Upping the Ante (and Then Some)!

 About a week ago, it occurred to me that my current training isn't going to be enough for the level of competition I'll be facing, so I've increased my training regimen to three-a-days for thrice the fun (& pain, I don't recall being quite this sore since my first team trainings in high school). Thanks to the snow, stadiums are out of the question, but the world is a big place, eh?

Morning (7am or thereabouts):
     -30 mins. of warming up
     -30 mins. of stretching
     -Roadworku! (don't worry, I've got snow boots) up from Cornell University campus, up to Ithaca College campus, through downtown (*updated* I'm changing my route, just to make sure the strain of running doesn't wreck my knee)
     -All poomse, 5 times

If you don't know poomse, there's an example. There are 8 total Taeguks and quite a few beyond that. I practice the eight Taeguks and five beyond: Koryo, Keumgang, Taebaek, Pyongwon and Sipjin.

Also, did you know people compete in poomse internationally? (not me, though, aww heeeeell naw! Pulling 2nd to last would be an accomplishment)

Afternoon (5pm or whenever I have a chance to take a break if I'm not already home...like 5:01pm):
     -Insanity Workout - yup, I'm one of THOSE people
     -100 turning kicks (50 variations), 50 pada-chagi (30 variations) 100 cut kicks (50 variations), 50 ax kicks (25 variations), 50 back kicks (30 variations)
     -Old school winter challenge: 50 push-ups/100 sit-ups/50 leg lifts per day, anything else painful/fruitful I can fit into that amount of time
     -30 min. cooldown and stretching

Night (8pm or whenever I'm through working):
     -1 hour of weight training, followed by...
     -1000 punches of the Spartan army...for Sparta

This schedule's going to change once C.W. Taekwondo is back in session, but it's been working well for the past couple days. Once classes get started again, I'll be taking up a more active role and won't have as much time for the self-workouts. Most importantly, I look forward to getting Sabumnim's feedback on my routine, as well as working with Joel (one of the instructors at the dojang) - he has so many interesting drills I'd never think to employ.

Next: recite the Articles of Confederation from memory without moving. Then same thing on the other side, backwards.

There's still the matter of reactions, something I can't do without an opponent. As much as I'd like to sharpen my reflexes the way I used to (no joke, I got in a few street fights/brawls between buddies, and no, I'm not talking about the game....how about that, I totally I did that too), I'd rather improve myself the legal way by training with able-bodied fighters. One of the people I want to train with is based in Baltimore, which isn't too far a trek from Ithaca. Unfortunately, he isn't in Baltimore at the moment, so I'll have to wait until during the semester to do it. There are also plenty of skilled and seasoned opponents in New York City, so I'll need to make a point to go there for a week or so, when I have the opportunity before January 20th.

Aside from TKD, I've also been client-hunting for the editing service. It's not a one-time paper editing I'm looking for, because that...well, that wouldn't really warrant much pay at all, would it? No, what I'd like to work with is a long-term client who produces several substantive works per month. There are plenty of people in Ithaca who have need for small-time assistance, and I'm happy to oblige, but that won't sustain me in the long run, mentally or financially. I'd be happy to settle down with something that will grow me more as an editor as well as show my commitment to this trade. All things aside, though, it's a good thing Ithaca is such an academic town, with Ithaca College and Cornell in such proximity, or by all means I'd be screwed.

Project Hallabbey Shuffle is as it's always been: plodding but sound. The plot thickens as I develop likely perpetrators/scenarios of nuclear war and how the surviving world would fundamentally change, not just as a result of the fallout, but from their relations to each other in terms of alliance, trade and, most importantly, warfare. Also on the plate is how exactly a "superdrug" might be introduced into the world after such a catastrophe. I (might have) mentioned before that every player's "back story" is to be presented in 3-4 page comic panels, but before I do that, the universe must have total order.

