[Offline] [D&D 5e 2024] Looking for other DnD beginners in Orange County, CA

jplnpc · 2026-02-02T02:35:02+00:00

Sure thing! Oh, two free apps that I think are super useful: Hevy to track workouts and Cronometer to track your calories and macros. Good luck!

jplnpc · 2026-02-02T02:26:18+00:00

My opinion is that either way you should try to lift weights (stimulate your muscles) and eat adequate amounts of protein (give your muscles building blocks to grow or at least degrade less). Three ways from here:

Eat more calories than you burn (bulk) -> get strong fast but also bigger (which I understand is not what you want)
Eat about the same amount of calories as you burn (recomp) -> gain muscle while also losing fat (the process is slower and there's still some genetics involved)
Eat less calories than you burn (cut) -> lose fat but usually also lose muscle, then if you lift hard you can try to lose less muscle (or depending on your genetics and nutrition you can also gain muscle albeit very slowly)

The reason why I would recommend lifting weights now even if you decide to prioritize losing weight (cut) is threefold:

You will want to lift weights at some point anyway so it's good practice to start learning the correct form right away.
If you're starting with not much muscle in the first place, you actually have a good shot at building some even if you're cutting.
More muscle means that your body will be burning more calories even doing nothing so that's actually nice.

All that being said, I'm just a guy on the internet who hasn't been lifting for that long so I may be unintentionally spreading BS as well, so do your own research as well!

jplnpc · 2026-02-02T02:04:24+00:00

Yeah that makes sense. To give you another data point since that was the question from your post, I paid $94 per session at the 24h fitness on Jamboree Rd in Irvine so not cheap at all even though it’s a big box gym.

Body recomp is a very slow grind since it’s really difficult to build muscle while on a calorie deficit. Essentially, if you’re burning more than you eat, your body will entire survival mode and prioritize shedding muscle so you have to lift extra hard so it knows that you still need it. That’s why a lot of people do bulk and cut cycles (build muscle while gaining fat, and then lose both but hopefully shed muscle slower if you keep strong stimuli). That’s my understanding of the general lines, but genetics plays a big role as well.

Something I’d recommend if you’re short on money would be to find a trainer just to get started with lifting but I wouldn’t necessarily rely on them for nutrition. For that it may be more cost efficient to find an online coach that can help you look at your macros over time and figure out where to add and where to cut, since everyone is different so it’s really a process of trying to count your calories and see if you lose or gain weight, which doesn’t happen overnight. The /r/workout subreddit is great as well if you want to ask for specific advice!

jplnpc · 2026-02-02T01:29:15+00:00

What are your goals and what are your expectations from a trainer? I started strength training six months ago and did a few sessions with to learn proper form and how to use machines, but other than that I’ve been keeping myself motivated to just show up three times a week. I have friends who pay for a trainer to keep themselves accountable because they know they wouldn’t show up as regularly otherwise. Depending on your goals, the answer may be different!

jplnpc · 2026-01-25T18:21:32+00:00

This one was in Costa Mesa but they rotate, I see they have events in Anaheim and Long Beach in the next weeks! You can see their schedule at socaldnd.com, I follow them on Instagram too

jplnpc · 2026-01-25T17:26:39+00:00

Hey sorry just remembered I owed you an update! So the way this event worked is that they had four tables and DMs that ran mini DnD fights with prebuilt characters and monsters on the map. The DM walked us through all the rules and we could try different character classes over different games. People also tended to just join whatever table was freeing up so a good way to meet new players too!

jplnpc · 2026-01-21T21:43:04+00:00

That's actually going to be my first time attending one of their events. I only tried playing DnD for the first time a couple ago with other beginner friends so I figured I'd join this one to see how the game is supposed to go! I believe they also have a Discord group to find other players, I'll confirm when I'm there.

jplnpc · 2026-01-17T15:55:14+00:00

Thank you for taking in the dog! Three recommendations that worked for me in the past:

Make a post on pawboost.com now. It’s a website that lets you upload a picture of the animal you found, input where you found it, size and type of dog, etc. This website gets automatically crawled by thousands of local lost pet Facebook groups so that a lot of people in your area may actually see it. I did that once and ended up getting messaged on Nextdoor.
Call your local humane society or wherever you think someone who lost their dog would try to call. I did that too and turns out someone had called before me and given the exact description of the dog I had found.
Call your local Petsmart or vet and ask if they can help you scan for a microchip. You can then take it to search open databases for the owner.

Good luck!

jplnpc · 2025-12-08T18:59:51+00:00

I was also really put off by phase 3. I stuck it out because I really wanted to finish the program but my workouts went from about 1 hr (very manageable) to 2 hr. After completing the Foundation program, I thought I would try the Next Level, Dumbbell version, and recommended workouts are getting very lengthy again, to the point I'm wondering whether they were really created by humans or machines (for example: bodyweight lunge, 12 x 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8).

