Don't think I have it in me to remake the same sale post on multiple sites but if you want to buy a whole bunch of built robot model kits on the cheap, please check this out.

Have two or three more lots to add once I organize them and take pictures.

Erneuter Kampf mit Covid!

Liebe Leserinnen und Leser, es ist an der Zeit, euch ein Update zu meinem Gesundheitszustand zu geben. Leider hat mich das Covid-Gespenst erneut eingeholt, und diesmal scheint es entschlossener denn je zu sein. Seit meiner letzten Infektion im Jahr 2022 habe ich ständig gehofft, dass ich dieses Virus endgültig hinter mir gelassen hätte. Doch die Realität hat mich wieder eingeholt, und diesmal…

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DRW 30′s first DLC comes out on the 19th. A day or so beforehand there’s also going to be a free update that adds Gespenst to the game.

You can find my german translation of Mxtx's Modaozushi here:

https://boyslovealarm.blogspot.com/?m=1&zx=b4e47d9f1bc94dc1 

Beware: Updates every Sunday at noon! I translated until chapter 82 so far! But I will do everything including the extras (yes, Incence - Burner too). I am not a professional translator but I'm translating fanfiction from english to german as a hobby since 15 years. My english language level is "only" B2 at the moment (according to the official CEFR, Common European Framework of Reference for Languages), but i am taking lessons to improve and if I'm ready I will do the Cambridge Certificate. I translate the only complete english fan-translation that everyone knows and a p p r i c i a t e s, despite some undeniable mistakes. I am just a chinese beginner but i can use some helping tools like university/scientific literatur and stuff so I can research cultural things I am not familiar with. BUT: I am aiming at german readers, so I prioritize the german reading flow and reading habits. For that I created some new vocabulary for describing for example all the cultivation terms, for example the word “cultivation“ itself is a problem: the german "Kultivierung" means originally "Anbau" which means you go planting seeds into the ground. You can describe a person as "kultiviert", but that means the person is sophisticated. You can say in german "man kultiviert seine Bildung" means literally that you are refine/improve your education/manners. But you don't use this expression to describe some magical refining techniques to use life energy (the qui or ki in japanese) to perform your sword skills or doing the yang or the yin path. So i created the term "Daomagie". It's a fusion of the german word "Daoismus" (it depends on the transcription if it's Dao-ism or Tao-ism! I decided to use the 'D' 6) and magic (=Magie). See? Translating is very, very hard. Then another point: To describe the ghost path WWX is cultivating: do i use the german word Gespenst (en: ghost, specter), Geist (en: spirit, phantom), Teufel (en: devil, demon) or Dämon (the one you can exorcise, the classicle demon that posses a human etc)? That was so hard to decide! But I decided to use the german Dämon because the term is more flexible and nooo, the devil is the christian thing NOT the demon: the word demon is from ancient greek daimon and means "the spirit/soul of a deceased that has no body" (a shadow so to speak), so you can best translate Wei Wuxian as "Großmeister des dämonischen Pfades". The consequences: I don't do word-for-word-translation! I translate more situations and context so that a german reader can follow the plot even when they know nothing about Wuxia, Xianxia and all those special genre of chinese fantasy literature. In regards to Lan Wangji's speaking style i could write a whole essay about it, because it's so, so good and i try very, very hard to do him justice. Believe me, his shortness is NOT the problem!! The problem is always the double, triple meanings etc. You have to nail the context and the situation down. I will give my best until the end! Once i' m done with the main story (Ch. 113), i will revise my complete translation again to correct any mistakes. I hope that one day, there will be an official german release for 魔道祖师, 魔道祖師, Grandmaster of demonic cultivation, Founder of Diabolism, Großmeister des dämonischen Pfades!

Super Robot Wars T will launch for PlayStation 4 and Switch on March 20, 2019 in Japan, Bandai Namco announced. Pre-orders will open on December 12.

Early purchases will include a download code for the following three bonuses:

Special Scenario Chapter 0: “Approval Number T1023” – This chapter is set before the Chapter 1 of Super Robot Wars T, allowing you to further delve into the game’s world. By clearing the chapter, you will receive 50,000 in funds, 500 TacP (Tac Points), and the “VTX Employee Handbook” upgrade parts (maximum SP +20, main robot recovers 10 SP each turn).

Present Scenario: “Special Starter Pack” – A present scenario in which you can receive useful upgrade parts and funds from the start of the game, including 100,000 in funds, 1,000 TacP (Tac Points), and the “Quark Boost” (movement ability +1, weapon attack power +200, and map weapon and range of non-ranged weapon range +1) and “Force Reactor” (vitality +10 at time of deployment) upgrade parts.

Special Original Robot “Gespenst” Playable from the Start of the Game – By inputting the bonus code before starting Chapter 2 of the main story, you can use the original robot “Gespenst” from the start of the game with the following upgrade parts: “Striker T” (weapon attack power +100, hit correction +20, and critical correction +20) and “Defender T” (maximum HP +500, maximum EN +50, armor +100, and mobility +15).

The standard edition will cost 8,600 yen, while the limited “Premium Anime Song & Sound Edition” will cost 12,600 yen. The latter will include the following 35 additional in-game songs:

“Tryder G7’s Theme” by Isao Taira (from Invincible Robo Tryder G7)

“Dunbine Tobu” by MIO (from Aura Battler Dunbine)

“Monologue wo Somete” by Midori Karashima (from New Story of Aura Battler Dunbine)

“Uchuu wo Kakeru ~Z no Hatsudou” (from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam)

“Silent Voice” by Jun Hiroe (from Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ)

“Beyond the Time (Mobius no Uchuu wo Koete)” by TM Network (from Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack)

“Flying in the Sky” by Yoshifumi Ushima (from Mobile Fighter G Gundam)

“Shourisha-tachi no Banka” by Shuji Ooyama (from Mobile Fighter G Gundam)

“Trust You Forever” by Yoshifumi Ushima (from Mobile Fighter G Gundam)

“Homura no Sadame” by Tetsu (from Armored Trooper VOTOMS)

“Itsumo Anata Ga” by Tetsu (from Armored Trooper VOTOMS)

“Arashi no Yuusha (Hero)” by Nobuhiko Kashiwara (from The Brave Express Mightgaine)

“Great Dash!” by Locomoraizer and Kaizer (from The Brave Express Mightgaine)

“Yuusha-Ou Tanjou!” by Masaaki Endou (from The King of Braves GaoGaiGar)

“Saigo Yuusha Robo Gundan” by Takayuki Miyauchi (from The King of Braves GaoGaiGar)

“Utsukushi Hikari no Tsubasa” by Osamu Takai (from The King of Braves GaoGaiGar)

“Tank!” (from Cowboy Bepop)

“Sasurai no Cowboy” by Tada “Ed” Aoi (from Cowboy Bebop)

“The Real Folk Blues” by Mai Yamane (from Cowboy Bebop)

“Top wo Nerae! ~Fly High~” by Noriko Hidaka / Rei Sakuma (from Gunbuster)

“You Get to Burning” by Yumi Matsuzawa (from Martian Successor Nadesico)

“Rose Bud” by Yumi Matsuzawa (from Martian Successor Nadesico: The Motion Picture – Prince of Darkness)

“Heats” by Hironobu Kageyama (from Getter Robo Armageddon)

“Can’t Stop” by Masaaki Endoh (from Getter Robo Daikessen!)

