RealFolkBlues

So favorites threads are cool now? Meh, I'm not worried about it if you guys aren't. My heart says Breath of the Wild but my mind says The Last of Us. No game has made me feel something more keenly than The Last of Us, even if mostly that feeling was revulsion and sadness at the end.

^Lolz. Thanks for the comic relief here, @Modus. Working in reverse order... @AngelCityOutlaw: First off, I appreciate the honesty and the benefit of your experience. So, to address your concerns there, yeah, the schedule being my primary motivation is exactly what's holding me back, but I would say that the reason I'm a dispatcher now is that I do have a strong internal motivation to help people, so lives being on the line is (sort of) a plus. It terrifies me, for sure, but so did being a dispatcher and I did that anyway, largely because I thought I could help people. As to my physical fitness, I neglected to mention that I am also a personal trainer. I'm in pretty good shape, and more than willing to work hard to get up to snuff for the squad. I'm somewhat familiar with the test that would be involved and feel pretty good about gearing up for it. Actually, having a solid goal to train for would be nice, as I've been a little rudderless lately as far as that goes. @Patrick Burns: Thanks for the clearly well-considered post! You read between the lines quite well, sir. All of the things you listed also appeal to me. I would probably be a shoe-in for the job as I'm already working for the city, and I actually would need very little additional training (pretty much just firefighter school, which I would be paid more than I make now for). Actually, getting into the thought of additional school/training, it dovetails nicely with a mid-term plan I have as is: I am pretty much convinced at this point that I should go back to school (online) and get my Bachelor's in Emergency Management Systems, which my city might pay for even now, and I'm sure they would if I was working as a fireman. Speaking to one other point you made and to some degree AngelCityOutlaw's, the draining of the soul from seeing terrible things is a real concern, but I already get a fair bit of that now, and you would be surprised how crappy it is to HEAR all of these things and not be able to control anything. Being a dispatcher is a double-edged sword in that I can get help started towards someone having the worst day of their life, but I can't go out there and fix anything, which usually is good for me but sometimes is TERRIBLE. That's something that would motivate me to go for it.

Hey y'all! I got a random one for you, which might seem silly to ask here, but I think your impartiality might help me out. Sooooo, right now I work as a telecommunicator for my local police department. Basically, I'm a 911 dispatcher. Yes, it is crazy. Yes, I hear insane stuff frequently. That's not what I'm here for, though. I like the job quite a bit, but it's not perfect. There are a couple big problems, the primary one being the schedule. Right now I work night shift, which is ok but not optimal, but worse than that, I rotate so that I work every other weekend. The problem here is that I only get my son on the weekends. If I worked dayshift it would actually be worse because I would still have to do every other weekend, and I would actually get less (really almost no) time with my kiddo on the weekends I worked. This all leads me to be considering applying to be a career firefighter. Obviously that job can be even more stressful than the one I have now, not to mention the fact that it is also actually dangerous, while I'm never in any harm's way now. There would definitely be many rewarding factors to the job though, and the main one I would actually be looking forward to would be the schedule. Firefighters, at least in my city, work 24 hour rotations. That means that they spend a day or two in a row at the station, responding to calls as needed. If it's slow, they chill. If it's night, they sleep. And so on. So I guess my question is this: should I go for it, particularly as my main motivation seems to be the schedule? I never dreamed of being a fireman when I was a kid like others did, and I wonder if it isn't irresponsible to take a job where I could die when I have a 7 year old son who obviously would be devastated if I did. Like I said, I bring this to you because I feel like my family and close friends are really just too close to give me an objective answer. My family, for instance, pretty much all poo-pooed the idea. My son only understood it as me having more time with him. My girlfriend is trying to remain impartial and just supportive with no strong words either way, but clearly is more worried than anything. TL;DR - Should RFB try and become a fireman despite the danger, even though it's mainly for the cushy schedule?

Oh man! This is terrible. When I first started listening to OCR AIM was still a thing, and we randomly became AIM buddies. In addition to being a badass musician, he was (and I'm sure still is) a super nice guy. @Suguru, thanks for sharing this! @bLiNd, good luck man, we got you!

