hol-hol-holidays!

[Rich Parsons]

Originally posted by Les



Rich,

I think this is called "Motion Pool"

Les

Thanks guys !


Like I said, I have played by many rules, including the pulling out of a ball as a penalty. IT was jsut different, and what really got me though was the attitude that I did not know the rules already. I still played and had fun I think that was the point I was going for that night anyways.

Rich

 

[satans.barber]

Originally posted by Nate_Hoopes

I had never heard of this pool rule in my family and with all the people i play with if you scratch you have to take one of your balls out of the pocket. :shrug:

Hrmm, most of the pool tables in the pubs here eat the balls once they're potted, you can't get them back out until you put more money in, so it'd be pretty hard to play that way!

Ian.

 

[satans.barber]

Originally posted by FUZZYJ692000

Next time you're in the states you should try and stop at a few MA places along the way. Chronuss was right you were only like an hour away from us.

What....and leave a trail of devastation accross the US? Hehehehe, seriously, if I had have spotted any kenpo schools I might have gone in to say hello and watch a bit, but as it was I was in a group with three other people so I couldn't really drag them to places with schools for my own selfish reasons!

Would have been cool though, just to see some proper American Kenpo training to compare my own standards to for one!

Ian.

 

[pineapple head]

Friends or not i would have been straight in there...see ya guys..hahahahha
I would love to visit a few schols over in the USA , in fact i hope to go to Ohio early in he new year....ANY OFFERS!

Gary.

 

[jfarnsworth]

Just drop a line when your around in ohio and where specifically you want to go.
Jason Farnsworth

 

[ProfessorKenpo]

Originally posted by satans.barber


However.....not everything in life is rosey is it? I do have some complaints that I feel I must aire!

:soapbox: :soapbox: :soapbox: :soapbox:

1) Advertising on American TV...AGH! You guys have adverts like every 5 minutes or something, it's soul destroying! I even saw advert in the middle of a LIVE news report!! Not only that but the advertising isn't at all clever, it's just monotonous and crap, sorry!

2) 9/11 paranoia. I'm not going to harp on about this as I'm going to offend someone, suffice so say that all the additional security measures you people are taking in the aiports is flawed, weak, and annoying. I fail to see how a 'random' (read: letting Americans through and checking foreign people like me) check is going to help anything, surely you need to do everyone or no-one to be thorough?

3) Not including VAT in sales prices. Why? This is just a sod, if it says '3 postcards for a dollar', i want to give her the dollar in my hand. But no, it's $1.09 or something so you have to dig your wallet back out and give her some shrapnel as well. This gets even more annoying in restraunts when, coupled with the massive tip American waiters and waitresses expect, food is usually 25% more expensive in effect than teh quoted price. Makes it hard when you're trying to stick to a budget! Also, me=Mr. Pink.

4) American road system. Hoho, this really is crappy isn't it!? In britain, junctions have numbers, so you know exactly where to get of the motoray, in Ameica you just have to guess, leading to many 'I think we should have got off there' 'should we?' 'I don'y know, maybe it's the next one' type arguments! Also, there doesn't seem to be much forewarning of junctions, they jst appear. A sign a mile or so before would be nice to that you know it's coming up!

5) American cars: too big! Just because petrol is 20p/litre instead of 80p/litre (UK price) it doesn't mean that you have to use massive cars that guzzle lots up and knacker the environment! Also, automatic cars are yukky, we like gear sticks!

Apart from that, top notch. I shall be back!

Right, 3 weeks of posts to read now...


Ian. [/B]

If you don't have something nice to say about our country, keep your comments to yourself. I'm no fan of England but I don't post my comments on three years of living there, and I have alot of them.

 

[KenpoDave]

Originally posted by ProfessorKenpo

I'm no fan of England but I don't post my comments on three years of living there, and I have alot of them.

Clyde in England? Man, how did you reconcile the Texas drawl with "britspeak?"

What was your favorite technique to use at soccer games?

Dave

 

[satans.barber]

Originally posted by ProfessorKenpo




If you don't have something nice to say about our country, keep your comments to yourself. I'm no fan of England but I don't post my comments on three years of living there, and I have alot of them.

Oy! I put loads and loads of nice things!

