The Turduckin was worth the wait....

It takes about eight hours to cook one of those bad boys, but what do you expect from a turkey that's been stuffed with a duck that's been stuffed with a chicken that's been stuffed with stuffing? To add a little extra to the mix, as if it needed anything more, we covered the birds with bacon, because everything is better with bacon. I put bacon in my cheerios. This is why people are so damn fat is this country.

We got a late jump on the cooking process and hadn't eaten a thing all day outside of a few dessert pastries. Not one of us had eaten. We were starting to get on each others nerves, now this is the kind of Christmas I'm used to, everyone getting on each others nerves.

"Shut Up! Shut Up!" I heard my buddy Anthony yelling at Ringo from the other room. My brother Ringo has his problems, he lacks the social graces that most people expect from others, and this has kept him from experiencing life the same way as the "normal" every day person, which in turn leads to more lack in social areas, and this is coming from me, a guy who pisses off pretty much every one that meets me.

But Ringo is also a great kid, a far better person than I've ever been, and while he shows very little fear and will just about punch anyone dead in the face without a moments thought if you rub his rhubarb wrong, he often overestimates his skill in certain areas, and needs to be protected in others. Ringo very well may have punched Anthony dead in the face, and he would have deserved it to, you don't tell another grown man to "Shut Up", much less yell it, unless you're a bully, a spoiled ass, or simply lack respect, so you get what's coming to you if it happens. Of course, Anthony would really put a hurting on my brother afterwards, which is something I wasn't going to allow. This whole thing could quickly tumble out of control, so I went in there.

Anthony is a pretty big guy, in good shape, and whether it was that or the fact that we were in The Man's house on Christmas and didn't want to cause trouble, Ringo simply put his game controller down and walked out of the room. He sat on the couch and didn't say anything the rest of the night, and he was the one who bought the bird.

It's good nothing went down like that, my broken wrist isn't right yet and I can't be getting into any freys, especially with friends of mine, but had it been that way I would have had something for him. You wouldn't know it from looking at me, but I grew up a fighter, and have since been trained to do certain things. A few months before I began writing this blog a few punks around the neighborhood also thought they'd get tough with my brother, three of them believed they were going to jump him and I wasn't going to do a thing about it. It didn't work out so well for them. And it wouldn't have for my friend either. In Anthony's mind right now he would destroy me if it were to get into that. In his mind.

Just like the punks in the street, he wouldn't have known what hit him. But then, No Body Expects the Spanish Inquisition!

But that's not what this was about. You have to understand, my buddy Anthony is a great guy too, you just have to know him. That's the same exact thing anyone would say about me, and he's definitely more main stream than I am. If you put it to the social test, the polls would agree with him and I'd be the one who's nuts. So its not about that, its the lesson in the day.

Adriana Lima

The Knick game was long over and there was no football this Sunday due to the holiday, so we were deep into hunger and boredom already when Anthony walked in. Ringo loves video games, and he likes to create characters in his wrestling game based on the characters from my first novel VPI: The Saga Begins and watch them fight it out. Personally I think wrestling is for fruits  and 12 year olds, but millions of guys everywhere can't get enough of the shit, and its Ringo's thing. Besides, its at least as entertaining as any of the other garbage that's on TV, and if he's enjoying it, if it makes him happy, then what do you care?

"WHAT IS THIS?" Anthony was screaming right away, "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" The Man and I didn't much care either way at that point, we were hungry and wrecked, but Anthony went on a twenty minute tirade ripping the entire affair apart for how ridiculous it was. I can't say he's wrong, the amount of things I'd rather do is probably incalculable. Of course, there Anthony was getting into it a few minutes later, at points cheering the action on before stepping back and tearing into it again. This is how it started, and the two of them didn't get along for the rest of the day.

Izabel Goulart

How often have you been ripped apart like that for doing something you enjoy, whatever it is? How often have you done it to others? This is how society gets you to conform. This is how individualism is stamped out. It can be so deflating to someone's spirit. Most people will hang their head and never do something they really enjoy because of it.

AH, but the self actualized person doesn't care. They just do what they do.

