Gamer's Social Thread

Well, it looks like we've found a new home for my father's library of Egyptology books. More details on that when it's finalized--don't want to jinx it or cause problems via presumption.

 

Wow, 2 whole cities here seem to be on emergency power only!

Freeky as hell to drive through--everything is dark. Even things like Apple Computers building only seems to have emergency stairwell lighting. And it's been like this all day appearently!

Gonna see if I can find an explanation on one of the news services.

 

Where's this?

 

Wouldn't larger buildings have their own generators? I know after the blackout here last summer, alot of buildings were at least looking into backup generators. As were some individuals I know. Especially since some buildings water pumps are electric powered. Nothing stinks worse than walking home five miles in uncomfortable shoes, walking up 18 flights of stairs, and not having any tap or shower water.

 

Cupertino & sunnyvale, CA

Very creepy

Found an article about it in the San Jose Mercury (murky) news, but didn't want to have to buy a subscription to read 1 article.

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Found out a bit more from another summary: seems some "non-utility" construction worker broke a big line somewhere. Hope the construction company has to pay the loss of revenue to all those restraunts and buisinesses who had to be closed for the day because of the lack of power.
There was a fun incident ~ 4 years ago when a construction team broke the main fiber connection that lead from the transmission tower to one of the local TV stations. Construction company had to pay the TV stations losses because they weren't able to provide that week's sports from their satelite feed. Ouch--expensive.

 

Ouch indeed. At least I sleep well at night knowing our blackouts are all natural. Lightning, gotta love it.

 

That would be creepy. I'm fortunite to have a small generator at my place. It's enough to keep the fridge, the water, and the tv working. It really is awesome, because it sucks if you loose power for awhile and everything in your fridge goes bad.

 

Ouch. Cutting a fiber line, Bad bombing. Usually you have to pay out your ass when one of those things are shredded, I know where I live, which is a fairly rural community when compared to a Big city, its like 10's of thousands of dollars per hour.

 

Ok so what have you guys been up to. I really haven't been doing too much. It kind of sucks. Being out of school this semester is no fun. I put in an application for substitue teaching, and i also am trying to get my own private tutoring clients since i'm broke right now. Does anybody have anything remotely cool to report.

 

I've been job hunting since last April except for a 3-month stint this summer. The graphics job market stinks out here in Silly-Con Valley, CA.

Took karate test last weekend. Find out Monday whether I passed or not. If so, then I'm at go-kyu (blue belt, 4 more to 1st black). If not, then I test again in February.

Going with my girlfriend to a fencing tournament in Longbeach this weekend, so you won't see any more posts from me until Monday.

Have a good weekend everyone!

 

Why the heck is this forum so dead? Is SW d20 unpopular, or do people post somewhere else?

 

Yeah looking for work sucks. I took karate for 6 years i got up to second degree brown belt, so i have one rank between me and a black belt. I stopped during high school and wrestled. Then i went to school. I would like to go back to it and get my black belt, but it's hard to find the time to do it. Now that i have the time i don't have the money, and i can't spare since it's been like 6 weeks since my head injury. It looks like i will have to get back to it at some other point in my life. I hope you passed your test.

 

There aren't many people that post here and d20 is sort of starting to die due to the fact that Wizards has pretty much put it on hold.

 

Truthfully, I'm actually on a bit of a downturn as far as gaming goes for the past couple of weeks. Sadly, this trend will probably continue to the end of October. At least something good will come out of it though, as I get to see Metallica again in a couple of weeks.
As for martial arts, I never believed in the stuff. I learned to fight from a true bastard, who never bothered sticking with any one style. He's also older, and alot more trecherous.

 

Are you seeing metallica in philly? I was going to go to that show, but i don't have the money. I've scene them a few times before. The last time was at the nassue park collesium.

As for martial arts, they do not make you invicable, but they are nice to know. They help your fighting reflexes, and allow you to do things automaticly that some other people would have to think about doing. If some one is trying to beat the bleep out of you, you don't want to waste time trying to figure out what to do.

 

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At the meadowlands actually. I like Philly, but it's a bit out of the way for me. Especially since I'm working most of the day.
See, I don't think you need martial arts o have those kind of reflexes or mentality. My first reaction is usually to maim, going for an ear and pulling, or kicking someone in the side of the knee. I want to hurt whomever is fighting me so badly they never cross me again. If I think I can get away with a self defense rap, I'll jab them in the throat first, to stop things quick.

DP, please delete my previous post. I don't know what happened there.