“Mazinger Z / Infinity Version” by Ichirou Mizuki (from Mazinger Z: Infinity)

“Ore ha Great Mazinger” by Ichirou Mizuki and Otowa Yurikago Kai (from Great Mazinger)

“Ore-tachi no Funade” by Ichirou Mizuki and Koorogi ’73 (from Arcadia of My Youth: Endless Orbit SSX)

“Harlock’s Ballad” by Ichirou Mizuki (from Arcadia of My Youth: Endless Orbit SSX)

“Yuzrenai Negai” by Naomi Tamura (from Magic Knight Rayearth)

“Hikaro to Kage wo Dakishimeta Mama” by Naomi Tamura (from Magic Knight Rayearth)

“Gun x Sword” by Koutarou Nakagawa feat. Ondekoza (from Gun x Sword)

“Nich ni Achi” by Yukiko (Satsuki Yukino) (from Gun x Sword)

“A Rising Tide” by Okino and Shuntaro (from Gun x Sword)

“Eionian” by Elisa Connect EFP (from Expelled from Paradise)

“Time to Come” (from 4th Super Robot Wars)

An English version of the game is also due out in Southeast Asia in 2019. A specific release date for the Southeast Asian release has yet to be announced.

Watch an updated trailer below. View a new set of artworks at the gallery.

Mehr davon

Tumblr: Soeben in meinem internen Account. Mehr davon! Indizienmaterial! So arbeiten unsere autoritären Psycho-Gruppen. Siehe dazu der Beitrag unten! Da werden sich die Polizei- und Militäreinheiten aber freuen .. Und nun? Na, noch mehr Zwang zur Aufmerksamkeit soeben hier beim Einfügen dieses Satzes? Ohne weiteren Kommentar! Update: Ebenfalls soeben in meinem internen Tumblr-Account.

12 : 48 Uhr. Screenshot: ".. noch ich spanne dich". Nach der Eingabe: "5 .. na dreamer läppchen .. fühlst du dich angesprochen?" Und dem Lesen der an meinem Bildschirm sichtbaren ersten Sätze des Spiegel-Artikel. Ja. Heute morgen, Uhrzeit habe ich nicht darauf geachtet, das Protokoll ist ja da, und diese Methode ist auch nix neues. Es war ein unglaubliches Spannungsgefühl, mit dem ich viel zu früh wach gemacht werden war, eine Methode, die angewendet wird insbesondere nach arbeitsreichen Nächten. Wie gesagt: Nix neues, wir kennen das. Und nun noch mal das Läppchen anwesend? In der internen Dreamer-Kultur?

Und der nächste luntegelegte Lappen, der sich angesprochen fühlt? Ein Zitat aus dem Artikel kann ich nicht kopieren, dieser ist nur teilweise lesbar. Ich bekomme dann nachhher wohl wie immer die Voll-Version. Es gehen die falschen in die Politik, meint Hans-Georg Maaßen, der vor der Ziegelwand steht. Es sind die Ungebildeten, die Studienabbrecher, die Juristen ohne Berufserfahrung. Na, Dreamer-Läppchen? Ja. Und auch meine Tochter ist eine Studienabbrecherin. Meine Tochter hat meinen Enkel mit Anfang 18 bekommen, eine gemischte Beziehung, was sonst, und ich bin der Ansicht, dass der Vater des Kindes viel viel mehr kann, auch das allerdings der Klassiker, diese vernichtende Kritik am Kind. Das Abitur von Helen haben wir hier sozusagen gemeinsam organisiert, Vollzeit-Studium Agrarwissenschaft danach war dann allerdings nicht mehr machbar. Sagte sie.

Wie günstig. So ein Mädchen. Mit Kind. Ein wenig traumatisiert, günstig und willig sollen sie halt sein. Wer sich etwas auskennt, erkennt die Muster unserer Anwerbe-Strategen, ich habe vor einigen Jahren bereits zu diesen Methoden einige Beiträge im ISLA-Blog veröffentlicht. Siehe dazu auch der Beitrag unten. Da besteht natürlich Übernahme-Bedarf allerorten. Und nun noch einmal versuchen lassen, Grün-Gelb fernzusteuern? Nancy? Und deine luntegelegten Lappen? So wie gestern nacht auch im Stream gezeigt und im Indizienprotokoll dokumentiert? Ein bisschen Intrigantenstadl innerhalb der eigenen Familie? Wer genau soll das Lokal übernehmen? 

Muss erst wieder die nächste Aktion im Antwortmodus zeigen, was man besser nicht tun sollte? Unglaublich! Wie gesagt! Auch bei meiner Tochter. Es folgte dann der klassische Weg und natürlich fiel mir überhaupt nicht auf der Intrigantenstadl in meinem Rücken.  Gelle, der Dreamer-Lappen soeben? Und was genau will sie uns nun sagen? Die Dame? Na? Abteilung Hobbypsychologie? Mehr davon! Nachtrag: Wer genau ist jetzt auf dem Rechner nach dem Beenden des Beitrags eben? Es wird automatisch weitergeleitet auf was genau? Ich habe den Vorgang dann abgebrochen. Ein bisschen schwierig hier bei so viel Arbeit!

https://www.spiegel.de/plus/hans-georg-maassen-und-seine-seltsamekampagne-das-gespenst-a-00000000-0002-0001-0000-000164983187

Otakon Day 2

The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known (By Someone Famous)

again, in no particular order:

feet hurty

walked around the exhibitor's hall quite a bit and honestly didn't find a whole lot I was super interested in, which feels like personal growth, but also, kinda disappointing. I found some neat old Tatsunoko blind box figures, a plush I'm going to give to a friend, an inexplicably lost figure of Rosamia Badam, some dumb new gachapon cats, and the new SD Tornado Gundam kit.

went to the Discotek panel and was...not as overwhelmed as I was expecting to be, but it was still fun! They started with King Gainer and that was definitely the announcement I liked best.

handed out more robots

more talking with friends, catching up, went out for dinner and had a good time.

for once I did not do karaoke myself (missed the cutoff) but I -did- sing along to Giraffe Blues, and Baka Mitai twice. Ended up waving around during the refrain to the former with a very drunk stranger, that was fun.

made up?-ish with someone I knew a long time ago during a Weird Time in a Weird Space Online.

bought more merchandise for friends from Big West

think I've finally figured out how to use snaps to get boot covers to stay up consistently, a tremendous leap forward in my cosplay career

last but, the opposite of least: met longtime Super Robot Wars producer Terada Takanobu, had him sign my copy of 2nd OGs, and he not only asked to take pictures of me, but asked to post them online. I don't think that'll feel real until they're posted, tbh.

