Charles

You know, I always have people coming up to me, asking for help. They'll give me their story, which will usually involve some sort of unbelievable circumstances, ask for money, and say "I'm really sorry about this, but look, I'm no bum, I'm not going to go buy drugs or anything." I never know who's scamming me or not, so I usually just hand over whatever change I have in my pocket. I mean, who knows? What if I'm ever in a spot like that, where there's an emergency and I need help? I'd certainly want someone to help me. In your case, it's only five dollars. If she was desperate enough to knock on your door and scam you, then so be it. Just learn from this experience and follow your parents' advice in the future--and never allow anyone to come inside. I always like to think that "what goes around, comes around" so it's cool that your heart was in the right place.

Thanks a bunch, you two. I always have a sneaking suspicion that my work won't get any replies, so it always feels good to see comments. I'm kinda fond of this exercise, so I'll touch it up when I have the time. I'd love to play with the language a bit more.

If you want to experience heaven, you can, as I've said, just watch the regular show. You see, in this instance, you won't need fancy candy or soda to disguise the bad taste that the film leaves in your mouth. As you probably know, since you've seen [i]Bringing Down the House[/i], there are films that are able to successfully play off black culture using a white comedian, without coming off as thoroughly unfunny. Blech.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Semjaza Azazel [/i] [B]Was the candy good? [/B][/QUOTE] It was the only reason I didn't cry while sitting through that crap. When you combine it with Cherry Coke, it's Heaven, baby.

I didn't want to see this movie either; I wanted to see Bulletproof Monk, but my friend would have none of it. Just as I expected, the movie was a complete waste of time and money. The appeal of this character on Jamie Kennedy's show, doesn't lie in the personality of the character himself, but in the reaction of [i]real[/i], unsuspecting people. Of course, that's lost here. There's only so much you can drag out of a lame character that doesn't have the charm or complexity to make it in a sketch that lasts for more than about seven minutes. I would have been more satisfied with an expanded version of Jamie Kennedy's television show (think Jackass), than I was with this. As it stands now, this movie wasn't even worth as much as the Hawaiian Punch candy I bought in the theater.

I've never watched GI Joe, so I can't be sure. But, he does hold an uncanny resemblance to the Shadow Master, of Double Dragon fame. [quote][b]I rented GGX2 2 weekends ago while staying at my brothers apartment. At first I was a bit bored with the game. But I soon realized it was because my brother was no match for the King of the Sony forum. ^_^[/b][/quote] Yeah, the game's outward simplicity tends to turn people off. I've seen some reviewers write off the game as a simple expansion to Guilty Gear X, which was a bit annoying. Once you scratch the surface, there's really a surprisingly deep game to be had. Which, is nice, because it could have easily become a button masher.

Oh man, I'm a little disappointed, to be honest. I was hoping that the game would have adopted a cel shaded look. It would have been much more attractive and fitting for this sort of title. Imagine lush backgrounds and smooth animation reminiscent of Zelda's. A presentation of that caliber would have rocked. The signature vehicles and buddy system seem intriguing. So, I'm looking forward to hearing more about it anyway. If it's fun, I'll be happy. But, I doubt that it'll be any better than the GameBoy Advance Super Circuit. That's still the cream of the kart crop, in my opinion, despite the crummy artificial intelligence in the 150 circuit.

