Snowman Studios
Martial arts has become a notable part of my life since I started studying Tae Kwon Do at college. It hasn't been overwhelming nor has it been taken to the extreme with serious competition, but it has been there in both practice, patience, and discussion.
After visiting schools here in San Diego and seeing different styles of martial arts, the two most prominent and properly taught being Haganah and Aikido. Both are martial arts taught for self defense with preparation for a street fight. But aside from that, they couldn't be more different.
Aikido seeks to destroy the attack and weaken the opponent. Every move is a counter, never initiating contact. It takes years to master, but if you see a master at work it is an impressive sight.
Haganah is a relatively new martial art, and is a blend of different styles. Not in any martial art that I have seen previously, either real or fictional, contains the simplistic brutality of this art. None of the moves require a person to learn the delicate balance seen in most Eastern martial arts. In my two weeks there, I learned three moves that I could pull off in a real situation: and in each case the person would require immediate medical attention and have permanent damage. There were other moves that I remember well enough that, after a second or two, could be pulled off (and they were ones that I would have that second or two). It took me 2 months of hard training to just have a front snap kick that had any power at all in Tae Kwon Do.
Most of the moves that are taught are counters, but those who have the initiative have an advantage. Regardless of the nature of the attack, you bring your opponent into one of the 4 "reference points", where after you've done the first half of the move that is dependent on what your opponent did you then proceed to finish the move (and the fight) as you choose with the second half. While you are given the choice of control, incapacitation, and termination, before you reach the point where you have that choice your opponent has already received serious injury and might already need medical attention.
From studying these and from what I have observed and learned over the years, I have come to the conclusion that a person can be taught how to inflict serious injury and kill very easily and in a short period of time, but that it takes years to attain a level of martial arts where you can save your opponent, so to speak; beat them without injuring them.
I know that doesn't make much sense: "This person is trying to hurt me, why should I want to save them?" For me, there have been many fights that I have been in that I didn't want to be in (and for each of those, there were as many fights where someone taunted me, I responded and threw the first punch; but this is long in the past). One was a jealous boyfriend who felt I was making advances on his girl. I'll leave out the details except to say that I wasn't, we were involved in a play and it wasn't a romance scene or anything, and I wasn't attracted to her. But at one point he cornered me in a kitchen I had no way out.
Another case was the various encounters between my roommate freshman year. Once again, I was no saint. I think I made about as mistakes that year as he did. Now, later in the year I was able to use what little I had learned to dissolve some situations while not being a door mat. But for this discussion, I will reference his putting his hands around my neck at the beginning of the year.
If I was to use Haganah for the first situation and take the initiative, the moves that I saw for a first strike would have inflicted a broken nose, a hurt leg (possible knee damage), a throat that hopefully doesn't need reconstructive work, and maybe a concussion in there somewhere. This would just be to take control of the situation. If I wait for him to take the first move and then counter it (say, he tries to punch me), going through the moves to just get control would cause him either damage to his throat or face plus some damage around the knees; and if he's lucky he won't have a broken nose. The training involved in learning these moves to proficiency (plus all of the other moves) is supposed to take 4 months.
If I used Aikido (and knew enough to do it), I would be in a constant state of evasion, blocking, and possibly throwing until my opponent became discouraged or accepted my word that I didn't want his girl.
In the second situation using Haganah as a counter to fingers around the neck: just to get control of the situation there is a strike to the chin and neck and .... *cough* ... there... and that's only the first half of the move.
Unfortunately I can't speak very well about the kind of counter for this move from Aikido. If I was to guess, it would be initiated by the removal of at least one of the hands from the neck followed by a throw in some fashion. But from what I've seen, a move dealing with this subject won't be taught to me for (if I was to guess) at least a year if not three. I'll just have to find out for myself...
I think it would be very interesting if Aikido, or a comperable martial art (although I don't know of one off hand) was taught to the majority of a society. Everyone would have the discipline and confidence that knowing a martial art brings as well as the self defense, but (for the most part) lack significant offensive ability.
