Leaderboard

I'm trying not to think about it as slowly we're getting to see some people outside and in the back garden and my daughter could start playing football again at the weekend (alongside her 9th birthday outside in the snow/hail for a moment!). The way that life has flown by this past year in a weird surreal way makes me think 10 weeks won't be long at all....and you've reminded me I've got to think about my wife's birthday now! Dammit! 🤣

Battlefield get an extra life it seems. If they don't fuck up BF6 it's bye bye COD next year. To think, when they did the new Modern Warfare I actually thought they knew what they were doing. Like Max Romeo says, "one step forward, two steps back"

It was decided that we are all massive members already so there was nothing to be done. Though the thread necro has reminded me it's been a while since I donated.

Crowds gathered at 7am to get into Primark, now that's madness 😅

What is this? Is this real??? 🤣😂🤣

10 weeks until you can legally "go back to normal"... madness

I think @TurboR56Mini and I are on a "let's revive old threads" kick. I found this one and thought, "Lolz. This was from April 2020.. We were only 2 - 3 weeks into COVID quarantine. Now, look! 1 year later, and... hahaha. I posted this on my IG about 2 weeks into COVID quarantine (still holds true for me!):

If anyone wants any goals to do with raids. For example, a completion, a seal, a weapon. Let me know in this post so we can keep track of who wants what. FG Raid Goals - Google Sheets DOCS.GOOGLE.COM Sheet1 X,Ajay,TehBluebear ,GazzaGarrat,Jordie,Kempy DSC,Completion Red...