I've labeled this as [b][i]mature[/i][/b] due to strong language and the inclusion of sexual content. So, if you're bothered by adult material, read no further. She called up from the street. Her voice was lifted by the general hum of energy in the city surrounding her. Traffic was light, so her syllables drifted into the night air, slid between the gray teeth of my fire escape and settled in my apartment, unobstructed by the discourse of speeding taxis and late hour delivery trucks. I shook my head and continued pacing, as if my legs had undergone some sort of metamorphosis and attached themselves to invisible rails with rebellious magnetism. My lips pursed as I thought over the uncomfortable scene that would likely unfold when she discovered that I now possessed the limited mobility of a runaway carrousel. I took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and crept upon the window, seeing it as if it were a bunker; I poked my head out, hoping not to see the monotony of our stagnant passion lurking about. And there she was, decorated in it. Wonderful. "Come on up," I said, "You do remember the room, right?" She looked up startled, as if she had suddenly become lost. There was something unusual in my tone, so she probably couldn't identify the voice at first. However, recognition slid into place as soon as she caught sight of me standing against the faint glow of the room set behind me. I waved her up cautiously. She lifted her hand in reply and smiled. "Heya!," she said, "I wasn't sure I had the right building or not." "Well you do," I said, "Come on up." I remained outwardly calm, but my contempt for her was as thick and impenetrable as the balmy August air. So, I busied myself by shutting my computer down and taking care to lock any sensitive papers in my desk drawer. Glancing heavily upon the room, with the monotony that precedes a great task, I assured myself that there wasn't anything further that needed my attention--only the lasting task of sweeping up the shards of Denise?s fragile, soon to be detonated, passion. With a nod of satisfaction, I dimmed the lights and ran my finger on the brim of my hat, which hung, head down, like an omen, adjacent to the door. At the sound of her footsteps, I seized her by the arm and pulled her in before she could knock. The low-wattage bulb in the hall shed just enough pale light to disguise her from my neighbors. It?s just his wife, they would think, not giving it another thought. "Christ, Denise," I said, "Are you trying to get me caught, yelling up here like, like--and just taking your time." She made a face. We neither moved nor spoke and the tension, which had been building slowly, had now become a palpable presence in the room. Denise didn't know why I had invited her over. To be sure, she knew why, but remained unaware of my ulterior motives. We never ****ed in my apartment. I was always careful--took every precaution necessary to ensure that she remained nothing more than a ghost, only to be seen and touched by me and never to touch upon my personal life. But, here she was. I wasn?t sure when, but at some point in our relationship, her soul had begun to overflow with such a passion that she became blind to the grim reality of our affair. She began reaching into my shallow desires and derived from them some kind of greater meaning. She now referred to our ****ing sessions as "making love" and told me that she loved me every time that the deed had been done and dreamed up dreams of us running away together. Looking back on it, I guess she knew the truth deep down inside, anyone in her position should. But, she wanted to believe that I loved her, wanted to believe that I took the necessary precautions in order to preserve our fugitive relationship, wanted to believe that I invited her over because I needed her presence (as opposed to my true intentions of exploring what last bit of novelty this dangerous adventure could revive in our affair). With an iron effort, I stroked the back of my hand softly along the line of her jaw. "No," she said, "We can't go on like this, no, we can't. What's gotten into you lately?" Part of her couldn?t stop screaming that this was a bad idea. And so, she had begun to pluck the strings of reproach. I laughed. We wouldn?t be going on like this. Not after tonight. I agreed with her. Poor thing. Nonetheless, I took the meaning behind her words into full consideration and wondered whether or not I should offer her a drink or deliver the pleasantries needed to pull her strings. Instead, I took her shoulders in my hands and leaned forward, my lips parted just slightly, my eyes closed. Denise met the kiss and we touched one another tenderly. She probably felt a wave of intense relief at the sudden show of gentle affection. Her mouth tasted like a forbidden fruit whose sweetness had long ago departed in a storm of rot. My father-in-law's condition, much like our affair, had suddenly grown worse. I told Trish how deeply sorry I was that I couldn't be at the hospital, that I had business matters that absolutely needed to be tended to, and that I would be out to see her first thing in the morning. Of course, Denise believed that my wife had been away visiting my sister, and that she could return at any given moment. She said that we were taking too many risks, stealing moments like these. Yet, at the same time, she secretly harbored the hope that my wife would walk in on us, as to end my marriage and open new doors for our stowaway relationship. Perhaps she liked being the other woman because it made her feel greater, in a way, than she really was. We went to my bedroom, and as we kissed, I fell heavily upon her until she was forced to fall backwards onto the bed. Our clothes joined one other on the floor, and my arms were around her, digging into her form. We wrestled about on the battlefield of sheet and pillow until I dominated her; pulled her head back by her hair, and forced myself inside her with Neanderthalish grunts. There were no moans, only heavy breathing. She cried out, but not in rapture. ?Stop? she yelled, breaking away, ?You?re hurting me!? What the **** is wrong with you!? I sat on the edge of my bed silent. ?What the **** is wrong with you,? she said, ?Why are you like this?? I wanted to tell her everything, this, after all, had been the moment I had been waiting for. I wanted to say, ?I?ve been hurting you. Can?t you see? You?ve made it this way by being here, by not seeing it all along. ? I wanted to call her a selfish ***** and watch her sob uncontrollably. After all, why should she be surprised? She, in effect, had been a device I had used to hurt my own marriage. If I would hurt my own wife, why wouldn?t I hurt her? But, there I sat, as if wounded by her question, with my hands pressed to my knees. ?Why are you like this,? she repeated, a gunshot in the night. I laid back in the bed, the final blow having been dealt, and I stared at the ceiling fan waltzing in lazy circles, sending its cobweb partners gliding into the corners of the room. ?I hate you,? I said. I heard a faint sobbing, the sound of her gathering her clothes, the loud slam of doors. She was gone. One of her shoes remained, barely peeking from beneath a sheet. I ran my finger over it and bowed my head. And, without thinking, I snatched it up, and threw it into my mirror, my mirror without a reflection. The glass exploded in slow motion, littering the carpet with diamond dust. I rose slowly, able to see myself, for what felt like the first time, in the shards. ?I hate you,? I said.