By the time the Turducken came out of the oven we were on edge, Ringo was obviously upset, and I felt bad for him. But when that bad boy hit the table it all went away. There wasn't a sound for a half an hour as the four of us devoured a meal that was meant for at least twice that many. Turduckin has so many flavors that its difficult to describe them all, so I won't even bother trying, the important thing is that it was so damn good that the irritation we had all felt just a short time before had magically melted away. We were all happy, having a good time once more.

The Turduckin was worth the wait.

Later on, after we left, I had to help pick up Ringo's spirits. I told him to remember, if you're into something then chances are someone else is into it to, so don't listen to what other people have to say about it. Sure enough, upon researching the subject we found that Playstation online has thousands upon thousands of characters for this wrastling game that others out there had to spent a ton of time with perfecting for others to use, things like a Bruce Lee that looks and fights just like the real guy. Youtube is full of video's that other people had made of their own characters fighting it out in the squared circle, just like Ringo likes to do with his time.

Sure enough, an activity that one guy sneered and turned his nose up at and attempted to tear down proved to be something so much bigger to so many others. My brother was validated once he found a circle of people that was just like him.

The lesson I'm getting at here is this: Don't listen to other people when they try to tear you down for who you are and what you do. Don't let anyone make you feel bad about yourself. As Louise Hay would say, "what other people think about you is none of your business". Chances are they have no idea what the hell they're talking about, and if you just do your thing, eventually others out there will appreciate it just as much as you do.

In some sad news, the Chimp who played Cheeta in Tarzan died at the age of 80.

"He could tell if I was having a good day or a bad day. He was always trying to get me to laugh if he thought I was having a bad day. He was very in tune to human feelings," Cobb was quoted as saying.

Ron Priest, a sanctuary volunteer, told the Tribune that Cheetah stood out because he could walk upright with a straight back like a human, and was distinguished by other talents.

"When he didn't like somebody or something that was going on, he would pick up some poop and throw it at them. He could get you at 30 feet with bars in between," Priest said.

Cheetah could walk like a man, had empathy and the will to make people happy, and could fling shit like a champ. What a Chimp! R.I.P.

Until Next time

Later People!

Join my fanpage John LaSota - Writer

Or our creative team's page The Mad Doser Presents

And if you need a healthy helping hand from a Personal Performance Consultant

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Hitting the Wall....

SO it appears that I've hit the wall, run out of things to talk about, and its such a fine morning for it too with the downpour washing over the city of New York. This was bound to happen eventually, that's the price when you're a one man gang, trying to bring something new and fresh every day even when nothing new or fresh is happening.

No, that's not the wall I've hit, though I HAVE been thinking a lot about baseball the past few days. This is one of the more disturbing sights that's come out of the game I love though. I just found this photo this morning, and I'm pretty positive that's Gary Sheffield pinning Bubba Crosby to the wall there.

I'm not sure which is more upsetting.... the fact that I can recognize that its Crosby smashed in there from the look on his face, or that it looks like Shef is doing this purposely.

Most of the time life feels like this right here, pushed up against a glass barrier that isn't going to move, yet forces and the places you want to go push you right up against it anyway. Right now I'm just glad I blew this picture up.... don't lie, it caught you too, I think its that eye of his staring at you that does it. This is what Poe was talking about, what drove ole boy to cut up that old man and stuff him under the floor boards.... its that eye....

Sometimes life takes it all out of you, or you give it all you've got until you're brought to your knees. I'd bet this woman here left it all out on the field, pushed until she had nothing left. Those are the ones I admire, not talent, not winning, it's that drive, the WILL to win....

I used to have that once. The real difference is passion.... that desire for something so deep that you can't live without it, that you put everything into getting it. For the first time I really saw what that meant this week.

When I die, all I want is to be able to look back and honestly tell myself that I gave it my all, life that is, that I left it all on the field. I haven't been doing that though, not really. That's going to have to change.

That sounds like some good advice, doesn't it? Some real inspirational stuff right there, the stuff that drives you, gets you going. My father came from that school of thought.... FIGHT THROUGH IT!!!