 

I don't think there is anything wrong with what you said in regaurds to fighting. If you need to use that much force you need to, but it is nice to know a few less violent ways to protect yourself. Also it is nice to have a dedicated time and place to practive.

I saw metallica at the meadow lands in 2000 during there summer sanatarium tour. It was really awesome. I loved the fact that it was summer time, and it was at an out side venue. There were so many hot girls there. They were so moved by metallica's performance that they just had to take off thier clothes. Are you from NJ? I am.

I saw your last post, and i've scene that type of thing crop up a few times on other parts of the board the past few days. It is strange.

 

I was at that show too! Remember the swell of people that went from seating to general admission on both sides? Well, lets just say my section was part of the problem. While there was some great scenery, I've actually seen better at other shows, but damned if it wasn't a hell of a show anyway. The best part was my buddy never saw Metallica live, and was convinced they'd suck. When they closed out their encore with Die My Darling and Last Caress, he vowed to never speak bad about them again (both of us are big Misfits fans, especially Walk Amung Us). I'm actually from Brooklyn, but I'll take trip to Jersey to see them (especially the Port Authority bus, which is like a rolling Metallica appreciation vehicle).

 

Proper martial arts is not about learning how to fight, it's about learning how NOT to fight. Unfortunately there are dojos with instructors who don't understand this, and movies certainly don't do a good job of protraying this. Any responsible instructor will A) tell you this, B) warn you not to abuse his teaching, and C) testify AGAINST you in court if you do.

If you learned to fight, I'm sorry, but I think you learned the wrong thing.

As for starting up again, well, you might drop a rank or two, but that shouldn't be a problem. If you earned up that high a rank, you should be able to get back into speed in a couple months. What style did you learn? Shotokan? GoJuRyu?

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Got home late last night to find one of my kitties was hurt. Took her to the vet this morning. Hopefully all will be well. Poor fuzzy.

 

^ he's got a good point about instructors there.

Sorry to hear about your cat.

 

One of her scent-glands got infected & burst. Very smelly and icky. Explains some of her attitude last week. She'll be home after surgery tomorrow.

I read the post with all the *'s in it with a great deal of alarm & concern. (I think the *'s were part of IGN's new profanity software running amuk--they've since taken it offline). I would definately say you've learned the wrong thing. Anyone trained to fight in any way is held to a much higher legal standard than others. Other people, including martial artists can be brought in to testify and say things like "Yeah, with his level of training, he should have been able to resolve the problem without maiming the other person." (One of the instructors at my dojo is also a lawyer with the Public Defenders' office. That whole "kick out his knee" thing is the last resort, not the first. Same with "Punch to the throat." See, there's this thing called "blocking". It's very effective, and purely defensive, so you can' be called on it. And trust me, by the 3rd or 4th time you've blocked someone, they're hurting. (Just because it's defensive doesn't mean the other person doesn't feel pain). So, he's thrown 3-6 attacks at you, not hit once, and his arms are developing serious bruises. If he has 1/2 a brain, or even 1/4, he's probablly going to wander away now.

The best fighter isn't the person who's beaten the snot out of 300 people, he's the person who hasn't been hit in 300 fights, or made a single strike.

If you need a demonstration, find any GoJuRyu dojo and ask them to show you hard blocks.

 

I think you misunderstand. I'm not one to go out looking for trouble. Far from it. However, I've been in fights that, try as I might, I couldn't talk my way out of. And not having any martail arts training at all, I will go with whatever works to end things as quickly as possible. Believe me, I'd rather not get my hands dirty if I can at all avoid it. It goes against my generally lazy demeanor.

 

Can't be that lazy..i'm so lazy that i've never been in a fight. Couldn't be bothered pissing anyone off, but if I did I wouldn't get into a fist fight over it. No matter who wins both people are gonna be bruised, even the blocking dude. I'd just run over him in my car then beat the ***t out of him with my trolley bar. See now this is why I keep out of fights

 

The best fighter isn't the person who's beaten the snot out of 300 people, he's the person who hasn't been hit in 300 fights, or made a single strike.

I think you're very wrong, and I think most martial artists will agree with me.

I think the best fighter is one who avoids those same 300 fights because he convinces those 300 fighters that they'll lose.

It's how my physics teacher in high school became interested in t'ai chi (mind you, 23 years before he was teaching us physics). He went to see a very high ranked judo practitioner give a talk at his college and they were sitting in a circle. The judo practitioner was talking about focus and the ability to be able to sense danger from anywhere and react to it. So my teacher thought (*thought*) "yeah, right. Like what about now? How about I kick your ass!" and the judo guy turned around and just stared at him.

That is a great fighter. Wars not make one great!