On Sept 13th, 2004, a man who had fled to a war zone to save himself from himself was able to marry a woman who was brave enough to go against her family and her culture in the name of love. In the summer of 2003 the man had an epiphany. For reasons that are irrelevant to this story, he realized he needed to start over before his behaviors destroyed him. He remembered the last place he'd been happy was the military, but with his fucked up knee he'd probably not get far in trying to reenlist. He also wanted more freedom than an enlisted man had. So he became a security contractor, moved half way around the world away from all influences and alcohol, and before Christmas of that year he was in a foreign country watching the sand blow around. She was living with her parents, as is the custom of her land for unmarried women, and working as a pharmacist. She'd had an arranged marriage planned, but it had fallen through when the man had immigrated to another country before they were actually married. She was young, beautiful, and with a respectable career. She had no shortage of suitors, she had taken to wearing a ring and pretending it was a wedding ring because she got so many proposals in a day. Wealthy men, men of local fame from the media and the government services attempted to catch her eye. None did. She originally thought he was Lebanese, as he was sundark from working in the desert heat and dressed in local fashion. He spoke Arabic poorly, though, and he was in fact an American. She had nothing against Americans, she'd lived in Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion, and like the native Kuwaitis remembered US soldiers as liberators. Still, Americans were an unknown quantity, often looking for a short term relationship that would destroy a woman's reputation and chances of a respectable marriage. She initially was leery of the American, but finally relented and went out with him for dinner and a beach visit. He invited her to his upcoming birthday party, she agreed to attend. They would have their first kiss. Love would blossom. They would consider marriage. Her father initially agreed, but due to pressure applied by the brothers for reasons that are unimportant to this story, withdrew his consent. This made marriage impossible in the country they were in, as his signature was required for a legal marriage. They created a plan that was both simple and devious. She would say she wanted to fly to Jordan, where they maintained a home, to forget about the American. He would fly to Jordan with all of the required paperwork. Jordan did not require the father's signature because of the earlier arranged marriage, he had already signed stating she could be married and Jordan didn't require him to say WHO she could marry, just that she could. Over the course of weeks she brought clothing and documents, he took them and stored them in his house. She flew out on the 8th of Sept. He flew out on the 10th. Her father would fly out on the 14th, which would greatly limit her movement, as he would want to spend the time with her. On the 9th he received a call from a lawyer in Jordan he'd hired to research and was told he needed many more documents than what they'd already gathered. The details are unimportant to this story, but he was hard pressed to gather them and there were some shady dealings, but he got it done. The plan was almost destroyed due to bureaucrats and a religious holiday. They were unable to marry on the afternoon of the 10th, as had been the original plan. He hired a fixer. The fixer, The Chechnyan was very resourceful, drove them to multiple embassies to get required documents and stamps. He stole court documents, he may have kidnapped and/or bribed a sheik to do the ceremony, it was never quite clear which. Like I said, Jordan's not real picky as long as the right people get paid. The details are unimportant to this story. For the price of a lawyer who thought he could get it done in a few months, months they didn't have, he made it happen for the couple on the Express plan. They were married on the 13th of September, 2004, in the living room of a man they'd known for all of 3 days, in front of witnesses he'd hurriedly gathered from his neighbors. There were no pictures. They were in a hurry, she needed to return before her cousins grew suspicious. He had not thought to bring a camera, his nerves were raw. She returned to her home, he to his hotel, to await their marriage certificate. The Chechnyan went to the court to get the certificate, knowing there were "irregularities" in the packet of documents but also knowing how Muslim cultures work he said this was best. He told them we'd already left on our honeymoon, which they would understand to mean if they revoked the marriage she would be unable to find a proper marriage again. The Chechnyan returned with the certificate, legally binding in any Muslim country and with it, one could get a civil certificate binding in the US. In gratitude, when The Chechnyan refused to take any additional money, he bought a mattress and box spring. He knew that the one The Chechnyan and his wife slept on was worn out and they suffered from back pain because of it. The Chechnyan had no choice but to accept, as he knew it would go to waste if he did not, and his honor was not impugned by accepting the gift. He only had to get his bride away from her family to spirit her away. He was now familiar enough with Muslim culture to know there were places that unescorted women could go that no man could enter, such as a hair salon. He told her to make sure she had her passport and to go get her hair done. Sure enough, her father dropped her off with the understanding he would pick her up again in 3 hours. The Chechnyan pulled up, she came back out of the hair salon, and he drove her to the hotel where her groom was waiting, not willing to risk the father seeing him if he went to pick up his bride. The Chechnyan took the couple to the airport, where they would fly back to Qatar. He gave his cell phone to The Chechnyan. Just before the plane closed its doors and the no electronics message was read, she sent a text to her father telling him not to pick her up, that she was with The American in a private cab on the way to Syria to be married. The false trails were laid. The Chechnyan would call him a few days later and say that yes, the father had called the phone. Yes, he'd told him that he'd bought the phone from an American at the airport in Damascus for a very good price because he was flying to the USA with his new bride. The false trails were complete. In an abundance of caution, they would fly to Cyprus two months later and get married again in a civil ceremony. The documentation was cleaner, it was in English, it would be a much easier presentation for her visa to move to the US with him. They would continue to celebrate the 13th as their anniversary, though, because that's when they knew that the law, her family, and the culture couldn't keep them apart any longer. The couple had a son. Once his contract was up, they moved to the US and built a life. It wasn't always easy. There were adjustments, there were misunderstandings, there were some tough times and some hard work, but they built a life. He was forever changed. His anger subsided, he adjusted, he learned moderation. He had, quite frankly, been a gigantic dick for much of his life. He realized that she was much too good for him, and he strove to be who she deserved. He failed. He backslid. He still does, but he's a much better human being for the trying. She is, he believes, happy. God send that it remains so.

Don't really want a 5th uncharted due to how they ended the 4th but a remake of a remaster is a joke and that's how they will kill the game for what it was. I still hold out they will do a day's gone 2 but that will come out around 5 years time.

I'm in a shopping mood... and am curious on fun and awesome merchandise to get some cash flow here. This would be a bigger side project for me to outline and implement as we would want to accommodate all price ranges and purchasing capabilities... then figure out logistics. Again, I'm just babbling... so ignore me.

My sensei from way back (ex-Singapore police and reserve SAS) drummed it into us "First option..walk away, second option.. run away...if options 1 and 2 fail, take as many of the feckers down with you as you can"..thankfully, I've never had to use any of those options. With regard to the weightlifting videos, just try and remember your coaches are not judging you as a person, they're critiquing your technique with a view to improving it. 👍

If I survive a week long pi$$ up bowls tour with a coach load of old reprobates in September, I may join you 😎

