Wait, Sakana is a half tuna?
... do I even WANT to know how that works?
Here, from the Librarian Stories (which you can reach from the link in my signature *wink wink*):
I don't have any idea what I am doing here.
Isn't a librarian's job to sort books and sit around all day?
Then, why do I have to run along those roofs like a ninja in the middle of the night?
Thinking back, I should have been less curious.
If I hadn't asked, I might sleep peacefully in my bed right now, like every other normal person.
If I had known how it would turn out, would I still have talked to her?
"We've got ourselves into quite some trouble, eh?"
There was no answer. Well, of course there wasn't. What my words were directed to, wasn't a human, nor any other kind of being capable of speech.
It was a big tuna, floating in the air beside me. Really, I can't explain how that happened either.
You've probably heard of half-ghosts, right? Well, I'm similar. Only that my ghost-half... is a fish-half.
It's not like having an animal with you is something unusual in this world.
I had already seen girls walking around with giant ferrets and snakes, but still... a tuna, and one that's part of yourself at that?
I wanted to curse the gods for my fate, but held back my words.
Cursing the gods is generally a bad idea in a world where many of them were running around everywhere and might just be able to hear you.
Has there ever been a forum you've been to once or twice, but never were there again?
Likewise, Do you have any other forums that you are active on aside from this one?
MotK is the only forum I have really been active in, I have never bothered with any others.
Why does Germantube have to censor everything and their mother?
[The answer for this question is not available in your country : / ]And finally, What came first, The tuna or the Sakana?
Maybe there has always been some tuna in the Sakana, so they both came into existance at the same time :O
But properly answered, Sakana was way before tuna.
Why is it that, even with such an imposing name (real name, :V), you aren't making your way to the top of the boards!? It may be in your blood!
(Yes, he's one of my favorite players)
You are refering to the chess player that shares my name, aren't you? Man, I wish I could play chess even remotely on that level. I suck at chess though, I know the basic rules but that's about it. I'm a bit better with Go, because it gives more chances to compensate for bad moves. In chess, if a piece is beaten, that's it.
If by boards you mean the forums here, well, I like my position as it is now. You know, being the one big person at the top just makes you the prime target for everyone. You gotta be the evil vezir, the Grey Eminence that influences decisions without being directly responsible and perceivable, nyehehehehe :3
Really, I'm a supporter-type, not a leader-type. I leave making the big plans and decisions to others, I rather take care of the execution.
Would you use the Sakana-maru to slash things at hyperspeed?
That sounds fun, but will you be the one to search for and re-attach my arms after they have flown off? Because I don't think my body is made for hyperspeed slashing.
Favorite sea-food?
Fishsticks, plain and simple.
Can I gnaw your shoulder?
I'm a lefty, so gnaw on the right please.
What is 2 + 2 ?
The number of batteries in that camera that I am too lazy to turn on to take a picture to make this answer a bit more humorous right now :V
Have you ever heard of an old history book called the Nuremberg Chronicle? It's really quite fascinating.
That name rings a bell, but I don't think I have ever heard details. Some wiki-ing tells me it's indeed an interesting book.
how the hell did you do this
While I didn't take my views directly from there, during that time I read the Boddhidharma, the teachings of buddha, as well as "Conversations with God" (the first of the three books), which has some pretty nice ideas about philosophy and religion. I myself am atheist, by the way (or maybe I could fall under agnostic as well, I never bothered to check the proper definitions to see what applies :V )
As for how my mindchange went, let's see what I can recall.
I think the first step is self-consciousness. Not in the common sense, but in that you need to acknowledge yourself as you are. What can you do, what are your skills, what is your character etc. And then you have to accept that this is how you will be for a while.
There's no use being down over "Why am I not like this?". Either you can become it through working on yourself, then there is no reason to cry because you can just start with changing.
Or you can objectively never become it due to different reasons (like, as much as I admire the physical skills of a Shaolin monk, that's simply something I can never reach), then there is no reason to let it get you down either, because getting down over impossibilities is logically silly.
Basically the goal is to be okay with the way you are, be aware of your strengths as well as your weaknesses, know how you can and want to change, but not feel bad about not having reached that yet.
