Sloth: The Man with the Hammer

[Sloth the Enduring]

Like I just said, these next two weeks are going to be killer.  My fitnessing will be haphazard.  I'm not going to write about it much, if at all.  You can assume I'm doing something, but not enough to maintain my current decent fitness.  I have a race on the 15th that's important to me so I doubt I'll let it drop too far.  Likewise, I've already fallen far behind on my NFing, I'll still pop in, but I'll likely miss stuff.

 

Today was the all day meeting day.  My brain feels like static electricity right now.  That may be the several cups of coffee I got and drank as an excuse to stand up and move around, if only briefly.

 

The afternoon was the district science department meeting.  I've said this before, being around all those smart, hard-working teachers makes me feel stupid and lazy.

 

Mrs. Sloth went to some sort of brain-based PD.  They went into male/female communication differences.  She came out of it feeling a lot better about how we communicate because of all the horrible stories everyone was telling.  I guess I'm not half bad after all.

 

ETA:  I was vain this morning.  I was in the bathroom getting ready and the light was just right and when I looked down my quads looked magnificent. I almost took a picture for @deftona, but I was naked and it seemed wrong... Anyway, I was briefly proud of finally putting in enough work to make a difference. 

[WhiteGhost]

You have no idea how long I spent trying to get the light just right for my quads picture. I suspect yours are probably equally or more impressive in the right lighting

 

[deftona]

5 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

ETA:  I was vain this morning.  I was in the bathroom getting ready and the light was just right and when I looked down my quads looked magnificent. I almost took a picture for @deftona, but I was naked and it seemed wrong

 

No, this would be totally in the spirit of me. Not wrong at all. 

 

1 hour ago, WhiteGhost said:

You have no idea how long I spent trying to get the light just right for my quads picture. I suspect yours are probably equally or more impressive in the right lighting

 

This is also in the spirit of me, you're all doing very well <3 

[Mrs Van]

On 8/21/2018 at 4:04 PM, deftona said:

I bet he's British too. American movie villains are always British I mean cut us some slack.

Nope, in a couple of movies I've seen the last couple of months, the main villains were South African. The Black Panther movie comes to mind; I can't remember the names of others but there were two or three more.

[WhiteGhost]

56 minutes ago, elizevdmerwe said:

Nope, in a couple of movies I've seen the last couple of months, the main villains were South African. The Black Panther movie comes to mind; I can't remember the names of others but there were two or three more.

If we are being honest here, I doubt most Americans could tell the difference between British and South African accents.  I know I couldn't until last year when we had some folks from South Africa move in not too far from us  

[deftona]

19 minutes ago, WhiteGhost said:

If we are being honest here, I doubt most Americans could tell the difference between British and South African accents.  I know I couldn't until last year when we had some folks from South Africa move in not too far from us  

 

This is crazy to me! 

[Mrs Van]

2 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

If we are being honest here, I doubt most Americans could tell the difference between British and South African accents.  I know I couldn't until last year when we had some folks from South Africa move in not too far from us  

Yes probably not, but they say as part of the script in the movie that this guy "Mr. So and So big bad villain, is from South Africa."

2 hours ago, deftona said:

 

This is crazy to me! 

British is more nasal sound. Bad South African English is flat. Honestly I wouldn't know the SA actors from other international actors (except a select few), if they hadn't mentioned it specifically that the villain was so and so from South Africa. I don't tend to follow the South African movies at all. At least our crime rates help with plots in movies, and our scenery! I heard in those specials about movies that so many parts of movies (parts of the new Lara Croft for instance) were shot in South Africa!

 

[deftona]

17 minutes ago, elizevdmerwe said:

British is more nasal sound. Bad South African English is flat. Honestly I wouldn't know the SA actors from other international actors (except a select few), if they hadn't mentioned it specifically that the villain was so and so from South Africa. I don't tend to follow the South African movies at all. At least our crime rates help with plots in movies, and our scenery! I heard in those specials about movies that so many parts of movies (parts of the new Lara Croft for instance) were shot in South Africa!

 

To my English ears, I can really hear the Dutch twang in the South African accent but I suppose to American ears it could sound like a regional English accent.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

6 hours ago, deftona said:

 

This is crazy to me! 