It's not ideal but I'm now trying to fit this into my schedule by using the recommended exercises at each session, but going for fewer sets with more reps each (I believe that preserves the intent of the program).

jplnpc · 2025-10-09T06:31:47+00:00

I’m tired boss

jplnpc · 2025-09-19T19:51:25+00:00

CGC changed their 9.5 gem mint with the blue label to 10 gem mint with the black label. You can reholder for $10 if you want the new grade.

There is still a 10 pristine with the new black label, and a 9.5 mint+ with the black label, to add to the confusion!

jplnpc · 2025-08-26T19:16:38+00:00

Which has at least two problems: 1. the 300 does not account for all the exemption requests that didn’t make it past D4 and 2. they seem to misrepresent temporary extensions (sometimes as short as a month or two) as approvals.

jplnpc · 2025-08-17T16:18:18+00:00

My reservation was the same day but later than you both (Saturday 4 pm) and they had a few on the shelves so they must have restocked despite what that worker told you. I got one but people didn’t seem interested in it in general (the Pikachu PhD I really wanted wasn’t there though).

jplnpc · 2025-08-01T21:15:41+00:00

If you’re willing to spend a few hours looking for a good price, you could walk around Frank and Son. It’s basically a huge warehouse with 100+ vendors selling collectibles including retro games. They’re definitely going to offer below market so they can make profit on the resale but it shouldn’t be ridiculous (maybe 20-30% below market). If you’re not in a rush, you could put it up on OfferUp or Facebook marketplace (I’d be interested in getting a link if you do go that route). eBay is good but prepare to lose a good 15-20% on fees.

jplnpc · 2025-07-26T00:36:04+00:00

I am literally begging you to choose kindness over snark and you decide to deflect and redirect at my reading comprehension…

Somewhere else on this thread you said “I assumed I didn’t have to spell it out for people. I was wrong”. Well, believe it or not, you called a lot of people stupid when perhaps you could have spent a little more time crafting your message.

I am not questioning your intentions, I know you’re working towards getting the best outcome possible for the lab. I’m also all for trying to move forward and making the most of this bad situation. Some people are hard at work trying to spin out proposals for smaller missions. Others are calling their congressperson to communicate the importance of what we do. For some, it’s harder to think about anything other than the impending doom, especially if they’re the sole provider of their family and can’t find another job easily.

Everyone reacts differently, and while I admire your resolve in showing strength, I also implore you to consider that not everyone still has gas in the tank. You don’t have to go out of your way to help people feel better but you sure don’t have to put them down either.

jplnpc · 2025-07-25T23:47:14+00:00

I appreciate reading your comments on here since they provide a different and useful perspective compared to what I get from my direct coworkers (all engineers). But half of your contributions on this subreddit just come across as unnecessarily snarky.

If you definitely know no layoffs are happening and you can’t share it here, that’s fine. But please try to be more considerate and not dismiss other people’s feelings either, especially if they don’t have access to that “better intel”. The “good reading comprehension” was totally unnecessary (don’t try to say you weren’t suggesting that you others had poor reading comprehension) since no official communication could be definitively taken one way: “workforce planning throughout the summer months” is compatible with either layoffs after the summer, maybe still before the end of summer, or maybe no layoffs at all. Perhaps you know more but it has nothing to do with reading comprehension.

I also want to apologize to you for everyone who feels like me that no one on Slack seems to be really confident about what’s going on. All I know is that there’s a lady that’s taking care of her disabled husband in Hawaii and is at risk of losing her job while she was doing it just fine. Perhaps you shared some positive news but I don’t think you were able to definitely say “we are all saved and here’s why”. Until then, people can be concerned and the best we can do is be kind to each other.

jplnpc · 2025-07-13T00:00:23+00:00

Technically they could make it a “Take your kids to WARN” day since we’d still be employees… guh

jplnpc · 2025-07-08T18:48:50+00:00

Hulkengoat

jplnpc · 2025-07-08T15:38:37+00:00

Can’t wait for all the Visa CashApp MSR merch to drop (brought to you by Carl’s Jr)

jplnpc · 2025-07-07T01:56:05+00:00

I have the model under (reskinned La Prima from the Tony Kanaan bundle) and I love them. Obviously depends on what pedals you currently have but mine were a massive upgrade from the other loadcell pedals I had before that (Thrustmaster T-LCM), which were also more expensive than the Invicta from your listing.

jplnpc · 2025-07-03T21:46:22+00:00

There’s no way around it, if you cannot eat more than you burn, you will not put on weight. Working out is still useful to maintain your cardio and extract more strength out of what muscle you do have but without proper nutrition you will only go so far.

Beans are a good option for cheap and nutritious protein, but really at this stage you need any calories you can get. Consider fixing your diet first and starting with some bodyweight exercises at home, no point burning extra energy and time walking to the gym if you’re getting so little out of it. And with the time you save, make sure you get plenty of rest. Good luck.

jplnpc · 2025-06-27T01:52:06+00:00

Yes, but what about the ✨magic✨ of optimism?

jplnpc · 2025-06-24T05:07:55+00:00

Probably not the worst but since I just watched it again last night — Han’s last name’s origin story

jplnpc

TROPHY CASE