Days Gone fan here... super disappointed... and I was one of those people who watched the announcement of it during one of the Playstation shows and thought "Oh look. How boring. Another zombie game." Only to be incredibly surprised at how enjoyable the gameplay was. Days Gone was/is totally a game that could have turned into a great franchise. It is a game that could have really knocked it out of the park with better writing. Because Deacon is just... a bit cringe. But, they do nail a lot of the psychological issues that vets have when coming home. Skizzo needed a bit more development. But, was thoroughly easy to hate. Just like how Horizon Zero Dawn gave hints on the outside world, so did Days Gone... and the "secret ending" scene... just wondering what it meant for that world... what crazy new zombies to face against... yeah. It would have been exciting. The lore in Days Gone reminded me a lot of I Am Legend with the discovery of the freakers actually still having some traces of humanity via holding their relationships and whatnot. Days Gone would have been one of those franchises that started off not perfect but had subsequent sequels be perfect. So, seeing Sony put God of War in their "must not fail" bucket is a bit irksome... given that the first God of War was fun, but trash.

I've done nothing but watch YouTube to help with the travel blues, I missed Iceland and two trips to Norway this passed year, the one to Svalbard really hit me hard. Still not planning foreign,.other than rebooking my cruise again, this year but will look to places in the UK I had trips planned for and hopefully use the digs I had to cancel as they were really good about it all. Can't wait to get out and about even though travel is the only thing that changed in my existence.

In my internet wanderings yesterday while I was daydreaming of traveling once again now that vaccines are getting distributed... I was looking at Iceland (because I fell on some really cool jewelry person designer)... and it looks like they will be revisiting their restrictions again in May. So, I will look again in May on what is possible. We, over here in the US, are debating vaccine passports... one of those things that sounds like a great idea until you get into the socio-economics of it. Ideally, I would like to start helping out on planning your usual annual FG trip to happen in late September/October... which means I would need to start negotiating with various travel people in May/June. It's just with COVID, like @GazzaGarratt says, it would suck to find something, get it all done.. then terrible things happen and we lose our deposit. Just random morning babblings...

I love that you are doing this. I never have much time over the past year to go over old threads...although thats probably a good thing with so much new stuff to sort and get involved in here! Oh yes, its on the cards and a few people helping to take a look. The real difficulty is just holding on a little longer - I'd hate to be the person that invests a shit ton of effort to find the right place, destination, and budget, only for us to find out in a few months that they then don't want 50 reprobates sleeping in the same place and we all lose some form of deposit. I'm also starting to look into one off activities we could do where we could just find a hotel rooms (when we're allowed to book them) for a night after doing whatever we do in the day. It doesn't just have to be a long weekend, although that is the best FG thing to do if we can do it!

I hope so🙂

Better than expected time for shit to open up.

We all know what I want XD

Yup. If I need to divide it for US vs UK/Europe, I will. There are logistics partners for online retailers that can handle this. Or, depending on volume, I don't really care about doing it myself from our home for US side. Just depends on how this is all set up.

Possible US merch outlet to avoid horrendous shipping costs?

People must be experiencing some pants shortages or something! Literally every local headline in the UK is their own Primark Store having queues a mile long.

Sony have been known to have clear-cut exclusives in place so for any of their in-house studios to be in limbo or being directed to rehash projects, it's a bit of a concern. A year ago, a new Uncharted would have been an absolute certainty. I think quite a few people are worried about exclusives finally drying up and with Bethesda joining Microsoft and potentially others like Konami in talks, it could lead to some long term concerns in a general lack of games available. It's great we're getting a new God of War and Horizon this year and Gran Turismo next but Sony should really be having a conveyor belt of exclusives set in stone already and certainly not a remastered remake which is a waste of resources.

This.. this is so important. And, it's something I never thought about until I started training when I was 19. It was amazing how much combat training tempered me. But, yes. avoidance at all costs if possible... if you have to fight, then do so... and my mentality is "I'll fight you for about 5 - 10 seconds if I must, but I'm doing it to break you down enough so I can run the f*ck away". 😂 This is why I always save up some energy and not go all out in anything I do lol. I need energy to run away!

