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2. What failure in your life have you experienced that you feel is important to have lived through to help you grow?

3. What would you like to do right now that is just outside of your reach because of one thing (money, people, other resources)?

4. Aside from server/forum/site changes, what is one thing that you would like to see changed about MOTL?

5. What is something that you feel that you are better than most other people at doing?

Bonus: When people are asked "if they had a time machine" type questions, which event do you think gets changed the most often and which event do you think would be a more interesting one?

How have you been?

Whats her name ?

What exactly happened between you and PD?(Skip this question if you want)

Do you miss WW/mafia games?

What changes would you implement in the above games, if any?

~MM

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I am MeddlingMage...YOUR Motl Survivor 11 Champion, 2007 Captain N award winner, 2010 Marlboro award winner, and 2011 Champion Tournament Pick'em
MOTL NCAA Bracket Challenge winner!

CM Punk "OMG Kevin Nash WTF, thought he was dead, LOL"

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Originally posted by LA3:
1. How did you come up with your user name?
2. Are you a sports fan at all?
3. Were you athletic in highschool or college?
4. Worst subject in school? Best?
5. One thing yet fulfilled in life that you would like to do?
6. What is one regret you have in life so far?

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1. It is a play off the last name of one of my favorite actors, Antonio Banderas. He was crazy good in The Mask of Zorro.
2. I catch American football and hockey when I can. Sometimes I go watch my town's OHL team. Not much, though.
3. No, but I regret that looking back. I would have loved playing cornerback!
4. Geometry was my worst- I can't draw a straight line with a ruler, and it messed with me. Algebra was my best.
5. I'd like to find someone to settle down with. Really. I'm going to be 26 soon and I feel like it's about time.
6. Not recognizing that the relationship with my child's mother was going downhill before I did.

quote:

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Originally posted by yakusoku:
1. What one piece of advice would you like to share with others to help them be more successful or be happier?

2. What failure in your life have you experienced that you feel is important to have lived through to help you grow?

3. What would you like to do right now that is just outside of your reach because of one thing (money, people, other resources)?

4. Aside from server/forum/site changes, what is one thing that you would like to see changed about MOTL?

5. What is something that you feel that you are better than most other people at doing?

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1. There's so many things I could say. I guess the most important one, based on my past experience, is to always treat your family like it's your last day with them, because it might be. Treat them well, enjoy your time together and cherish them.
2. The Alicia drama, which is fairly well-known to the MOTL regulars. I don't think I would be alive right now if it hadn't happened, because Larissa's birth- and subsequent removal from my life- gave me something to focus on and motivated me to grow as a person. I've still got a lot of work to do, but I'm in the right place mentally. Almost.
3. I'd like to finally move out of grandpa's house. I'm working toward that goal, though. I registered for my university's job site and am trying to find something in the range of 30 hours a week so I can work and do my last semester of classes in January.
4. Give Jazaray mod in #motl so we can ban some people!
5. Removing myself emotionally from a situation and making an objective, unbiased judgment.

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Originally posted by CubFan81:
1) Favorite Magic card?
2) Favorite Magic color?
3) Favorite Magic deck?
4) Favorite Magic format?
5) If you could make or unmake any one change to Magic what would it be? Why?

Bonus: When people are asked "if they had a time machine" type questions, which event do you think gets changed the most often and which event do you think would be a more interesting one?

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1. For fun, Chatter of the Squirrel. For practical use, Force of Will and it's not even close.
2. Blue. I play Magic for the mind games, winning by out-thinking my opponents.
3. Merfolk. I've been tinkering with the deck for years.
4. Legacy. I don't play anything else.
5. I'd bring back the player rewards system because I liked feeling like WotC cared about whether or not its players played in tournaments.

Bonus: Probably the Holocaust. I think people want to reverse that, don't you? I think a more interesting one happened later in the war, though- what if we hadn't dropped the nukes? I've done some research that suggests that the US was in talks with Japan to surrender, and that they were willing to do so, except that there was one American diplomat that spread misinformation to both sides to instigate the US government to continue. How much different would the world's technological landscape be if Japan hadn't lost those resources, in people, property, money and time?

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Originally posted by MeddlingMage:
Hello Steven . I've been waiting for this

How have you been?

Whats her name ?

What exactly happened between you and PD?(Skip this question if you want)

Do you miss WW/mafia games?

