepless nights are worth it too. And even the moments where they seem more like monsters than humans.
To those who have lost a child, nothing can heal that pain. Know that you’re not alone and this day can be whatever you need it to be. I usually spend it either distracted with an event like Comiccon or with close friends.
To those who have lost their mothers, I don’t know what you’re going through. I think that if your mom was anything like mine she would want you to be doing something that makes you happy and healthy.
Make this day whatever makes sense to you for whatever you need right now.
R~
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May 12, 2018
Symphonic Saturday – 11 Ways to Enjoy Music
[image error]There are many ways to enjoy music whether you have any talent or not.
You can watch a musical or concert on TV. Whether it’s on Netflix or live, they can be a really fun way to change things up.
You can be part of a musical. Okay, this might not be an option for everyone. I was fortunate that my high school was part of a school board where they ran a summer theatre program that performed musicals and I got to be part of Jesus Christ Superstar, Grease, and the North American debut of Children of Eden.
Attend a rock concert or music festival. This can be a lot of fun. Sometimes there are people who over celebrate though as alcohol is often widely available. Also, sometimes the weather can be unpredictable, so you might want some rain gear.
Go to an orchestra performance. There are a wide range of orchestra options, so don’t think you just have the super fancy $100 and up ticket option only. Many smaller orchestras charge around $20 for their tickets. One of my favourites is Divertimento.
Learn to play an instrument. Okay, this can be tough and pricey depending on how you go about it, but it doesn’t have to be for any reason other than having fun.
Join a band. If you have mad skillz already, then why not join a band?
Hold jam nights. Occasionally, my friends and I will pull out instruments and just screw around with them. None of us are spectacular, but it’s so much fun to play around with them anyway.
Pop some music on while you clean. The time will go by quickly and you can take dance breaks while no one’s watching
May 11, 2018
Frisky Friday – 4 Geeky Sexy Things
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Frisky Friday has arrived and today’s number is 4.
In honour of Comiccon arriving in Ottawa, I decided they should have a geeky twist.
Browncoats Burlesque is a burlesque group in Ottawa known for its geek culture. You know those humpback creatures from The Dark Crystal? Yeah, one of the performers makes THAT sexy! Funny story? Had I not stumbled onto Browncoats, I may never have found roller derby. It was after Comiccon in May 2013 that I saw an ad about a Comiccon related show. I didn’t know a thing about burlesque, so I had a rather eye-opening experience. While there, I met my first friend in Ottawa whose sister happened to be a derby girl. I remember myself repeating, “There’s roller derby in Ottawa?” I had seen Whip It and wanted to try it. Bliss was rather tiny like me after all. Anyway, going to that show led me to roller derby. It also made me redefine what sexy could be.
Geeky Sex Toys is a site that sells items like a Dickpool Bondage Kit in case you want to pretend you’re everyone’s favourite pansexual superhero.
Nasty Dress has a bunch of naughty costumes for your sexy cosplay needs. Or you could always get some silly costumes for cheap at Value Village in the fall.
Typing ‘geek sex’ into a search engine brings up a variety of geek-related porn. You’re welcome.
Have a fun weekend whether you’re making it to the con or not
May 10, 2018
Thoughtful Thursday – 12 Things I’m Grateful For
[image error]Ottawa Comiccon starts tomorrow and for the first time since moving here in 2013, I’m not going to be there.
I want to be, but I simply can’t afford it.
Which sucks because so many of my friends will be there. Most will be running booths and too busy to spend time with anyway though.
Today’s number is 12, so here is a list of 12 things I’m grateful for despite that my life is a lot harder than I’d like right now.
Shelter.
Food.
A car.
Musical instruments.
Friends.
Family
The Internet.
Books.
Chocolate.
Skates.
Sunny days.
Martial arts.
I guess I’m not so poor after all.
As an extra bonus, I’m glad I’m not tied to a bed with the only human nearby dead and a stray dog eating them then hallucinating a conversation with a dead guy a la Gerald’s Game.
