TODO 2019 PvP [Jan 1 - Dec 29]

[RubiksCat]

Okay well...I managed to record a 2 minute vlog of myself but ended up deleting it once I saw that the video file size was too large to transport through Gmail. I wanted to download it through Gmail and edit some parts out through Windows Movie Maker on my computer. I don't have the file anymore but I do notice now that I'm able to upload it directly to YouTube from my smartphone the next time around.

[WhiteGhost]

9 hours ago, Jean said:

@WhiteGhost You, sir, are amazing! The camera angle, the volume and tone of your voice, it was perfect. Thanks for the tour!

 

Are you living in Beijing right now or is it some kind of long holiday trip? You seem really at ease, wandering around filming yourself among all these people, training in the open... congrats!

Thanks, I had never tried a walking vlog before, so I'm glad it came out ok.  I live in Beijing and have been here about 15 years

 

8 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

And yay for the 82 year old guy. I want to be like that.

Me too   The crew I normally work out with range in age from about 65 up through 86.  A lot of them can do stuff I can't even do yet, so it is knd of inspiring to be around so many awesome people for whom age is just a number.  I totally want to be like that.

 

5 hours ago, Tobbe said:

Are those payed classes, or can anyone join who feels like it?

They are paid classes, but the way it works is anyone who wants to can participate, if you like it and want to keep going, you sign up with the teacher or whoever is running the class.  Some people don't want to pay for it, and you can always tell who they are because they stand away from the main group kind of by themselves, but they are still watching and copying the movements.  The benefits of actually joining the class is interaction with the teacher, who will answer questions and give individual feedback.

[WhiteGhost]

1 hour ago, Rubik'sCat said:

Okay well...I managed to record a 2 minute vlog of myself but ended up deleting it once I saw that the video file size was too large to transport through Gmail. I wanted to download it through Gmail and edit some parts out through Windows Movie Maker on my computer. I don't have the file anymore but I do notice now that I'm able to upload it directly to YouTube from my smartphone the next time around.

Are you still going to be able to get one uploaded for this week?  I hope so, because I am really enjoying the vlogs.  It is really great to see everyone and put voices/faces with the usernames.

[RubiksCat]

44 minutes ago, WhiteGhost said:

Are you still going to be able to get one uploaded for this week?  I hope so, because I am really enjoying the vlogs.  It is really great to see everyone and put voices/faces with the usernames.

You're right, and I'm enjoying the vlogs as well. I didn't know that that's what the parks look like in China. Your park looks very different than the parks I know and love in my hometown. Parks where I live don't have the same amount of community involvement and teachers.  It won't take me too long to video tape one and upload it before Saturday is over.

 

@Tobbe I finished the book called Rescue at Dead Dog Beach now (Task #1)  I might read from the book for my vlog because I have such difficulty finding things to talk about.

[RubiksCat]

https://youtu.be/kO2sM23Ekm8

 

Here's my challenge of the week video! 

I hope ya'll can understand me clearly, I might post more in the future if I feel up to it.

 

Edit: This is my first time uploading a YouTube video to the forums. Sorry that it's just the link this time.

[Tobbe]

3 hours ago, Rubik'sCat said:

https://youtu.be/kO2sM23Ekm8

 

Here's my challenge of the week video! 

I hope ya'll can understand me clearly, I might post more in the future if I feel up to it.

 

Edit: This is my first time uploading a YouTube video to the forums. Sorry that it's just the link this time.

 

Perfect first vlog! And you're right, it's all about going outside of our comfort zones 

 

Don't know why you can't embed the video, works for me if I just paste your link...

 

 

[Tobbe]

23 hours ago, Rubik'sCat said:

 

@Tobbe I finished the book called Rescue at Dead Dog Beach now (Task #1)  I might read from the book for my vlog because I have such difficulty finding things to talk about.

 

Googled a bit, and it doesn't seem like they've translated that book to Swedish   Not sure I wanted to read it myself, but just from the title I think my wife might have enjoyed it...

[RubiksCat]

2 minutes ago, Tobbe said:

 

Googled a bit, and it doesn't seem like they've translated that book to Swedish   Not sure I wanted to read it myself, but just from the title I think my wife might have enjoyed it...

Oh, your wife doesn't speak a lot of English then I take it? 

It's odd the YouTube video wouldn't pop up for me like that. Could it have anything to do with the fact that I used a mobile device instead of the laptop this time?

[Tobbe]

6 minutes ago, Rubik'sCat said:

Oh, your wife doesn't speak a lot of English then I take it? 