I finished Prince of Persia last night.
First, my gripes with the game:
- the camera is 3rd person. When it is fixed to you the character, this isn't too much of a problem. But for some parts they gave fixed camera positions, so you loose all depth perception. Also, with how many jumping sequences you have where you are dangling at the top of the ceiling, you aren't able to rotate the camera below the main character and get a better view of the situation. Then there are the parts where the camera switches view on you (something that happens when you have these far-zoomed-out views) or goes behind a pillar (or in one case, an entire fortified tower).
- the combat system is a little simplified. In comparison to Wind Waker where you learn how to do different attack types, you simply have an attack button for your sword. This poses a big problem when attacked by flying enemies because they are right there but you swing and swing and don't ever throw an over-the-head slash. Early on, combat is performed mostly by jumping over the backs of the enemies, nailing them from behind, then sticking the dagger in them when time permits. Later on, you reach enemies that you can't jump over like that. If you try to roll out from being encircled, 70% of the time it'll think you want to jump over one of them. This results in you being thrown to the ground and if you are encircled you are pretty much dead because you'll never be allowed to stand again (since you can't maneuver any until standing and can't strike as you stand). So you use the dagger to turn back time, and it becomes more important to have sand in the dagger than manage your hp. Plus there are hits that aren't counted and the enemies have a simple guard-stance that prevents them from being hit irregardless of your attack direction. You don't have a way to block.
Now the things I liked:
- The forshadowing that they do is nice as it gives you an idea what you'll be doing and shows the character getting concerned (as, say, the vision shows him dying). Also, in one case they have an interesting puzzle setup, but they need to make sure you know the general nature of said puzzle, otherwise you might sit there stumped and go to a FAQ.
- The banter between the main character and the girl was amusing as he goes from saying stuff like "Sure, I'll find the bathes. I'll just ask the first sand monster I come across. 'Do you know where the bathes are?' 'Oh yes, I used to be a bath attendant in my past life.' " to saying stuff about wanting to wed her because with her personality it would be a good challenge to tame her.
- Some of the movement puzzles scare me. I've got a general fear of heights (especially heights that you can't even see the bottom and you're just hanging off a ledge), so towards the end when things are ... less forgiving... I was in a constant state of uneasiness to say the least. But overall they were well done and very subtle, not so obvious that you go this way or that way like you see in many games.
- Overall, I liked the story. It has some amusing moments, although the bulk of the real story (aside from the discussions and talking to yourself during the course of the game) happens at the beginning and the end. It was not an ending that disappointed.
- As the hero gets almost pre-scripted injuries along the way, he first starts to use parts of his shirt as a bandage until he has such a bad spill that he just drops the shirt entirely. I just thought it was a nice touch as opposed to our "goes through the machine with the wind blowing everywhere and my hair comes out perfect. punch me, kick me, shoot me, but mess up my hair I kill you" types of hero's.
Spoilers:
- The girl who helps you through the bulk of the game seduces you at one point (in a pre-rendered cut-scene).
- You are telling the story to the girl after going back to before everything started, and when you are about to leave you kiss her and she protests. Since you still have the dagger in hand you go back to before you initiated your action and she acts like nothing happened.
- The wizard who is the fiend of the game uses the replication technique and you have to fight him first.
- Your hesitation in taking the one action that would turn back time to the way things were before reminded me of Ring of Power trying to be destroyed in LOTR.
- Your last sword is so powerful you don't have to use the dagger at all to kill. The problem is that you don't have the dagger so if you mess up with a jump or whatever, you're dead (and it seemed like there were more jumps towards the end that looked like they should have gone right but didn't). You get to climb the tower of dawn... from the outside. Think trying to climb something with an exterior comparable to Notre Dame, but as tall as the Eiffel Tower.
I had my interview for Sammy Studios. I'm nervous about how the interview went. My interview over the phone didn't go perfectly, but there are more things that made me feel uncertain.