Anyway uh, I am so not tired, despite everything, but I know I'm going to shut down the moment I'm done driving tomorrow. One more autograph session tomorrow, and the most mortifying ordeal of all: getting the room packed up and down to the car.

AcidHorizons: Theorie des 21. Jahrhunderts

________________________________________________________________________________

 Regelmäßig erleben wir (im Positiven wie im Negativen) spontane, wenn auch ungerichtete, Eruptionen des Verlangens nach Ausgleich und Veränderung (von den Gelbwesten bis zu Fridays for Future). Warum führt dies nicht zu einer Revitalisierung der gesellschaftlichen Linken? Die Antwort auf diese Frage, wenn auch  gern angeführt, ist offensichtlich nicht (Angst vor) Repression. Die Proteste finden statt. Der Hunger nach Veränderung ist da. Aber Linke profitieren nicht von dieser Entwicklung, weil sie kaum mehr Zugang zur Vorstellungskraft der Menschen finden. Woran liegt das? Das Problem liegt meiner Meinung nach dort, wo sich linke Identitäten akademisiert und verbürgerlicht haben. Der Marxismus selbst scheint nicht mehr materialistisch genug. Vielleicht war er auch immer weniger materialistisch als er sich gegeben hat. So verrennt sich Sankt Marx seit geraumer Zeit in seinem Gedankenlabyrinth, ohne zu erkennen, dass er genau das geworden ist, was er einst in Stirner und Feuerbach zu denunzieren glaubte: Die (szientistische) Heilsverkündung, Paradies und Kirche, (Gefühls-)Ware und Identität – kurz: ein spektrales Gefängnis der Entfremdung, um die Unzufriedenen daran zu hindern auf unkontrollierbare Art und Weise unzufrieden zu werden. Die Gespenster, die man nicht rufen wollte, besitzen den Kommunismus nun in all der impotenten Strahlkraft eines Evangeliums: die blumenbesetzten Ketten unserer Zeit, die nur zum Rasseln taugen. Am Ende scheint dieser Materialismus das effektivste Gewand für ein falsches Bewusstsein zu sein. Um Mark Fisher zu zitieren:

»Eventalism is the manic flipside of the general depressive tendency in boring academic Marxism – in which an ostensible Leninism/Maoism (everything will change after the revolution!) obfuscates a de facto Adornianism (nothing could ever happen, everything is bad, so we might as well keep on taking the state’s pay cheques). The whole rehabilitation of the status of philosophy itself in the past couple of decades – the reversal of the democratisiung move to theory by third-rate obscurantist „philosophy“ and curator-speak babble – is a sideshow, of course, but a symptomatic one. The sour comedy of academic philosophical Leninism and Maoism can now be seen as one of the last acts in a postmodern shadowplay – a pantomime in which we are condemned to the role of interactive audience, tweeting our responses onto the screen behind the main players, who carry on regardless.« (»democracy is joy«, K-Punk 13|07|2015, 599/600)

Das Schicksal des beseelten Materialismus zeigt auch: Statt einer weiteren exorzistischen, „politische“ Praxis, welcher (im Christentum wie im Marxismus) zu einem ritualistischem Karneval seiner selbst geworden ist, braucht es vielleicht eher ein Zeitalter der Nekromantie. Zwar ist die linke Kritik an dem Konglomerat an Strömungen, die wir unter »1968« abgeheftet haben, derzeit omnipräsent. Doch die Einsicht, dass das Scheitern der politischen Linken (Kommunismus UND Sozialdemokratie) maßgeblich mit dem Nicht-Verstehen-Wollen dieser Bewegungen zu tun hat, wird ausgeblendet. Wir müssen jetzt erst wieder lernen, den Geist einer Welt heraufzubeschwören, die frei sein könnte. Wie der Kapitalismus sich aus den Ressourcen seiner Feinde im Feudalismus (heraus-)montierte, muss sich der Postkapitalismus aus dem Territorium dieser Ökonomie konstruieren. Fisher wollte hierzu ein Buch schreiben, konnte aber nur die Einleitung und ein paar Vorlesungen vollenden, bevor er sich das Leben nahm. In seiner Abwesenheit sollten wir an der Vision einer spinozistischen, psychedelischen Vernunft festhalten und uns mit Theorien des 21. Jahrhundert beschäftigen, statt Lebenszeit an gescheiterte Visionen des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts zu verschwenden. Es ist Zeit für ein Update. Ich möchte deswegen einige relevante Bücher vorstellen, die mir wirklich bei der Bildung eines Klassenbewusstseins und postkapitalistischen Begehrens geholfen haben.

 Andreas Reckwitz (2017): Die Gesellschaft der Singularitäten

Karl Mannheim hat nicht nur den marxistischen Ideologiebegriff radikalisiert, sondern identifizierte ein falsches Bewusstsein vor allem dort, wo die eigene Weltwollung, d. h. die eigene Welterfassung der Zeit, auf die sie sich bezieht, hinterherhinkt. Die Kritik schafft es dann weder sich durchzusetzen noch ihren Gegenstand zu verstehen. Der Marxismus und seine (leninistischen, maoistischen, usw.) Ableger beziehen ihre Legitimation aus einem Weltbild des Allgemeinen. Aber das 21. Jahrhundert ist ein Zeitalter des Besonderen und das wird sich so schnell nicht ändern. Andreas Reckwitz liefert in diesem brillanten Werk mit den Begrifflichkeiten dieser neuen sozialen Logik. Für das marxistisch geprägte falsche Bewusstsein hat diese Entwicklung zwei Konsequenzen: Erstens ist es ihnen unmöglich, das Substrat zu erkennen, auf dem der Postkapitalismus wachsen kann. Zweitens entgeht gerade den vielen Randgruppen der Linken, die im Wort eine Rückkehr in das Allgemeine herbeiklagen wollen, wie sehr sie im singularistischen Denken gefangen bleiben. Im Lesekreis, Demonstrationstourismus und bei Pranger-Spielchen auf Twitter tun sie nur mehr, ohne zu wissen, was sie tun. Es überrascht daher nicht, dass es vielen dieser „Radikalen“ mit ihrem affektiven Eifer nicht wie dem Rechtspopulismus gelingt, Mehrheiten gegen Ausbeutung zu mobilisieren oder diese für sich zu vereinnahmen. Gerade der Online-Marxismus, aber auch Teile des Neo-Anarchismus (nach Mark Fisher), sind nur ein weiteres Kollektiv des Singulären (und damit auch ein Markt, reif für die Erschließung durch das Besondere). Spektrale Linien, die Gitterstäbe eines transparenten Gefängnisses, sind sehr real.

