YouYou time... :D
Rules:
Leave a comment saying, "COMMENT" and I will give you five words I associate with you. Then post about what they mean to you, along with this, at your journal.
Some words for me to elaborate upon from
sparkythegeek
Martial arts, Star Wars, journalling, "silverfur", Furry Muck.
Couple of these are interconnected there, so I am not going to do a bulletpoint on this. Instead, I'm going to engage my essay-writing skills, if I have any left.
Martial arts have been a part of my life ever since I was about 10. I saw the first Karate Kid movie, some of Bruce Lee's old movies and there were all sorts of fighting games for mine and my friends 8-bit home computers.
Those things gave a kid some pretty silly ideas about fighting. Althought I have to admit that I was a real scrapper and school yard fighter as a kid... Comes from being of small build. But when I started doing Wado-Ryu karate as a prepubescent, most of those glamorous ideas were washed off me in the sweat and aches of long hours of practise.
After a while, I drifted from karate. The next Art I found, after having read Eiji Yoshikawa's Musashi, was kendo. I did that for several years, until I moved a bit far from any kendo clubs. At that time, I found Aikido, but then I moved to Helsinki, Capital of Finland and got back into doing Kendo for another year or so.
I transitiond to Aikido after a bit of hiatus again, and spent maybe 3 years doing it, but some of my anger issues started to make practise harder for me and my training partners. In the Aikido practise I was reacquainted again with the Japanese swordwork, and after I had drifted off from Aikido, I ended up in the art I am currently studying, Iaido.
My Iaido teachers have been wonderful, and the highly internal conflict in the Art has lent well to my learning to manage my internal pressures. For many a reason, I feel like I have now found the Art for Me that I will hold onto and polish for as long as I am capable.
This interest in Martial Arts and especially the Arts of the Sword seques somewhat into my interests in Star Wars. I was sort-of fan for a long time, althought I didn't go to conventions or read all the comics. Not that we had many conventions in Finland for Star Wars, althought we did get the comics even in 1980's. For me, the thing that really lured me in was TIE Fighter SCS and its expansions when I got myself a PC that allowed me to really play. I never quite got immersed in the Scum side, I have played X-Wing, X-Wing VS TIE Fighter, X-Wing Alliance, but I always preferred the Imperial birds. And the storyline of TIE Fighter was snapped up hook, line, sinker, bob, rod, fisherman... You get the picture.
I did read and bought plenty of the licensed novels over the years, althought by the Yuuzhan Vong and New Jedi Order, it was starting to get stale. And the way most of the novels twisted around same people saving the universe started to grate. X-Wing novels were rather nice in that aspect, with the 'Big Names' being props to keep the story up, but letting the little guys push out from the shadows.
Then, about a year ago, a good friend of mine needed a bit of help, since he had gotten the Star Wars bug really bad. Well, I knew he had it bad, he was the one I had gone to see all three of the Prequel Trilogy with. Now he was talking about doing a TIE Fighter pilot costume, and started to talk about 501st Legion and Jolly Roger Squadron and... Well, long and sometimes annoying story of costume acquirement cut a bit short, he got involved with the Nordic Garrison of 501st, and talked about how cool the folks were. I had been thinking of a costume of my own for about half a year already, doing my own research, when I first met the folks from the Finnish chapter for a Troop in a toy museum. I was walking around with my friend's big Canon and taking photos while having fun with the folks, and I guess I'm a goner already. :) I have one costume under building, and second is in the research phase, althought I probably will get certain bits to it early, like the "saber". Which brings me to one odd aspect of the Star Wars fandom for me. I am more inclined towards the dark sides, Empire and the Sith, than the Light of New Republic or Rebel Alliance. If I was a Star Wars character, I would most likely be either a Dark Jedi using Juyo, if Force sensitive at all, or a Bounty Hunter. Or, if I was lucky, something like a Naval Intelligence Commando for Empire.
Then something completely unconnected. "Silverfur", FurryMuck and journaling here are all three interconnected in several ways. Mucks and other multi-user online worlds go back to 1991 with me, when I passed the entracne exam to Tampere University of Technology. Pretty much onf of the first things that happened there was that I got... Well, addicted is a honest description for it. I got addicted to online worlds, including LPMuds (even one Star Wars themed LPMud). By 1993, I had drifted through dozens, maybe scores of different worlds, and then I drifted to FurryMuck. From an ElfQuest muck, where I had went with someone I shared a passion for roleplaying and writing with. When I came to FurryMuck, I had a bit of lycanthrope kick, werebear, werewolf. Silverfur was a 'wolfname' I felt akin to me, I tend to have a lot of beard and other hair, and it was starting to pick on grayish hue. And I occasionally felt a bit older than I was. Thus Silverfur was a bit of 'identification' for me. I have been thinking about changing my nick since, as my internal characterization has gone through several revisions over the years, but I think it's became a part of me.
About Journaling, then? It begun as a way to register and see what was happening with my friends, with occasional glimpses I let others see about my life. It's still much the same, keeping in touch with friends I have never met, but whom I have let into my Heart, some of them I have let so close that if I don't hear from them for a while, I begin to worry. Some of them I didn't let in, but just found them there. GAFennec, Bigears as I have known him for years, just walked by and set up in the reading chamber by the fireplace and we talked and still talk...
And finally FurryMuck itself; at a time, it was home for me, at other times, it's been playground, sandbox, cozy corner. There are few people there I want to call my friends, even if we might never break bread together. It's also had few of the annoying things, and it has had a share in some of my misfortunes, althought I am beginning to grow mature enough to take blame on myself, and not blaming FM.
I think this might not cover everything I have to say about this topic, but I'll return to this when I have assembled more of my thoughts to say.