What changes would you implement in the above games, if any?

~MM

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It's actually spelled Stephen. Come on, Eric, how many times have you seen me on Facebook?!

I've been a lot better than in recent weeks. A little disappointed though. I got put in a really awkward situation over the weekend and through today...

Steph, actually. She's studying material engineering at a local university

I can talk about the thing with Chuck, sure. I recognized that he was using some pretty harsh insults- some hidden in large words, some a little more obvious- in his posts, especially in the WW and Mafia games. Liq recognized it as well, and we both suggested he be banned from the UBB games or else those games should be discontinued on the forums. Chuck took offense regarding being exposed and tried to play innocent. Eventually the games got moved off the forum, which I think is a good thing, and Chuck left the site, which I also think is a good thing. I hold no further animosity toward PD. The boards are what matter to me, because next month will mark 7 years that I've been here and I want the site to remain a friendly place where people who aren't around solely to cause trouble feel welcome.

Edit: I should note that PD and I got along fine before I started noticing his subtle insults. We talked off MOTL about politics and the world around us. I learned about the theory of the Singularity from him before hearing about the concept in Cultural Anthropology class. He's a brilliant person. Too liberal for my tastes, but I won't hold that against him. I just didn't like how he treated people here.

I don't really miss the WW/Mafia games because I can play them in chat rooms or in custom games of Starcraft 2. Were they to come back, though, Liq should be allowed to ban any players he deems disruptive to the process, which may include me. I don't know. But the game's proctor needs to be able to have a ban list.

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Originally posted by Tranderas:
How much different would the world's technological landscape be if Japan hadn't lost those resources, in people, property, money and time?

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Not trying to be picky, but Japan's involvement and success in the technological landscape owes a lot to the fact that they lost the war. Since they surrendered, the Allies (primarily Americans) helped to shape the new economy in Japan. One of the primary reasons why Toyota was able to succeed GM in the 21st century is because W. Edward Deming helped the Japanese revolutionize quality management after the war in the 20th century. Also, Japan wasn't allowed to rebuild their military and had to move into other industries, and their exports boomed. That's an oversimplification but history is full of unintended-consequences-type stories.

Sometimes there's just no way to reconcile because people are difficult. I would love to get along with Alicia. Our fighting is counterproductive to the goal of giving Larissa a good life and a happy childhood. She just refuses to do it, though. She still sees herself and Larissa as victims of some non-existent abuse (she consistently brings up things I never did as reasons for breaking it off with me, like this bizarre accusation that I attempted to make her miscarry by slamming on my brakes really hard) and, consequently, treats me like the scum of the earth.

There are times when reconciliation is possible, if both parties are open to it. I point to my relationship with a girl from my seasonal stint at Meijer back in 2004 (for those of you who aren't in the Midwest or Virginia, Meijer is a supermarket chain which offers higher prices than Wal-Mart and its kin but cleaner stores and better service). Mindy and I remained friends for years after. She was the only person who wrote to me when I was in Ohio with Alicia. But I became consumed with finding out why she broke it off. I think it's a simple question, don't you? "What did I do wrong?" I genuinely wanted to know so I could improve and not make that mistake again. She refused to give an answer, and I couldn't emotionally handle dealing with her anymore.

I was talking to one of my exes, Ashley from New Jersey, for nearly seven years after we broke up. She decided she didn't like the fact that she's neither doing anything to better her life nor that she's trying to get her ex's parents to provide financially for their granddaughter. I don't know, man. Some problems just fester and get overblown. The point is, no, sometimes reconciliation is not an option. There's only one ex I would ever date again or want to talk to again, and I haven't heard from her since 2003.

Ten favorite movies?

When did you get into Magic cards and who/how did you get involved?

Are we (America) going into a depression?

Where do you see the future of America's economy and general state heading and what could be done, in your opinion, to better it?

Peace,
Jesse

Note: read the post above this, sorry to hear what happened

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Originally posted by ogre:
Favorite food?

Ten favorite movies?

When did you get into Magic cards and who/how did you get involved?

Are we (America) going into a depression?

Where do you see the future of America's economy and general state heading and what could be done, in your opinion, to better it?

Peace,
Jesse

Note: read the post above this, sorry to hear what happened

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Shrimp- battered and deep fried, breaded with coconut and deep fried, cold in the shell, with butter and garlic, grilled, raw in sushi... it doesn't really matter. It's really good stuff.

