Mental Health Weekend Thread

[Frog Wiz]

Please see the event information listed here:

 

 

Post your pictures!

Edited November 9, 2020 by Frog Wiz

[s m o k e]

Swipe right on this thread boys. Bout to be full of some real hardcore nature porn this Sunday.

[1800RagList]

On 11/13/2020 at 2:52 AM, s m o k e said:

Swipe right on this thread boys. Bout to be full of some real hardcore nature porn this Sunday.

Wheres this nature porno at @s m o k e

[Frog Wiz]

5 hours ago, 1800RagList said:

Wheres this nature porno at @s m o k e

He's out hunting for balloon boy in the desert apparently (sent this picture)

 

Today, I had one of the best days that I’ve had in a while, and it couldn’t have come at a better time (right before finals week)! For my mental health event, I decided to chronicle an entire day, as I spent the day with friends and doing things that we love to do. I believe that the most valuable and important commodity that we all have is time, and who you spend your time with is the most essential part of living a life worth living. We’re really relishing these days, as after next week, all but my friend Ricardo and his fiancée Kimmi are leaving Iowa due to jobs and masters/doctorate programs.

 

The very first thing that my friend Ricardo and I do every morning is go to boxing practice. We both box for the Iowa State boxing club, and we’re sharpening up our skills in preparation for the Iowa Golden Gloves in the Spring. We had a sparring session today that resulted in an accidental harder than necessary punch to Ricardo’s nose, but like the Cuban masochist he is, he implored me to take a picture so he could “show off”. Don’t feel sorry for him; he outweighs me by 30 pounds and fucks me up more often than the other way around.

 

 

 

After that, because of Veteran’s day this week, I decided to do the Manion workout in honor of Travis Manion, a Recon Marine that was killed by sniper fire as he was helping drawing enemy fire away from his wounded Marines in 2007 in Al Anbar, Iraq. The workout consists of 7 rounds of a 400-meter run, and then 29 back squats with 135 lbs. I chose to wear a weighted vest for the runs, and this is the aftermath of the very FIRST round (didn’t bother taking pictures at the end because I was fucking dead). For more information on Travis, as well as information on his foundation that was created by his surviving family members, please go here:

 

https://www.travismanion.org/about-us/who-we-are/

 

 

 

Please note, I’ve never had the privilege of serving in the armed forces myself, would never say that I have, and am not one that wears “military-civilian” clothing (shirts that say don’t tread on me, slow is fast, etc.), but I have a lot of close friends, roommates and family that are and were in the Marines, the Navy, the Air Force, the Coast Guard, and the Army. A way for me, an everyday civilian, to say thanks besides just thanking them for serving, is to attempt to try and experience just a microscopic sliver of the mental, physical, and emotional difficulties that they’ve faced during their respective times in the military. I (as well as my roommates) really love doing this by doing extreme workouts in honor of fallen service members, and just pushing ourselves physically in general. I figure that spending time to honor those who serve and have served is a good way for me to thank them (after all, time is the most valuable commodity).

 

I then visited my old friend, Saldin that I went to middle and high school with and my other friend Ross brought his son (Arlo) to catch up and just talk about the good ol’ days (Arlo loves beating up on Saldin). Ricardo and I then went back to my roommates' and I’s apartment for some good ol’ home cooked breakfast. Next, I helped Ricardo clean and rebuild his carburetor for his 1975 Yamaha DT-125 (I gave the bike to him for a Christmas present last year.

 

After that, I took a nice walk with my mom and dad, just to relax and spend time with them.

 

 

 

We went back to the apartment to chill a bit and have a bit of instrument practice, as the majority of us play instruments (I personally love practicing the guitar, ukulele, and banjo. The blue guitar on the top left is my classical acoustic guitar with an electric pick up, and by far my favorite guitar that I’ve had (7 years now)). Of course, being the gamers we were, we booted up a little old school Parappa the Rapper and Crash Team Racing on my PS1, then evolved into playing Battlefield One.

 

 

 

Our roommates one by one went to take a nap, but Ricardo and I decided to do another workout by “rucking”, which is basically carrying weight in a backpack and walking (he did this a lot when he was in the Army in Cuba, and I’m sure every fucking service member has experienced rucking). We all love doing GORUCK events (basically these rucking workouts over a couple hours and a dozen or so miles for the lowest/easiest event), and there usually are events most weekends around the world, but because of COVID none of us signed up for one this weekend. Here are some pictures of when we all did a GORUCK event a year ago.

 

I'm the one with the DFQ (Don't Fucking Quit) shirt.