The closest analogy might be the difference between Texas Twang (Matthew McConaughey, more natural in his Lincoln Commmercials, played up a bit in Dazed and Confused), a Georgian Southern Drawl (many of the characters from Midnight in the Garden of good and evil, especially the bit parts played by locals), and someone from the Carolinas (Val Kilmer's Doc Holiday). The differences are subtle, but if you're used to hearing one every day, it's easier to identify when someone "ain't from around here."

[Sloth the Enduring]

On 8/21/2018 at 11:19 PM, WhiteGhost said:

You have no idea how long I spent trying to get the light just right for my quads picture. I suspect yours are probably equally or more impressive in the right lighting

 

 

Thanks brother. You flatter me. You forget, I am 100% slow twitch; building muscle happens glacially. You however, can do back flips and other feats of strength; I doubt I will ever live up to your magnificence. 

 

On 8/22/2018 at 1:02 AM, deftona said:

 

No, this would be totally in the spirit of me. Not wrong at all. 

 

 

This is also in the spirit of me, you're all doing very well <3 

 

I wasn’t so much worried about your feelings, but I didn’t think the missus would be too happy about me sending naked selfies to strange women.  TH might not take too kindly to it either. 

 

10 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

If we are being honest here, I doubt most Americans could tell the difference between British and South African accents.  I know I couldn't until last year when we had some folks from South Africa move in not too far from us  

 

I’d go one step farther and say that for almost all Americans all non-American English-speaking accents get lumped into British or English. 

 

11 hours ago, elizevdmerwe said:

Nope, in a couple of movies I've seen the last couple of months, the main villains were South African. The Black Panther movie comes to mind; I can't remember the names of others but there were two or three more.

 

I’ve noticed that too. Here’s my guess, Americans are very ignorant of the history and events of other countries, but they kind of remember apartheid being bad, so white SA gets to be a generic bad guy. 

 

3 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

The closest analogy might be the difference between Texas Twang (Matthew McConaughey, more natural in his Lincoln Commmercials, played up a bit in Dazed and Confused), a Georgian Southern Drawl (many of the characters from Midnight in the Garden of good and evil, especially the bit parts played by locals), and someone from the Carolinas (Val Kilmer's Doc Holiday). The differences are subtle, but if you're used to hearing one every day, it's easier to identify when someone "ain't from around here."

 

To us northerners all southern accents sound the same. 

[DJtrippyT]

5 minutes ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

 

I wasn’t so much worried about your feelings, but I didn’t think the missus would be too happy about me sending naked selfies to strange women.

 

the solution to this, of course, is to post it on a general public forum so you're sending it to EVERYONE

 

 

[deftona]

48 minutes ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

I wasn’t so much worried about your feelings, but I didn’t think the missus would be too happy about me sending naked selfies to strange women.  TH might not take too kindly to it either. 

Well I assumed you were going to crop out your junk before sending it but it seems you really do have this spirit of me nailed. 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

3 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

To us northerners all southern accents sound the same. 

On a good day I can tell what part of Texas someone is from by their accent.

[jstanlick]

3 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

To us northerners all southern accents sound the same.

Yes and no. After spending a year in Carolina, I got pretty good at recognizing the differences between Georgia and Carolina. Well, there was the one dude from Louisiana who I could recognize before I spent any time there but he clearly sounded different than everyone else. But, I did have to live there for a year to distinguish the differences.

 

It takes time living somewhere to pick up those differences. To Tank's point, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri? Nope. Couldn't tell you where they're from unless they wore signs from their hometown.

[Bearlee]

On 8/23/2018 at 3:46 AM, elizevdmerwe said:

Yes probably not, but they say as part of the script in the movie that this guy "Mr. So and So big bad villain, is from South Africa."

British is more nasal sound. Bad South African English is flat. Honestly I wouldn't know the SA actors from other international actors (except a select few), if they hadn't mentioned it specifically that the villain was so and so from South Africa. I don't tend to follow the South African movies at all. At least our crime rates help with plots in movies, and our scenery! I heard in those specials about movies that so many parts of movies (parts of the new Lara Croft for instance) were shot in South Africa!

 

 

The girl on the left seems to be so Murcia. I’m from the Midwest and her voice is a bit grating. Now that I think about it, there is a surprisingly large amount of accent differences in America. Plus now I want to travel to South Africa, but I’m not sure if the girl on the right’s voice is typical of a South African. Makes me wonder what Belize English is like also.

[DJtrippyT]

On 8/23/2018 at 4:10 PM, jstanlick said:

To Tank's point, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri? Nope. Couldn't tell you where they're from unless they wore signs from their hometown.