 Gilles Deleuze (1992): Postscript on Societies of control

Wenn Marx eines falsch verstanden hat, dann, dass die Grundsteinlegung des Kapitalismus nicht in der Ware als nützliches Ding erfolgte, sondern in der Entdeckung der Ware als Objekt, das den (Mehr-)Bedarf an Dingen gleichzeitig multipliziert und bindet: Das Gewürz aus Frank Herberts Dune-Büchern, Adam aus Ken Levines Bioshock, – kurz: Die Droge. Nutzen ist sekundär, Abhängigkeit primär. Die Textilwirtschaft war nur das Vorspiel für die Opiumkriege. Der kapitalistische Mechanismus gründet nicht in der Mehrwert-Produktion, sondern in der »Introjektion« des Suchtdrucks, in anderen Worten: Die Manipulation des Begehrens ist ein Dreh- und Angelpunkt. In der Gesellschaft der Singularitäten wird der Vater der Kontrolle durch Anhäufung endgültig abgesetzt und durch die spektrale Nanny der Biokontrolle ersetzt, d. h. die Herrschaft der Suchtbesessenen über den Süchtigen. Die neue Macht vertraut auf die Selbstdisziplin seiner zombifizierten Subjekte, ohne sie selbst vorzuleben: Frei nach Burroughs leben wir in einem Zeitalter des Kontrollsüchtigen (vom Patriot Act zum Fitnessarmband), dem es wie dem Junkie geht nach immer mehr nach »Junk« verlangt. Während die Disziplinargesellschaft Foucaults durch die Dominanz von Räumen (Fabrik, Schule, Gefängnis) forciert wird, reguliert eine Kontrollgesellschaft Zugang (zu Abschlüssen, Erfahrungen, Körpern, – Dealer und Stoff). Kontrollsucht ist die Kehrseite dessen, was Ulrich Beck eine Risikogesellschaft nannte, ihr erster Fix. Risiko (von 0,00001% bis zu 99%) ist nicht die Katastrophe an sich, sondern die Erwartung von Katastrophen. Kontrollgesellschaften behandeln jedes Risiko (vom terroristischen Attentat bis zur Zigarette) bereits als eine Katastrophe, reagieren so auf ein Ereignis und übersetzten es in spektrale Linien des Machtgewinns. Doch dieser Aktionismus ist alles andere als effizient, wie beim realen Süchtigen verengt sich das Blickfeld auf einen Tunnel. In einer Gesellschaft, die das Risiko obsessiv auf Distanz halten will, werden kurioser Weise substanzielle Risiken, die der Unmittelbarkeit der Suchtmultiplikationslogik widersprechen, so lange wie möglich ignoriert. Corona und der Klimawandel sind hier eindringliche Beispiele.

Doch, wie Deleuze wusste, muss diese schöne neue Welt weder Anlass zur Furcht noch zur Hoffnung sein: Es geht darum, neue Waffen zu finden. Wie die Serie Mr. Robot von Sam Esmail weiß, kann in einer Kontrollgesellschaft alles, was Zutritt oder Zugriff gewährt (Türen, Biologie, Computer, soziale Beziehungen, Medien, Körper, Politik, Kultur, Emotionen), gehackt werden. Jede Tür bleibt nur so lange eine Barriere wie man sie als solche wahrnimmt. Alle Schlüssel können nachgemacht werden, weswegen die Kontrollgesellschaft (im Modus ihrer Singularitäten) auch so besessen ist von Authentizität. Umso mehr gilt: Alle stagnierenden Systeme der Authentizität in ihre fließende Künstlichkeit (aus Schloss und Schlüssel, Energiestrom und Barriere) aufzulösen, wird zu einer der mächtigsten Waffen der Subversion.

 David Graeber (2018): Bullshitjobs

Eine zentrale politische Frage für die nächsten Jahrzehnte wird das Problem der Arbeit sein und hier zeigt sich am deutlichsten, dass der Kapitalismus ein System der künstlichen Verknappung ist, das reale Knappheit erzeugt, statt auf sie nur zu reagieren. Und doch: Gerade in Deutschland macht sich derzeit ein neues Feld von Adorni(e)ten breit, die die bürgerliche Spießigkeit des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts in ein linkes Ideal verkehrt haben. (Dass auch dieses Theater perfekt in der singulären Logik einer Ökonomie des Besonderen und der Authentizitätssucht der Biokontrolle aufgeht, scheint niemanden zu stören.) In modifizierter Form will man den Frankenstein zum Keynesianismus spielen (MMT) und das verquere Ziel der Vollbeschäftigung (Jobgarantie) beibehalten. Nur wird das nicht gelingen: Bullshitjobs von David Graeber zeigt eindringlich, wie sehr das gegenwärtige Wirtschaftssystem von sinnlosen und sozialschädlichen Tätigkeiten unterwandert ist. Der gegenwärtige Stand der Automatisierung, die gewachsenen Ansprüche einer Gesellschaft der Singularitäten und der Klimawandel straft die Verheißungen der Vollbeschäftigung Lügen. Es geht nicht, ohne noch mehr Bullshitjobs in die Welt zu setzen. Und ist das der geistigen Gesundheit aller zuträglich? Ist es nicht besser, einen Schritt weiterzugehen und (wie u. a. von Bob Black gefordert) der Erwerbsarbeit als Ideal den Todesstoß zu versetzen? Arbeit ist nur dann erfüllend, wenn sie notwendig und/oder gewollt ist. Arbeit ist nicht erstrebenswert, weil sie Beschäftigung ist.

 Mark Fisher (2009): Capitalist Realism

Während der kapitalistische Realismus als positives politisches Projekt nach der Finanzkrise 2008 aufgegeben wurde, existiert er als untoter Wahrnehmungs- und Deutungshorizont weiter. Dieses dünne Buch strahlt nach wie vor durch seine Präzision, Klarheit und Dichte, von der die Schwurbeleien des akademischen Sankt-Marx-Bürgertums nur träumen können. Wie in seinem gesamten Werk beschäftigt sich Fisher auch hier mit der Interaktion von Kultur und sozio-ökonomischen Fragen, wenn auch (noch) ohne eigene politische Vision. Die Kritik benennt jedoch auch klare Fluchtlinien, die der Kapitalismus nicht bewältigen kann: 1. die Umweltkrise, 2. die Ausbreitung und Entpolitisierung psychischer Erkrankungen und 3. die (gegen alle Versprechungen) wachsende Bürokratie im Neoliberalismus. Hier muss ein postkapitalistischer Aktivismus mit zerschmetternder Kritik den Finger in die Wunde legen, bis diese sich entzündend. Der Kapitalismus ist zu ineffizient, um unsere Zukunft gestalten zu können.

