Life

[brkl]

Ah, I guess he thought the publisher was going to replace the text with a completely different, better text.

[Nachimir]

Definitely a problem with the editing rather than the writing

[Wrestlevania]

It's taken fookin' ages to come through, but we finally got our mortgage agreed this afternoon!

Just in time for Christmas.

[miffy495]

Hell yeah! Congratulations, mister 'vania! That's great to hear.

[Lu]

That must be a relief! A happy stress free Christmas after all?

[Nachimir]

Congrats Wrestle, good to hear it came through

Last night I went to my first ever Systema class. It's a Russian martial art based on improvisation. There are no set moves, techniques, ranks, titles, uniforms, traditions or tournaments. It's about how to fight dirty and win if you're attacked, and it was amazing.

I didn't expect to be working with real knives during the first lesson, let alone fighting off two armed attackers at once, but it basically revolves around turning an attackers body against itself, and with a slow start becomes very comprehensible very quickly. Some choice quotes:

"In Systema we are all bastards, just not to each other. You lie, you cheat, you steal, you pull hair, you poke eyes, you do whatever it takes to put them on the floor and get some strikes in".

"I'm stabbing him because I like him. It's no use training against pulled attacks or ones that go to the side, because that won't work when someone really tries to stab you. So stab your partner like you mean it".

It sounds nasty, but it was actually a really friendly and playful class.

[miffy495]

Is this a byproduct of the new girl? Usually when people say "take an interest in her hobbies" they don't quite mean "get a guy to stab you." Glad you seem to be enjoying it though. It does sound kind of cool.

[Nachimir]

I've been meaning to get around to it for a couple of years now, but yes, the new girlfriend is one of the things that made me start. A couple of attempted muggings in the past few years too. I talked/threatened my way out of both, but was keenly aware I had absolutely nothing to back myself up with if they were determined to get my wallet.

Edit: I always wanted to learn something like this, but was discouraged from traditional martial arts when a friend of my brother's became a black belt in Taekwondo, then promptly got his ass handed to him by a few guys in the street. Everything he'd learned turned out to be more or less useless if he wasn't in a gym, on a mat, wearing a uniform facing off against one opponent whose moves he was familiar with

Edited December 18, 2009 by Nachimir

[Patters]

I've been meaning to get around to it for a couple of years now, but yes, the new girlfriend is one of the things that made me start. A couple of attempted muggings in the past few years too. I talked/threatened my way out of both, but was keenly aware I had absolutely nothing to back myself up with if they were determined to get my wallet.

Edit: I always wanted to learn something like this, but was discouraged from traditional martial arts when a friend of my brother's became a black belt in Taekwondo, then promptly got his ass handed to him by a few guys in the street. Everything he'd learned turned out to be more or less useless if he wasn't in a gym, on a mat, wearing a uniform facing off against one opponent whose moves he was familiar with

Always been told that particularly by my dad, often martial arts can be useless in a bar style fight. The Martial art you mentioned sounds kind of like my thing, fighting dirty is the best kind of fighting, if you ever have to be in one, having only ever been involved in one fight, I tried some kicks, which in this case affect very little, particularly medium to high kicks. all it took was one square punch into his nose, then he was down. I never want to be in a fight ever again though, considering the better path at this point being to talk your way out of it, which is often quite simple with prior experience.

Also, I have pretty much finished my 1st semester of second year, with only 2 lectures left. Also I went out last night with our gaming society, whish would be the first time I have gone out with them, without playing a single video game, playing both Laserquest as well a couple of games of bowling. It was very much like being 10 again, except with more alcohol. This has led to a hangover, which is more than worth the amount of fun I had.

[Lu]

I have a family member who has done at least a dozen different fighting arts. He keeps saying to me that, if I want to learn how to fight/some self defense, etc. Take a few months of kickboxing lessons. It's pretty straightforward and gives you a very good basis to work from, since it seems that actual fighting gets very messy, very fast. You'll likely both end up on the ground. For that bit he recommended an entirely different art, though. I forgot the name.

[Nachimir]

Yeah, I wouldn't say other martial arts are impractical. Just that it's possible for the way they're trained to divorce them from real fights.

An example I was told last night was that a lot of boxers apparently can't punch properly because they're used to using gloves, so if they do it without they can really fuck their hands up.

