Beat That Poor Passed on Equine

I have a much longer post in shambles of an outline that this sort of thing was supposed to cover in great detail, perhaps even some sort of mega arc post that would span several pages.

But I came across a post on a friends tumbler and I had a small thought and felt I needed to elaborate on it in some way that was public.

And I know we see these sort of things and this sort of post ON tumblr, twitter, Facebook.
But this is my platform, my soapbox so here is where it shall be.
 Linky link Linky

But the thought that I had was this.
The "fake geek girl" and "Girly geek" and "cosplay is consent" panels . . . yes, they are exhaustive, sometimes it seems like you can only cover the same topic so many times, "yeah yeah, get over it"
But you know what? No.
Keep hosting it, keep discussing it, keep telling the stories and never believe it doesn't make a difference.

When I was growing up we had the anti-drug campaigns. And we got that propaganda drilled into our heads, "say no to drugs" and now that I'm older, I know that certain, perfectly legal things, are arguably, more dangerous than things that are illegal, but I have come to my own conclusions on that as I've grown. But I believe, that as a result of those campaigns, I stayed away from many substances, legal and otherwise, not out of fear, but out of the education of them. The constant discussion, the knowledge, kept me from going down paths I might have explored had I not had that information available to me.

I think it's the same way with Equal Rights (any variation thereof, and there are a lot. some more relevant to this conversation than others) and that the more we discuss these things, the more conscious we will become of them, and that others will stay conscious of them, and those who grow up after us will look at these things and say "wow, look how silly they were back then. Well, some of these things are cool, but dude, did they have a skewed perspective" much as we do to our past today.

So I guess it comes down to education, as much of my life is centered around. Education and the nurturing of critical thought. Otherwise you are an ignorant animal controlled by emotions, not the enlightened creatures we masquerade as.

Relevance!?

Quite frankly, I don't care, and I'm sure none of you do.
So, you ever have one of those really nice long vacations/weekends off, and don't seem to be able to get anything done? Yeah, I'm there. So, Imma talk about WoW.

Ribeye loves all the animals . . . ALL of them. Especially ones that have the proper animation for attacking flying mobs.

There are STILL very WIERD things going on in the hills north of Thunder Bluff on the way to Stonetalon. I can't find the screenshots right now, but if anyone cares, let me know, I'll find it. Last I checked, the rabbits were carrying axes in their mouths, most of them the size of gnomes, and they were one-shotting prairie dogs. Oh, and before that, the prarie dogs had on kaiser hats and were wielding rifles. And now that I look at the pic from that old link . . WHEN WE GONNA GET DUAL WIELD GUNS BLIZZ!?!?!?! Or, back int he day, Necrus & I would wax philosophical on how one would design a pole-arm/rifle and just have it fill up all three weapon slots, cool, right? Ah well.

It appears Mists will be one "small" expansion with numerous patches that are the "sequels/continuing storyline that the player will be taken through as war ravages Azzeroth once more, the War between it's peoples once more, not a "greater" enemy like in the past. I'm down, sounds immersive, and I'm fairly sure the rumor that there will be a Battle For Ogrimmar will result in Hellscreams dethroning, I am DOWN!
I'm always tempted to join a new beta, but I think I'll sit this one out as well.

Grue equips Mini Thor! It is super effective! Two ranged attacks FTW!

I've started heavy archeology, Pvping again and Moose has dragged me into some of the LFraids for some QUICK raids. Fun times, actually, gotta get that welfare gear! I am very scared at how well I am doing in PVP and raids. My dps is decent to good and as I continue to reforge/gem/chant my gear into fine tuning my dps can only improve.

As for PvP, I hadnt really gone into a BG since a few months after Cata hit. I think, two patches agoe? But, the bug up and bit me and I found myself in some BG's. AND I WAS OWNING EVERYTHING. I really cant explain it, and I'm not entirely bragging, I'm mostly sharing my amazement.

Manslayer goes for a swim . . . through the air . . . through Ogrimmar. Like ya do!