Ouch man. I know how loss is and I feel for you. The pain will never truly disappear altogether. I mean, there'll always be moments when you're reminded of her and your heart'll ache. But, during those times, try to remember that you haven't truly lost her. In a sense, she'll always live within you, in your heart and your memories. No one can take those away from you. So, that's how I deal with loss. I just remember the person, their positive influence on me, and I think to myself that they're in a better place than we are.

I just stumbled upon some interesting news; Jeff Hardy has been fired from the WWE. I suppose I could see this coming. His house show schedule was basically nonexistent and his passion for music was said to be stronger than his passion for wrestling. But, it does come as a bit of a disappointment to me. Hardy had a vast amount of potential. His wrestling style was sloppy--but he reminded me of a young HBK. The charisma was there. As far as Backlash goes, I too, predict Lesnar retaining the title. Cena is merely being pushed as the top heel of SmackDown due to Angle's absence. I'm not too sure that the WWE sees him as a long-term solution in fixing the lack of top quality heels on that brand. Which, of course, is a shame because his mic skill are absolutely incredible [i]and[/i] he's solid in the ring to boot. Just look at his matches with Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerro. On the clique: [spoiler] Don't look for a reformation. I've read that the WWE has no plans in bringing that stable back as a television presence. In fact, Triple H will probably feud with Nash until his program with Goldberg begins for the Bad Blood pay per view. The vignettes that took place on Raw were most likely run to build tension and suspense for the Booker T/Triple H main event.[/spoiler] Lastly, I don't know if I like how Goldberg was beaten down. The WWE should be doing everything they can to get him over as an indestructible monster. The Rock is only there to put him over--and he certainly didn't do that last night.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Syk3 [/i] [B]As I told Charles, if you read the announcement, James particularly noted that he wants the .hack games to be placed in their, quote, "relevant gaming forums." Ironically, at the end of it, James says that he wants everyone to read the announcements because you have no idea what you may miss. I guess he called this one right, eh? [/B][/QUOTE] Heheh, when you reminded me of that particular excerpt from the announcement, it had been [i]approximately[/i] nine or ten hours since I had last read it. So, it wasn't complete and utter negligence. Regulating discussion of a game to its series has pretty much been what I've always done, so I can understand if others do it out of habit as well. I [i]did[/i] read it, and I still agree with NeoCactuar that the actual .hack forum would be a more appropriate place to discuss the games. Especially upon considering that the Dragonball Z games are discussed in the DragonBall forum and the Pokemon games are discussed in the Pokemon forum. It's much more orderly that way, but oh well. I apologize for going off topic there and I'm sorry if it sounded smug, but it had to be said, lol.