[Patters]

Yeah, I wouldn't say other martial arts are impractical. Just that it's possible for the way they're trained to divorce them from real fights.

It is probably that most primal instincts to fight are stronger than those which are taught.

[elmuerte]

My internet connection sucks AGAIN. Tomorrow I'm going to the local store of the ISP and end my subscription starting next month/year. And I'm not going to take no for an answer. So if you read about some lunatic going raving mad in an ISP store in sundays/next-weeks news then it might just be me. (probably not, but who knows).

[Wrestlevania]

We found out yesterday that my eldest doesn't, in fact, have a hearing problem and so won't need an operation!

Oh, and I just came home from working late - trying to launch a competition at 6pm on a Friday - to a surprise belated anniversary: a brand new iPod nano!

You know what? I declare it a fucking good week for once.

...so my house will burn down tomorrow now I've said that.

[brkl]

Get insurance first and you'll be rich!

[MrHoatzin]

Hey I got hitched! Everyone had fun, best wedding ever, I've been told. The raddest part was seeing people from radically different contexts hitting it up successfully.

So now I am a grownup. What do I do now?

[miffy495]

If I am to believe what the television tells me, standard procedure is to have babies, wait about 15 years, have an affair, get a really flashy car, and drive it into a cliffside while on a crazy mid-life crisis fueled bender. Instead, I would personally recommend enjoying your time with your new wife, wasting a bit of money on something nice for yourselves, and then going back to whatever it was you were doing that lead you to your current position. Hell, if it got you this far, you must be doing something right.

Congratulations! Glad the family drama you were talking about didn't get in the way too much.

[Roderick]

Awesome, Stevan. I think the best thing for you to do is become a suburban, decadent baby-boomer wannabe. How's that sound?

My life here in the States has taken a bit of a weird turn, as my girlfriend in the Netherlands broke up with me. It was kind of consensual, seeing as how we both grew apart from each other while I was here. So there's no huge drama from my side, though that might still come when I return to find her... not there.

This has got me kind of thinking whether the whole relationship thing is something for me at all. Some of it is fantastic and I couldn't do without (the quiet comfortableness of having someone that'll always hear your story, the first person to turn to for anything, the small intimacy of watching movies and gaming together), but other things were a struggle (sleeping over, not having enough time for a proper relationship, differences in needs and desires). Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there's someone out there for me that'll fit me like a glove, it's just not going to be in any standard shape or form, I think.

I'll just have to let these thoughts mature a bit more. In a few years, maybe I'll have a clearer idea of what's right for me.

[Lu]

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there's someone out there for me that'll fit me like a glove

I'm sorry, it had to be done. YOU ALL THOUGHT IT! DON'T JUDGE ME!

Years is a long time, though. The cliché is that you never know who you'll meet and there really is no need to rush. Love comes when you least expect it and all that. Then again, don't listen to me. I've been rather unlucky when it comes to romantic relationships. I might jinx ya!

[strangelingo]

(Unrelated, but the whole overseas relationship thing reminded me to ask:)

How come people who post here come from all sides of the world? On every other gaming-related forum I've used to post there was a majority of Americans + couple of Brits, while here it's more like Europeans galore + few guys from San Francisco ;]

(Which is another thing I really dig about this place because I hate that generally Web is very American-cenric, plus, I am an European myself)

[brkl]

We Europeans looked at the rest of internet and didn't care for it.

[MrHoatzin]

Technically I am a Merkin, but I used to not be one. Maybe I keep coming here for sentimental reasons.

Also, most of the people here spilled over from Adventure Gamers and Mixnmojo and the like, from an adventure gaming tradition which has been doing somewhat respectably well in Europe while dying in the States for the past ten years. Maybe.

[Roderick]

Though that's absolutely true, one wonders at the strange absence of many Germans here. After all, that has traditionally been the bastion of adventure gaming in the late 90s up until now.

[elmuerte]

Though that's absolutely true, one wonders at the strange absence of many Germans here. After all, that has traditionally been the bastion of adventure gaming in the late 90s up until now.

The Germans put up a high internet fence to protect themselves from thumbs.

[SignorSuperdouche]

The Germans put up a high internet fence to protect themselves from thumbs.

Ah yes, the famous Thumberlin Wall.

Seriously though, given their numbers I imagine there's enough German language adventure game communities that they don't need to bother looking for more international ones.