 

She does, but it just means it's almost zero chance of finding it at our library if it's not available in Swedish...

 

7 minutes ago, Rubik'sCat said:

Could it have anything to do with the fact that I used a mobile device instead of the laptop this time?

 

Could be... I did it on my computer

[WhiteGhost]

7 hours ago, Rubik'sCat said:

https://youtu.be/kO2sM23Ekm8

 

Here's my challenge of the week video! 

I hope ya'll can understand me clearly, I might post more in the future if I feel up to it.

 

Edit: This is my first time uploading a YouTube video to the forums. Sorry that it's just the link this time.

That was great!  Thanks for putting that up, it was great to put your voice and face with the name.  With so much distance between us, an actual meetup is pretty much impossible, but this is the next best thing  

[RubiksCat]

8 minutes ago, WhiteGhost said:

That was great!  Thanks for putting that up, it was great to put your voice and face with the name.  With so much distance between us, an actual meetup is pretty much impossible, but this is the next best thing  

Thanks! I've been meaning to ask you, did you know any Chinese before you traveled there? If you didn't, how has being in the country helped you learn more Chinese?

[WhiteGhost]

39 minutes ago, Rubik'sCat said:

Thanks! I've been meaning to ask you, did you know any Chinese before you traveled there? If you didn't, how has being in the country helped you learn more Chinese?

I tried to learn a little before I came here, but it was pretty pathetic.  I pretty much only picked up a few words and key phrases.  In fact, the reason I decided to come here was because I was having such a hard time learning the language.  I decided it was important for me to learn Chinese so I quit my job and moved to Beijing to study Chinese full time for a year.  After the year was up, instead of going back I got a job here and have been here ever since.

 

I have done a lot of language learning in my life (5 years of French in middle/high school, military language training for Russian & Korean, full fluency in Japanese and Chinese from living in country).  Based on my experiences, I find it soooooo much easier to learn the language in country, and that languages learned in country stick with me much longer (my Japanese is still way, way better than Russian or Korean, even though I have used them about the same amount in the last 10 years)

[BardicGarlic]

Is it too late to join?

[WhiteGhost]

Sure, anyone is welcome to join.  You will be at a disadvantage points-wise because you missed the first two weeks, but those can be made up through doing extra items throughout the year.  To be honest, though, I think most of us are doing this for the personal XP and are not that focused on the actual PVP points anyway.

[Arkania]

I am not focussed on any points

[Jean]

13 hours ago, Rubik'sCat said:

I might post more in the future if I feel up to it.

 

Congrats on the vlog! You were great, so go for it when you feel the itch.

On the embedding part. Some script killers add-ons/browsers may also have an effect on it. I'd not worry too much, links are great too (I use them all the time).

 

3 hours ago, BardicGarlic said:

Is it too late to join?

Sure not! Welcome!

 

As for me, I won't make it on time this week, so I'll skip it and either put my next week entry as a vlog or do both quests.

 

Have fun!

[Tobbe]

15 minutes ago, Jean said:

As for me, I won't make it on time this week, so I'll skip it and either put my next week entry as a vlog or do both quests.

 

I'll take submissions until sometime tomorrow, so there's still time

[BardicGarlic]

I wrote a short story!

It is not very good. But I did something!!

 

[It's here for evidence, but I recommended against reading it... because... well, it's a nube's story. And also English is not my first language.]

 

 

Spoiler

The news logo popped on television, followed by the news music.

"Tonight: the scientists across the world are meeting to discuss why people stopped dying. Hospitals and..."

The attractive newscaster droned on, but I shifted the focus to our dinner. Ceasar salad in the wooden bowl. Seitan steak right off the grill. Key lime pie in the oven. Then I looked at my boyfriend who was not eating.

"What's wrong, Matt?"

He shook his head and stared at his pristine, empty plate, Can you turn the tv off?

I walked from the dining table to the couch, grabbed the remote, and switched it off, "here you go, big guy. Are you feeling better?"

He sat still.

It was hard to imagine him as my boyfriend, after all, we had just met for a week. He was sitting on my doorstep, soaking wet in the rain. I believed he had been crying. I wanted to call the police, but he looked so broken and harmless I invited him in for a cup of tea. We were both adults, after all, and the world could use a little kindness.

I remembered that the day, the president just ordered to bomb another country out of the map. My colleagues and I were shaken of how many people had died.