But irregardless, I did show myself as being someone who knows of the industry and what is involved with the work, is hard working, has team and leadership experience, and a strong desire to enter and excel within the game industry (I even mentioned that applying as a product tester was attempt #2 in a series of attempts that ends with me starting my own company). Also, people who came in with similar credentials as myself have moved on to doing tasks higher up in the game producing hierarchy.
Progress continued on cleaning up the house. One couch was moved out and another was put in it's place (it had been first in the garage and then in the entrance way). Unfortunately, the sofa to be removed was not accepted by the Salvation army nor Goodwill nor any of the other donation groups in the area. While it is completely functional, one of the sides has been clawed some by two cats. So right now it's sitting on the sidewalk and we're hoping that it'll disappear by morning...
I watched
Charade tonight. I had caught the ending once before, but I found the story amusing as well as the dialog; a good recommendation for those who like old movies.
Tonight I watched two new History Channel shows (or so I think). One is called "Decisive Battles" and the other "Command Decisions."
Decisive Battles uses 3D game graphics to show, in 1-to-1 scale, two armies and the formations used as they describe a battle. The battle was Rome's last ditch effort to hold of Hannibal from all out victory. Taking 8 Legions up against 40,000 men and 10,000 cavalry, Rome had the numerical advantage as long as they didn't get flanked. Sadly, they did get flanked. In a tactic seen in some of our Ancient Warfare battles, they were completely encircled. I was impressed and am interested in what they show next.
On the other hand, there is Command Decisions. This was the first show of the two that I heard about and was intrigued as to how it would be pulled off. I think the best way to sum up my review of this show is: "Please bring back Conquest!" For someone who knows as much about WWII history (and especially about the Battle of the Buldge), the format felt overly simplistic yet left gaps in the questions.
For example, the first question was asking how to slow up the German advance, giving the options of land mines on the roads, blowing up bridges, and setting up road blocks. No preparation was given for the amount of time it takes to do land mines (or time available) nor the fact (as mentioned after the answer was given) that the initial part of the German advance wasn't going to cross rivers. It did not say in the question anything distance-wise or time-wise, so to someone who knows tactics and history it is practically a trick question. The later questions weren't much better: one was about making American troops blend in with the white and the first suggestion was white Paint and the third was German uniforms.
Four minutes into the show I was thinking "I'll wait until the commercial break." The question given just before the commercials was what preparations should the Americans do for the German siege. Evacuate, Booby-trap the entire town, or Fight to the last man.
I said it before and I'll say it again: Bring Back Conquest!!!
I have some gripes with CitiBank and I feel like warning others.
A portion of my student loans were made with CitiBank (the ones that you the student take out instead of the parents). I applied to consolidate them before interest rates went up.
- They delayed sending me the paperwork (I looked at the post mark) so that I might miss the deadline
- They sat on it for two months until the rates went higher (they said there was something in the small print where you were supposed to say "process now", but I did not see such a thing)
- Their service people were disrespectful and patronizing
- When notice of consolidation did arrive, it was for the wrong duration for the loan (I wanted 10 years and it was for 15, which makes the cost of interest go up considerably).
- They sent us letters saying that they had specifically low rates (one was 2.25), and that we wouldn't even have to call them to get them. Even with calling them we weren't able to get them.
- They would say our rate for the loan was 2.82, but because of some rounding thing that they cite, you are actually charged 2.87 despite being told 2.82.
My family is ending all business interactions (including this loan) with CitiBank. While you might not be having the same problems, I strongly recommend against choosing them when you have the choice.
Please, no... not again....
Five posts in one day. Anyway, sorry about the frequency of these but this one just couldn't be left alone. It's a video from
Counter-Strike: Source, the Half-Life 2 version of Counter-Strike.
I got an interview, and it's with a game company!
Now, it's not a programming position, but it's not as a janitor either. I'd be working in the QA department, finding bugs and making sure the game is good.
QA is a department that very important and often overlooked in a company. I think Microsoft is the prime example of such an oversight.
