Mean Ol' Number Nine

I've developed a goal since I made the move to middleweight at Averlast. It's a modest one, nothing like gaining the class championship, or scoring a sweet endorsement deal with the makers of my video card.

All I want is a win.

My record stands at nine wins, one loss, and one draw. That's not counting two exhibition matches I fought against Leafouur Smythe and snake5608 Boa, both lightweights at the time. The loss I owe to Derrick Cult, who took me down in my first middleweight match, and the draw is with Conan Horan (neither of those matches have a Friday Night Tournament entry; wtf, Abel?). The rest of the time I've been out of the fighting side of events, making new clothing for the store, helping with booking, or judging matches when Chak either couldn't make it or opted for the announcer job that night.

But still, that magical number nine stays in the back of my head, unchanged since the night I won the lightweight championship off of Alma Despres, back in October.

Don't get me wrong. Win or lose, I always have a good time on tournament night. Giving my best against a worthy opponent is a rush, one I wouldn't trade for nearly anything. I'll feel that way even if I never win another fight.

But, like a surprise guest that's kicked off his shoes, changed my VCR settings, and helped himself to my last soda, it's time for number nine to go.

So tomorrow's post will either be my celebrating my entry into double digits, or a Doctor Doom moment of me shaking my gauntleted fist at the uncaring heavens and screaming "CURSE YOU, RICHARRRRDS!"

Stay tuned.

P.S.: If any of the fine folks at nVidia are reading this, call me! Or my agent. As soon as I get an agent. Which I'll do if you call me. Recursive, isn't it?

Virtual boxing as metaphor

SL online magazine The Looking Glass illustrated their story on the potential rise of an SL competitor on the PlayStation 3 with a shot taken at the gym, featuring our Twin Terrors, JoJo and Jihan.

Check it out.

No place like 127.0.0.1

So I got ahold of a nifty piece of software called OpenSim, which takes advantage of the open sourcing of Second Life's code in order to allow me to host my own sim, independent of the SL grid, on my own computer. I can then access said sim with my SL viewer (adding the appropriate set of commands after the ubiquitous "./secondlife", which I immediately worked into a desktop shortcut) and get down to business.

I had tried this initially with DGiG, but it seems that that particular project is more network-oriented (it set my computer up as a server for a sim, but then it could only be accessed by another computer linked to the server, and I'm a one-computer operation here, folks).

So in the end, with the private sim up and running, what did it get me? Well, for starters, I'm no longer plunking down ten Lindens per upload just to see if the lines match up on my latest set of t-shirts, or if the sculpty I spent hours sweating over in Blender looks in SL like something my cat spit up. I can hack out most of the nearly-infinite irritating details without having to adversely affect my bottom line, and save the upload charges for finished products.

I'm sure that I'm not the only one who's noticed that ten Lindens per upload tends to stack up quickly when working on a project. If you're in the Averlast Gym at any point, ask me or Karine about the speed bag. Once the red haze clears and we untangle our fingers from 'round your throat, we'll regale you with the tale of the many frustrating hours involved in getting such a seemingly simple item made.

I thought about using the capabilities of OpenSim for a side business, like, say, creating .RAW files for islands and selling them on SLX, but a little research showed that to do it well would turn into more of a full-time task than I really have the ability or patience for. Maybe it's something to file away for future reference.

Well that beats my sculptie bouquet of flowers all to hell...

Linden Labs gives all SLers a big sloppy Valentine (plus a newly valuable mainland) by banning ad farms.

And there was much rejoicing.

Because it's my blog and I'll post a bunch of Concrete Blonde videos if I want to.

"Joey" is far too played out, though, especially considering how much there is out there that isn't in heavy rotation...

God Is a Bullet:


I saw the Blonde play live in Nashville while I was still in the Army. Johnette preceded this song with a statement about gun control, a not un-gutsy move in the South. Predictably, a "fuck you!" erupted from the crowd, from a guy in front of me. The guy was well within swinging range of Johnette's bass guitar, so that wasn't entirely un-gutsy of him as well.