 Paul Mason (2015): Postcapitalism

Paul Mason vereint auch viele der genannten Ansätze auf dieser kleinen Liste in seinem Buch. Doch neben den interessanten Gedanken zu Kondratieff-Wellen und der Definition eines neuen historischen, im Netzwerk verorteten Subjekts (als Spiegelbild von Reckwitz‘ singularistischen neuen Mittelschicht), ist noch ein anderer Punkt entscheidend. Zu den drei Vektoren, die Fisher als unüberwindbare Probleme für den Kapitalismus definiert, kommt hier ein weiterer hinzu: Information. Informationsgüter unterscheiden sich grundsätzlich von anderen Gütern in der Warenzirkulation. Da sie unendlich reproduzierbar sind, widersprechen sie per definitionem der kapitalistischen Eigentums- und Verknappungslogik. Die Verteilung von Eigentumsrechten wird zum Basar der Kontrollsuchtbesessenen und gleichzeitig immer stärker durch Hacker:innen unterwanderbar. Die Anarchist:innen waren auch hier (wie im Anti-Work-Aktivismus) den Marxist:innen Meilen voraus, die sich in ihrem melancholischen Blackmetal-Adornismus verschanzten: F. O. S. S. (Free Open Source Software) war von Anfang an Teil des Internets. Es ist vor allem diesen Pionieren zu verdanken, dass viele Standardanwendungen und Dienste auch nach Kommerzialisierung des Internets dem Internet kostenlos zur Verfügung standen.

 Diese Liste ist nur ein Anfang und ich bin jeder Zeit für Ergänzungen offen. Auch würde es mich freuen, mich mit Leuten zu vernetzen und Menschen auszutauschen, die ebenso wie ich die Nase voll haben vom linken Historismus und etwas verändern wollen. Links zu meinen Seiten und meiner Email-Adresse in der Signatur.

 Weiterführend:

Baudrillard, Jean (1994). Simulacra and simulation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan State press.

Beck, Ulrich (2008). Weltrisikogesellschaft. Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp.

Bregman, Rutger (2019). Utopien für Realisten. Aus dem Englischen von Stephan Gebauer. Hamburg: Rowohlt Taschenbuch.

Deleuze, Gilles (1992). Postscript on Societies of Control. In: October, Vol. 59 (Winter 1992).

Derrida, Jacques (2004). Marx‘ Gespenster. Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp.

Fisher, Mark (2021). Postcapitalist Desire: The final lectures. Edited and with an Introduction by Matt Colquhoun. London: Repeater Books.

Fisher, Mark (2018). K-Punk. The Collected and unpublished writings of Mark Fisher (2004-2016). Edited by Darren Ambrose. Foreward by Simon Reynolds. London: Repeater Books.

Fisher, Mark (2009). Capitalist Realism. Is there no Alternative? Winchester/Washington: Zero Books.

Fisher, Mark (1999/2018). Flatline Constructs: Gothic Materialism and Cybernetic Theory-Fiction. Forward by exmilitary. New York: exmilitary press.

Graeber, David (2018). Bullshitjobs. The Rise of pointless work and what we  can do about it. London: Penguin Books.

Mason, Paul (2015). Postcapitalism. A Guide to our Future. London: Penguin Books.

Reckwitz, Andreas (2017). Die Gesellschaft der Singularitäten. Berlin: Suhrkamp.

 ________________________________________________________________________________

 Poltergeist – Politik und Kultur

Für Fragen, Kooperationen und Anregungen, schreibe mir eine E-Mail unter [email protected] oder besuche mich auf meinen Social-Media-Seiten!

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My german translation of Mxtx’s Modaozushi:

https://boyslovealarm.blogspot.com/?zx=71d65944898b37c0

Updates every Sunday at noon!

Beware!!!

I translated until chapter 82 so far! But I will do everything including the extras (yes, Incence - Burner too). 

First I have to say: I am not a professional translator but I’m translating fanfiction from english to german as a hobby since 15 years. My english language level is “only” B2 at the moment (according to the official CEFR, Common European Framework of Reference for Languages), but i am taking lessons to improve and if I’m ready I will do the Cambridge Certificate because my goal is to publish my own novel in english. 

I translat the one and only completed english fan-translation that everyone knows and appriciates, despite some undeniable mistakes. 

Yes, I am just a chinese beginner but i can use some helping tools like university/scientific literatur and stuff so I can research cultural things I am not familiar with. 

BUT: I am aiming at german readers, so I prioritize the german reading flow and reading habits!!! 

For that I created a few new german words in order to describe all the cultivation terms properly: for example the word “cultivation“ itself is a problem: the german “Kultivierung” means originally “Anbau” which means you go planting seeds into the ground. You can describe a person as “kultiviert”, but that means the person is sophisticated. You can say in german “Man kultiviert seine Bildung” but that  literally means that you are refine/improve your education/manners. But you don’t use this expression to describe some magical refining techniques to use life energy (the qui or ki in japanese) to perform your sword skills or doing the yang or the yin path. So i created the term “Daomagie”. It’s a fusion of the german word “Daoismus” (it depends on the transcription if it’s Dao-ism or Tao-ism! I decided to use the ’D’ 6) and magic (=Magie). 

See? Translating is very, very hard. 

Then another point: 

To describe the ghost path WWX is cultivating: do i use the german word Gespenst (en: ghost, specter), Geist (en: spirit, phantom), Teufel (en: devil, demon) or Dämon (the one you can exorcise, the classicle demon that posses a human etc)? That was so hard to decide!  I decided to use the german Dämon in the end because the term is more flexible and nooo, the devil is the christian thing NOT the demon, so in regards to diverse religious believes and such: the word demon is from ancient greek daimon and means “the spirit/soul of a deceased that has no body” (a shadow so to speak), so you can best translate Wei Wuxian as “Großmeister des dämonischen Pfades” in german.  

Then the next: Is Wei Wuxian a master, a founder, or an magical ancester? The english term master can mean either “Herr” or “Meister” in german. My fan-translated english novel text lest Xue Yang mention that WWX is in his point of view indeed  the grandmaster of the ghost path (but he is the only one in the whole story!!! And we have one hell of an unreliable narrator:-)!). A founder means in german “Begründer” or “Pionier” and usually you mean, that a person is the first one who does a certain thing no one else has done. So i was stucked: should i take “Meister” or “Begründer/Gründer” because both terms make sense!!! But then i looked closer: if you take the whole development of WWX until the end he is both, a “Meister” and “Begründer. So my decision was based on a very trivial matter. “Meister” sounds so much cooler as “Begründer/Gründer”. And then i thought in regards to my german readers: hey, but they don’t want to read about a normal “Meister”, they want some special “Meister” and so i decided to take a very common roleplayer thing, so the german readers could emphasize with: “Großmeister”, but this title is not just fantasy: it is the highest rang among chess players for example, or the title of a freemasonary or much more important:in ancient china (Zhou dynasty) there were the Three Excellencies (and the Grand Master was the senior-most of the top three civil positions!!!): known as Grand Preceptor = referredto as Grand Master, Grand Tutor and Grand Protector....now go and read the novel again after you thought about this:-))!! 