Naruto Movie! (
promo)
It's supposed to be in Japanese theaters August 21st, so depending how high of a priority it is it might be fansubbed within a week (it'll also depend on how many groups are wanting to do it because the more there are, the higher the priority it'll be).
Stupid bird.
Anyway, I've received two communications from Pat discussing an idea for a game. I won't go into specifics in such a public forum, but it was something for which I had a similar idea already. Not to discount his idea, as his comments have made me think of stronger game-play mechanics than I had originally conceived.
In other news, I have contacted more companies in the last 24 hours in search of employment. Some of the positions I applied to are more up my ally than previous positions I've applied for (or at least within my capabilities). So I am looking forward to hearing back from them.
I just spent some time going through the newspaper and finding the listings for temp agencies where I could get some quick (hopefully) cash. As I went through, I saw two things of note. First, there was an ad for a job at a company that sells anti-spam software. The irony of this is that you would be basically a telemarketer to advertise said software. Now I don't know about you, but I find spammers a whole lot less annoying than telemarketers. Now, telemarketers and pop-up ads, that's a tough one. The other bit was there were these listings for jobs in the 6 figures claiming you'd be making that much in the first year and a 888 number would be given. But they give you no specifics on the company, just that you'd be in sales. So for all I know, you're selling drugs or something (I can't think of any other thing that would be offering that kind of money but wouldn't want to advertise their name).
Tonight I was in a two hour discussion with someone (mostly me listening) about evangelism and the importance of accepting Jesus as your savior. He went through a long path before finding Jesus as he had an atheist and an agnostic for parents, so he didn't first learn of Christ until he was in college. We talked about sharing with those who don't know of him and encouraging those who do know of him, but do not know him. He surfs a lot, so we might try and meet up at some point at the beach. We'd probably need to find a beach that lets boogie boards and surf boards in the same area (usually surfers get their own section, and the boogie boarders are grouped with the swimmers).
I'm not sure which is sadder about
this. The fact that a movie was made about two guys trying to get white castle, or the fact that it isn't out already and there are 7 reviews that sum up to idiots arguing.
In other news, I went to the Hollywood Bowl last night with Esther and had a fun time. The people sitting behind us were constantly finding reasons to complain to us about our actions yet had no problem with talking through the musical performance (one of the cases was a guy had bumped me in the head with his backpack and was being nice and apologizing).
It's very sad.
After all that I have talked about what I'm learning about the Haganah, that when I was ready to talk business and sign up that the biggest road block to me training at this school was presented to me: pricing. I know that when you pay for a school and not just go to a club, you are going to pay a lot more. Master Baek's list price per month is $95. But when the girl there presented me with the hand written numbers for his program, it was staggering. I won't go into the details, but it is the difference between Master Baek's school having an old van that's pretty beat up vs Mr. Church having a brand new H2 to drive around in (and remember, property prices and gas prices are higher out here than they are in Skokie).
To sum it up, I am in a state of disappointment. While the book has not been closed on the pricing process, I have lost a lot of respect for Mr. Church. Now, he can gain a ton of that back if he puts effort into trying to help me out. But if he makes it about the money, then I'm gone.
There have been times where he talks about his tough training. He says that he feels sorry for those who have quit. That when they first get into a real fight how beat up they will be. If things progress as I think they will, it won't be because of my lack of spirit or determination or sloppiness (he even kicked someone out of his school because they didn't have the drive), but because of money, then some of my last parting words will be (and I don't care who is or isn't there to hear it, the more the merrier) "You talk about feeling sorry for those who lack the drive to be martial artists, the desire to learn how to protect oneself. I have the drive, but the reason I leave your school today is because I don't have the money. So when you feel sorry for me for when I am in a fight, remember that it was because I couldn't pay that I left."
I've been asking Mr. Church and his instructors a lot of questions about Haganah as I practice it. I have been able to gather much valuable information that make the difference between someone who is just going through the motions and one who is seeking to master what they learn. There are some intensity things that I need to work on. When I say intensity, I don't mean that I need to go harder and faster. I actually need to do the exact opposite. I need to slow down my technique and make sure I am smooth in my movement. I need to think through every step and make sure that I am not wasting my time by being sloppy and arrogant (for those who know the reference, I must be like Sasuke, not like Naruto).
