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Potter's Wheel

In the movie, “Conan: The Barbarian” the title character became very strong. He eventually turned into a powerful gladiator and warrior. But not everybody remembers why or how Conan became strong. Remember, Conan was just a boy when his parents were killed by the Serpent Wizard. When he was a boy, he was very small and fragile. And he had no muscles that were like the adult Conan that was played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yet it we think back to the turning point in the film, where Conan became strong. It was the Wheel of Pain that made Conan strong. It was his suffering, his endless struggle to turn a huge wooden wheel that toned his muscles and gave him powerful legs. Conan pushed that wheel because it was all he had left. His slave masters and the other slaves that pushed the wheel either left or died. So, Conan was alone.

It wasn’t until traveling entrepreneurs found Conan and sold him to fight in the gladiatorial battles that he truly learned how to fight.

-Tyler

the wind

Completion, finality and relief. Tiny stepping stones to take one across an ocean. As I look back on the the years it took to finish a bachelors degree, I see more than just a few classes and tests. This was a real education, filled with hiatuses and experiments, false-starts and solid victories. I never wanted to settle for just a piece a paper and pat on the back. I wanted undeniable knowledge combined with experience. And now I have that.

During the process of getting this degree, I’ve started businesses and some have stuck and some have not. One thing that I’ve learned, is that one must create a system that takes an input and engages on a process on that input. Then that system must make the output have more value than the input would have had if the system never acted up on it. And the costs of the system must be more than compensated for in that aforementioned value.

This basic understanding took a few moments to learn, but years to understand…and actually know.

Another thing that I’ve learned is that relationships that last over time and are based on honesty are optimal for both friendship and business.

Looking toward the future, there are many things that are perilous for business. There is trouble in markets, scarcity of resources and stress upon the environment. Yet these problems are all sources for opportunity. I’ve decided to assist the system in any way that I can, to actively support the facing of these problems as opposed to sitting along the sidelines and being critical of the failures of others.

There is a old Chinese proverb that says, “May you live in interesting times.” It is a sort of joke, because interesting times are not necessarily a good thing to the respective culture where the proverb originated. Times that were less interesting and manageable were preferable to interesting ones. But we do live in interesting times right now, and that is unlikely to change any times soon. Perhaps that is going to be a source for struggle for this generation, but the struggle for survival of this generation will be what will elevate us in history from consumers…to problem solvers and sages.

Wealth is created through movement. So we will move.

May the winds that fuel the life’s breath of this world be at our backs.

-Tyler

Full Circle Fitness - Click to Visit Website

Over the past couple weeks I’ve been going to a group workout session. It was held at Full Circle Fitness by Jenny Z on Saturday mornings. This was pretty strange for me at first because I haven’t done group exercise since Waterpolo back in the day. So I was a little reluctant at first. There were four of us total including Jenny Z and we did everything from running to stations. The workout was awesome and I definitely felt like I was working muscles that I didn’t normally use during my solo workouts when I hit my usual gym. Also, even though the session was in a group all of us got some excellent 1 on 1 attention on our posture, form and method for the exercising.

Jenny Z was extremely nice and pleasant as usual, but she also had high energy and motivated us to not slack off or be lazy ones. That way, when we transitioned from station to station, and did laps around the Corona del Mar city block in between station sets, we seriously got a thorough workout. I ended up being so tired after each 1 hour session that I needed to take a shower and sleep until noon.

The cool thing about how Jenny Z approached our training, was that she didn’t limit us to just the gym at Full Circle Fitness. We were running around the neighborhood. During the second session, we even went into the next neighborhood two miles away and went into their park. There we did a great deal of running and medicine ball work. It was intense but I could already feel how I had gotten stronger from the last week.

Jenny Z is a NASM Certified Personal Trainer and it definitely shows. She pointed out to me that from analyzing my posture during a squat exercise, she could tell that I need to do more exercises that work my glut muscles. This was interesting to me because I knew that I had been working mostly my back and arms in the past few weeks. And technically I’ve only done  a single leg exercise workout in the past year. So her bringing this up without actually knowing much about my current workout habits was very telling of her perceptive skill as a personal trainer.