The consequences: I don’t do word-for-word-translation! I translate more situations and context so that a german reader can follow the plot even when they know nothing about Wuxia, Xianxia and all those special genre of chinese fantasy literature. I didn’t translate the names either despite it is possible: Wei Wuxian means literally “Der-kleine-Geisterjunge-ohne-Reue/Neid” (=literally  the “Little-ghostboy-without-envies”. Sorry, but this is not readible in german!! You can do this one time, but imagine i would name him everytime his name is dropped!! It’s not possible, so all the characters have their names: Wei Wuxian/ Wei Ying, Lan Wangji/Lan Zhan, Lan SiZhui/A-Yuan etc.

In regards to Lan Wangji’s speaking style i could write a whole essay about it, because it’s so, so good and i try very, very hard to do him justice. Believe me, his shortness is NOT the problem in german!! The problem is always the double, or triple meaning etc. You have to nail the context and the situation down. I will give my best until the end! Once i’ m done with the main story (Ch. 113), i will revise my complete translation again to correct mistakes. 

In regards to the almost non existent R18 content in the novel: i don’t discuss the extras. I love the incense burner, don’t come to me if you’ve got a problem with thisone or two EXTRAS, i will not discuss it, because mxtx wrote these unbelievable good scenes, so i  translate them. Period. The only critical thing is the english wording of the fan-translation, don’t fret i will keep that in mind! I will not discuss the bath tube-scene: it’s great, it’ s sexy and you can’t convince me that you didn’t realize Lan Wangji was sober... don’t try to convince me otherwise, read the scene again until you get it. Hint: It’s in his speaking patterns:-))! (And I hope i will nail that down:-)!)

By the way: I will translate the audio drama of Modaozushi too. This translation i will post here on my tumblr or my linked blog. 

 I hope that one day, there will be an official german release for 魔道祖师, 魔道祖師, Grandmaster of demonic cultivation, Founder of Diabolism, Großmeister des dämonischen Pfades! 

PS: You can always send me asks or messages! My inbox is open!

Das neue Update 3.4.0, das am gestrigen Abend für „Dead by Daylight“ erschienen ist, bringt so einiges an Inhalt mit sich. Unter anderem erhalten die Legion und das Gespenst eine umfangreichere Anpassung.

super robot taisen original generation 2 gba

http://allcheatscodes.com/super-robot-taisen-original-generation-2-gba/

super robot taisen original generation 2 gba

Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation 2 cheats & more for Game Boy Advance (GBA)

Cheats

Unlockables

Hints

Easter Eggs

Glitches

Guides

Get the updated and latest Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation 2 cheats, unlockables, codes, hints, Easter eggs, glitches, tricks, tips, hacks, downloads, guides, hints, FAQs, walkthroughs, and more for Game Boy Advance (GBA). AllCheatsCodes.com has all the codes you need to win every game you play!

Use the links above or scroll down to see all the Game Boy Advance cheats we have available for Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation 2.

Genre: Role-Playing, Persistent World RPG Developer: Atlus Software Publisher: Atlus Software ESRB Rating: Teen Release Date: November 23, 2006

Hints

Currently we have no tips for Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation 2 yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Cheats

Currently we have no cheats or codes for Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation 2 yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Unlockables

Unlockables

Ex Hard Mode Finish the Story Mode Special mode Beat EX hard mode once Sound Test After beating the game once, highlight “change BGM” while in the battle menu, and press down, up, left, right, l, r. Gravition Launcher Let Viletta kill all the enemies in chapter 6 except Seolla, Yuuki, and Carla. It’ll appear on Viletta’s MkII-R in Chapter 15 Boost Hammer Let Arado kill all the initially placed enemies in Chaper 16 within 4 turns, and it’ll be available after the chapter. Shishioh Blade Bullet’s kill counts is more than 45 before the end of chapter 14 and it’s available before the beginning of chapter 17. G impact stick & New Chaguramu Shooter Don’t use Daigenguard to kill any enemy in chapter 30. (But Gungrest Type 3 can) Soul of Steel, Mark of Brave, High-tech AI,2nd Shishioh Blade, 2nd G impact Defeat all 3 bosses in chapter15. Note the Graterkin (upper position) must be defeated last. 2nd Soul of Steel & 2nd Mark of Brave Before the end of chapter 33, both captain’s levels are over 33

Unlock Final Stage

Get at least 35 skill points before the end of scenario 42 to access the final stage.

Robots

Gespenst Mk.II S Make sure Kai has at least 55 kills and is level 33 before the end of stage 33. Wild Wuerger L On stage 19, make sure Arad destroys at least 4 Gespensts before moving him next to Zeora. Make sure he has at least 55 kills before stage 24. Keeping the Wild Wuerger L On stage 27, make sure Mai gets at least 5 kills with the Wild Wuerger L. For both of these, make sure Lamia moves onto the square Echidna retreated on during stage 10/13 (depending on which path you took) and that she has a total of 55 kills before the end of stage 24. She will join you with one of them on stage 28. Unlockable How to Unlock Ash Saver Make sure Lamia has 2 (and only 2) battle encounters with Axel on stage 19. Vysaga You only get the Vysaga if you are playing on a New Game+. To get it, make sure Lamia has only 1 battle encounter with Axel on stage 19.

Stealth Wing #1

Stay in Easy mode by getting very few skill points and when you get to Scenario 16 Gilliam’s Gespenst will have it equipped.

Stealth Wing #2

Kill Carla in any of the first stages and when she joins you she’ll have it equipped on the Randgrith.

Huckebein Mk.iii R

Retzal needs at least 35 kills by the end of stage 18. Make sure Leona, Bullet, Rio, Ryoto, Task and Kushua have a combined total of at least 185 levels by the end of stage 33. Get the skill point on stage 30.

Easter eggs

Currently we have no easter eggs for Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation 2 yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Glitches

Currently we have no glitches for Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation 2 yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Guides

Currently we have no guides or FAQs for Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation 2 yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Dairugger XV, now softsubbed with three! sub tracks. Cat site, 1705727.

Otakon Day 1

I thought I would break down everything after it was over but so much happened today! In no particular order:

met several mutuals and got to bullshit for a while, always good

handed out most of the robots I brought to hand out to people

while dressed as Gamlin Kizaki from Macross 7, met more other Macross cosplayers than I ever have before

also got my photo taken more than ever before, like, actually swamped at multiple points where we couldn't go anywhere due to waves of photographers

bought an unreasonable amount of nice new exclusive Macross merchandise (most of it for friends, actually)

got the Tiny Sessions VF-31 & Freya, a small plush Cure Sky, a cool vintage Fist of the North Star calendar page, and an Ideon book I'll have to look at more later.

went to the BIGWEST panel and got to ask Kawamori a question! I've always wondered -why- he uses LEGO, specifically, to design machines, it's such a neat quirk of his. It seems that in his youth, he bought a big tub of bricks and made a transforming battleship with them. Which is damn impressive, because when he was doing that, LEGO itself was probably mostly making standard bricks and maybe some hinges, nothing near what they have available now.

also got stuff autographed by Kawamori and Tenjin. Tenjin, I brought one of his artbooks, a friend's copy, since my wife was already getting our copy signed. Kawamori, instead of any of our Macross merchandise (that would make too much sense), I brought one of the Transformers he designed. He looked at it and simply said "ah, how nostalgic".

anyway I had a lot of fun and also I'm completely exhausted. Tomorrow brings more exciting panels and another autograph session, this time for Terada of Super Robot Wars. I'll be wearing my Sanger costume with the cool sword I've been showing WIP photos of, I'm pretty excited. Hoping to have more fun updates tomorrow!