It's the Norwegian fjords on P&0

Funny you should say "Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat". My current boxing Coach (Marcus) was commenting on my " muscular thunder thighs" during our last session when he was massaging them out. I said, "Just think of them like Chung Li's thighs. Them thighs were monsters! And, would kick you into oblivion." But, nah... as much as I would like to be able to throw down like White Canary in the Arrowverse or any of the video game characters, there are physical attributes that I will never nail perfectly. You have to train basically when you start walking as a toddler to get the proper footing to consistently land and string long combo moves together. I will lose my balance after the 5th or 6th move. Jonesly is countering that by giving me a time to reset using a forward kick with jabs. My training is to get me somewhat competent for if/when I do need to defend myself. I cannot tell you how painful it was the first few times I got jumped as a kid and not know how to make it stop. Nor how many times when I was in the Philippines that it took for me to go from getting punched during a random street test to being fully aware of my surroundings to be able to appropriately block or counter the first move. My coach (Tabimina) in the Philippines was all about practicality. He is the same age as my father, so he grew up during the martial law. Being able to street fight was as important as breathing. So, even if I was not in a training session, I could get "jumped" at any time. I will tell you that the one time I got sliced by a knife, I promptly learned how to block and evade that move moving forward. Coach Jonesly is of the same mindset as Tabimina. This, I guess, happens when you grow up in areas that dictate survival via physicality. As for taking videos? Lol. Nah... I already know my footwork is garbage. I don't need confirmation of that haha. When I can finish a full 3-minute round without wanting to die, that will be my celebratory marker. But, in regards to my squat clean workshops... because this weightlifting move is hella technical to improve numbers, I don't think I can get away with not getting videos. So, I will be making necessary preparations for that to be a bit more comfortable with the videos. I thoroughly hated watching each one after each lift this past Saturday.

Re-watched The Quick and the Dead on Netflix was trying to fall asleep. For a 1995 film it ain't all that bad as its been some years since I wtached it previously. It borderlines on being slightly wacky at times because of the stories and how some bullets go through who gets shot but a decent watch with a very young Leonardo Di Caprio. Sharon Stone as the main lead alongside a different role for Russell Crowe probably makes it more interesting now than it did back in the day.

Whilst its sounding super hard and something I wouldn't normally do, i'm really backing you all the way...it sounds like you're being trained into a real life Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat king by understanding how to link combos together! I always think if you can take some before and after videos (just for yourself btw) to remind you how far you've come from when you do one punch/kick, to eventually a combo of actions. Good for the soul 🤗

Watched Palm Springs last night on Amazon. Kind of like a modern Groundhog Day. It had a lot of genuine laugh out loud moments, we were pissing ourselves at points. Highly recommend it.

There will probably be 5 playable maps at launch😅 Last we heard, Sledgehammer were virtually disbanded and now they are making a full game from scratch on an 18 month cycle during a pandemic? It's got bad news written all over it. The amount of money Activision makes, they don't even need an annual release these days. As soon as it was announced as a WW2 game, I knew it was gonna struggle.

I'm not planning to go out too much just yet but it's nice to know I'm not likely to murder someone now while having a pint of beer 😅 An FG social event will need to be looked at now we can start thinking about these things....as we're overdue 🥳

Looks like this years COD is going to be an absolute shit show. Again.

Oh dear, this is rather amateur Outriders player discovers 23GB of crash dumps stuffed in a Windows folder | PC Gamer WWW.PCGAMER.COM If you've been wondering where your free C drive space has been going, look here.

Hello! Born and raised in New York for 25 years before moving out of the state. Key takeaways: Chicago Pizza is a casserole, it's not pizza. Minnesota pizza is all thin like a cracker, cut into small 1-2 inch squares and is made with sadness. Texas has great pizza, as SATX and Dallas have tons of NY transplants, there's specifically one place in Irving ran by two dudes from Jersey and it's amazing. The Northeast is undefeated with pizza. As much as I like to bust balls about pizza, I truly love all pizza (from dominoes, to real pizza) We will get along just fine. 😄

In RE4 you start from a village and it's used as kind of a hub, I wonder if this is expanding upon that?