Still In Hollywood:


Weirdly, the version of this song that I'm most familiar with came off of an EP collection with entirely different lyrics. So finding out about the "real" version kind of threw me.

Bloodletting:


This may come as a shock to you, but I used to have an all-black wardrobe. I know, I know, you can't believe it...

Initial thoughts on a big change

Through the miracle of IMs being forwarded to email, I got the announcement that match format is to be changed as follows:

Lightweight= 3 falls, 3 rounds

Middleweight= 3 falls, 4 rounds

Heavyweight= 3 falls, 5 rounds

That's three - count 'em - three ring-outs for a KO, no matter what or who you are. Needless to say, this changes things considerably. Consider the likely results:

Shorter Matches: Especially in the lightweight class, where the hammer-and-tongs approach is very much the way of things. We'll be seeing a lot in the way of first-round knockouts and, by extension, shorter events.

Development of technique: With the new rules, obviously just wading into the fray, fists flying, won't cut it anymore. Not that it was ever a great strategy to begin with, but now it would be over much quicker (see above). What to do? Train, and not in vain. Work on that footwork. Get serious about that timing and that defense. Get to the gym and stick and move.

Drama: I'll bet good money that we're going to see the sports-movie ending to a few matches in the future. Y'know, where the underdog, behind on points, suddenly comes up with a big comeback KO. Tell me that ain't something to look forward to.

In short, I'm reading the announcement and thinking this: The game just leveled up. You feel up to it?

Random Blogitations

• Allison and I had a "rematch" sparring session last night. She was remarkably restrained when referring to the Giants' win on Sunday. When it came to knocking me out of the ring (one time literally bumping me off of the very high ceiling of the gym), she was not so restrained.
• I want this. I have been bugging the only person I know with a cd burner, asking if he would ple-he-he-he-hease burn this baby for me. Yes, I need to get my own. I know this. But right now the focus is on getting my own little private sim-Idaho where I can preview the stuff I'm making without having to shell out X amount of lindens on downloads, just to see what the damn thing looks like in 3-D to determine further tweaks. Add to that the intriguing possibilities of a self-contained test environment for scripting and animations, free of griefers and mass teleports by over-ambitious club owners, and I veritably drool with eagerness. (note: The private place in question will not, in fact, resemble Idaho)
• If I want to move on to my next project so badly, why do I keep coming up with designs in support of my current one?
• Links I will never click on: The SL Herald promises a debate between Communists and Objectivists. Collectivist pipe-dreamer wackjobs vs. individualist pipe-dreamer wackjobs. Where's a pack of crash-happy griefers when you need them?

Up at the forums.

Arsinoe Dagger has posted some video of the highlights on Friday (I wasn't in for most of it, hence the lack of a Friday Tournament entry this week).

Head on over to the forums and check it out.

And, y'know, posting a couple comments yourself wouldn't be unwelcome either. I'm just sayin'...

There's some kind of game today, right?

Allison Tobias and I prepare to have a frank discussion about the merits of one team over the other. Those expecting Dorothy Parker-like zingers and witty bon mots are strongly advised to take note of the boxing gloves.

Mind you, I'm no fan of the Patriots. It just sticks in my craw that the Giants are in the Super Bowl while we here in Philly got to watch the Eagles implode again.

So really, it's down to two teams I strongly dislike, and I've decided that I dislike the Pats less than the Giants. It's a Philadelphia thing.

UPDATE: Now that the Giants have won the Super Bowl (there, I said it), I'm anticipating my inbox filling up with razzing from their boosters (or the people who took the other side of my dilemma and decided to hate the Patriots more). To you all, I say this: The Giants still suck. My certitude of their suckiness is metaphysical in nature, and cannot be disproven.

On the bright side, I had no money on the game.

February 2nd, 1979

Sid Vicious dead of a heroin overdose. Next year it'll be thirty years.

I try not to think about it.

Ah, well. Here's some video for you, because everybody's seen "My Way":