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Holy crap, kung fu is about a hundred times harder than tai chi. It was our first day, so they just showed us the basics - a couple of stances, a few basic punches and kicks, and one or two simple self-defense things - and then, we just practiced those. Turns out, I'm a lot less flexible than I remember being, and my legs get pretty darn tired after kicking that stupid pad about a hundred times. Luckily, the little beginner group that we're in consisted of me, Bernie, two teenage girls, and a little round guy, so I think we're still in pretty good shape, relatively.

It's weird - the stuff we've learned so far is exactly 100% opposite from what I'm used to, from aikido and the like. Instead of "someone grabs you, you slide around, do this wrist flippy thing, and they're on the floor crying for their mommy" it's more like "someone grabs you, you knock their shit down, chop them in the neck, and knee them in the junk". Not to say that I'm not completely down with the ass-kicking, but I guess I've always seen kung fu more as exercise than anything else - for a martial art, I'd prefer to learn something that'll still do me some good when I'm 90, or against some psychopath twice my size. The new stuff seems to be more about blocking and hitting, instead of getting the hell out of the way. That being said, some of the stuff the more advanced students are doing some badass stuff, and I'm eager to move it on along and get to the head-booting.

Speaking of which, I got me some new boots. Bernie bought me some Fluevogs to replace my falling-apart Timberlands. They're kind of shiny and stuff, but they're apparently Satan-resistant, which seems like a plus. Also, they've got little angels on the bottom, so I can take pride in the fact that I'm stomping around on little winged servants of the lord all day.

In other news, There is still really boring. I jumped in for a minute to see if any of the new stuff I heard they added made it any more interesting, and it hasn't. Still, a neat idea if you're, say, a fifteen year old girl with a really good computer and nothing better to do all day. I also got a ping from the Tale In The Desert guys - they're doing some special thing for the fourth of july tomorrow where they're introducing this new test in which players have to find different ingredients and make their own fireworks and stuff. Plus, they're opening it all up for the day to anyone who's ever had an account, and have some "special goodies" for anyone who's had a paid account. (Which I did, for a month or so, until I got tired of running around for hours, doing nothing.) It's a shame that their game is so unengaging for the casual player - I really like the guys who are working on it, and I think they've got some really good ideas. Me, I think I'm going to go back and play some GTA3 again.

Oh, yeah, I didn't want to say anything until I was finished, but I'm just about done with a script for a comic that Scott and Emerson will be working on. It's based in the Matrix universe, and it's a short story about a program that's about to be replaced, with the agents and the running and the shooting. It's been a while since I've written any fiction, and this was fun, but harder than I thought it was going to be. Hopefully, it'll all turn out well, and there'll be more work like this in the future. Keep watching the skies.

Also, Star Blazers is the best cartoon ever. Holy crap, they even have phone cards. I want.