Instead of Comiccon, I’m meeting a friend for gelato 
May 9, 2018
Warrior Wednesday – 9 Fantastic Females
Image created using Bitmoji
It’s Warrior Wednesday and today’s number is 9. Today I’m doing a brief profile on several of the world’s best female martial artists.
*Please note that I don’t own any of the photos.*
1. Iaido – Atsumi Hatakenaka
Photo from the 2016 Canadian National Iaido Championships.
Of course I had to start with my main art. When talking about Iaido, it’s Atsumi Hatakenaka for me. She is an amazing woman to look up to. Not only is she skilled, but she once told me she hopes to bring peace to the world through Iaido. Hatakenaka Sensei is an eighth level black belt. She cross trains with hot yoga. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a video of Hatakenaka Sensei.
Photo from Centro México Asia
Pam Parker Sensei is one of the only westerners and the first female in the world to be awarded a Nanadan in Iaido, so I need to mention her. To be awarded a seventh level black belt in Iaido is rather rare for someone living outside of Japan. It is as much about character and manners as it is about skill.
2. Taekwondo – Zheng Shuyin
Photo from China Daily
Zheng Shuyin won the Olympic gold medal in the heavyweight division in the 2016 Summer Olympics. China hadn’t won gold since 2004.
3. MMA – Sarah Kaufman a.k.a. The Knockout Artist
Canadian Sarah Kaufman recently achieved the Invicta FC bantamweight title. Not only is she a persistent and skilled fighter, but Sarah is also well-educated. You can watch her fight against Miesha Tate here.
4. Kung Fu – Lily Lau
Grandmaster Lily Lau is the first and only woman to take over a Kung Fu System and teach openly as a Kung Fu Master. More about her here: http://laufatmangeagleclaw.com/
5. Kendo – Mizuho Matsumoto
Mizuho Matsumoto is the current women’s kendo champion.
6. Karate – Rika Usami
Photo from Blackwater Martial Arts
Watch World Champion Rika Usami as she performs a kata and you can guess why she’s the champion. The skill, focus, and fire she wields at just the right moments is breath-taking.
With the next championships later this month, will Rika still be on top?
7. Sumo Wrestling – Bum-Erdene Tuvshinjargal
Photo from India Live Today
Bum-Erdene Tuvshinjargal is an accomplished wrestler despite a restriction against going pro. She is an inspiring woman. More on Tuvshinjargal here.
8. Wushu – Suijin Chen
Suijin is the current champion of the Women’s Taolu. Here is her winning performance.
9. Various – J.J. “Golden Dragon” McParland
Photo from The Huddersfield Daily Examiner
What list of fantastic female martial artists would be complete without Jesse-Jane McParland? You’ve probably heard of her. Her audition at Britain’s Got Talent went rather viral. She is a young woman who has won many championships. She is also an actress. Jesse practices a wide variety of martial arts and is said to have studied karate, taekwondo, and kung-fu. Here’s a more recent one than her audition. It comes in weapon-less and sword varieties. Below is the sword version.
But Jesse isn’t just flashy. Here she is performing kumite (sparring).
I would’ve liked to choose some less well known arts, such as Capoeira, but I could not find a female mestre of any level. Systema is another art I had difficulty finding out about. Women practice it, but it doesn’t seem to have a ranking system and the fighters don’t seem to be well-documented. If you are a woman in these arts, start documenting who the people are that you can look up to and keep practicing. There are many other arts such as judo, hapkido, BJJ, etc. that I couldn’t fit in the list of nine. It would be really something to know who are the key practitioners in some of the more rare arts too.
R~
Warrior Wednesday – Nine Fantastic Females
Image created using Bitmoji
It’s Warrior Wednesday and today’s number is 9. Today I’m doing a brief profile on several of the world’s best female martial artists.
