Re-check, Change

After counting calories for a couple of months and not making any progress in reducing the fats around my belly, I figured it was time I kicked my ass into gear.

People do anything if they’re desperate enough. I’m at the point where my metabolism isn’t what it used to be and simply counting calories wasn’t enough. I had to do something drastic that wasn’t getting hooked on meth, so I did the next best thing.

I signed up for the gym, and as of now, I’ve been going to the gym regularly for a month. I know it’s not much, but it’s better than nothing. I’m officially on the path to becoming swole. Not really, but also really.

A trip down memory lane you didn’t need

You see, for most of my life, I had been able to get away with not being fat. Sure, I wasn’t as skinny as I was during my college days, but I was never at the point where I could be made fun of either. I was middling. Neither here nor there. But I was also putting on the grams over the years.

It took me 37 years but I’m now an Anytime Fitness member. A club I never thought I’d ever be part of in. Just like clubbing, and smoking, if you told me many years ago that I’d be a gym bro, I’d laugh in your face. Life is unpredictable sometimes. No, all the time. You never know what comes next.

Also, my company’s fitness benefits helped push me to take the first step. What excuse did I have to not make use of work’s perks? That’s right. If you’re looking for a career in an awesome company, we’re hiring (this is not a sponsored post).


On a side note, why do people talk about their full age range, as if they had a choice of what they could do from age 1-18? It’s hyperbolic to say I took 37 years to sign up for the gym when really, it would be at most 19 years. No regular 18-year-old kid would have been able to join a fitness center.

They wouldn’t have the money or the intention to. At that age, being active and playing team sports would have been enough. They wouldn’t have been able to afford a membership since they wouldn’t be working, and if they were working they wouldn’t spend that meager salary to work out either.

I feel like gymming is an older person thing. When you don’t have all the time in the world and can only commit an hour a day to getting in shape, that’s when you need it.

And it’s been 19 years since I turned 18, holy shit.


Maintaining a workout routine has been surprisingly easy. I thought I would struggle with but I guess I want to get in shape more than I want to buy new pants. Even though it’s probably cheaper to get new pants than to maintain a gym membership.

While I’m sure it’s beneficial to my health, it’d be hypocritical of me to speak on that topic considering how I partake in unhealthy activities. Let’s just say they cancel each other out and I’m gymming out of vanity.

Speaking of smoking, I have reduced the number of cigarettes I consume a day since it affects my stamina and endurance. I don’t smoke before a gym session, so I’ve been able to make a pack last four days instead of three.

I doubt I’ll quit smoking – I still find it enjoyable. It’s also great for socializing with people I wouldn’t have normally spoken to. So many friendships have been born over cigarettes.

A month in and I’m still weaksauce. I still have a lot of catching up to do. Just like how we don’t get fat overnight, the same can be said for the opposite. No idea if I’ll continue blogging about my fitness journey, but this marks my first official fitness-related post.

Something-something accountability by putting yourself out there. Listen to the new Hot Mulligan track if you haven’t already. It’s a banger.

blorgy.net is (almost) dead

Long live blorgy.net. I’ve finally done it. I’ve kicked off the migration of this blog from blorgy.net to goodnewsgeorge.com. You’ll be able to access blorgy.net until the 8th of April, 2023. After that, it’ll return an error. At least until some cybersquatter decides to buy it (lol).

Remember to update your links and bookmarks.


I don’t think I’ve ever written about how the name blorgy came about. 16 years on, it’s still as childish as it was in 2007. Blorgy is a portmanteau of blog + orgy. Why did I choose that for a blog name? I honestly can’t remember.

Maybe it was a 21-year-old me trying to will into existence an orgy between the hot bloggers and myself. Sad to say, nothing of that sort happened. Blogging didn’t get me the ladies. Anyhow, I’m glad it’ll soon be left in the past and we can all move forward with the more tasteful alternative.


As you can see, this is what my blog looks like now. I’m mostly happy with it, but still experimenting with it (it’s been a while since I messed around with WordPress themes, holy shit they can be so complex these days). This blog is using Neve, a lightweight theme, that’s pretty customizable.

I’ve wanted to do something vaporwave-inspired but also tone it down a bit. I’m the biggest reader of my own blog and if it’s too much for my eyes, it’s probably too much for other people. So, muted colors, and a white background for the black text to stand out from. I might add a color or two.

The photograph at the top is a highly edited photo of the swimming pool where I live. The content is still the same, and I like my current layout, so I had no reason to change that. That being said, expect some tweaks in the coming weeks. Nobody gets things right the first time around.