Saw a post about how you should always be able to pause a video game, just as a general rule,

and I discovered an exciting new edge case ruling on that today.

I'm at the arcade playing DDR, which I've been doing a lot lately, really getting back into it. Used to play at home off and on but those metal pads literally and figuratively hit different. I've gone to Dave and Busters more in the last 6-7 months than I have in my whole life before that.

Dance Dance Revolution is not a game you can pause, despite what Transformers (2007) might have led you to believe. You have some brief time to recuperate while choosing the next song, but once the music starts, it's dance or die. On some difficulties and settings you might be able to mess up a few times, but on, say, LIFE4, if you miss four arrows (or drop freeze arrows), that's it, show's over.

I'm on my third or fourth set of the afternoon, having a grand old time. A few of the lads I usually play with are around, but for this go-around there's someone I haven't played with before on the dance pad. To make this simpler, we'll call them Player 2. We've made it to the Extra Stage, where if you do real good for the first three tracks, you get to play one more on that aforementioned LIFE4 gauge. It's Player 2's pick and they choose a Touhou song, of which there are, quite a few. It's weird being in the modern era, where Touhou is a semi-known quantity in American anime pop culture, and not just something one of your stoner friends in high school tells you is the coolest shit ever before giving you a flash drive full of fan translated games, but that's a different story.

We make it about halfway through the Extra Stage before Player 2's shoelace somehow gets stuck in the dance pad, which I don't think I've ever seen before. They stumble and fall and of course, immediately fail out of the stage. Now, of course, the polite thing to do is to stop and make sure they're okay. But the rhythm gamer thing to do, is to keep going for your fallen comrade. There are other people around checking and making sure Player 2 is okay, and I keep on dancing, but lemme tell you, I have never felt more sheepish in my entire life than that extremely long minute where I'm continuing to dance as if the minor accident next to me didn't just happen.

(Player 2 was totally okay, just confused, and told me I was right to keep going, because that really is just how rhythm gamers are).

Anyway I think the moral of the story is that maybe instead of a pause button, Dance Dance Revolution could use a "sorry, sorry, I fucked up, lemme take that again from the top" button.

A week and a half ago, my old friend JJ passed away. He told me about his cancer diagnosis…I’m not sure when, I feel like it was only a couple months ago. Last I talked to him, he sounded like he wasn’t doing bad at all. He asked me to help his family out sorting through his collection, in the worst case scenario. And the turnaround on that was, much faster than I expected, than anyone expected, I’m sure. He had only just turned 41 a few months ago. I’ve known him for about twelve years. We went to college together, took Japanese together. His influence definitely helped shape me into the massive dweeb I am today.

I knew his family, was over at their house a few times, I also knew was his sister and her husband pretty well. Today, I came up to help out with the estate sale. I’ve been absolutely dreading coming here for the last week. This is the first time I had seen any of his family in at least three years, and everyone is understandably miserable, grieving, and trying to do all the stuff a situation like this demands as best they can. So far, at least, I don’t feel nearly as awkward as I thought I might, so that’s something.

Now, if you had asked me before today, I would have told you that JJ was quite the collector. Big fan of action figures, model kits, robot toys of all sorts, not to mention a wide selection of anime dvds and manga. But uh, he had -much- more than I thought he did. Between his bedroom, the basement, the storage unit down the road, there is, an almost unfathomable number of items. Many of them, by sheer dint of sitting around long enough since he purchased them, are now worth a small fortune. At the very least, with my assistance identifying many of the more niche items, selling them all will cover the expenses typically associated with dying, and hopefully also get everything to homes where they’ll be appreciated.

Before I came here, I went to the local hobby store, partly to buy a Qubeley for another friend of mine, but mostly to ask them, if they’d be willing to buy JJ’s backlog. They were nice enough to say yes, which is good, because selling model kits online is such a pain. Having someone buy the whole kit backlog without having to ship out all those big boxes will probably have the same net profit, with substantially less hassle. But somehow yet again, I drastically underestimated how much stuff he had lying around. The trunk of my car is almost full of 30 Minute Missions, Sisters, SMPs, and all sorts of other kits that were purchased, put in the basement, and never built. And somehow there’s still more. I don’t know if it’ll all fit in the trunk. But it has to, because the back seat is covered in boxes upon boxes of Star Wars, Marvel, and He-Man collectibles that I’ll be taking to another one of my local shops that deals in used toys.

The other day I was telling my mother about all this I was going to do today, just making conversation, letting her know what I’d be up to. She told me, very emphatically, that I was not to take anything home with me. In fact, she said I shouldn’t even bring any of the items the family asked me to resell into my house for any length of time. Which, even for my mother, is a really weird thing to say. I’ve already got enough stuff of my own, to be sure, but I set aside the SMP Layzner figures, since that was a show JJ and I watched together. (Not to mention, trying to sell built model kits is typically a fool’s errand. People want to build them theirselves!). If I can find them, I might also take the Armored Core kits he had me build ages ago, when I had no backlog and he wanted to customize the final product without the extra steps.

JJ had all this stuff, and almost none of it was out on display. He had one detolf in his bedroom with some nice scale figures, and everything else was in various sized plastic boxes. I think somehow this has actually made the process of sorting and identifying -more- difficult. Took an hour today to not only figure out which Nendoroid went with what accessories, but which display base was theirs. All we had to go off of was the copyright info on the back of the base, which was anywhere from somewhat to completely unhelpful, depending on how many kanji were involved.

We found a selection of animation cels under his bed. Lots of good stuff from good shows in there, it’s a shame they were left like that for who knows how long. Somehow, it was seeing a frame of Gije Zaral from Space Runaway Ideon that made me closer to breaking down crying than I had the rest of the day. Realizing that, I had finally finished watching Ideon, JJ’s all time favorite series, and never got to talk with him about it.

To summarize, I’m feeling a lot of wildly different emotions right now. Missing my friend, most strongly. He wasn’t religious, and most days I’m not either, but I hope he’s found his way into a pleasant afterlife, or at least an enjoyable isekai fantasy type deal. There’s definitely a twinge of “oh no, do /I/ own too much crap?” and some generalized world-weariness as well. But it’s not all bad. I got to pet a lot of cats today, and one of them snuggled with me for long enough that I think I’m wearing more cat hair than clothing now. And tomorrow, after some more sorting and pricing and organizing, I’ll head home and have a nice holiday weekend with my wife and some friends.