Now once you manage to have confidence in how you are, you can also manage to see things that you did as successes. So what if in comparison to things others do it was only a small thing? Those others don't matter. You did it with your skills and within your frame of reference. And that's a success. One to be happy and proud about. Those that do better than you can be models, goals you can strive for, but they are nothing to be jealous of. What counts is that you yourself are satisfied with how things go.
Another important part is to not let things get to you easily. That is easier said than done, I know, but look at some of the stuff that gets people riled up. So there is that old man walking slowly on the street and blocking your path. Is that a reason to get annoyed and grumpy for the rest of the day? Hell no, and yet for many people it seems to be. Most of the stuff that prevents people from being in a good mood is extremely stupid and not worth it at all.
Especially when it involves other people, you should try to take their perspective. If you were in their shoes, what could be your reason for doing what they did? Was it even intentional? Is it worth getting worked up over? How would you yourself feel if you were going to be blamed for the same thing?
One of the phrases that stuck with me from the Boddhidharma is that: "Once you realize how similar you are to others, it forbids itself to harm them or be the source of suffering"
Getting annoyed achieves one of two things most of the time:
-Pissing only yourself off without others being affected. So you ruined your day, good job, does it achieve anything? No.
-Pissing yourself off and letting it out on the other person without considering the whole situation. Now you ruined two peoples' day, and you will still feel shitty afterwards. Didn't achieve anything either.
Am I immune to complaining about things in private? Nah, not at all. Sometimes you gotta let off some steam. But if you are permanently worked up about things you should sit down and consider if it's really worth it.
This goes hand in hand with tolerance, btw. Many people are going to act in ways that you don't like, but most of the time you just gotta be tolerant to it instead of thinking "Geez, how can they act like that, it pisses me off". You have no right to decide how others should act, and the ways you act might equally not be liked by others.
Always be aware that while you should stand up to your ideas and views, they are for the most part subjective and can be argued, and by no means do they take priority over the ideas and views of others.
So basically, it's about three things:
1) Feeling good and confident about who you are and how you are
2) Striving to keep yourself from letting small things get you down from that good feeling.
3) Think on the right scales. Most things you do will never matter on a big scale, but that is nothing to be depressed about. Your personal small scale is what counts. Those scales can grow and shift, sure, but that's another story.
Okay, this is a giant wall of text now, and it probably answers nothing. But it covers some of the basics that make up my mindset (though by far not all of it), and it's the mindset that makes me into the perpetually positive person I am.
Maybe you can take something from it, that would be awesome. But I couldn't blame you for reading this and thinking "What the hell is that guy going on about" :V
Have you bought an ugly hat for fishing?
I don't fish, and I don't have an interest in it, so consequently I don't have an appropriate hat either :V
You forgot Wacken. :dragonforce:
I guess that counts, even if I don't care about it (because it's just not my type of music)
What is it you plan to do after college?
I'll probably start out in one of the cities offices. Maybe the social office or the job center, they prefer sociologists for some weird reason. Whether or how long I'm gonna stay there is up in the air. I will probably look into the possibilities of getting into Japan-related research facilities, maybe even aim for a doctorate. Financing would be the main issue there. There is also that idea of an import-shop for Japanese stuff (especially merchandise) that a friend is looking into seriously (he studied economics for a while), because germany has practically nothing of the sort while the interest in it is growing. I'd definitely help him with that project, but we will see how things end up.
What's your best childhood memory?
Hmm, the camping vacation on R?gen (and island in the baltic sea) with my mom and sister. We had a ton of fun there and R?gen's got some really nice places to visit. It was also my first ever trip to the sea~
If you had to live your life outside of Germany, where would you live and why?
As clich? as that may sound: Currently it would be Japan. While my interest in it started with popular culture, the games, anime and manga, it turned into an interest for the country itself. Japanese culture and the Japanese people are very intriguing and I want to learn as much about them as I can, preferably from personal experience.
If I choose by practical aspects, it would probably be the USA. I can speak English, so I could get around, and the country is big enough that there should be chances of building up a new life somewhere.
What's your thoughts on Text Adventures?
I like the concept of Text Adventures, writing a flexible story from the choices of the players. Unfortunately I haven't read any here. I played in Reisen Quest at the start, but due to timezones I would wake up to three new pages of text each day, which was way more than I was willing to read every morning.
Would you start one if you had the right inspiration?
Inspiration is less of a problem than dedication here. I surely would have ideas to start one, but I don't think I could keep it running for a longer time.