 

Don't forget Florida, which has a rat-strangled accent of it's own, like someone from New Jersey did a mind-meld with most of Dayton, Ohio. I am the proud possessor of one of those.

[Mrs Van]

On 8/25/2018 at 7:28 AM, Bearlee said:

but I’m not sure if the girl on the right’s voice is typical of a South African

Her voice is typical of Afrikaans home language people speaking English. English home language people sound a bit different, sometimes with a British nasal sound, especially here in Natal, which is jokingly called the last British outpost. Brandt and I have been told a couple of times that we don't have that Afrikaans accented English, why people typically think we are English and not Afrikaans at home. Black South Africans have a totally different accent when speaking English, typically like that of the mom and sister in Black Panther movie, but sometimes even harsher accent. Just listen to any news broadcasts with South African politicians.

[DJtrippyT]

my client for this week is a guy from Minneapolis named Jake. The world being what it is, I feel certain you must know him in real life.

[Xena]

Wow, I missed so much! Loved hearing about your birthday taco celebration. And your bike ride made me wish I liked biking. You did so well!!

[Sloth the Enduring]

On August 23, 2018 at 11:45 AM, DJtrippyT said:

 

the solution to this, of course, is to post it on a general public forum so you're sending it to EVERYONE

 

 

 

Gotcha, next time I take a naked selfie I'll post it here first.  Might be a while, I still haven't posted a lycra pic for @Salinger and whichever else of you creepsters wanted one.

 

On August 23, 2018 at 12:28 PM, deftona said:

Well I assumed you were going to crop out your junk before sending it but it seems you really do have this spirit of me nailed. 

 

If I crop out my junk it isn't fun any more.  Perhaps less disappointing though.

 

On August 23, 2018 at 2:47 PM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

On a good day I can tell what part of Texas someone is from by their accent.

 

Dammit.  I had a good snarky quip but it fell out of my head.

 

On August 23, 2018 at 3:10 PM, jstanlick said:

Yes and no. After spending a year in Carolina, I got pretty good at recognizing the differences between Georgia and Carolina. Well, there was the one dude from Louisiana who I could recognize before I spent any time there but he clearly sounded different than everyone else. But, I did have to live there for a year to distinguish the differences.

 

It takes time living somewhere to pick up those differences. To Tank's point, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri? Nope. Couldn't tell you where they're from unless they wore signs from their hometown.

 

One the guys I game with is from Louisiana.  While he's urbane, his dad has a solid cajun accent.  Whenever we see him my wife gets Adam Sandler's Cajun man skit in her head and after we leave I spend the rest of the day listening to her mispronouncing, "onion... masturbation..."

 

dang, I couldn't fin the skit to link.

 

On August 25, 2018 at 12:28 AM, Bearlee said:

 

The girl on the left seems to be so Murcia. I’m from the Midwest and her voice is a bit grating. Now that I think about it, there is a surprisingly large amount of accent differences in America. Plus now I want to travel to South Africa, but I’m not sure if the girl on the right’s voice is typical of a South African. Makes me wonder what Belize English is like also.

 

It was surprisingly late in life that I figured out that there were more than two American accents despite watching Cheers regularly.

 

On August 25, 2018 at 4:55 PM, DJtrippyT said:

 

Don't forget Florida, which has a rat-strangled accent of it's own, like someone from New Jersey did a mind-meld with most of Dayton, Ohio. I am the proud possessor of one of those.

 

We go to Florida a lot and hear a surprising number of Minnesota accents.  But when we leave the elderly gated communities the native Floridians sound like generic east coast to me.

 

6 hours ago, DJtrippyT said:

my client for this week is a guy from Minneapolis named Jake. The world being what it is, I feel certain you must know him in real life.

 

Could be.  Minneapolis is a giant small town.  If he's been here since college and is between the ages of ~45-52 I either know him or know someone who knows him.  Now if he's one of those suburbanites who say they live in Minneapolis instead of whatever June Cleaver suburb they live in, then no.  I don't know him.

 

39 minutes ago, Xena said:

Wow, I missed so much! Loved hearing about your birthday taco celebration. And your bike ride made me wish I liked biking. You did so well!!

 

You don't like biking?!?

 

 

JK.  thanks  

 

[Sloth the Enduring]

Last week was all about going to long-ass meetings and getting ready for the first day of school.  I'm still not ready...  I did some riding, but not much.