Gosh, you know, I hate to be a stickler here, but I see little in the way of actual discussion emerging from this thread. I know that you've created a fun little topic here, but let's stick to discussing something that's not quite this pointless.

Oh man, I purchased the game the day before the official release, and I've still not gotten around to beating it. Right now, I'm in the wind temple. After that, I'll have restored the power to repel evil to the master sword. So, I'm pretty far in the game. I doubt that I've uncovered even seventy-five percent of what the game has to offer and I know that I will never explore every secret. The game is so easy that I doubt I'll need all the heart pieces and whatnot to finish it. I'll probably complete it sometime in May; it'll be the first game I've completed in a while. I must say that I've enjoyed it a lot. I didn't have as much fun playing it as I did with OOT, but it's cool nonetheless.

Hm, this topic is very similar to the summer vacation one, but as long as it sticks to primarily discussing school, as opposed to summer plans, things will be straight. Things are a bit hectic for me right now. I have to pull in three hours of psychology experiments or write a five page paper--plus finals are approaching quickly. I enjoyed this semester more than I thought I would. A couple of the classes were [i]really[/i] large and, thus, boring. But, I've adjusted well and met some cool people. Nonetheless, I can't wait until the semester ends. I've been looking forward to resting up for quite a while. I'm academically burnt out.

I haven't made any concrete plans yet. I might be forced to look for a different job. That doesn't bother me at all, because I'm due for a change. Also, I'm planning on committing myself to a large-scale writing project. With my commitments to my classes and such, I really haven't had the time to do so yet. I keep putting it off. I've not made any travel plans yet, but it'd be nice to escape Jersey. We'll see, lol. I know that I'll see plenty of movies, at least.

This topic is pretty much exhausted. You can't compare a recruitment forum to a social forum. You're either going to be interested in a topic or you're not--just by looking at the title of the thread. Threads in that area aren't created for the purpose of housing long discussions or debate; they're simply created to organize role-playing games. There's no need to "sift" through the threads. Only a few new ones are created a day. It's not a difficult chore to find something current that interests to you. If you absolutely abhore anything related to DBZ or Pokemon, just pass over RPGs based on those particular series. The recruitment forum isn't active enough to warrant different categories.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Wintermute [/i] [B]What will you do if they don't like it? I mean, fantastic for you if they do, but will you give up if they don't? Because rejection is a major part of starting out as a writer. Can you keep on going? (Thanks Elite) [/B][/QUOTE] That's a good question. If the criticism isn't [i]that[/i] bad, I'll just take notes of what they say and improve in those areas. If it's "you suck" harsh, I'll probably explore different areas of writing other than creative writing and take a buncha more classes. Or, I might just become more motivated and try to improve. It's hard to say until I actually hear what they have to say. No matter what, I'll be satisfied with how I write and I'll continue doing it for fun, but I'll look at other options when considering a career.

I enjoyed Budokai more than I thought I would. There are a couple of points that I have to address though. The most glaring problem is that the characters aren't balanced according to the series at all. Scrubs like the Ginyu force have no problem hanging with the likes of SSJ2 Gohan. I understand how unbalanced the game would be if the characters fought in accordance to their stats, but there should be an option that allows the game to stay true to the series. Perhaps the training mode could double as a room of spirit and time, that would allow players to power up their characters and ascend to new power levels. That would be cool. The other minor issue I had with the game, was how cheap tournament mode was. It was far too easy to get thrown from the ring. It's so cheap and irritating. Other than that, I don't have much else to say. I can rant about how shallow the game play is, how rushed the flight dynamics are (or the lack thereof), and the lack of an updated roster, but those problems have already been beaten to death by others. On the bright side, some of the special moves featured some phenominal animation. And, I was pleased that the game featured voice acting and recreated segments from the show. It's not bad for a fan of the dubbed version, at least.