Except that its counterintuitive. Much of life is that way, our natural instincts tell us to do the exact opposite of what the situation actually requires. When you're about to get hit you naturally tense up, brace for impact, but its that tension that actually causes you to get hurt. Being loose and giving yourself the ability to absorb the blow is what gets you out of there in one piece. Again, that's the balance of the universe, the yin and yang of it.

This is what happens when you use raw power to try to smash through barriers.

I had just finished reading the 33 Strategies of War, another by Robert Greene. I've become a big fan of his. While it wasn't as good as the 48 Laws of Power, and that's possibly because much of it is based on The Art of War, which I know well already, its still a great read with a lot of lessons for everyday life.

These are the exact type of challenges that the book deals with, knowing WHEN to tear down walls and when those walls are keeping the bad men out. It deals with knowing when to use will power and brute force, and when to use speed and finese.

Speed and finese didn't work out so well for this guy now, did it?

Those last two shots were people trying to get passed that wall with the benefit of the best that money can buy, and they still didn't have what it took. When you're driving an old jelopy its an entirely different ballgame, you can't rely on pure performance... things have to fall your way...

Or this is what you get. Yeah... I've ended up here too many times. And you have too from what I've been hearing. Haven't we all?

This is the exact kind of treatment I try to avoid, and the more I try to avoid it, the more it seems to find me. Again, counterintuitive.

That's why it may be a good thing that I'm at the base of the wall. Maybe its time to focus on the important things in life....

That's Candice Swanepoel, now that I know she's a Yankee I think she may be the perfect woman.

With all this talk about Jose Reyes leaving the Mets for the Marlins its gotten back into looking into the game. I ended up buying Moneyball yesterday and started to read it finally, and its been great already.

If you're a baseball stat guy (and I am) you have to look at Slugging percentage. Last year the top 3 teams in Slugging in each league all made the playoffs. The other team that made it to the dance in both leagues led the pitching category in slugging against. OPS, or slugging plus on base percentage.... its the only stat that really counts. You can predict who will win based on that alone.

That there is Jose Reyes, formerly the Mets best player. I hate the Mets, but not because of the team itself, but their fans. They're the type of ignorant asses that are so obnoxious that they make you hate everything that they associate with.

I'm a huge Buffalo Bills fan, and they went to the Superbowl every year that I was in High School. At the time a Jet fan told me that the Jets were better because they had won a Superbowl in 1969, some 25 years before said statement was made. I bring this up because Jet fans.... Met fans.... they're the same people, and this sort of statement is the rule with them, not the exception. I kid you not.

For that reason I can't deal with them, because they are UN-reasonable.

This here is Sandy Alderson, who is a central figure in the book Moneyball, and now the Mets GM, so it all does tie together. I actually liked the moves that he made after the Reyes defection, which will turn out to be a blessing for the team, you'll see.

And now I really can't wait to delve deep into this book. I'm even excited enough to start that virtual baseball league I love so much back up.

Izabel Goulart has nothing to do with any of this. I just found so many hot pictures of her for the archives that I had to include her somewhere in here. Besides, it really lifts things up, doesn't it, makes the whole day more cheerful.

More things having nothing to do with anything, I caught Crazy, Stupid, Love and Our Idiot Brother this weekend for a buck each from the red box. You all know how much I love the red box. They were both great movies. Crazy, Stupid, Love was just real life, solid all around. Our Idiot Brother was on the dopier side, but a nice, uplifting tale. Then again, I like stories about people, and life.

That's all for today though.

Later People!

Join my fanpage John LaSota - Writer

Or our creative team's page The Mad Doser Presents

And if you need a healthy helping hand from a Personal Performance Consultant

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Conditions of Victory, what its really like out there for most, and more models!

In yesterday's piece I spoke about the 2011 Victoria's Secret Fashion show and posted a lot of photos of the more well known models that they had walking the runway in bras and panties. We tend to go crazy over these women, but there are so many more that make these productions go, whether they be up and coming or just fillers that don't quite have what it takes to get to that elite level.

