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rockstar1009

Viking Marauder
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So despite big plans to raise money for charity on a cross continental walk, the broken sidewalks of Brooklyn and Harlem decided to fuck with my ankles and twist them several times. In addition, Greyhound lost the left half of my backpack's waist strap, which is used to secure the load and balance your centre of gravity, which is really important on a thousands-of-miles-long hike. I tried to makedo, but with an unbalanced and unsecure load, I made it 15ish or so miles to a military surplus store in Manhattan only to find no replacements available. I got a belt, though, in an attempt to Gerry-rig my pack, but the damage was now done - my shoulder strap was now breaking. I only made it to New Jersey when the combination of a brutal limp and shoulder strap that came unbuckled every few seconds convinced me there was no way this was happening this year.

Probably not going to give it a shot next year, but some day I'll give it the charmed third (and successful, dammit) attempt. In the meantime, I'm back, though job seeking and apartment hunting are taking up my time at the moment. My current path makes it look like I'm probably going to be a 911 dispatcher again (job has been offered and I'm basically in provided I pass the drug test) but housing is still a big question mark. Once all that settles, though, I'll be back to semi-trolling in the forums, cruising the lit critique thread and posting the occasional story or poem (though I'm seriously considering focusing on writing smut to make quick supplemental income... it's quick, easy and there's definitely a market).

The MDA telethon is coming up - be sure to donate and see you all around (soon).
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Hey bros and bro-ettes, this quickie journal is to just let you all know I'm still alive.

I'm still planning an MDA charity walk across the North American continent, ocean to ocean, starting in August (from NY to L.A., not some cop-out where I just cross Panama or the narrow part of Mexico). I still can't figure out a good name for my online accounts, but PedestRyan/Feet of Endurance seem to be where I'm headed. If you can think of anything wittier/more creative/less suggestive of being involved with being a pederast/pedo, let me know. :lol:
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So you're all wondering, “what's Rockstar up to these days? Why the Hell hasn't he been on dA or Skype in forever?”

So none of you are really wondering that, but I'm going to tell you anyhow: I've been doing so much but yet so little. For starters, I have VERRRRRY limited access to Internet right now, hence why my online presence has been next to nil. Sorry peeps. :( Mainly though I'm just working – working loooooong hours for what amounts to peanuts - but I'm saving money for this summer. I've told a few of you about my crazy plans to walk across the width of the continent – which I attempted last year before my support group fizzled due to each of them having IRL issues they needed support of their own for. I don't quit easily, so I'm giving it a go again this year in mid-summer.

 Yes, to repeat: I'm insane. I plan to ride to the Atlantic shores in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York then walk to the Pacific shores of Long Beach, California. And I plan to do it in 100 days. 2800 miles in a hundred days amounts to 28 miles per day (for reference a marathon is 26.2 miles). I need to eat during this time, and spend money on other stuff like laundry and an occasional motel stay (though camping will indeed be a huge part of this), hence why I'm working like crazy and saving money. (Food/clothes/hygiene/sleep for 3 months is expensive, so I may have to shelve this til next year, but I'm trying like Hell to get the money saved up to do it this year – next year is a Presidential election year and there's NO attention whoring possible when that circus is going on, plus I've just hit 30 and my knees are only gonna be that much worse next year.)

 But why?
 
So my explanation of mental deficiency isn't enough for you, huh? Don't worry – my goals aren't nefarious. I'm going to start a GoFundMe account for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and (hopefully) raise a fuckton of money for them. I plan to post a daily video of my travels to YouTube, somewhere in the neighbourhood of 5 minutes per day (depending on the day – some days are bound to be far more exciting than others). Sure, I could just play a pointless game of Monkey See-Monkey Do and toss a bucket of ice over my head, or I could do something unique. Something BIG. Something meaningful. And as much as I hate to say #YOLO, well... #YOLO.  