He was still sobbing when he was in, and shaking like a leaf in his old black t-shirt and tattered jeans. The sun had licked the shirt in the way that suggested he had always wore it with some kind of coat, although that coat was nowhere to be seen.

I don't want to do this anymore, that was the only word that came out of him the first night, barely audible, raspy like whispers of thousand voices. I don't want to do this anymore, he said.

When I asked his name, he hesitated, but he gave me the answer. They call me Merithyu.

There was in no way in god's good earth I could have pronounced that, so I just said "can I call you Matthew?"

He nodded.

He was a beautiful man, regal. His skin had a luster of polished teak, and his slender features were delicate like they were drawn with candle smoke. In my brightly colored living room, he looked like just a beautiful shadow of a man.

I nudged him to the shower and gave him a pink shirt and striped pink-and white pajama to changed into just for that.

I made him soup. Mushroom noodle soup. It was hot when he was done, and he had a hint of smile as he spread his arm to show the outfit I lend him, I never wore pink, he said. I was much shorter than him, so the shirt rested on top of his navel, exposing the chocolate-colored smooth bit of his skin. The pajama pants stopped far above his ankles. He looked ridiculous. I told him that he did.

No one had ever called me ridiculous. He said, after a few seconds of silence. Thank you, I like being ridiculous.

He took my couch, and I spent a few days trying to find out about him. Being a writer, I worked at home, and was bored anyway.

He didn't tell me where he was from, but he said he was from a cold, dark, and empty place. I took that to guess he was from the Midwest. He liked romantic comedies and children cartoons-- based on my recent Netflix history. When I joked with him about it, he just shrugged. It's a good escape. He said. We have too much violence in this world... to much de... he paused and looked sullen. I just like these kind of shows. Do you think I am ridiculous?

I gave him my best grin. "Absolutely."

He almost smiled back.

I knew he was running from something that terrified him. I didn't ask the question. I knew I am putting myself at risk. He might be a smuggler, a criminal, a drug addict escaping from a police, but I couldn't make myself believe that. I looked into his eyes-- the eyes so black it seemed to hungrily drink in all the light he saw, and I only saw sadness and compassion.

After Day 3, I decided that staying in the room did not do him any good. I took him to an aquarium.

He went back to his tattered black jeans, but I insisted he wore a bright yellow shirt under a turquoise jacket. He looked ridiculous again, which he liked.

The next day we went ice skating. I was surprised to learn he was terrible at it. I thought, him being from the icy tundra of the Midwest, he would be used to sliding around in snow and ice. But no, he was lumbering and flailing all over the place, falling on his butt with none of his usual grace. He did not smile. He did not laugh. But they way he looked completely bewildered and fascinated cued me in that he was enjoying the experience.

After stumbling in the ice for a while, I went over to try to help him up. Forgetting how larger he was than I, I gave to his weight and fell on top of him.

That very moment, I kissed him. A moment after, we kissed.

Then two days later, the news about people not dying broke out. Matt retreated back into his shell right after.

 

I looked at the silent, black screen of my television. I looked at the untouched food. Then I looked at him. I walked over and sat next to him, touching his elbow so that he faced me.

"Matt, I think I know a little more about your past life."

He flinched and looked back at his empty plate. I don't want to talk about it, he said.

"I imagine you have a responsibility, a very important one."

You don't get it. He stared harder at the plate. What do you even know?

"I don't. I might get it though, if you tell me a little more about it. "

Stay out of it, please. He said. His voice broke into several whispers, cacophonous and shaken. I should have known this sooner.

"Matt, Merithyu, I--"

Do NOT call me that anymore.

The plate shattered and shrank until it was a black mess on the table.

I am sorry. I'm so sorry. He said, curling into a ball.

I touched his arm. It was very cold. My fingers burned, but I held on.

"Matt, I love you," I said. He seemed startled by it. I continued. "But you have an important job. People are depending on you. You can't just run away."

You don't know what it's like. He said. Everyday, they hate me, they fear me, but they USE me. I became a tool, doing things I should not do.

I had to take lives of Jamie. Byron, Amanda. I took the lives of Fatemeh and Arya. I took the lives of them all. They have NAMES.

They are so young, so innocent, they don't deserve ME.

I hugged him. "It's okay to be tired. It's okay to feel exhausted. But sometimes, you just have to do it. Sacrifice, pain, it's a part of being a hero."

I don't want to do it, he said. I don't want to take you.

I shook my head. "I have no regret left in this world." I told him. "I knew for a long time that this moment would come. I knew since I got back from the doctor's office six months ago."