I don't even know that I could name ten movies. I don't like sitting for long periods of time without anything to do. Movies are non-interactive and therefore boring to me. Ugh, let me try though... they're in no particular order, except the first is my favorite and it's not close.
- the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie (the other two...three... were junk)
- Happy Gilmore
- Dogma
- Dangerous Minds
- Land Before Time (first movie I can remember making me cry, now there are 30 of them or something)
- The Patriot (RIP Heath)
- High Fidelity
after this my memory gets a little fuzzy. I can tell you that Heath's masterful performance in A Dark Knight was not enough to save the rest of the movie's mediocre writing and uninspired acting. I really liked Clerks, but I don't think the movie would have been the cult classic it has become if Kevin Smith had used the original ending (the movie ends with Dante dying from a robber shooting him). I like Clint Eastwood as an actor but haven't seen any of his biggest movies. I cried during Flags of our Fathers. The first Saw made me wonder who has such a sadistic mind...and how I could top it (that razor wire maze, man...brilliant. Gruesome brilliance). I've never seen Scarface. I prefer comedy when I'm in most moods and Bruce Willis/Nicolas Cage action movies. I thought Lord of War was really good. It strikes me as incredible that the ******* guys are extremely aware that it's obscene that they make money doing what they do. I was sad when Ryan Dunn died. Jackie Chan is great, but the movies he has starred in in the past two decades have tended not to be. I don't watch any horror movies besides the Halloween, Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street series, but attempts to make Nightmare films without Robert Englund playing Freddie are doomed to fail. I think Jon Cusack, Jonny Depp, Al Pacino, Antonio Banderas, Clint Eastwood, Michael Douglas, that one guy who played the nerd that ended up making the virus that saved the day from Independence Day are amazing; Will Smith is too, but less so because he's a scientologist. I had a massive crush on Catherine Zeta-Jones after seeing The Mask of Zorro (this was the movie that gave me the idea of making Antonio's last name into my current nickname). I think Scarlett Johannson's acting is overrated because of her looks. I consider Sally Field to be the most underrated actress perhaps in the history of forever. I had to look up most of these actor and movie names.

I hope this at least paints a reasonable picture of my taste in movies when I do bother to watch them. Sorry for rambling.

A "friend" (ie a guy who would call me when all his real friends were busy cause he knew i wouldn't be doing anything) got me started playing in 1994 or 95. I remember buying Ice Age and 5th ed packs at Meijer. It was just a game he played. I played awhile, he stopped, I lost my cards, found people who played a few years later, bought new cards, quit playing, lost them, found someone who played a few years later, bought new cards....and put them in boxes and binders so this losing them crap wouldn't happen again.

We're not going into a Depression; fear-mongering Liberals and rights-hating Conservatives insist we are to push their various agendas. I really hate the politics that exist right now. Neither major party wants what's best for the people. They just want to push their own particular bias- Democrats against the wealthy, Republicans against anyone that doesn't follow a strict interpretation of the New Testament. I'd love to see a third party rise up, but again, the two major parties are entrenched and won't let it happen because they know that blocking a new party means they get exclusive rights to power in the country.

But back on topic: No. We're not going into a depression. And we won't.

The economy would be better if the government did absolutely nothing than if it did anything that's being considered now. Liberals complain that businesses are hoarding money instead of hiring; but they're doing it because they don't know how much new regulations being pushed by Liberals will cost them! It's an awkward situation, really. I don't understand the left at all. They complain that Republicans are giving special favors to the wealthy, then turn around and give special tax breaks to specific corporations, THEN go and tax the other businesses to pay for the tax breaks, THEN complain that those businesses aren't hiring! It's a ridiculous system, man. I don't know. I'd like to see us start over with a strictly-Constitutional government. But the politics- the rhetoric coming from all parties, 3rd parties included- scares me. We're starting to see actual violence. The average age of a democracy is 200 years and ours is showing signs of fracturing. Government taking their hands off of everything except banking and health care- and minimizing their footprints in those places- would be the best thing for the economy. At least stop bailing out every business that fails. The core tenant of capitalism is that you take risks, and good risks are rewarded with financial success while bad risks are punished with financial ruin. When you take the punishment out by bailing out the companies, of course they're going to act in a way that is not in society's best interest. They have the government to fall back on! Why should they care?