/me doesn't think Clyde read it....


I.

 

[Les]

Originally posted by ProfessorKenpo




If you don't have something nice to say about our country, keep your comments to yourself. I'm no fan of England but I don't post my comments on three years of living there, and I have alot of them.

I too thought the post was very negative.
I'm also not a great fan of England.

Personally, when I went to the USA for the first time last March, for the AKKI Camp, I thought it was great.

I found the place to be cleaner than the UK, and the people were much more friendly and polite than they are here.
(Polite hardly exists in England).

Maybe I was just lucky, or perhaps it was a case of "Whatever the attitude, so is the response".

I didn't watch much TV, if I wanted to do that I could stay home and spend the money on beer. I'd see the same shows anyway, and lots of our programmes are imported from the States.
24, Ali McBeal, Friends, CSI, Law & Order, The Simpsons etc.

As for Vegas, I loved it. It was great to visit. Unlike satans barber, I didn't get pestered by people promoting porn there though. Hmmm... Does the the phrase 'birds of a feather' come to mind.

Just for the record, seeing the Rocky mountains was awesome.
That was the second best thing I've ever seen in all my 48 years on this earth. (The best was the sight of my first child being born)

Les

 

[ProfessorKenpo]

Originally posted by KenpoDave



Clyde in England? Man, how did you reconcile the Texas drawl with "britspeak?"

What was your favorite technique to use at soccer games?

Dave

Actually, they can't tell the difference in accents unless it's REALLY a slow southern drawl like from Tennessee or Bama just like it was hard for me to tell the difference in a Northhamptonshire accent from an Oxfordshire one. The really noticeable one was from Liverpool (the Beatles come to mind LOL). It took me years to learn to distinguish where they came from, even if it was just a few miles away they would have a slightly different accent. I was also accused of having a bad American accent on a CB radio once and got a big laugh out of that.

No luck on the Soccer matches, I didn't participate in the football hooliganism when I was there, come to think about it, I never went to a football game when I was there. American Football had just started in England when I left tho.

Have a great Kenpo day

Clyde

 

[ProfessorKenpo]

Originally posted by satans.barber



Oy! I put loads and loads of nice things!

/me doesn't think Clyde read it....


I.

Of course I read your post and thought it was negative, and being the patriot I am, I'm going to say something about it. Personally, I don't think you spent enough time in our country to make an accurate judgement of what it's like to LIVE here. I lived in England and payed my TV and radio tax, did the MOT thing on rusting vehicles, couldn't figure out which way I was going on the Motorway YADA, YADA, but I spent enough time there to figure the system out. I must say that since I've returned, my taste in beers has put me off drinking American stuff, it just ain't right.

Have a great Kenpo day

Clyde

 

[satans.barber]

Originally posted by Les

As for Vegas, I loved it. It was great to visit. Unlike satans barber, I didn't get pestered by people promoting porn there though. Hmmm... Does the the phrase 'birds of a feather' come to mind.

Did you walk down the strip? That's the one street I went down before I gave up and went back to the hotel, it's not like I was skulking about in the worst parts or anything.

Maybe it's a recent emergence, but I somehow doubt it!

My post wasn't negative at all, I typed about all the things I did, most of which I really enjoyed, and I also put that I though the people I met were extemely friendly and polite.

Isn't it traditional to moan about a few things that are wrong with places when you get back though, I always do! None of them were major things anyway, I've been to some places and hated them, if it'd've been like that you'd've seen a proper rant, but I never expected it to be and it wasn't!

Life isn't all rosey all the time, and there's little point in pretending it is; you have to take the rough with the smooth. I don't see anything wrong with appraising all aspects of a culture either, it's more interesting. I'll not bother in future though, clearly American pride is too easily bruised!

Ian.

 

[Les]

Originally posted by satans.barber

I'll not bother in future though, clearly American pride is too easily bruised!

Ian.

Ian,

I don't think it's a case of American pride being easily bruised. I've found the same patriotism in other parts of the world.

Possibly what caught you out is the fact that the 'United Kingdomers' have very little sense of loyalty to their country, and so you were not prepared for their (Clyde's) reaction.

Here in this country, the government and the education system do nothing to promote National Pride, loyalty or patriotism.