"My last regret was that I had never fallen in love, and you took care of that," I told him. "Now, I can go."

He took my hand, gripped it tightly and held to his chest.

I love you.

"You are ridiculous, Matt" I said.

And with that, I started floating, holding on to his arm as we slowly drifted into the sky.

 

[Tobbe]

5 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

but those can be made up through doing extra items throughout the year

 

This is true. But still wanted to re-post the rules around this, as to not cause any confusion  

 

From the "Rules" section in the first post:

 

On 12/27/2018 at 2:52 PM, Tobbe said:

For some flexibility I'll allow anyone to complete two tasks in a single week. I'll also let anyone do the same task twice, if they want. Any more than that and no extra points will be rewarded for the additional tasks. I will also not award points for any more than 52 completed tasks.

 

[Tobbe]

7 hours ago, Rubik'sCat said:

Thanks! I've been meaning to ask you, did you know any Chinese before you traveled there? If you didn't, how has being in the country helped you learn more Chinese?

 

6 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

I tried to learn a little before I came here, but it was pretty pathetic.  I pretty much only picked up a few words and key phrases.  In fact, the reason I decided to come here was because I was having such a hard time learning the language.  I decided it was important for me to learn Chinese so I quit my job and moved to Beijing to study Chinese full time for a year.  After the year was up, instead of going back I got a job here and have been here ever since.

 

I have done a lot of language learning in my life (5 years of French in middle/high school, military language training for Russian & Korean, full fluency in Japanese and Chinese from living in country).  Based on my experiences, I find it soooooo much easier to learn the language in country, and that languages learned in country stick with me much longer (my Japanese is still way, way better than Russian or Korean, even though I have used them about the same amount in the last 10 years)

 

I watched a related video a while ago, pretty cool stuff   Also, I'm always so impressed with people who speak multiple languages!

 

 

 

[Arkania]

42 minutes ago, BardicGarlic said:

I wrote a short story!

It is not very good. But I did something!!

 

[It's here for evidence, but I recommended against reading it... because... well, it's a nube's story. And also English is not my first language.]

 

 

  Hide contents

The news logo popped on television, followed by the news music.

"Tonight: the scientists across the world are meeting to discuss why people stopped dying. Hospitals and..."

The attractive newscaster droned on, but I shifted the focus to our dinner. Ceasar salad in the wooden bowl. Seitan steak right off the grill. Key lime pie in the oven. Then I looked at my boyfriend who was not eating.

"What's wrong, Matt?"

He shook his head and stared at his pristine, empty plate, Can you turn the tv off?

I walked from the dining table to the couch, grabbed the remote, and switched it off, "here you go, big guy. Are you feeling better?"

He sat still.

It was hard to imagine him as my boyfriend, after all, we had just met for a week. He was sitting on my doorstep, soaking wet in the rain. I believed he had been crying. I wanted to call the police, but he looked so broken and harmless I invited him in for a cup of tea. We were both adults, after all, and the world could use a little kindness.

I remembered that the day, the president just ordered to bomb another country out of the map. My colleagues and I were shaken of how many people had died.

He was still sobbing when he was in, and shaking like a leaf in his old black t-shirt and tattered jeans. The sun had licked the shirt in the way that suggested he had always wore it with some kind of coat, although that coat was nowhere to be seen.

I don't want to do this anymore, that was the only word that came out of him the first night, barely audible, raspy like whispers of thousand voices. I don't want to do this anymore, he said.

When I asked his name, he hesitated, but he gave me the answer. They call me Merithyu.

There was in no way in god's good earth I could have pronounced that, so I just said "can I call you Matthew?"

He nodded.

He was a beautiful man, regal. His skin had a luster of polished teak, and his slender features were delicate like they were drawn with candle smoke. In my brightly colored living room, he looked like just a beautiful shadow of a man.

I nudged him to the shower and gave him a pink shirt and striped pink-and white pajama to changed into just for that.

I made him soup. Mushroom noodle soup. It was hot when he was done, and he had a hint of smile as he spread his arm to show the outfit I lend him, I never wore pink, he said. I was much shorter than him, so the shirt rested on top of his navel, exposing the chocolate-colored smooth bit of his skin. The pajama pants stopped far above his ankles. He looked ridiculous. I told him that he did.

No one had ever called me ridiculous. He said, after a few seconds of silence. Thank you, I like being ridiculous.

He took my couch, and I spent a few days trying to find out about him. Being a writer, I worked at home, and was bored anyway.