Mregji Heinen

The more and more I look into these things the more I find a few people in the entertainment business, whatever the genre, actually break into this elite status, while the landscape is littered by the hangers-on. Most of you out there with those bigger dreams will fall squarely in some realm of the latter.

Toni Garrn

So if you want to actually do more than make a hobby of this, and for more than just a few years, you're going to have to find a niche in that world or a new angle that's unique to yourself in order to keep you in the game. The more I get into what it takes, the more I'm seeing that hero support, the people behind the scenes that allow these elite's to do their thing, has much more long term viability.

Lais Ribeiro

Every one of the photos I'm using in today's piece is also of women that appeared in the show the other night, every one of them beautiful, yet none of them have the names or reps that the stars do. Many of them I had to filter through, even drop some completely, because I just couldn't find shots of them sexy enough to use that weren't naked.

Anja Rubik

So here once again we run into another common theme, people that are successful enough to take part in a huge event in their field, yet still not known enough to be much more than a face, albeit a beautiful face, in the crowd. I personally know more than a dozen women who could fit this category and still have less of an internet presence than I do. In 5 years they'll be looking for a real job, brought back into the real world just like the rest of us, no matter how much they're living the high life right now.

 Anne Vyalitsyna

Again, beauty only gets you so far, opens the door, but there has to be something more there. That picture up top is smoking, and its no different than a thousand others I've seen. If you know any ladies wanting to break out, or break in, to the modelling/acting/music industry, or if you are one yourself, you need to make sure you're very clear on one thing, especially the models where its just your looks that you're working with.... you're going to be taking your clothes off for the camera, and its going to be all over the internet. If you want to be a star actress, you're probably going to have to sleep with a few big shots to get there. Its part of the gig. And if you're not willing to do that then you had better get back in school and study hard.

Shannon Click

I'm really not one to love being right, its more relief that I'm on the right track. The same as with these ladies having to be willing to go to ends others balk at to get into the limelight, I too have to find ways to make the system work for me, rather than against me as it always has, and so will you in any of your endeavors. Which makes it all the more important to know what you're facing and embrace it, rather than rail against it.

Julie Stegner

Whatever it is that you're doing, you can make it happen if you're just able to find ways to accentuate your strengths while limiting the exposure of the things you're weak in. The models here are a perfect example of that. These are mostly runway models, pretty faces, small skinny frames, big boobs and not much at all in the hips and ass area. So what do you see mostly? Cleavage shots and hair whipping.

Izabel Goulart

Bikini models on the other hand are going to show off more of the back end, use sexy poses to reveal their best assets. Magazines and professional photographers prove brilliant at being able to recognize a person's best attributes and leverage those in their work. Some of the ladies... there just isn't enough out there to work with. Others, like Izabel Goulart up top here, are able to pull it off so well that I actually had to restart my archives for later use because of the vast amount of material she has out there that's top of the line.

Caroline Winberg

Like always though, my point isn't to talk about half naked women and show off their photos, though it IS something I enjoy. Rather, its to illustrate something greater that affects us all and I'll explain....

This comes straight from the Art of War, but is applicable to every situation in life, especially career situations. In every scenario we have to look for the conditions of victory, exactly what is it that I want or am I trying to accomplish, or, what has to happen for me to win. And how will I know that its happened?

Once we know this, however, we have to then decide how far we're willing to go, how much we're willing to do in order to achieve that end result. If we have to do or give up more than we find worth it to achieve that victory then its time to walk away and find another battle to fight.

To walk out into a situation without knowing those conditions means you've already lost. That's how we get in over our head. That's how we get sucked into things we regret or can never live down. Yet its how most people go about their every day business of living their life.

As you go out there, know what you're getting yourself into, what you want to get out of it, and the price you're willing to pay in everything you do. To do it any other way will always lead to you getting fucked in the end. Sometimes literally.

But that's all for now.

Later People!

Join my fanpage John LaSota - Writer

Or our creative team's page The Mad Doser Presents

And if you need a healthy helping hand from a Personal Performance Consultant

Coach LaSota