And of course, gettin mah raid  on has been good, flexing that teamwork muscle. Im actually looking to level a bunch of ttons all at the same time with Tink & other RL friends. Just ALL KINDS of WoW, all the time. Lets see if I have any fun WoW links . . . . I like this one and am working through the backlogs of the blog.

Hope that holds some of you over for now, more next week, maybe even a memorable if I get some time.

Work to Work

Working while working to get work done on things we'd rather work on. Maybe I should have started with a "yo dawg" meme?

I think what I am trying to articulate, is the interesting setup our society has placed on creation and/or being productive.

As a part time employee, a full time student, a regular actor, a citizen of the internet and a human being on this earth, there are many things I wish to accomplish and many things the institutions I am part of wish me to undertake. The obligations to these institutions often conflict with the things I want to do privately, or even through the institutions in cases of programs I wish to control.

Specifically, I want to write my blog, write stories, plays, put on shows or workshops at school, run convention booths for my work or just play video or table top games (things I find just as important in my life for a multitude of reasons). I also want to make money at work so I can pay for these things. I want to be educated and a man of letters which only completion of this academic institution will give me. I want to become independently stable financially through my brain power and creation alone, getting paid to write or design or storytell.

I know, that is a whole mess of "I want" but lets be honest with each other, the satisfaction of our desires are usually very high on our lists of priorities, and I don't find any of the above immoral or belittling or problematic as a healthy functioning human being.

I guess the point of all this rambling and for H47 gettin' heavy, is that (and perhaps I am nothing more than a product of my generation, culture, and upbringing) I would like to live in a situation where I could put something on hold while I complete another project I had stuck my nose into. But alas, you can only do that with private projects. And, by the time you complete the compulsory projects assigned to you, it is often too late or moot to attempt them in tandem with your organization.
I apologize if this sounds like a frustration rant, it might very well be easily seen as one, but perhaps it's also to share. As young people, or even a universal theme, let us all work for a change, perhaps help others, or should we find it in our power, to pave the way for others, and facilitate the ability to create something beautiful, or even just some spare time, for others, and ourselves.
As for answers, I don't have them, and when I do, I try to live them as oppose to postulate and throw them around. This is just something I felt the need to ruminate upon and think others who read this blog might relate to and understand, perhaps help articulate things they themselves felt but had not yet voiced.
Thank you for your time,
...[+]
H4773r

Going Home

Today h47's getting a little heavy, but coming straight out of almost an entire work week of Con, I think it a fitting musing.

I've watched Nerdcore Rising and a clip or two of the concert at PAX. I've been consuming everything Penny Arcade for the last 3 years (twitter, PATV) and I want to go "home" to PAX.
What is that? that sense of geek home, where all us geeks are accepted and valid as human beings?
Is that our issue? We have become so accustomed to being "other?" Is it so intrinsic to the nature of nerdery that we be pariahs?

I have been reduced to tears, literally, at least 3 times because of an awareness of that experience, that "home" feeling. Wil Wheaton mentions it, you can SEE Scott Kurtz live it on the latest episode of PATV, I definitely get that vibe from Front when I see him reference the PAX concerts.

It fascinates me.

My buddy Epyon Avenger has mentioned how at Fanime the convention center slowly evolves into a nerd molded shanty-town. Chairs get moved into circles, music jams start to occur and the "community" assembles and reconnects every year.

To be clear, I fully support this and think it is wonderful. The thing that stays with me is why?
I guess I feel the same way about it as I do about Nerdcore. It would be awesome if it became the norm and our world was full of fluffy killer bunnies and school girls. But then I don't think it would be the same. I would guess that an essential part of the experience is the fact that there is a common bond from the shared memory of our exclusion from "the normals." From that, these institutions become havens where we understand each other or at least tolerate and revel in our "off-ness."

Maybe that's it then. I think I knew it in my life meter, but it wasn't in my spell-book. In doing a little mental craft grinding I discovered something. And from this I hope I can foster that emotion in my own corner of cyberspace as well as at S.G.I.S.Con. As long as my readers understand what I just said, or at least get the gist of it, I think the nerd world will be just a little bit better and grow in scope. But not too much, for perhaps that etheral thing, that light, intangible concept might press L2 & R2 if we try to force it.

