Brief Experiences In Cooking

Food is an experience. It's the best way to get to know a culture, a region, a country. That while my opinion may be heavily influenced by watching and reading way too much Anthony Bourdain. Which I am completely fine with that. The one thing that I learned in following this idea tho is there is an even better experience that comes with food, that's cooking it yourself. 

We used to have the traditional family dinner every Sunday and it was one of the things the whole family looked forward to throughout the week. While I was young it was very much a “stay out of the kitchen” event though. My mom and dad would be in the kitchen for a couple hours and produce some of the best tasting food we could get. As I got older I was allowed in the kitchen and got the chance to help out.

My favorite time doing this was when we would have BLT Sunday's. After my first time cooking bacon having watched my mother do it for years, it was my turn. The best part about it was the fact that on that night my grandfather immediately noticed a difference in the bacon. Once told I had cooked it he decreed that I was the only one that could cook bacon from now on.

It was an amazing feeling. Never before had I really cooked anything. (Let's face it instant ramen doesn't count as cooking.) Since then I've loved being in the kitchen cooking. Experimenting with different herbs and spices, trying new recipes and tweaking them. 

Through the years tho I've found one of the best parts of cooking, again in my opinion. It had been right in front of me for years. Cooking with your significant other. I've done it a couple times now with a couple different girlfriends and each time it was amazing. Cooking is such a low-stress thing to do when you're doing it just for yourself and it's so much more fun with someone. Sharing a small kitchen with someone and working side by side you manage to learn a lot about that person. How much stress they can take, how careful they are, how much or how little they like to follow 'rules.' Then too there's a sense of fun to it as well. 

I remember one of the funniest times was cooking chicken and my friend at the time was tenderizing the chicken as I cooked it. She was pounding the hell out of this chicken. We joked about her getting her stress out that way for a bit and then she opened up to me and told me about what she had been going through.

Cooking and sharing the act of cooking are both amazing things. Not only for the excitement of knowing the food you're going to eat was prepared by you but being able to share an experience with someone and grow closer in the process. If you never cook, cook rarely, have never cooked with someone, try it. It could be an amazing experience for you and even lead to a new passion. 

Question.

   "Where do you see yourself in 20 years?"

   This question and the various modifications of it (5 years, 10 years, etc.) are questions I have never in my life been able to answer. Even today, at the age of 24, about to launch a business with my two best friends, I couldn't tell you where I see myself next week.

   I'm one of those people who don't do the future. I talk about it, all the time, and there are tons of plans. Things I want, people I want to be with me, places I want to go and so on. I desperately want these to be in my future, and I'll make all the efforts to make sure it happens. But I don't see my future.

   I couldn't tell you with any certainty that anything is going to happen because in my years I've learned life is a storm. The winds of change are always in play. Things you think or even 'know' will never change eventually do.

   I can't tell you where I'll be in 20 years, I could tell you what and who I want then. But life has a strange way of moving things. Only thing I can tell you is I'll still be here.

What's In A Photo

   I love taking photos of everything and everywhere.

   I'm not one that lives the life behind a screen tho, I always take the time to take in the area or the thing I'm photographing before I actually take the photo. Recently with starting a daily vlog it's only increased my desire for photos and taught me a lot in the process. It's all about the memories. You can live in the moment and you can remember a moment but in a photo or video, you perfectly capture the moment.

   Now my vlog isn't one of the most interesting and my photos aren't the best, but for me, they tell a story. My vlog I always try to record beautiful moments for my timelapse and then the parts of the day that are important and noteworthy for the rest of the vlog. With photography again your able to capture the moment in perfect stillness. The emotion of a person, the beauty of a landscape or an animal.

   There are so many stories that can be told through both medians. It's not only an easy hobby but it can quickly become an obsession, I find myself wanting to travel and do more and more photography as time has gone on. Then working with my friends and launching Everything Entrikit as a production company has already shown me so many new ways to look at and see the world both through a lens and with the naked eye.

   Stop and take photos, shoot video, go live. In those moments you capture the world around you exactly as it is, even if you can remember the day for the rest of your life its an amazing feeling to go back and look at exactly how things were that day.