In the news of job searching, I applied to Midway and Sammy Studios for their QA positions. Midway only had one open, but Sammy had 4 (although one was for someone with a bit more experience than I had as they would be a team leader). I applied, but as it has only been about 3 hours since doing so it is no surprise that I haven't heard back yet. If I have to do temp work, this is probably the best way to do it.
Ah, more fun with dentists and martial artists.
So this afternoon I went to the dentist for a teeth cleaning, and they were doing some measuring thing where they put their pick next to the gumline on the tooth and measure how far out the gums go. Only problem is I have a false tooth, so she wasn't pushing in on tooth she was pushing in on gum. When she didn't respond to my concerns and my head had nowhere to go my hand actually moved towards hers to move the pick from piercing me. I managed to stop myself well short of contact with her hand, but she either got the hint or finished what she was doing and moved on.
At the Haganah class, we did our warm up then picked up where we left of. One of the parts of the warm up is to do sit-ups while someone is hitting you with a target. This is timed, not to a specific number, so I have no clue how many crunches I do in 30 seconds. Plus, having someone hit me seems to make me feel the burn afterwards that much more. At the end, the master of the school (from now on to be referred to as Mr. Church) talked about his time in FL doing the training and some of his experiences. After scratching his itch of excitement, we paired up to do 1v1 knife fighting (rubber knives).
You sat back to back on the floor and threw the knife away from you. When the person said "go" you were to scramble forward, grab the knife and turn around. I was usually turned around before the other person was up but I hadn't really stood up at that point either; I had only armed myself. The first person I did things with was good, but I found that he was vulnerable to big sweeping attacks which was one of those bad habits you develop. The second person I did it with was the instructor the previous days, so I got schooled hard. The third I was able to get the small slashes and stabs in to their hand and while I didn't totally dominate, I was at an advantage.
And last night I thought that I wasn't going to get to spar in Haganah... I'm glad I was wrong.
I have managed to both remember the name of the combative martial art and remember to look for information online.
This is a specific school's website (I think) but I do know that the owner of the school I am visiting is in Florida now taking private lessons (and this is located in Florida).
Today as I watched Two Towers, I thought to myself "What would be more of a fair fight? Ents vs. Goblins or Late Persians vs. Gauls?"
Anyway, on a more worthwhile topic, I've started going to events for young adults at my church. Last week it was a dinner at someone's house and this week it is a bondfire. On Sunday's there is a service at 5:45 (the '545 service'). They were talking about perserverance, and used the example of a demolition derby (the Del Mar Fair is going on now and it's one of the activities, if you aren't from So. Cal. you won't know what it is).
Today I asked Roger about one of the wounds that we were practicing to inflict last night and now he's scared to come near me. Oh well.... He also said that I was learning how to make his job harder. I can understand that.
Other than that, not much happened today.
Ok, so tonight I went to the Tae Kwon Do school that I'm visiting at this week. I went to three classes (back to back).
The first class was for the brown belts or so up to the deputy black. It was very crowded and there were some parts that I couldn't follow so well because I just wasn't familiar with some of the blocks and such. They were doing reverse kicks where you only do a 180 instead of a 360. Interesting to do, and a good thing to know but by the time we were doing jumping 180 reverse kicks, I had my doubts because by only doing a 180 you are reducing your power since the kick isn't able to go through the opponent the same way. If you are taking the time to do a jumping kick, then you are cutting some of the benefits of the jump.
The second class was the leadership sparing class (intended for black belts). I started the class late because for whatever stupid reason I had chosen to leave my sparing gear at home (I don't know, maybe temporary insanity). So the ATA style of sparing is different from the WTF style in that punches to the chest guard get points and that you can be
penalized for striking too hard. So I came in with my background in WTF sparing Kallo, and started sparing these people by their rules. I found some of their heads very vulnerable for kicks (although I only did no-contact kicks to the head, I didn't want to seem too much like a bully). I also liked being able to throw a fast kick, rush in, punch many times, then step back and get them with another round house.