4/11/2021 Workout MMA Training Thoughts: I've been on/off on defense training since I was 19. My 1 year in the Philippines was my most intensive training, and it is something I lean on a lot. Being back in the US, I was told to just keep up by boxing because finding a proper trainer would be near impossible. And, it has been. The only really good trainers for my art are like in Las Vegas and California. I do not live there, so boxing is what it has been ever since I came back to the US. I've never really progressed much. Sure, I can throw some hard hitting combos, but boxing isn't street fighting. And, I can easily catch a jab or a hook and turn it around by elbowing someone to their face or bringing them to my knee. Now, I'm with Coach Jonesly. He is practical. He is quick. He got into martial arts almost the same reason I did. Because getting into fights when you grow up in rough areas means you need to defend yourself. We went through basics today. Tweaking what boxing moves were into practical street moves. Combining what we both know from martial arts and boxing into something that works. Addressing all my issues I have with boxing and showing how to counter and take advantage of all the openings a typical boxer has. I found it super interesting when we focused on uppercuts. Because when I came back to the US, I had to "re-learn" uppercuts and hooks. How I learned them in Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) was slightly different than in boxing. In FMA, we are always concerned about having any openings, especially in the legs. In boxing, there's no concern for how when you twist your body for power that you are essentially leaving open your whole sciatic nerve in your thigh. So, you know what I had to do today? Re-learn how to do uppercuts and hooks like how I was originally taught. And, this... this is where it got fun. Every move you do should be setting up your next move. Each punch into the next, then possibly into a kick. Using my whole body for a fight. That... that was fun. Jab, cross, hook, uppercut, forward kick, uppercut, low kick... we finished it with 2 jabs. Realistically, it would be on the ground next. My shins are bruised. I have not done MMA style kicks in 10 years. I have to build up my shins again. At least I think this time there will be no repeated bare skin kicks to canvas bags then to wood poles. There will be no shin pads still, but we will be at least using pads lol. Jonesly has set goals for the end of our 10 sessions. Goals that I have never really considered ever meeting until now. This means I have work to do aside from everything else. By June 13th, I am to do (currently, I'm sure he's going to add a bunch of other things) 50 strict non-scaled push-ups 20 Non-Scaled Raised Bent Knee Sit-ups This.. this will be interesting.

Map

Nice little walk today, only a few good ones. Click for full photos!

Race 2 and 3 have been added to the calendar. Race 2 is N800 and BOP will be turned off. Race 3 is a race of tactics. Full power will not get you twice around the track. I'd advise against pitting as slipstream is king. Anyone is capable if winning Race 3 but I suggest checking the best car in advance as it's all about speed and fuel use.

With billions of planets to explore I don't think there's a home as such. You can use a station and run some trade routes for a while to make money and then explore new galaxies and do the same. You can do bounties, drug runs (need to be stealth to avoid police) trade anything from tea and beer to lithium and metals etc. It's really addictive and using all the screens and functions etc is extremely satisfying if you ask me lol. You can buy different ships for hauling cargo or smaller ships for combat etc. Loads of upgrade items from scanners to scan ships and planets to fuel scoops so you can refuel as you fly by staying close to planets etc. For less then a tenner it's a HUGE game. Lots of fun!

Them some fighting words to this NYCer (me) and Connecticut ( @TurboR56Mini ) couple! Hahaha.

Well after a failed night of shooting, (new cards and stupid wrong setting) the only shots are from our food. YES, YES WE ARE HAVING PIZZIA AGAIN. I don't want to hear shit from anyone. We have some of the best pizza in the world here and damn it, fat kid gonna fat kid. We also had some stuff artichokes as an app. best part is, I get to eat the other half for lunch tomorrow!!

Good idea, you can save them in the new armory! Yes yes I built an armory with a patio overlooking the sea... There are like 2-3 50 stacks of needles in the workshop.

I cut the grass in 108° heat.. I don't have pictures, but I did take 3 showers, I had to stop around 130, as the heat was way to intense as here, that is the hottest part of the day. I just finished about 20 minutes ago. I really wish I was a penguin right now, because that looks like a ton of fun

I met my wife at a gymnastics meet in Chicago. She was attending Penn State on a scholarship at the time and in town. She had some friends in Everquest that were also friends of mine (although I didn't play EQ), and we just sort of met. The funny part is that she had just broken up with her boyfriend of a few years, and I was a "rebound lay" for her. That was 12 years ago. Best part was the first date was at noon, we went to miniature golf and Taco Bell; then we rented Conkers Bad Fur Day for the N64, ended up watching a few movies and she really just never left. Her scholarship fell apart because she had been fighting with her Ex so much that her grades and all slipped. So she quit gymnastics and then dropped out, moved cross country and in with me. Edit: Reason for the cheap date is pretty simple. I learned ages ago to NEVER plan a date for dinner and what not unless its a work night. There is nothing worse than buying dinner and a movie and spending gobs of money on a ruined night. Do something early that way if the date sucks, you can go hang with your mates afterwards and still be able to have a good night.