 

Friday night I was supposed to get together with a bunch of college friends.  One of them was in town for another college guy's wedding.  They decided to bring their families to a fancy bowling alley with a chef.  This time of year I can't afford a place with a chef even if it is a bowling alley.  I begged off saying I was going to be stuck at school until the custodians kicked me out.  It ended up being true.  I did see them for one drink and it was nice.  About two drinks would have been the right amount of time for me.

 

Saturday we went to a party for one of Slothboy's friends.  All the parents were there hanging out and drinking beer.  It wasn't bad.  The dad had a bike shop in his garage and they had just gone to the Ren Fest.  They seemed relatable.  We left when the kids started getting cranky with each other.  The next day there was a FB post where the parents posted pics of their kids with bruises and scabs.  I guess we missed the fun part.

 

I slept through the Terrain Race.  If you'll recall I was meh on it anyway so I wasn't too upset except for not seeing @EricMN school me on brachiating.  I ended up getting 13 or 14 hours of sleep which is two or three normal night's worth for me.  I slept that much Saturday night too.

 

Sunday I fretted and tried to get things ready.  In the afternoon we went to Circus in the Park.  It was a good show.  Tomorrow is the first day of school, I don't expect to sleep tonight.  I wish they would wait until Labor Day to start.  We end up with a small class until then as people either are still on vacation or they need to wait until the first of the month to buy school clothes and supplies.  Which means we end up redoing a lot of the first week's business.

[starpuck]

Good luck starting off the school season Sloth.    Sounds like you needed that rest-  I think we as humans, often shrug off how physically exhausting the mental and emotional stuff can be.    

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

15 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

One the guys I game with is from Louisiana.  While he's urbane, his dad has a solid cajun accent.  Whenever we see him my wife gets Adam Sandler's Cajun man skit in her head and after we leave I spend the rest of the day listening to her mispronouncing, "onion... masturbation..."

 

dang, I couldn't fin the skit to link.

 

[EricMN]

14 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

Saturday we went to a party for one of Slothboy's friends.  All the parents were there hanging out and drinking beer.  It wasn't bad.  The dad had a bike shop in his garage and they had just gone to the Ren Fest.  They seemed relatable.  We left when the kids started getting cranky with each other.  The next day there was a FB post where the parents posted pics of their kids with bruises and scabs.  I guess we missed the fun part.

 

I slept through the Terrain Race.  If you'll recall I was meh on it anyway so I wasn't too upset except for not seeing @EricMN school me on brachiating.  I ended up getting 13 or 14 hours of sleep which is two or three normal night's worth for me.  I slept that much Saturday night too.

Sounds like you had a pretty good Saturday. You didn't miss anything at Terrain Race. It was a lot of grinding up and down hills and fewer obstacles than I remember. Also, I failed miserably on the monkey bars as they were slimy and wet. You made the right decision to sleep.

 

14 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

Sunday I fretted and tried to get things ready.  In the afternoon we went to Circus in the Park.  It was a good show.  Tomorrow is the first day of school, I don't expect to sleep tonight.  I wish they would wait until Labor Day to start.  We end up with a small class until then as people either are still on vacation or they need to wait until the first of the month to buy school clothes and supplies.  Which means we end up redoing a lot of the first week's business.

I hope you had a better first day than all that worry warranted.

[Sloth the Enduring]

On 8/27/2018 at 10:12 AM, Starpuck said:

Good luck starting off the school season Sloth.    Sounds like you needed that rest-  I think we as humans, often shrug off how physically exhausting the mental and emotional stuff can be.    

 

Thank you. I always forget how trying it is to go from near isolation to extraverting for a living. 

 

On 8/27/2018 at 1:20 PM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

 

 

Hah. Thanks brother.  The spring break skit cracks me up.

 

On 8/27/2018 at 3:03 PM, EricMN said:

Sounds like you had a pretty good Saturday. You didn't miss anything at Terrain Race. It was a lot of grinding up and down hills and fewer obstacles than I remember. Also, I failed miserably on the monkey bars as they were slimy and wet. You made the right decision to sleep.

 

I hope you had a better first day than all that worry warranted.

 

I still feel lame sleeping through a race.  And I really would have liked to see you running.  I like grinding, it’s what I’m good at.  At least on a bike. It’s been too long to know if I can still grind  while running. 

 

Thanks. 21 first days and I haven’t slept the night before one yet.