He didn't tell me where he was from, but he said he was from a cold, dark, and empty place. I took that to guess he was from the Midwest. He liked romantic comedies and children cartoons-- based on my recent Netflix history. When I joked with him about it, he just shrugged. It's a good escape. He said. We have too much violence in this world... to much de... he paused and looked sullen. I just like these kind of shows. Do you think I am ridiculous?

I gave him my best grin. "Absolutely."

He almost smiled back.

I knew he was running from something that terrified him. I didn't ask the question. I knew I am putting myself at risk. He might be a smuggler, a criminal, a drug addict escaping from a police, but I couldn't make myself believe that. I looked into his eyes-- the eyes so black it seemed to hungrily drink in all the light he saw, and I only saw sadness and compassion.

After Day 3, I decided that staying in the room did not do him any good. I took him to an aquarium.

He went back to his tattered black jeans, but I insisted he wore a bright yellow shirt under a turquoise jacket. He looked ridiculous again, which he liked.

The next day we went ice skating. I was surprised to learn he was terrible at it. I thought, him being from the icy tundra of the Midwest, he would be used to sliding around in snow and ice. But no, he was lumbering and flailing all over the place, falling on his butt with none of his usual grace. He did not smile. He did not laugh. But they way he looked completely bewildered and fascinated cued me in that he was enjoying the experience.

After stumbling in the ice for a while, I went over to try to help him up. Forgetting how larger he was than I, I gave to his weight and fell on top of him.

That very moment, I kissed him. A moment after, we kissed.

Then two days later, the news about people not dying broke out. Matt retreated back into his shell right after.

 

I looked at the silent, black screen of my television. I looked at the untouched food. Then I looked at him. I walked over and sat next to him, touching his elbow so that he faced me.

"Matt, I think I know a little more about your past life."

He flinched and looked back at his empty plate. I don't want to talk about it, he said.

"I imagine you have a responsibility, a very important one."

You don't get it. He stared harder at the plate. What do you even know?

"I don't. I might get it though, if you tell me a little more about it. "

Stay out of it, please. He said. His voice broke into several whispers, cacophonous and shaken. I should have known this sooner.

"Matt, Merithyu, I--"

Do NOT call me that anymore.

The plate shattered and shrank until it was a black mess on the table.

I am sorry. I'm so sorry. He said, curling into a ball.

I touched his arm. It was very cold. My fingers burned, but I held on.

"Matt, I love you," I said. He seemed startled by it. I continued. "But you have an important job. People are depending on you. You can't just run away."

You don't know what it's like. He said. Everyday, they hate me, they fear me, but they USE me. I became a tool, doing things I should not do.

I had to take lives of Jamie. Byron, Amanda. I took the lives of Fatemeh and Arya. I took the lives of them all. They have NAMES.

They are so young, so innocent, they don't deserve ME.

I hugged him. "It's okay to be tired. It's okay to feel exhausted. But sometimes, you just have to do it. Sacrifice, pain, it's a part of being a hero."

I don't want to do it, he said. I don't want to take you.

I shook my head. "I have no regret left in this world." I told him. "I knew for a long time that this moment would come. I knew since I got back from the doctor's office six months ago."

"My last regret was that I had never fallen in love, and you took care of that," I told him. "Now, I can go."

He took my hand, gripped it tightly and held to his chest.

I love you.

"You are ridiculous, Matt" I said.

And with that, I started floating, holding on to his arm as we slowly drifted into the sky.

 

 

I like your story

And it took me almost until the end to get it.

[BardicGarlic]

1 hour ago, Arkania said:

 

I like your story

And it took me almost until the end to get it.

 

Thanks! I enjoyed writing it a lot. 

[Arkania]

1 hour ago, BardicGarlic said:

 

Thanks! I enjoyed writing it a lot. 

 

And that's the most important thing!

[RubiksCat]

1 hour ago, BardicGarlic said:

 

Thanks! I enjoyed writing it a lot. 

Amazing story. I didn't see it coming until the end either, I thought it was just a love story at first. 

[RubiksCat]

@WhiteGhost

Full fluency in Japanese & Chinese?! That's amazing. I've been trying to learn Japanese for the past 4 months but I haven't had much success. I learn it but I don't use it so it dissolves from my memory. 

I hope I can visit Japan. I'd like to move there but I don't like the idea of being homeless and not being able to hold a conversation.

I wanted to create a thread for learning Japanese and asking questions (like tutoring?) but you're the only one I've met that speaks the language so I'm afraid it wouldn't have much of a following.