*Please note that I don’t own any of the photos.*
1. Iaido – Atsumi Hatakenaka
Photo from the 2016 Canadian National Iaido Championships.
Of course I had to start with my main art. When talking about Iaido, it’s Atsumi Hatakenaka for me. She is an amazing woman to look up to. Not only is she skilled, but she once told me she hopes to bring peace to the world through Iaido. Hatakenaka Sensei is an eighth level black belt. She cross trains with hot yoga. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a video of Hatakenaka Sensei.
Photo from Centro México Asia
Pam Parker Sensei is one of the only westerners and the first female in the world to be awarded a Nanadan in Iaido, so I need to mention her. To be awarded a seventh level black belt in Iaido is rather rare for someone living outside of Japan. It is as much about character and manners as it is about skill.
2. Taekwondo – Zheng Shuyin
Photo from China Daily
Zheng Shuyin won the Olympic gold medal in the heavyweight division in the 2016 Summer Olympics. China hadn’t won gold since 2004.
3. MMA – Sarah Kaufman a.k.a. The Knockout Artist
Canadian Sarah Kaufman recently achieved the Invicta FC bantamweight title. Not only is she a persistent and skilled fighter, but Sarah is also well-educated. You can watch her fight against Miesha Tate here.
4. Kung Fu – Lily Lau
Grandmaster Lily Lau is the first and only woman to take over a Kung Fu System and teach openly as a Kung Fu Master. More about her here: http://laufatmangeagleclaw.com/
5. Kendo – Mizuho Matsumoto
Mizuho Matsumoto is the current women’s kendo champion.
6. Karate – Rika Usami
Photo from Blackwater Martial Arts
Watch World Champion Rika Usami as she performs a kata and you can guess why she’s the champion. The skill, focus, and fire she wields at just the right moments is breath-taking.
With the next championships later this month, will Rika still be on top?
7. Sumo Wrestling – Bum-Erdene Tuvshinjargal
Photo from India Live Today
Bum-Erdene Tuvshinjargal is an accomplished wrestler despite a restriction against going pro. She is an inspiring woman. More on Tuvshinjargal here.
8. Wushu – Suijin Chen
Suijin is the current champion of the Women’s Taolu. Here is her winning performance.
9. Various – J.J. “Golden Dragon” McParland
Photo from The Huddersfield Daily Examiner
What list of fantastic female martial artists would be complete without Jesse-Jane McParland? You’ve probably heard of her. Her audition at Britain’s Got Talent went rather viral. She is a young woman who has won many championships. She is also an actress. Jesse practices a wide variety of martial arts and is said to have studied karate, taekwondo, and kung-fu. Here’s a more recent one than her audition. It comes in weapon-less and sword varieties. Below is the sword version.
But Jesse isn’t just flashy. Here she is performing kumite (sparring).
I would’ve liked to choose some less well known arts, such as Capoeira, but I could not find a female mestre of any level. Systema is another art I had difficulty finding out about. Women practice it, but it doesn’t seem to have a ranking system and the fighters don’t seem to be well-documented. If you are a woman in these arts, start documenting who the people are that you can look up to and keep practicing. There are many other arts such as judo, hapkido, BJJ, etc. that I couldn’t fit in the list of nine. It would be really something to know who are the key practitioners in some of the more rare arts too.
R~
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May 8, 2018
Theatrical Tuesday – 5 Faves in Each Genre
[image error]Today’s number is 5, which is perfect because I’ve been wanting to write this post anyway.
At the beginning of the school year, my teacher had us list our five favourite films. It felt cruel to pick only five and I had a very hard time with it. What did I pick? Well, I tried to go with a mix of the films that impressed me the most and the ones that I’ve watched time and again.
Here they are:
1. Feds
2. The Godfather
3. Gremlins
4. Dead Poet’s Society
5. Edward Scissorhands
But it’s not enough, so I’ve been wanting to do a new list of five per genre ever since. This exercise has taught me that there are so many movies I haven’t seen yet! Based on what I have seen, here they are in no particular order. Yes, some of them are technically rather awful and cheesy, but I love them anyway.