I’ve been typing for an hour and have no idea how to wrap this up. If anyone has actually read this far, thank you, it really does mean a lot. I hope you are also experiencing a fluffy cat and maybe a warm blanket. Here’s to a full night’s sleep because it’s way past my bedtime.

I went to my first riichi mahjong tournament over the weekend and I did wildly better than I thought I would! Lot of firsts for me, just in general. I'm writing up as best a summary as I can while it's still fresh.

The tournament was in Cincinnati, Ohio (technically on a college campus in Northern Kentucky, but it's right on the border there). Just a few hours drive away. I met up with a friend on the north side of the city for sushi dinner and a quick trip to the hobby store on Friday afternoon before making my way to the AirBNB where I was staying with a dozen other mahjong players. I built a robot, played a single quick game of mahjong, and went to bed probably too late.

(There were bunk beds! I've always wanted to sleep on a bunk bed! Now that I have, I don't know if I'd recommend it, or at least the one I was on, if either party on the top or bottom bunk moves at all, the whole thing would shift.)

On Saturday, the tournament began early. Sixty! people were all there to play riichi mahjong, some locals, some all the way from the coast. I knew the five people who came from my club and no one else, so there was a lot of meeting new people. There were beginners who were so new they still didn't have most of the table etiquette down, and grizzled veterans with decades of play under their belts. There were to be six hanchan of matches, and the top eight who had accumulated the most points during that time would advance to the finals.

Hanchan 1: I uh, didn't do too great in this one. A guy who was very clearly new had a remarkable winning streak and left the rest of us in the dust. I don't feel bad about it though, partly because I'm sure it was a great experience for the guy, but also because the dude who ended up winning the whole tourney only got second in that game.

Hanchan 2: Going into this one, I was pretty intimidated. I had just gotten fourth and now I was going up against three very clearly experienced players. Towards the back half of the game, I had a riichi pinfu hand with a well-laid suji trap that ended up being a haneman ippatsu, which was enough to eke out first place.

(Break for lunch! Another first, we went to Skyline Chili, which I've never been to despite being a life-long Ohioian. I had the salad, which is probably heretical, but I think it was the right choice, because others who had the chili were drowsy the rest of the afternoon.)

Hanchan 3: Another game with experienced players where I did much, much better than I could have hoped. I dealt into a dealer mangan at the end and still won with 45000 points. I think that was my biggest misplay, I was trying too hard to end the game quickly despite the dealer having a whole bunch of value visible on the table.

Hanchan 4: The player across from me had an incredible streak going for a while, and I was in third for most of the game. We were down to the last hand, first being almost certainly out of reach, second looking possible with a mangan ron win. I was the south seat and started with a closed triplet of south winds, and very carefully built a hon itsu around it. Even when the first place player went into riichi, I managed to advance my hand to tenpai with a 2-man/3-man double pon wait while avoiding discarding in. On his last draw, that same guy discarded the 2-man, and I snagged a comfortable second, avoiding losing my hard-earned points from the previous round.

(End of day one! At this point, I was ninth! in the overall rankings. There was some free play, where I intentionally played as poorly as possible, just to get it out of my system. I would take one look at my starting hand, think "this looks like it could advance to (x)" and then try to achieve that yaku, discarding any and every other possibility. Despite that, I hit tenpai for sanshoku douko at one point, and got within 1-shanten of kokushi at another. We also went to Waffle House for dinner, always a good time. Went to bed probably too late again.)

Hanchan 5: Another game with tremendously strong players, where I was in second nearly the whole game just because I played defensively and didn't deal in, even if I didn't win anything big either. There was an upset mangan at the last moment where the player in third managed to hit the guy in first who had been controlling the whole game, putting me in third at 29400. Even with the uma bonus, I was only down 5.6, putting me down to 14th. I needed a decent second, preferably a strong first, if I had any chance of making top eight.

Hanchan 6: The game I remember most strongly. I started in the south seat, and East 1 had two repeats. Three times I was putting together a solid hand, someone else declared riichi, and I would somehow deal in each time, twice with an ippatsu. I started East 2, my dealership, already down to 12k points from 30k. Forgot top eight, at that point, I felt like I'd be lucky to not erase all my progress from the last five hanchan.

East 2 started, and I started with a fairly weak looking hand, but it seemed like I could get a win off it and have a repeat. I hit tenpai with a single wait on the 7-man, and decided not to riichi, hoping to improve my 8-9 man block into something more likely to be dealt into. Then, of course, I immediately drew the 7-man. A tsumo nomi hand for 500 points from everyone didn't do much for my score, but it did let me keep the dealer seat.

East 2-1 I started off with an odd looking hand that I immediately decided to turn into the chiitoitsu it so obviously wanted to be. I hit tenpai around turn 6, deciding to wait on the 9-pin that looked like it would come out of an opponent's hand without any trouble. And then it did, almost immediately! Another repeat.

I ended up getting up to 5-honba, with two dealer mangans in East 2. One was a super fast meitanpin tsumo dora. The other was a fairly simple riichi haku hand with a 1-4 sou wait. The player to my right dealt in pretty quickly, and I hit the chun off the ura-dora, tripling my hand's value. At the fifth repeat, another player hit riichi, and I finally relented and played it safe. He eventually tsumo'd and we finally got to East 3, where I won with another big hand.

The last hand was South 1, I had so many repeats that we hit the time limit in the middle of East 4. Once again, I hoped for a fast hand to keep my top spot and as many points as possible. It looked like a simple tanyao at first, but I just kept drawing into triplets. I ended up with a pair wait on the 3-pin, with a 4-5-6 sou and three closed triplets, while avoiding dealing into other players. I managed to draw the 3-pin myself and got one last mangan, taking my final score to 59000. The final rankings were posted and I had rocketed all the way up to second overall! My very first tournament and I managed to get to the semi-finals.

(Lunch break! We went to Big Boy)

Semi-finals were two hanchan, with eight players across two tables. No swapping between matches, played the same people twice and saw what the scores looked like across two games. Whatever mojo I had in hanchan 6 had evaporated. In game 1 I managed to snag first with a miraculous riichi ippatsu tsumo chin itsu, but the rest of the game was defensive play against other players with much faster hands. Game 2 I had maybe two very small wins, dealt in a few times, and ended in fourth. I did not make the cut to finals.

The loser's bracket for 5th through 8th place was pretty relaxed, partly because we had already lost, but mostly because 3/4 of us were from the same club. ("If I wanted to play you two, I would have just stayed home!", I said.) I didn't accomplish much here either, I got third for not dealing in. The other two from my club got first and second, and the one other guy got fourth. I placed seventh and got a cool little plaque, I'll get a good picture of it to post on here later.

I had a lot of fun and got in a lot of good experience! I don't know if I'd travel more than a state or two away for another tournament, but I definitely want to do this again. Not too soon though, I think I got overexposed over the weekend, the whole drive home I didn't even want to think about tiles.