So now I'm at the point where I ask for your help. The USA is really kind of boring when you travel inland from the coast. Doing the maths, I have maybe 10 days in the cities (the NYC-Hackensack sprawl, Altoona, Pittsburgh, Zanesville, Columbus, Dayton, Indianapolis, Effingham, St. Louis, and the SoCal sprawl) and the rest is lots of sleepy rural stretches. Some of those rural stretches are full of breathtaking scenery – the Poconos, the Alleghenies, the Sonora Desert, the Sierras – but I'm lost as to how to make Illinois and Kansas seem exciting. When I'm 11 days into Kansas and it's the 11th straight day filled with fucking corn – just kill me please. dA is a website filled with creative thinkers, so my suggestion box is wide open right now – if you have any ideas on ways to make a daily video diary seem interesting and worth tuning in for, I'm all ears. I have a few ideas (such as a recurring prank segment where I approach people like a lost tourist and ask for directions to Los Angeles – it should be good for a few funny reaction shots in New York/PA/Ohio I think) – but I need WAAAAAY more ideas. And while this is primarily to raise money for the MDA, I also want to inspire people as I go (not inspire them to walk across entire nations per se, but maybe to walk and or bike more, reduce their carbon footprint, get healthy, or to just chase their wildest and craziest dreams in general). So yeah – suggest away. All ideas welcome. Anything from a theme song I should use (I seriously hate “I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by the Proclaimers so don't bother suggesting it :stinkeye:) to what my alias should be (what's wrong with Rockstar? :noes:) please suggest away.
 
I'm also looking for someone to help do video editing and uploading and just generally helping me with running a social media presence (in rural Appalachia and rural Kansas, wifi/3G or even regular cell service for that matter are extremely sketchy). If you or any of your acquaintances are interested, note me and let me know your terms. BUT PLEASE – this is the biggie here – don't apply if you won't be able to help. The biggest part of me pulling the plug last year was relying on friends who weren't able to help in the capacity they thought they'd be able to help with. I'm not looking for flashy Michael Bay/James Cameron productions – just someone to share keys to a cloud storage account, run raw video clips through Windows Movie Maker, clean up raw photos and post them to Instagram – that sort of thing (again, I'm looking for help on this because I learned last year that uploading a 5 minute video would often result in a timeout on McDonald's crappy wifi, whereas I could upload 15-30 second clips to a cloud account which my friend could then access with their MUCH more reliable internet and edit/upload on their end). Below is a quick summary of what I was editting on my own - If it's at least this good, I'm happy. If you can do better, then aw hellz yeah. :la:



 But even more than ideas and help with the workload, I need support. Success on this thing hinges on exposure – I plan on attention whoring myself to local newspapers/news stations along the route, but there's only so much whoring I can do for myself here on the interwebz. That's where you all come in: be sure to follow me when I kick this whole crazy thing off. Tell your friends and family to follow me too. Tell complete strangers to follow me. And if you live anywhere along the path (or within travelling distance of the route) – well, I can never have too many guest stars. :la:

 -Ryan
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For clarity: I'm not saying I'll be leaving for sure; just a strong chance that it will happen. Around April I will definitely be out for a while, though. :hug:

H
ey guys – life can be a bitch, and mine is underperforming at the moment. I have the opportunity to give it a kickstart, which will hopefully work out, but a horribly uncertain future with every plan falling through at the last-minute means that I may be gone without notice any day now, likely for a long time (and this site being as it is, I know a lot of you won't be around by the time I manage to return). Maybe you've noticed, but I've been around a lot less these past few weeks, and I'm not likely to be active anytime soon.

I've been meaning to be more active in the “giving back” side of the community, but only found one month recently to go through the Lit Forum's critique thread and give out a handful of critiques – in the next few days I want to at least give back to those of you who have been watching me and give some feedback on your stuff. If you have anything in particular you'd like feedback on, let me know and I promise I will make it a priority.


Otherwise, this is a pre-emptive goodbye... just in case. You guys have all been awesome. :hug:

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Once upon a time, rockstar1009 used to be in great physical shape.

Untitled Drawing by rockstar1009
Not a good picture and yes, this is the highest resolution I could find.
I've never been a picture-taker (no Facebook page :saddummy:) so this is the
best proof I have available. Still, I can at least prove I once had abs. :la:


At the moment I'm not in terrible shape (I've been far worse) but I am 20 lbs overweight, and I'd like to drop another 20 after that to get back to my peak lean state.

Having been there, I know what it takes to get there, but I did some things wrong the first time around. Mainly (and the point of this journal), I ate pretty much the same thing every day, supplemented with multivitamins to prevent malnutrition. Practically no variety, and it got boring.

EbolaSparkleBear posted an anti-complaint in one of his recent forum threads where he described his amazing-sounding dinner and now I'm actually craving healthy foods. Sure, I know what google and epicurious are, but I'm asking you personally, people who watch me and whom I consider friends - if you have any dishes which are mind-blowing, yet reasonable in terms of calories, carb/fat/protein balances etc. If so, please do share. Meat, vegetarian, vegan, ethnic, spicy, mild.... I'm adventurous and open to all suggestions. :la:

if possible, avoid things heavy on bell peppers, onion or tomato because gross :doh:
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