Action/Adventure
– The Long Kiss Goodnight
– The Seven Samurai
– Kill Bill
– Mad Max: Fury Road
– Pretty much anything Jason Statham is in.
Animated
– Spirited Away
– Team America World Police
– Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
– Wall-E
– Kubo and the Two Strings
Christmas
– Die Hard
– The Ref
– Home Alone
– Santa’s Slay
– Miracle on 34th Street
Comedies
– Dogma
– Feds
– Juno
– Coyote Ugly
– Office Space
Crime
– The Godfather
– The Shawshank Redemption
– Hackers
– The Untouchables
– Pulp Fiction
Drama
– Dead Poet’s Society
– Atlas Shrugged
– Fight Club
– The Perks of Being a Wallflower
– Shindler’s List
Fantasy
– Star Wars (Space operas are fantasy, not sci-fi)
– Harry Potter
– LotR
– Edward Scissorhands
– The Neverending Story
Historical
– Braveheart
– The King’s Speech
– Hacksaw Ridge
– La Bamba
– Hidden Figures
Horror
– Gremlins
– Underworld
– Stigmata
– Final Destination
– Jaws
Musicals
– Cannibal the Musical
– Rent
– The Sound of Music
– Grease
– Sister Act
Romance
– The Notebook
– 10 Things I Hate About You
– Save the Last Dance
– Dirty Dancing
– Sex and the City
Sci-Fi
– The Matrix
– Terminator 2
– E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
– Jurassic Park
– Aliens
Sports
– The Mighty Ducks
– Whip It
– Rudy
– Rocky
– Any Given Sunday
Superhero
– Wonder Woman
– The Dark Knight
– Deadpool
– Kick-Ass
– The Crow
Thriller
– Psycho
– Silence of the Lambs
– Seven
– The Usual Suspects
– Chinatown (I guess. Really, I need to watch a lot more thrillers)
What are some of your favourite films?
R~
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May 7, 2018
Make-It Monday – A Number of Goals
[image error]Numbers are this week’s theme, so I rolled a D20 (20-sided gaming dice) for each day to get a number related to the day.
Today’s number is 6.
Some people undoubtedly read that in their minds as if they were watching Sesame Street.
Anyway, so now comes the fun part of figuring out what this number means in relation to my goals. I’ve decided it’s an update on them limited to six categories.
1. Novels
I’ve completed the edit of Chapter 2 and am moving on to Chapter 3 on The Page & The Magician. I’ve sorted Scion and The Blood Waitress Club into the priority list.
2. Screenplays
I have submitted my first feature, Puppy Chow, to two contests and also to a friend for feedback. I couldn’t wait for his feedback first because they were May 1st and 3rd deadlines. I received feedback back from the one contest on the first 10 pages. It was mostly positive. They said I can write and that I needed to work on my characterization and pacing to make the tone clearer. Basically, I have too much going on in the first 10 pages and need to slow it down a bit. So I’ll be working on fixing that in my writing. I suspected I had a pacing issue in my writing in general, but had no extra time to fix it while writing a bajillion things all at once this past eight or so months. I’ve sent the revised 1-pager treatment to my teacher for feedback and will be sending it to a contact at an agency hopefully soon.
I’ve also begun character development for my next feature. I found a 7-page template, so my next protagonist will be more deeply planned out than I’ve done previously.
3. Plays
I have not done a lot here, but will be revising Crisis soon. It takes a lot more out of me to work on that piece than many of my other projects did this year. It’s the reason I got trained to give Naloxone injections.
4. Home
Okay, I’m behind in a lot of things here. I merged my two to-do lists into one and am way more productive. I have to tweak it a little further because I have too many tasks with large lists of sub-tasks and I find that should only be for long projects like my novels. I find it helps my motivation levels to be able to move things over to the done column. It’s a visual reminder of progress. I also have plans to get rid of some clutter and finish painting my living room. I completed a lot of folding and some laundry. I’ve also begun shifting the furniture, so I can work on my accent wall.