Thanks for the comments, you two. The "with" was really put there to personify silence. So, yeah, there's a method to my madness. I'm glad you liked it Sara. Mitchy poo, your suggestions were pretty cool. I appreciate 'em. I'll experiment with them, for sure. Anyway, here's another poem. I didn't even bother creating another thread for it because I'm not satisfied with it. I'll probably develop an actual scheme for it when I have time. All people may be created equal But, they are not born so Some lack opportunities And resources that Others find plentiful Face gender and racial unjust Then there are the children Children burdened Genetically crippled By their parents' mistakes But, despite limitations And obstacle laden trials and tribulations And everything that is unequal We all have the ability to [i][b]dream[/i][/b] Through [i]aspiration[/i] and reaching Reaching deep down inside Standing on tiptoes and Touching the stars We all have the ability To tap into an endless reservoir of potential And become something greater.

This oversimplification and complete misunderstanding in regard to depression is a little funny. I'm taken back by it. Depression sure isn't just another way of saying "you're sad." Did you know that severe or prolonged depression can interfere with one's ability to function, feel pleasure, or maintain interest? It's an [b]illness[/b] that results from biochemical imbalances in the brain. And, wouldn't you know, depression is linked to mood disorders. After reading your so-called beliefs, I'd say that you're in serious need of a psych class. You appear to be completely oblivious to the suffering that the suicidal endure, Solitaire. I wonder if you've even read a number of these posts. If not, go back and do so, you may learn something. As it stands now, you know very little about suicide or the suicidal. I mean, : pauses and shakes head: how is someone suffering from manic depressive [b]illness[/b] (which is characterized by radical mood swings from severe depression to exaggerated emotions, mind you), "retarded?" I can't remember the exact numbers, but I know that a significant number of people affected by depression-related illness commit suicide. That doesn't mean that they're less intelligent than you or I. Nope. Many don't even know that they're affected by the disease. So, it's a lack of awareness of their condition and treatment of it, that results in their downfall. It doesn't make them inferior. In the future, try not to be so harsh with your posts. It's uncalled for. Labeling one side of the argument as "weak minded" is a terrible thing to do. While debating issues, it's always important to respect the other side, even if you disagree with their opinions.

Writing is my flavor of the week. It's art; I love it because I can commit ideas and emotions onto a page, that I'd never be able to say in words. And, you know, writing is a lot like painting because you're spilling out your very own creation onto a "canvas" of sorts. It's reminiscent of taking all those bottled-up thoughts that clutter your head, and actually putting them to use by creating your very own little worlds with 'em. Cool stuff, for sure. I don't know if I'll stick with it; it might not be a true talent. Meaning, I might not excel at it enough to convert my interest in it into a palpable career. But, I've always received high praise from my teachers; they like my style or something. One of them told me not to waste my "talent", so I've decided to give it a go. I've turned in my story for fiction writing workshop, and I'm awaiting my critique date (the 28th). It's the most critical class I've been in, so the opinions of my professor and classmates will be of the utmost importance. If they believe that I have talent, I'll consider taking it further.

There's a difference between being the 'nice' guy and the 'boring' guy. You don't have to be both; it's possible to find a medium between the two. Females care about security, emotions, and dependability. So, keep that and mind, while getting your edge back at the same time. Women in their late teens and early twenties usually aren't looking for an end all relationship destined for marriage; they want to have fun. Be fun.

You won't be seeing Grand Theft Auto release on the 'box in any time soon. I believe that it's console-exclusive to Sony until late 2004. The only platform you'll find GTA ports for, is the PC.

[img]http://www.otakuboards.com/attachment.php?postid=382777[/img] Veteran actor, Thing, moonlights with close friend Semjaza Azazel prior to the 1991 audition of [i]The Addam's Family[/i] film.

I would just like to remind everyone, that if you're not interested in this thread--don't post here. It's that simple. I just had to delete three posts that basically said "I don't care," or "I have no idea." If you're unable to participate in moving the discussion along, then--don't.