Some of them would do stuff like bring up a leg and kick many times in the air to approach me. Half the time this would result in them on the ground. Not because I threw them or kicked them hard, it was because their balance was so vulnerable that I could. Others would hold up their leg ready to throw a kick. Same thing, but one of the small kids got one through to my jaw. I was kind of stunned not from the impact but "This little kid just kicked me in the face... impressive." Around this time was when the instructor pointed out to the class that sparring with one's arms down like they are limp (like you see so much in WTF) is disrespectful and ineffective as it is a statement of superior speed. He commented that it's a thing common in WTF but with the difference in ATA it doesn't mix well. He later commented that he wasn't meaning to slam me for it and by that point I had already come to that conclusion and had my hands up.
One guy was doing lots of kicks while holding up his leg and repeating one after another. I let him chase me the length of the mat. When I got near the window, I made my move and landed a bunch of punches to his stomach. He stood there for a little bit with his hand over his stomach as though I might have hit a little on the hard side. And then a little later I was sparring another kid (all classes are adults/kids class and they rotate around), and he kneed me in the groin. I told him to hold on a moment because I didn't want to hurt him. I wasn't angry, but I (as with most martial artists) get more serious when they feel tired and hurt. I apparently hadn't waited long enough or whatever and the next punch I threw kind of threw him onto the mat. He didn't seem hurt which was good and two of the moms had been smirking about the whole situation (I think one was his mom).
Then the high light of the sparring class, I sparred the instructor. He's a guy who's a little shorter than me, but has been doing it for quite a while and is my age. His mom takes classes there too and I have talked to her quite a bit. He's not the regular instructor, he's kind of filling in as a lot of the regular instructors are out of town getting educated in what I consider the forte of the school. But when he and I sparred, he and I were fairly even (at the level he chose to spar me at). He went to throw a butterfly kick (I didn't know what it was at the time because I didn't see the whole thing) and I caught him while he was in the air. It turns out that when he saw I didn't flinch back that it wasn't going to work (I had actually slid forward). Even with the abort, if it was a fight he would have been extremely vulnerable by being slammed to the mat. I heard his mom make the comment "I knew that wasn't going to work."
Next was Combative Self Defense. I think the martial art's name is Kumgang. It's an Israeli martial art taught to the soldiers. The same instructor was teaching. We warmed up with stretching, then some punching and the fighting stance. Next we started punching a target that is held in front of the partner's chest. It's kind of hard and doesn't give at all (I had loaner gloves on). Next we were practicing front kicks to a slightly different target, but intended to nail someone bull rushing. After that, one would rush in with the target while the other would be holding two targets (to represent things that the person is carrying, luggage, etc). The "victim" was to kick the assailant, drop the bags, and throw two punches to the target. My partner was walking up saying "give me your wallet", etc. When it was my turn, I did "Give me your car keys", "Hey, nice computer", and "Got a match" (which resulted in some laughs).
After that we started defense against a knife attack. We covered four of the many basic directions of a knife strike (if it's anything like with swords, there should only be 9). I was first doing things very sloppily and had to tell myself "no, you are not an expert in this, forget the fact that you are a 1st degree and accept your white-belt identity." Once I did that, things went much better and I was able to get a lot of the moves down proper. In this time I managed to also get kneed in the groin again and get punched to the jaw/ear. And my partner was surprised by my insanity to do 3 classes straight.
So in recap, I am loving the Israeli stuff, but I'm very iffy about the TKD they are offering (since they are ATA). I enjoyed sparring, but when I reflected on it I enjoyed it in the same way that someone goes noob hunting. Not to say they didn't know what they were doing, but the part that I was enjoying was the fact that I was coming in with WTF style level intensity but that many of them weren't ready for it. The general strategy I took was kick, close, punch a lot, and then have some sort of exiting kick before they could adapt. I'll probably go and participate in a class run by the master of the school next week, but I don't think that I will be doing the TKD there on their terms. And from when I've talked to him, he might already expect it. In his words, I already know the way I want to train and he can't tell me how I should do it. In comparison to some masters I have talked to, I think he's very open minded. So it looks like I'll be learning how to survive a knife fight instead of learning how to throw jumping reverse kicks to someone's head.