Cyberpunk has etched out an interesting (and fucking awesome) niche in this world. I'm drawn to the genre because of how the best writers like Neal Stephenson slowly reveal this universe to which I can draw technological and cultural parallels to our own, albeit by making occasional leaps of faith and suspending my disbelief (but that's true about most fictional works, really). It makes us wonder about the future of the human race & our jump from physical evolution to an exponential technology evolution - Moore's law at work, if you will. The friend who introduced me to Stephenson via Anathem was talking to me about creating a good cyberpunk world and said (paraphrased), "you have to make a universe from the ground up, using history as the backdrop, and it all must have a reason." Basically, everything (culture, settlement structure, communication, trade) needs to be fully explored and constructed, and not "because fuck you, it's my universe." Extrapolation is key here, and it's what I have to do. Using nuclear fallout to power settlements? Genetic alterations to withstand being pelted with harmful radiation? Instant regeneration of dead cells? There needs to be a how, and it has to relate to the technology we have and are developing today. Perhaps it's overambitious of me, but I want the plot to be legitimate - to have an actual beginning, middle and end, as opposed to the usual fighting game plot.

Just to give you an idea of what I'm up against, here are the plots of some major fighting games in the years: 

Street Fighter II: M. Bison, an evil dictator holds a fighting tournament to get revenge against those who previously defeated him and to take over the world. I feel like there are easier ways to get revenge on people - like attacking them when they least expect it, instead of financing a frivolous global event that your enemies might not even enter. Maybe that's why I'm not the evil dictator...and hey, if you can take over the world through a freaking tournament, all the more power to you.

The King of Fighters '94: Rugal Bernstein, an evil international arms dealer holds the annual King of Fighters tournament to find strong warriors to work for him. Again, not the most efficient way to do things, but it's his ship, so whatever.

All the other King of Fighters': someone holds the King of Fighters tournament to gather fighters because of some sinister thing. You'd really think everyone would have learned after 1994 to avoid this event like the plague, yet the same people always show up. Everyone's a hero, I guess?

Tekken: The Mishima Zaibatsu holds the King of Iron Fists tournament. At least this one's actually a tournament - but it so happens that the leader of the Mishima Zaibatsu is a villainous dude who does mean things to people because he's just an asshole.

Mortal Kombat: Shang Tsung holds a tournament to decide the fate of Earthrealm. If the forces of Outworld win, they'll be able to take Earthrealm, because apparently that's how the fate of realms is decided. Don't ask, I still don't even know.

Guilty Gear: the Union of Nations holds a tournament to find warriors capable of defeating Testament, a villainous guy building an army. Eh...

So, have you noticed a trend here? I love pretty much all of these series', or at least one installment, but those plots leave basically everything to be desired, not to take away from tourneys in fighting games...it just seems so overdone. Well, I'm going to breaking the mold...WITH MY FISTS! Hallabbey Shuffle won't include some sinister or benevolent force holding a contest that decides the fate of anything, except the player's boredom. Fighting happens, and it doesn't have to be the result of a martial arts extravaganza. Of course, the fighting itself isn't supposed to be realistic unless nuclear near-Holocaust caused Earth's gravity to shift, allowing people to jump 15 feet into the air. My main point is, this thing needs to make sense. A few days ago, I rediscovered one of my short stories I'd written for a middle school English class assignment. It was hilarious, in that in an otherwise normal world completely parallel to our own, people could perform extraordinary feats for no reason, and with no consequence to ordinary life! One of the characters had the ability of interplanetary teleportation, while another could "... [use] the energy in the air to power himself up." That wasn't paraphrased, mind you. I'll post the story some time or another, but it's really bad. Breathing in space? Time travel? How'd it get there? I can't explain that.

At this point, I'm just being a dick to a pre-secondary school Lufasa who, aside from having a rat tail and being somewhat of a recluse, was alright. More relevant to this post, the other aspects of the game are being less prioritized as a result. The music writing never really stops: it's just a matter of coming up with good, fitting music for the genre, stages and players - it's like wading through your own shit [lit.] to find a diamond you accidentally swallowed. Okay, so aside from the word "find", maybe it's nothing like that. Also, I've decided to hold off on coding until I can get a second opinion from someone who could actually get involved in the project, as opposed to some random person.

"Hey, do you know C# -" "FOR THE LAST TIME, GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

Anyhow, it's getting to 1000 punches time. This training is madness.

"Madness?
...Yes, yes it is."

Coming next week: more of this! And possibly something else! You never know just what will happen next, but there's a 100% guarantee that it could be pretty awesome! Also, I'll share a few back-story panel samples.