 

 

So, Ricardo and I rucked for a few hours and for a few miles, with me snapping pictures every once and awhile, but not really caring about anything but talking about life. I personally am someone who has no social media at all, and that’s by choice. I barely even check my phone unless it’s an urgent notification from friends or family. It was a little harder for Ricardo to do that as he is much more interested in social media and such, and I did catch him looking up Facebook stuff during one of our many breaks along the way. Honestly, however, it was an absolutely beautiful and meaningful couple of hours as him and I talked about his baby that’s due in February (Kimmi of course stayed at home as she’s pregnant and pretty far along), life in Cuba, and the usual guy stuff (women, exercise, the meaning of life, etc.). Before long, we realized that we were walking on some train track and decided to turn around before we lost the daylight. Well… it didn’t work out. We basically rucked back home in the dark, but not before I snapped a couple beautiful pictures of the stars that were out.

 

 

 

After a shower and many glasses of water, I made a blueberry galette from a recipe I found online (didn’t want pie and I wanted to make something new), and we shared it amongst our other roommates.

 

 

 

All in all, it was a fantastic day, and we lived it to the fullest. I hope that everyone else has as well, and that they are enjoying their mental health weekend. The event goes until Monday basically, so don’t forget to post your own pictures (don’t worry about a long-ass write up; I just enjoy writing so most of my posts are super long) and most of all, ENJOY LIFE!

Edited November 14, 2020 by Frog Wiz

[s m o k e]

Looks like you had a hell of a weekend Frog, good shit brother.

 

Here's a few pics from my trip to the dez with the boys:

 

Started near Canyon Sin Nombre & through Hills of the Moon.

 

 

Went hiking around looking for some Native American village sites & artefacts - Morteros, Manos, & grinding slicks pictured. Didn't find any arrowheads. 

  

 

Came across a cave with a "fertility symbol" (Yoni) carved on top... And some amazing pictographs nearby, hundreds to thousands of years old. The large dragonfly is my fav. Blue & colors apart from Red/Black are very rare, so this was cool.

    

 

Ran into this beauty on one of the day hikes.

 

Camp Night 2 next to an ancient Kumeyaay Village (night 1 was a windy shitfest in a random wash)

  

 

 

A shot out my tent this morn. Ended with an quick walk around the village area looking for anything interesting.

  

 

Desert = good. 

Edited November 15, 2020 by s m o k e

[Frog Wiz]

1 hour ago, s m o k e said:

Looks like you had a hell of a weekend Frog, good shit brother.

Here's a few pics from my trip to the dez with the boys:

Desert = good. 

 

Beautiful man. I figure it's also nice temperature wise during the fall/winder too? Well, obviously I'm sure during the night it gets cold as fuck; but it must be nice during the day.

 

Adding pictures from the calendar post from other members:

 

@p k 3 r s

 

 

@1800RagList

 

@tittles420

 

@Final Combo

 

@MilusMaximus

 

@Bullet Wound

Edited November 15, 2020 by Frog Wiz

[koods]

Had to work all weekend 12 hours shifts but I am taking some time afterwards today to start this wood carving kit that I received as a gift. I have been on a rotating schedule so my weekend starts tomorrow, I am planning to carve a lot more outside and maybe take a walk to pickup some food to celebrate the event. It is nice seeing everyone's photos of nature, I haven't gotten outside too much recently. I have hiked a lot in the past and the photos made me think about taking a hike sometime when the weather gets warmer 

[Frog Wiz]

1 hour ago, koods said:

Had to work all weekend 12 hours shifts but I am taking some time afterwards today to start this wood carving kit that I received as a gift. I have been on a rotating schedule so my weekend starts tomorrow, I am planning to carve a lot more outside and maybe take a walk to pickup some food to celebrate the event. It is nice seeing everyone's photos of nature, I haven't gotten outside too much recently. I have hiked a lot in the past and the photos made me think about taking a hike sometime when the weather gets warmer 

 

That's awesome Koods. Is it just a hobby, or do you sell what you carve? You can absolutely keep posting pics for your "weekend"! Hiking is definitely nice to do; I wish I lived near better nature places, but I guess you can't be picky.

[s m o k e]

Sick pics dudes.

 

Yes Frog, it was 60-70s during the day, and 35-40 at night. Got a bit chilly but not too bad, fire and down coats make it warm. 

 

[koods]

13 hours ago, Frog Wiz said:

 

That's awesome Koods. Is it just a hobby, or do you sell what you carve? You can absolutely keep posting pics for your "weekend"! Hiking is definitely nice to do; I wish I lived near better nature places, but I guess you can't be picky.

This is actually my first time carving a kit like this. My mom bought one for everyone in the family to try. I think I will look into getting another kit, I have been enjoying it so far.