Even though I woke up early to get some exercising in, working out with Zenny Z was a seriously great time. I will definitely do it again.

Here’s some of the contact info for Full Circle Fitness where you can contact her if you live in the area and want to do some training sessions.

We did a lot of cardio and running as well as strength work

Ask for Jenny Z

Full Circle Fitness
2515 E Coast Highway
Coroana del Mar, CA 92625
(949) 673-7705

Lately I’ve been revisiting films that have made an impact on me at some time or another in my life. The reason why I like watching things that I’ve already seen before is that it is similar to a good album. A good musical album usually has nuances that may not be necessarily appreciated to the full extent during the initial listen. Likewise, some excellent films have this density as well. And let it be known that I thoroughly enjoy old films and television shows and also new films in pop culture. But one thing that I’ve noticed, is that Science Fiction and Fantasy films can sometimes have deep layers of symbolism that may not make total sense in a contemporary/realistic setting.

So I am going to rewatch the film, Independence Day, which stars Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum. I have a good feeling that I am going to love it, just as I did the first 4 times I watched it…but maybe I’ll gain some deeper insights and share them with everyone…see you in a couple hours!

OK. It is four hours or so later. I had to take the dog and get a sandwich and everything, so that’s why it took so long. But the movie was excellent. Actually, when I bought this movie from Target for $3.99 +tax I didn’t know that the film was going to come with the “Special Edition” that included 9 additional minutes of scenes.

The additional scenes were overall quite good, there was one where we see the interior of the alien fighter plane for the first time and the lead scientist admits how little he actually knows. Also there are several shorter scenes that add some tertiary character development. But when taking the entire film into account, it is such a long movie the 9 additional minutes don’t even seem like a big deal. Everyone walks into Independence Day (ID4) knowing well that they aren’t going to see the light of day anytime soon. So this movie is a theatrical commitment.

After revisting the film again I realized that Independence Day has a very sincere and complete message. Not only is the threat extremely dangerous, but despite all odds, humanity has the slight chance to prevail. But what I like most about the movie is that, it is human bravery, ingenuity, innovation, perseverance, teamwork and humility combined that allows for the victory to be achieved. If one single link in that chain was missing, the line would have been to short for them to reach their goals.

When I watched the film before, I seemed to get caught up in the two main characters portrayed by Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum. But seeing it again, it is much more clear that the entire process was a huge combined effort. And even though Goldblum was lynch-pin instrumental in defeating the enemy, if it were not for the Area 51 installation and the work that the men did to keep it secret for so long, they would have been quickly dispatched by the first wave of attacks by the aliens.

Another thing that comes to mind is that I never noticed that it was the President’s decision to stay in the White House, that allowed Goldblum’s character to inform him that the code in the satellites was a countdown. If it wasn’t for the President’s bravery and captain of the ship mentality, he was have been whisked away to some super secure and inaccessible location. I took away from this that no matter how high in rank someone may rise, our connections with other people is what makes us the strongest. And by allowing communication, there is a greater chance for survival. Albeit the message we may need may come to us from the least likely of sources.

Without a doubt, the extended version made it more clear that the scientists greatly underestimated the unconscious alien that was retrieved by Will Smith’s character. The scientists literally sliced open the exosxeletal armor of the alien with scalpels and they knew it was not dead. Yet in spite of this, they had no military guards in the operating room. There weren’t even any armed soldiers outside the room. They had to open the double doors to get in. This was shocking to me, because it seemed that Brent Spiner’s character already knew that the aliens used the armor to make themselves stronger. So that forced me to take away the idea that the farther we delve into the unknown, the deeper and more sincere are the dangers. And we need to understand that despite how intriguing or interesting something may be, curiosity alone cannot save anyone from the black eyes that look beyond the void.

-Tyler