By the way, the last move on the self defense (after you've cut their arm up) is to spit in the wound to get it infected. That might involve WMDs, but that's biological warfare.
I went and saw Fahrenheit 9/11 tonight, and I think that a lot of people should go and see it. Not in the interest of "you shall be swayed to my views" sort of see it (as in propaganda). But in the interest of intellectual pursuit.
There are some concerns that people may have with going and seeing it. I'll try to think of some of them and come up with responses from what I saw.
Q: Well isn't it all about saying that Republicans are evil and that you should vote democrat?
A: Not exactly. While the film obviously criticizes Bush, it shows democrats (with the exception of one scene with African-American representatives) who never take any action. There is only one scene that specifically sheds positive light on the democrats, and it is someone who used to be Republican but his views changed and was going to be active politically when he returned from the war.
Q: Isn't it all about blaming Bush for 9/11?
A: Hardly. There is one part where it covers the topic of the daily briefings and the terrorist specialist who was ignored, but the bulk of the film takes a look at other topics of the presidency. Iraq is a far bigger focus than 9/11.
Q: I'm not going to go watch a 2 hour long smear ad.
A: If your response is as such, then you probably still think that Al Qaida and Saddam are linked. While, as far as I can tell, Michael Moore was trying to get as many sides the story as possible, there is definitely the possibility that some of the facts may be slanted in favor of his argument (duh). And it is stylized at times for such. On the other hand, it covers topics that haven't been showing up in the media.
Q: But Saddam and Al Qaida are linked.
A: ....
Now after these arguments, there are a few reasons why not to see this movie.
- Extreme graphic violence. Remember all those news stories you read on CNN where they wouldn't show the bodies? You know the town and about the mob... and that's not all.
- Emotions. As with many films that are done against the war (see Vietnam), they talk with people who lost love ones.
- Lastly, if you think Pres. Bush is the best president we've ever had and that you want him to be the father of your children, then maybe you're not exactly ready to see another side of things...
I'm mildly disappointed to hear that Edwards was picked as Kerry's running mate. I've talked with some people on their opinions of Edwards and had strong feelings about how he made his money as a lawyer. Oh well...
I purchased Unreal Tournament 2004 today and am astonished by the system requirements:
1.0 ghz cpu
5.5 gigs hd
32 megs video ram
and those are just the minimum requirements. It also has 5 install disks plus a seperate play disk.
I'm back in San Diego, just in case anyone didn't know that.
My desktop is set up in a temporary location. I hope the table on which the monitor rests will be able to support the weight as it does wobble some.
The network in the house has resumed operation after I took some time to deem the old router non-functional and replaced it. So now you'll see boarder000000 just sitting online day in and day out.
I also got my car washed as the windshield was covered with bugs. I guess my strategy of driving fast and expecting the bugs to get out of the way didn't work. Oh well. There was one big one too that when it hit, when flying up.
Thirdly, I went by a Tae Kwon Do school near my house. It turns out they do ATA, which I am less than thrilled about. That doesn't mean I need to train with them just because they were the first I found, but they had some very interesting self defense stuff going on. They teach an Israeli self defense martial art, including how to fight against a knife, use a knife, and how to disarm someone with a pistol. So while the Tae Kwon Do might be less than ideal, this other stuff sounds very interesting. I'm planning on going back to one of the classes tomorrow night (they have many separate classes). And at the very least, there is means by which to continue practicing my Tae Kwon Do in the time before and after the self defense class.
One last thing, I think Texas sucks for only having 90 octane gas. Thankfully I had enough to make it through without stopping (I was going from OK to NM).