Leave a comment saying, "COMMENT" and I will give you five words I associate with you. Then post about what they mean to you, along with this, at your journal.
Some words for me to elaborate upon from
sparkythegeekMartial arts, Star Wars, journalling, "silverfur", Furry Muck.
Couple of these are interconnected there, so I am not going to do a bulletpoint on this. Instead, I'm going to engage my essay-writing skills, if I have any left.
Martial arts have been a part of my life ever since I was about 10. I saw the first Karate Kid movie, some of Bruce Lee's old movies and there were all sorts of fighting games for mine and my friends 8-bit home computers.
Those things gave a kid some pretty silly ideas about fighting. Althought I have to admit that I was a real scrapper and school yard fighter as a kid... Comes from being of small build. But when I started doing Wado-Ryu karate as a prepubescent, most of those glamorous ideas were washed off me in the sweat and aches of long hours of practise.
After a while, I drifted from karate. The next Art I found, after having read Eiji Yoshikawa's Musashi, was kendo. I did that for several years, until I moved a bit far from any kendo clubs. At that time, I found Aikido, but then I moved to Helsinki, Capital of Finland and got back into doing Kendo for another year or so.
I transitiond to Aikido after a bit of hiatus again, and spent maybe 3 years doing it, but some of my anger issues started to make practise harder for me and my training partners. In the Aikido practise I was reacquainted again with the Japanese swordwork, and after I had drifted off from Aikido, I ended up in the art I am currently studying, Iaido.
My Iaido teachers have been wonderful, and the highly internal conflict in the Art has lent well to my learning to manage my internal pressures. For many a reason, I feel like I have now found the Art for Me that I will hold onto and polish for as long as I am capable.
This interest in Martial Arts and especially the Arts of the Sword seques somewhat into my interests in Star Wars. I was sort-of fan for a long time, althought I didn't go to conventions or read all the comics. Not that we had many conventions in Finland for Star Wars, althought we did get the comics even in 1980's. For me, the thing that really lured me in was TIE Fighter SCS and its expansions when I got myself a PC that allowed me to really play. I never quite got immersed in the Scum side, I have played X-Wing, X-Wing VS TIE Fighter, X-Wing Alliance, but I always preferred the Imperial birds. And the storyline of TIE Fighter was snapped up hook, line, sinker, bob, rod, fisherman... You get the picture.
I did read and bought plenty of the licensed novels over the years, althought by the Yuuzhan Vong and New Jedi Order, it was starting to get stale. And the way most of the novels twisted around same people saving the universe started to grate. X-Wing novels were rather nice in that aspect, with the 'Big Names' being props to keep the story up, but letting the little guys push out from the shadows.
Then, about a year ago, a good friend of mine needed a bit of help, since he had gotten the Star Wars bug really bad. Well, I knew he had it bad, he was the one I had gone to see all three of the Prequel Trilogy with. Now he was talking about doing a TIE Fighter pilot costume, and started to talk about 501st Legion and Jolly Roger Squadron and... Well, long and sometimes annoying story of costume acquirement cut a bit short, he got involved with the Nordic Garrison of 501st, and talked about how cool the folks were. I had been thinking of a costume of my own for about half a year already, doing my own research, when I first met the folks from the Finnish chapter for a Troop in a toy museum. I was walking around with my friend's big Canon and taking photos while having fun with the folks, and I guess I'm a goner already. :) I have one costume under building, and second is in the research phase, althought I probably will get certain bits to it early, like the "saber". Which brings me to one odd aspect of the Star Wars fandom for me. I am more inclined towards the dark sides, Empire and the Sith, than the Light of New Republic or Rebel Alliance. If I was a Star Wars character, I would most likely be either a Dark Jedi using Juyo, if Force sensitive at all, or a Bounty Hunter. Or, if I was lucky, something like a Naval Intelligence Commando for Empire.
Then something completely unconnected. "Silverfur", FurryMuck and journaling here are all three interconnected in several ways. Mucks and other multi-user online worlds go back to 1991 with me, when I passed the entracne exam to Tampere University of Technology. Pretty much onf of the first things that happened there was that I got... Well, addicted is a honest description for it. I got addicted to online worlds, including LPMuds (even one Star Wars themed LPMud). By 1993, I had drifted through dozens, maybe scores of different worlds, and then I drifted to FurryMuck. From an ElfQuest muck, where I had went with someone I shared a passion for roleplaying and writing with. When I came to FurryMuck, I had a bit of lycanthrope kick, werebear, werewolf. Silverfur was a 'wolfname' I felt akin to me, I tend to have a lot of beard and other hair, and it was starting to pick on grayish hue. And I occasionally felt a bit older than I was. Thus Silverfur was a bit of 'identification' for me. I have been thinking about changing my nick since, as my internal characterization has gone through several revisions over the years, but I think it's became a part of me.
About Journaling, then? It begun as a way to register and see what was happening with my friends, with occasional glimpses I let others see about my life. It's still much the same, keeping in touch with friends I have never met, but whom I have let into my Heart, some of them I have let so close that if I don't hear from them for a while, I begin to worry. Some of them I didn't let in, but just found them there. GAFennec, Bigears as I have known him for years, just walked by and set up in the reading chamber by the fireplace and we talked and still talk...
And finally FurryMuck itself; at a time, it was home for me, at other times, it's been playground, sandbox, cozy corner. There are few people there I want to call my friends, even if we might never break bread together. It's also had few of the annoying things, and it has had a share in some of my misfortunes, althought I am beginning to grow mature enough to take blame on myself, and not blaming FM.
I think this might not cover everything I have to say about this topic, but I'll return to this when I have assembled more of my thoughts to say.