Do you find yourself modeling your life after Dan?

More and more, the Dan hate has turned into more of a "How can I live my life like Dan?".

Tonight I am sitting here, drinking, watching The Rock. Why? Only because that's what Dan said he did. I haven't watched this movie in over a decade, and here I am watching it now because... Dan.

So how else is everyone modeling themselves after Dan? I have thought a bit about trying some meditation, who knows what else Dan can provide to us.

I did drink a 40 of King Cobra malt liquor the other night, but I like to think that's unrelated.

Fuck no

Absolutely fucking not

No, but I had a completely different set of life experiences than him. Also I have a mortgage and understand it lol.

What is this beard on my face? Oh god.

I fear for anyone that models their life after Dan's.

Not even a little bit. Ideally, the opposite of his life is what I'm looking for.

Giant Bomb fans really scare me sometimes.

Yes, I kinda would like to start. Because once you look past his character that he plays, he is a person that has incredible drive, that tried really hard to accomplish want he wanted and did it. I am college student that could use some of what he has to keep me going and use some of that drive to push me where I know I belong and want to be (a job in media production). So yes I would love to be more like Dan

No absolutely not. I love Dan but fuck taking any of his advice.

The only thing I would like to resemble Dan is how he deals with anxiety and just seems pretty happy go lucky all the time.

Then again that's how they all like before the kill themselves. So everyone keep an eye out.

Nothing wrong with watching a movie that he recently discussed or being interested in trying out meditation after all the talk on the Bombcast, but there are some...other "Dan things" that one should not do. Steer clear of those and you should be alright. If you don't, well you'll spend the rest of your days playing Mario Party while eating Taco Bell.

So please be careful!

This sounds like the premise to a horror movie.

Fuck. No.

Dan has a fun life, sure, but I like a little bit of structure and predictability in mine. I don't need a Twitter following and stream my visits to fast food places. He just prefers the sort of attention-grabbing antics that I tend to avoid.

I do whatever I want outside of work (which I generally enjoy, too), so it still works for me. Just like his approach works for him.

I don't think trying to mirror Dan's life would work out for most people. I'm surprised it's even worked out for Dan.

Before I make any decision, I think to myself, "What would Dan do?"

And then I do the opposite.

No, well no.

Do you mean in a cautionary tale sort of way?

jesus christ, no

He actually has a really great mentality on life, tremendous drive, and I would wager is an extremely happy person. The people aggressively opposed to this idea are probably too hung up on taco bell. He actually has had a positive impact on me and from my perspective it looks like he's had some impact on Drew as well. Give the man some credit.

I mean, I guess I could be a bit more positive in my life.

Like as what not to do, right?

Fuck man, if you think about it it's not that bad an idea. That guy has a determination to pursue a goal that I envy. And even if he doesn't know a frightening amount of things, he is super open to learning (most of the time). Add in NuDan's open mindedness, and I wouldn't mind learning a thing or two from Dan.

I'm picturing a "The Dan-ta Clause" scenario in which I accidentally push Dan off a roof and start to grow a taste for nacho cheese Oreos and Mario Party...

He's a truly fascinating man. He's ignorant without being hateful, and that alone makes him strange in a wonderful way. I've never heard someone say in one breath that everyone at Burning Man should be arrested while talking about how he fundamentally doesn't understand things like slut shaming and homophobia.

NuDan is a lie.

I think there's a difference between trying out some of his interests and "modeling your life" after him. No, I would never model my life after him. I have to say though, I am extremely envious of his metabolism; I'm probably a little bit lighter than Dan, but that's with watching what I eat and cardio every day, not full packages of Taco Bell/Red Vines and 10+ sodas a day...

@blackblade500 said:

He has a good work ethic and all, but let's not pretend that Dan is any formula for success. There are thousands of bright young people working at Gamestops, with competent game writing skills, that will have trouble ever breaking into the game industry unless they similarly happen to get wildly lucky and have a shot at getting steady editorial work.

obviously, the secret to success is to dump all your skill points into Wrestling and 80's Action Movies.

and find a potential boss who allocated his stats similarly.

I've got nothing against Dan, but hell no.

No. God no. You'd have to be some kind of idiot to do that.

Absolutely, whatever Dan does goes on my "Do not do, ever" list.

Oh god no. Taco Bell and wrestling are both overwhelmingly terrible, the only good MGS story is the one from the first game, and I like being open to new ideas.