Hoo boy. Sooo, yeah. This was not my best MAG. Definitely experienced some substantial personal Sturm und Drang that, along with just generally trying to help my lady acclimate to her first MAG, kept me from much of what I wanted to do. I'm pretty bummed I missed you guys entirely. But! Next year, my dudes. Next year. I will return, like MacArthur. Or Larry Oji. We'll hang.

This is sad. Glad to have you, though!

Oh man I remember the first year they introduced the challenges (M5? M6?) I walked up like yeah, surely I can win at least one of these. Lulz. There is no hard like old school hard. @jmr, that sounds lit! I'm doing Concert Security again this year, so hopefully I'll be there to help the show go well.

Good luck with Gundam. Back when I used to actually play competitive games I would come to MAG partially to restore my humility. I'm pretty decent at Soul Calibur, for instance, and last year I did like a 20 win streak at the arcade on Soul Cal 2 before I got DEMOLISHED by the best Kilik player I have ever seen. Dude utterly destroyed me. It was beautiful. As to jamming, I'd love to do this, but I feel like there's always something going on in the jam space (and clinic space) except for maybe the wee hours of the morning.

Just chiming in with a quick edit for OCR events! - djp OVERCOME CREATIVE DIFFICULTIES (THURSDAY, 8PM) - BACK-TO-BACK #1, SAME ROOM! Real Talk: The Creative Experience with MAGFriends TIME: Thursday, Jan 4th at 8 PM until 9 PM LOCATION: Panels 3 – Woodrow Wilson Ballroom https://guidebook.com/guide/101720/event/17430247/ AWFUL FIGHTING GAMES (THURSDAY, 9:30PM) - BACK-TO-BACK #2, SAME ROOM! Awesome(ly terrible) Fighting Game SHOWDOWN (presented by OC ReMix) TIME: Thursday, Jan 4th at 9:30 PM until 10:30 PM LOCATION: Panels 3 – Woodrow Wilson Ballroom https://guidebook.com/guide/101720/event/17430248/ MAKE-A-MIX/WORKSHOP PANEL (FRIDAY, 2:30PM) How to Make VGM ReMixes: OC ReMix Workshop TIME: Friday, Jan 5th at 2:30 PM until 4:00 PM LOCATION: Panels 3 – Woodrow Wilson Ballroom https://guidebook.com/guide/101720/event/17430254/ OC REMIX JAMSPACE PERFORMANCES (FRIDAY, 6PM) The Artists of OverClocked ReMix TIME: Friday, Jan 5th at 6:00 PM until 10:00 PM LOCATION: Jamspace + Community Curated Stage - Eastern Shore 1,2,3 https://guidebook.com/guide/101720/event/17430059/ MAIN PANEL (SATURDAY, 10PM) OC ReMix: Honoring game music since 1999 TIME: SATURDAY Jan 6th at 10:00 PM until 11:00 PM LOCATION: Panels 3 – Woodrow Wilson Ballroom https://guidebook.com/guide/101720/event/17430267/ ......fin ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ More panels involving OC ReMixers! THURSDAY, 1/4, 12:30-1:30PM The Ocarina Panel w/David Erick Ramos Panels 4 – Annapolis 1-4 THURSDAY, 1/4, 2-3:30PM Open Mic Kickoff Concert with Danimal Cannon! Chipspace – Potomac Hallway THURSDAY, 1/4, 3-4PM Video Game Music: How I Do It Panels 1 – Cherry Blossom Ballroom THURSDAY, 1/4, 5-5:45PM brentalfloss Lobby Bar Sessions THURSDAY, 1/4, 8-10PM MAGFest: Spotlight (DJ Showcase) POSE Nightclub (21+) THURSDAY, 1/4, 10PM-2AM Party With Your Friends: MAGFest (DJ Showcase) POSE Nightclub (21+) FRIDAY, 1/5, 2-5AM Dwelling of Duels Listening Party MAGES 1 – Chesapeake G,H,I FRIDAY, 1/5, 1-2PM Brentalfloss presents the "Use Your Words" game show panel! Panels 1 – Cherry Blossom Ballroom FRIDAY, 1/5, 1:30-2:40PM Crazy Composer Collective feat. Videri String Quartet Concerts – Potomac Ballrooms FRIDAY, 1/5, 2:30-3:30PM Brentalfloss Signing Session Autographs Red – Expo Hall E FRIDAY, 1/5, 9-10:10PM LONELYROLLINGSTARS feat Vince DiCola Concerts – Potomac Ballrooms SATURDAY, 1/6, 11:30AM-1PM Game Music Guest Composers Q&A SATURDAY, 1/6, 1:30-2:30PM Brentalfloss FAQ Live! Panels 4 – Annapolis 1-4 SATURDAY, 1/6, 1:30-2:30PM Composers Signing Session Autographs Red – Expo Hall E SATURDAY, 1/6, 1:30-2:30PM Super Guitar Bros. Concerts – Potomac Ballrooms SATURDAY, 1/6, 5-5:40PM Marshall Art Concerts – Potomac Ballrooms SATURDAY, 1/6, 5-10PM GameChops Rave Night! Mega Man-athon 6 – Maryland Hallway SATURDAY, 1/6, 7-7:40PM Viking Guitar Live Concerts – Potomac Ballrooms ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Soooo, uhhhh, MAGFest? It's happening January 4th through the 7th at the Gaylord Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. I'm not planning on coordinating a meet-up (sorry guys, too busy), but y'all should come. Info is here Definitely going: Abigail Endsley Alexander Brandon A_Rival brentalfloss Bryan Kelly Cyril the Wolf Danimal Cannon DarkeSword Detective Tuesday DiscoCactus Diodes Dj CUTMAN djpretzel - thanks for the ninja edit to flesh this out Docjazz4 DragonAvenger DrumUltimA FenixDown FistoftheMFK Flexstyle Flik FoxxDragon Geoffrey Taucer +1 Jared Hudson Jenner Jillian Aversa jmr Joe Cam JohnStacy Jon St.John J Psycle Kizyr Kristin Naigus Lauren the Flute Lazerwolph Level 99 Liontamer LONELYROLLINGSTARS (Ailsean, Cubosh, finbeard, MegaBeardo, norg) Nabeel Ansari nokbient OceansAndrew Muuurgh Pipez Prince uf Darkness PROTO·DOME RealFolkBlues Rexy RoboRob Sindra Stemage Stephen Kelly streifig Viking Guitar William Reyes WillRock Yusef Kellibrew zircon