Thanks for listening inter-natives, see you at home.

The Professional's Dilemma

I like to think I know what I'm talking about. I have used these exact words countless times. I do TRY to take in new information and if an argument is compelling I will shape my knowledge to allow it to inhabit the space of other facts about said subject. Something interesting happens though in the area of . . . . Martial Expertise. Yes, those are two adequately big words that blanket what I will cover in the next few paragraphs. Mmm, delicious vocabulary.

. . . .

I sat and thought and so on for a few hours and tried to wrap my head around what I wanted to say specifically, but your gonna get the incoherent ramblings I'm so well known for. Hold on and try to keep up.

I've been researching and interested in Martial Expertise since I was very young. No surprise considering how so many children, boys and girls, have a fascination with the spectacular sight of combat and the power inherent in weaponry, especially if your body is that weapon. I began earnest research when I was in early high school as I taught myself the differences between functional and non-functional weaponry and practical weaponry, mostly in conjunction with re-enactment and stage combat. It was then I began to see the gap between "normal" knowledge and specialized, gasp, Martial Expertise (I might give a definition later, for the quiz of course). Not just in this specific field, but in general I was learning how people became specialized and had a wealth of knowledge concerning particular areas of study.

(here is where I outline my pedigree, training, and level of expertise on various, you guessed it, Martial areas. BUT, that's best left for my Resume or another Post, I'll try to stay focused . . stop laughing.)

I have noticed, in my decade-plus of time being aware and attentive to such things, That when a person attains a point of expertise, a few levels, if I may borrow from RPG terms, they become a bit aloof, sure of their knowledge and dubious at best about other peoples opinions and ideas concerning their area of expertise. There are excellent gem, exceptions to this, who walk the talk and are honest and cool and open to discuss possibilities, but these are few and far between.
I can see how this can happen, I wont lie, I do it myself. Too often a person who thinks they know more than they do, with WRONG information, because they did not do research, they simple have hearsay, the accumulated knowledge of their father, their best friend who was in the military, kinda, from that movie they saw where the characters gave a detailed break down of an otherwise uninteresting weapon that was used in a cool way, and that one play they were in where they got to carry a sword. On top of all that, these people are usually the kind of people who don't know not to be these people and will not remedy their ignorance.
(And yes, I realize I typed those exact words at the top of this post, I find it poignant and I try to keep this in mind whenever I enter a serious discussion, as I honestly mean what I say. I THINK I know. If you know better, tell me and be precise, don't just let me think you're one of these people I just described.)
I have seen this in martial arts with the few forays I've made into true physical combat, and understandably as movies pervert their art and there are many misconceptions. I have seen it in stage combat, where an actor, or a director or a fight choreographer has a certain way of doing things or is scared because the (chose above role in a show) proclaims to know what they're doing and have the trust of (higher up role) when most of the (lower role) think he's daft. This is also fairly typical considering how preening and proud and confident entertainers have to/try to/become.
Also, of course in the area of weapon knowledge. How many metallurgist/gunsmith/blade designer/art collector/multiple cross-trained modern martial artist/multi-focused regional & era historian/ex-military people do you know that make at least an upper six figure income? Because this is really what the beast is comprised of. And not just an enthusiast of these areas, that's what I am, the above described Renaissance Man of Martial Expertise (I know, I'm sorry) must have degree's and accolades and ranks to show his legitimacy in each area. (oh, you need the income to support these habits, they are rarely inexpensive) If you don't fit that bill, you are merely a mortal amongst the rest of us.

Perhaps it is all simply being jaded, a front to a world that is full of idiocy, I know I feel that way very often. Hrmm . . .

I think I ran out of steam, I'm not sure if there is more to it. I hope you at least understand what I meant. I don't have any answers really, just felt I needed to share this. Maybe in the hopes that there will be less of this silliness and a greater understanding all around.

I'll leave you with the words I say after every fight call I run;
Good? Safe? Ready to do it again tonight? Feel comfortable with it? Excellent,
Good Fight.