5. Job Hunting
This has been taking up most of my time. I’ve been meeting with an employment counselor and I revised my resumes. I’m also in talks with someone about a potential opportunity. I’ve been applying to jobs, connecting with people, getting involved in things that may not pay yet, but will be good for my career in the long run. I’ve done some English transcription in between everything else. I’m revising some other past projects for submitting to other opportunities that might lead to paid work too. I plan to pound the pavement this week and drop by some places with my resume because, who knows?
6. School
School is over and my lowest mark is an A, but I have less A+ marks than last semester. I’m hoping I’ll still be on the Dean’s Honours List. I guess I’ll find that out soon enough. I’m really proud of that. I didn’t apply myself as much in past educational pursuits. Mostly, I’m doing so much still that I feel like I haven’t really left school. The main difference is that I don’t have several teachers I need to submit things to all on the same day.
And that’s pretty much everything I’ve been up to since last Monday.
R~
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May 5, 2018
Frisky Friday – Jung on Sex
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It turns out Jung wasn’t a huge fan of Freud’s ideas about sex. Not that he didn’t like them at all, but that they were incomplete being based mainly upon sexuality as repression. He questioned himself about his feelings on Freud’s theories because of his own lack of sexual experience. You can read more about that here.
Lack of experience is a thing we all think about. As a woman, some men are excited by the idea of you having more experience, but some others are upset by it. I’ve come across both.
There’s no way around it though. The probability of all partners being completely on the same page in experience, drive, and adventurousness is extremely low.
I’ve come across some who didn’t care either way, but we weren’t long-term compatible.
I think people can get too worked up about this.
Sex is supposed to be fun and what’s more fun then exploring things together?
Some still have this idea that losing their virginity is going to change everything for them. Suddenly, they’ll be respected and make more money and yeah, nope. You’ll still be pretty inexperienced.
So what’s the answer on experience?
I don’t think there is one. Some people are quicker studies than others. Some don’t improve no matter how many times they’ve done it.
I think the only thing you can do is find a patient partner and work together to learn to please each other. Yes, just like everything else in life, you have to learn how to be a good lover. And being a good lover for one person may not make you a good one for a new person because we’re all different.
But it’s fun figuring it all out.
R~
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Warrior Wednesday – Jung and Martial Arts
Image created using Bitmoji
I know. This post is so very late. But late is better than never, right?
All right. So, I found this post on a sensei who uses the Myers-Briggs types to figure out how best to train their students. The test was inspired by Carl Jung’s research, so that’s pretty interesting.
It could be dangerous to guess someone’s type and assume things about them because of it though.
I wonder how many are drawn to specific types of martial arts based on their types. I’m more drawn to Iaido and Karate because a lot of those are individual study. I’m an INTP aka Logician and Iaido is a mix of theory and has a lot of solitary practice. It also has a large focus on minute details. I know one of my dojo mates is an INTJ. I’m now wondering how many of us have similar personality traits.
Maybe there are more ESF types in arts like BJJ where there is more focus on winning a fight? In proving one’s worth?
Why did I say it could be dangerous to guess based on their Myers-Briggs? Well, humans are extraordinarily complex. I may be very analytical as an INTP, but I also care very deeply for other humans. I don’t put the same level of care into all my relationships, but that’s actually a healthy and reasonable thing to do.
There’s also the DiSC personality test where I show as primarily conscientious, but under stress I become dominant. What that also says about me is that I’m often happier in a team or underling role, but can lead when needed.
What else? Well, I’ve taken other tests that pinpoint me as 67% introvert and 33% extrovert. My friends reading this up until now were probably unconvinced that I’m an introvert because they’ve seen me be pretty extroverted. The life of the party even at times. But it’s not my default setting