I’m going to stick with this for a while until something else catches my eye or I can think of a better design. I have a feeling people may or may not like this font. If I get too many complaints, I’ll change it, but it really gives the vibe I’m going for.

Also, the old blog loaded really slowly for some reason. It wasn’t even a heavy theme, I believe this one should load much faster. I can already feel it on my end. Not much more to say other than I’ve managed to complete one of my goals for this year, so hooray.

Let me know if you have any feedback or comments about this design. I’m all ears.

End Of Another Year

I started writing this post a few days ago but didn't have the motivation to finish it, so it's going to be my end of year and hello 2023 post. A two-in-one special.

It’s always fun to load up the previous year’s end-of-year post to see if I did anything I said I would do. Spoiler: I didn’t. But that’s okay. It’s just how life is sometimes. Life doesn’t have to be a constant state of progress. It would be great if it did.

A related image showed up in my Instagram feed recently:

Coincidence? Or algorithms at work? Probably the latter. That’s just how social media is. It used to where you’d get the latest updates. But if you follow too many accounts, it would be a mess if your feed wasn’t curated. You’d miss many posts that you’d care about.

On the other hand, only being shown posts that you care about creates a feedback loop. You like things, so the algorithm will show you more things it thinks you will like. Eventually, you’re shielded from everything else. This can be a good or bad thing.

Social media feeds are completely made up of what people you follow want you to see. And if these people don’t open up to you, you don’t really know what’s up.

Nobody’s life is perfect, but that doesn’t mean it’s terrible either. Life is a balance of ups and downs; there will be days you love and days you hate, and sometimes your feelings can change within minutes.

Life’s not a fairytale

2022 was an alright year for me. Overall, I’d say it was a neutral year, kinda like most years. The biggest win for me was my new (now current) job. Doing something I enjoy, working with chill colleagues, and having a positive atmosphere.

It’s been great, don’t get me wrong, but there are downsides too. Check out this table:

Negatives of my current jobBalancing factor
It’s not easyI’m no longer unemployed and I get to learn new things doing it
Lower take home salary (due to taxes and EPF)I don’t have to make manual prepayments for taxes and my company contributes to EPF
No more sleeping inI have work-life balance
Back to the office, terrible traffic jamsI get to spend time outside of the house, also I’m sometimes more productive in the office anyway
Expensive parkingFree coffee, fruits and beer in the office
It’s tedious to go for smoke breaksI don’t have to smoke alone, and smoking less is supposedly better for health

As you can see, even though I my job is great, it’s not without its downsides. But those downsides are neutralized by other factors. So overall, I consider it a win.

In terms of personal projects, this year was bad. I didn’t come up with new music or original YouTube content and haven’t been writing much. And I still haven’t played a live show since the pandemic. However, I’ve somewhat balanced that out by covering songs.

By making cover song videos, I learned to play and sing new songs. I discovered chords I never used. I also gained knowledge and experience in recording and video editing. I’ll be able to make better videos when I eventually create original content in the future.

I had some issues with Facebook Live which gave me a reason to move back to Twitch. It’s sad to say goodbye to all my Facebook Gaming followers, but until they fix their false copyright claim nonsense, I’m not going to bother returning.

I guess that covers what a neutral year for me is like.


To those of you who had a shit year, it’s okay. Look forward to the next one. One shit year doesn’t discount all the good ones you’ve had in the past. And nobody knows what the future holds. In the grand scheme of things, one bad year doesn’t even mean that much.

If you zoom out and look at your whole life, you probably have a lot more good or neutral years than shit ones. It’s just that we tend to remember the bad times more. Life sort of balances itself out that way. Unless you die before that. Then, that’s too bad.

If the year’s been great for you, be prepared for terrible shit to come your way. Or not. You could also die before your life balances out too. Then again, it’s not like you’ll care about what happened in the past once you’re dead. How can you care if you cease to exist?

In any case, while you’re still around, do what makes you happy. It’s your life.


Since we’re on the topic of the new year, I’ve got some goals for myself. Public goals to hold myself accountable.

  • Fully migrate this blog to goodnewsgeorge.com and give it a facelift
  • Post 12 blog posts (not counting this)
  • Create 6 YouTube videos
  • Record a 6-song EP
  • Play 12 shows
  • Create 12 pieces of original art
  • Go back down to 70kg and un-tighten my pants

We’ll come back to this post in December and see how far we’ve gotten. Happy New Year everyone. Hopefully, this year will be better than the last.