The Legend of Zelda: The Spirit Tracks final dungeon just wore me the F down. As some of y'all might know, I have a triforce tattooed on my spine. I'm pretty serial about my Zelda, and this is one of very few in the series I haven't completed. Just sooooo tediously difficult. One of the other Zeldas I didn't complete? 2. And it wasn't Shadow Link. It was the area leading up to the final Temple. You know the section on the overworld with the random encounters with super strong Lizalfos, the weird eyeball dudes that dropped fire, and the lava? Yeah, that. So !#%$ing frustrating. Ground me right down.

Hey y'all! I'm gonna be there! What's on the docket this year? Late night PPR discussions in real life? Profanity-laced pancake breakfasts? Nuking forums for bad behavior? On the real though, when's the OCR workout? When's the OCU concert? When's the panelz? I probably could look all this up, but I'm lazy.

Grrr! I had like next to no chilling with OCR peeps time this year. What's the next east coast event, yo?

Checkout is at 10 actually and then I ride back to Raleigh, soI may not work out in the morning after all. Next MAGFest for sure, bros.

So, I showed up to work out at like 1045 or so, which is perhaps a little late given I said 10 haha. I met Jeremy (Taucer) on the way down but I don't think anyone else was still there. I'm working tomorrow morning until 1pm but how about we work out Sunday morning at 10? For real? I'll set an alarm and stuff. Let's bro it up. P.s. GroupMe isn't working for crap for me. Thus, forum posts.

@OA Sweet. I will see you around 10 or so tomorrow then, hopefully!