Loving Some Free Jazz Improv

Portal 2 is Offensive to Orphans

Somebody didn't play Portal 1

Hergen for US Senate 2012!

Just for fun, some friends and I are trying to get a dear German friend elected to the US Senate in 2012.

Here are a few of the campaign materials we've put together.

Updates Incoming

Hey everyone,

I'm in the process of testing out a lot of new XHTML and Javascript stuff I can do with this page.

In the meantime, here is a Facebook social plugin test.

JS TEST

Drilling Fists

Today at my Bagua lesson, we spent a lot of time taking apart the 'cutting' section of the Lion system.
I'm surprised at how much like Xingyi it feels - especially certain parts of the 'lifting/holding' and 'compacting the body.'  I had always wondered how the Xingyi guys generate their power - and now I think I have a better handle on it, but it's certainly nowhere near enough to make me want to study Xingyi seriously.

At several points of the section, my movements felt disconnected and 'empty'.  So my teacher asked me "What did you do on the other sections when this happened at home?"  and I told him that at home I was working through sets on a low level, and when something felt 'broken', I would stop the set right there and back up to go over that one move until it felt powerful and integrated.   He seemed well satisfied with that response, and gave me some drills to speed it along.  The next hour of our session was devoted entirely to basic drilling; standing drills, Xingyi-looking line drills.  We looked at every turn of the waist, and each angle of the arm; we found relationships between elbows, knees, shoulders and hips.  Complete. 

I have some drills to run and some circles to walk....

 

Life, the Universe and Everything.

As the title suggests, I plan on using this blog for random bits that I pick up, about life, the universe and everything.
Mostly I'm going to be posting about the bagua that I'm learning, the teas that I am drinking, and whatever else seems relevant at the time, regardless of how silly.

"We apologize for the inconvenience."

Let's start with a bit of irony: 

Everyone at work is incredibly proud of Dragon Age: Origins - and right they should be!  Critics and fans alike are all over this dark fantasy epic, and it has earned a place of honor among BioWare titles (e.g. NWN, KOTOR, ME, et al).  Everyone is playing this game.

Except me. 
I have become shamelessly addicted to Café World.

I have to be out of bed in 7 hours, and can't even go to sleep, because my Tikka Masala Kabobs have 15 minutes more to cook, and if I go to bed now, they will spoil overnight.  This will cause me to run out of food, and my "Buzz Rating" (think metascore + Zaggat's) to plummet.  Whoever thought up the idea for a 24 hour diner game set in a persistent universe is a sick and demented genius.  With a little tweaking, this model could effectively neutralize our entire work force and our national defenses. 

Edit: I am now the "Ceaser of Salad", so I have that going for me.
2 hours of Bagua in the morning, so it's time for bed.