The Rock is okay. It's not some amazing action movie. Con Air is 5,000,000 times better.

@bernard_bernoulli: The Rock is an OK action movie, but it's baffling that anyone (such as Dan) would remember any dialogue from that movie and keep quoting it. It has good action scenes and it's some fun times with Cage and Connery, but man, the script? Really? For that movie?

Just remember that a skinny person who eats garbage is still unhealthy.

...I *have* been craving Taco Bell recently.

Hell no!

No, I'm more open minded than old Dan and I think new Dan is a farce

I love Dan. I have friends like Dan. He's like one of my friends who can drink dangerous levels of alcohol and be okay. He's like another friend of mine who used to go for pizza and Chinese buffet multiple times a week, yet was rail thin. Except he's both of those people rolled into one.

But I'm also smart enough not to drink or eat like those friends as I don't want to die.

That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run. So I ran to the end of the road. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd run to the end of town. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd just run across Greenbow County. And I figured, since I run this far, maybe I'd just run across the great state of Alabama. And that's what I did. I ran clear across Alabama. For no particular reason I just kept on going. I ran clear to the ocean. And when I got there, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well turn around, just keep on going. When I got to another ocean, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well just turn back, keep right on going.
~ Forest Gump

I tried Zapp's Crawtator and VooDoo chips because I wanted to know why a man who refused to eat sour cream and mayo would eat them. They're actually really fucking good

Ignorance isn't that charming when Trump and Clinton are the presidential nominees

I think there are plenty of worthwhile lessons to be learned from Dan. He approaches the things he wants with tenacity and focus. He has identified his weaknesses, and turned many of them into strengths. And he has more fun than seemingly anyone else on the planet.

He also tried to eat eggshells that one time.

So, no, I don't model myself after Dan. But listening to him did give me the kick in the butt I needed to take an active approach to taking care of my anxiety and depression, and he inspired me to use the dull periods in my boring day job to practice writing instead of browsing Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter 100 times a day. Also he introduced me to the cinematic masterpiece that is Commando.

People like to give him a hard time, but there are far worse role-models than Dan Ryckert.

Not really, but I must say hearing him in Danswers and his change of attitude toward trying new things has given me a lot more appreciation for him that I had when he first joined the crew...

Maybe don't model your life after Dan's but do take to heart some of his wisdom;

Challenging your preconceptions and trying the things that seem stupid or "hippy dippy" to you is usually only a good thing. Don't be afraid to experience things for yourself.

Crippling anxiety is incredibly hard to battle and if you feel even slightly that you want to try meditation to help control it then you really should. He's not the only one that practises such things with positive results, far from it. Best of all, it doesn't hurt to try.

Sure, I'd love to have a job in the game industry. Or a job in general. Wouldn't hurt to have tons of great friends either.

I think Dan is coming around on certain things, but I worry for his sake if the whole, "New Dan", thing is something that he can sustain. When I train for a triathlon I have to make sure that the ramp up of miles I'm swimming, biking, and running is healthy and something I can stick to. If I shoot too high I'll burn out really quickly or more likely hurt myself before that happens. The same goes for Dan when he's trying to change some of his less desirable ways. He's trying new things, and having new experiences and trying to repress other aspects of his old self, but if he pushes too hard on this, his gains might be for not. I just hope he understands that he can't pull a 180, cold turkey, on things in his life and expect that to work in the long run.

I partially admire Dan's effort to make changes in his life and do new things. It sounds like he's trying new things like exercising more and reading more books. I think Dan would realize more benefit by engrossing himself in something other than wrestling. I can understand Jeff and Dan's attitudes that wrestling is a big dumb show and is just one big, elaborate lie. But it's still a lie, and from what they admit, of poor quality. It was discouraging to see Dan roundly dismiss F1 as being of no merit because of the money that was in the sport and the, "snooty, rich people". The theater that exists in actual sport is far more gratifying to watch than wrestling could ever be. The rivalry, the highs, the lows, those are all worth watching because they are based on something that isn't contrived to be that way. The emotions that you see from these athletes is 100% them, no one is telling them how to feel. I don't have issues with people wanting to enjoy wrestling purely as just a theatrical production. But the second that anyone wants to start saying that it isn't completely fake and manufactured, and starts traipsing as sport, is the same second that you greatly diminish what actual work and dedication means. Dan would be better served looking for other, more fulfilling, avenues of theatrics. I was actually surprised to hear that he hates plays and theater, considering that wrestling is just as manufactured.