Lets face it, the majority of the population of England think the Cross of St George is a football pennant, not the country's flag.

Les

 

[satans.barber]

Originally posted by Les



Ian,

I don't think it's a case of American pride being easily bruised. I've found the same patriotism in other parts of the world.

Possibly what caught you out is the fact that the 'United Kingdomers' have very little sense of loyalty to their country, and so you were not prepared for their (Clyde's) reaction.

Here in this country, the government and the education system do nothing to promote National Pride, loyalty or patriotism.

Lets face it, the majority of the population of England think the Cross of St George is a football pennant, not the country's flag.

Les

I could put in a very cynical comment here, but it would probably get me kicked off the board (even though there's nothing subjective about it) so I'll keep it to myself.

Tempting though

Ian.

 

[pineapple head]

Go for it Ian!

 

[FUZZYJ692000]

Where ever you go you will find that some people have more pride in their country than others. Personally I think that it is great that you love the place that you live and you respect it. People are going to visit and some are going to have some conflicting issues with how somethings are run in that country. Not that I really think that the issues mentioned so far are extremely conflicting. It's just how that one person perceived their visit. And I don't think that his post was that negative, I read it and I thought by reading that he had a good time and enjoyed himself. He did say he was coming back because he did enjoy it. I'm an American and I complain about all kinds of things on how our country is run or not run in some areas. Being a political science major I like to look at the political side of things in our country. Not every country is perfect, each has its own flaws, but they also each have their unqiness and beauty. There are somethings in the US and England and every other country that needs to be changed, but that's just part of life that it is not perfect.

Think about it how many complain about pollution, yet people in the US tend to drive much larger cars than really needed, I know I drive one. Now people in Europe have the Strassbons, hope that's spelled right, I'm a little rusty on my German, they have tons of public transportation and can get all over the place. Here we don't have that much of it unless you live in the larger cities. Our road systems in some areas do kind of bite, the only time that they get fixed is when the people start complaining about them or there have been a lot of deaths on them. As for the taxes, well that's a different issue, I think that it should be in the price too like gas prices are but hey it's not that big of a deal. Plus each state regulates it's own taxes on most items so it varies state to state. As for the 9/11 thing, it was a horrible thing that happened, some of my mom's co-workers were in those very buildings and a friend of mine's dad was at the pentagon when it happened. But I honestly avoided the T.V. all that day this year just because I didn't want to hear about it all the time. I did go to a candlelight ceremony to show my respects however. Some people have different ways of acknowledgeing tragidies such as 9/11, and it has made it extremely difficult for foreigners to travel within the US. But at least you don't have to show your passport every time you wanted to go from one state to another, like you do in Europe, now that's a pain.

All in all, can't we all just admit that each of our countries all have their flaws, that they're not perfect and neither are we. I have a lot of pride in my country, especially being raised as an "army brat" it kind of comes with the territory. But I also have done my fair share of traveling to different countries to know that when visiting new places you find the good and the bad.

Respectfully,
Jani :asian:

 

[Les]

Originally posted by FUZZYJ692000


But at least you don't have to show your passport every time you wanted to go from one state to another, like you do in Europe, now that's a pain.

Respectfully,
Jani

Jani,

A good post, making very salient points. It was a pleasure to read your comments.

Could I just point out that in Europe we only show our passports when travelling from one country to another. This is the same system as in the USA.

Les

 

[FUZZYJ692000]

Yes, Les I know that in Europe that you only have to show passports when going from one country to another, but some of those countries are so small and it's such a pain trying to find the passport. I remember having car searches too, that was never any fun. But I did love it in Europe and I'm hoping to revisit in the near future so I can see how much it has changed. Thanks for the positive response.

Jani

 

[Nightingale]

um... as an American and a Patriot...

I don't think he complained about anything that most of us haven't said a hundred times over....

Personally, I hate the Vegas glitz, get kind of intimidated by SUVs when I'm driving my little car, hated the airport hassle the last time I flew, gripe about the potholes in California, complain about taxes, and think there are too many TV commercials!

You all just seem a little pissy because its a Brit saying it instead of an American...its acceptable for some reason when we say it about ourselves.