Escape From Tarkov

 Escape from Tarkov is a game coming soon from the company Battlestate Games, a Russian development company. Now if you haven't heard of this game yet I'm not surprised, as I recently just learned of it as well. But what caught my attention with it is the fact that it is what another game could have been.
  As far as hype for games goes there are few I can think of in recent years that had more hype than Day Z (by Bohemia Interactive.) It started as a mod for ARMA 3 and later turned into a full-scale game which is listed on Steam. The game received a ton of hype, being played by many YouTubers and streamers. But the fatal flaw was the development and the support the game had after launch.
  While it had been listed as in beta they started charging for the game its self which to date has sold over 3 million copies. On steam alone tho the user reviews for the game show errors in the game. With positive reviews numbering in the 100 thousand and negative reviews being 39 thousand. It is a good game but its lacking in many areas.
   This is where Escape comes in. The concept behind the game is close to the same of Day Z but the gameplay, while in alpha, is much more polished than Day Z is. The gameplay features the same mechanics as Day Z in some ways. But the level of detail and craftsmanship that seems to be but in it is amazing.
  From what I've heard of Battlestate Games, they are a small company. There doesn't even seem to be a wiki page for the company currently. There are some developer diaries and reference videos on their site which is listed here. This is looking like it will be a decent game for many different players and play styles. This will be one to keep an eye on as time goes on the page lists 2016 as the year to be ready to escape.

Getting Into Streaming

  Today so much of our world is online. Youtube brought about a whole new form of entertainment in today's world. With it came many changes to the way we receive information and different forms of entertainment. This was followed by the trend of live streaming. From major events, rallies down to people playing games. Twitch brought a whole new light to the world of gaming in its own right.
   Streaming games have become a major income source for some. This originally sounded like a foolish idea. I remember growing up telling my parents I wanted to find a way to make a living gaming. It was something I had always had a passion for. Of course, like any normal parents at the time, they told me I was being foolish. At the time I was. Streaming wasn't that big of a thing during my youth. But today streaming is major. The CS: GO qualifier event brought in over 80,000 views. People watching groups fight for a spot in a tournament where the prize is $1,000,000.
   But streaming is also a challenge in its own right. As we live now in a world where technology is so readily available to the masses services such as Twitch are overwhelmed with streamers. Some performing exceptionally well, generating enough income to survive and go to college, while others sit in the background of obscurity trying to make it into the big time.
   I'm trying to get into streaming still, I've got a small team backing me up and we're all working toward a common goal. This is a competition between 1.5 million plus people while the odds are stacked against anyone getting into this now, it is a dream many have. To anyone who shares the dream of being able to be an at least somewhat successful streamer, I wish you good luck. Hopefully, we'll get to work together someday.

Merging Of Two Worlds

   So I've got a love for anime and video games. I'm sure my love of video games is familiar to anyone who's been here before. Anime is a much smaller world because I'm so particular about my anime. One I love tho is Sword Art Online. Now mixing the two I've found some love for a particular game, The Division.
    The Division is a game coming in roughly 2 weeks that looks really great. It's a shooter and an MMO that takes place in Downtown Manhattan. Now the thing I noticed about it is that its got a great start to something depending on how well it does and how far it goes. Now granted I didn't get lucky enough to be able to play the Beta so all I have is videos and commentaries.
   The nice thing is depending on how it goes is that if the expand it enough it could reach the same level as something like Gun Game Online from SAO. Now if you're more of a gamer than an anime nerd and don't know what I'm talking about the closest thing I can tell you is they could expand this to a level that would be like the mixing of SWTOR and what you've seen from Division.
   Now personally, I would love this. The expanse and abilities for the customization would be amazing. All they would have to do to expand it is to continue to expand the map beyond where it is now. I'm sure in all honesty it would be a massive undertaking and depending on the support it sees after launch will lead to how the game proceeds.
   If you haven't looked into any of the games or anime I've mentioned here you should. The anime is amazing and The Division looks like it could become a long-term and wonderful game. I'm going to have to get The Division and hope to see one of you on there.

TV Review: Gotham

   I don't watch much TV as I've mentioned before. Though I will binge watch shows on Netflix. One show I decided to watch recently was Gotham. I'm a huge Batman fan and when I originally heard of the show I was interested in it. The idea of a look at the start of the legend if done proper would be an amazing thing to watch. In truth it really is.
    While some of the backstory doesn't quite match what I remember in the comics it does a really good job fleshing out the characters of the world. It covers the events happening right after the death of Martha and Thomas Wayne. Introduced during the course of season one include Selina Kyle (Catwoman,) Cobblepot (Penguin,) Jim Gordan, Harvey Dent, Ivy, and many others. Now this is not a full list of characters due to the fact that this is only season one and I don't want to spoil anything.
    The show doesn't really fit any one archetype per se. Sometimes the episodes run like mysteries, others run like your typical dark crime show and overall a drama. As a fan of Batman there is enough in each episode to keep you wanting more. As a show in general it would be great for anyone who is a fan of any of those types of shows.
    I was worried about this show to be honest, and honestly, the tie in with batman only goes as far as the characters. This show is about Gordan and the city of Gotham itself. It serves as great back story for the Batman universe but if you're hoping to see the dark knight I don't think you're going to find much of him here.