The Syndicate

thellama73 wrote:

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:England's pretty nice for vegetarians. That's why I hate American food.

America is great for carnivores, which is why I love it.

Haven't been to USA. Or to any country in the Americas other than my own, for that matter (unless you count Aruba as a country). It's one of the places I'd like to visit.

I haven't been to USA either. Probably because I'm not a baptist. Shred buddies notwithstanding, my only other connection would be a family friend residing in L.A.

Dragon D. Luffy wrote:Haven't been to USA. Or to any country in the Americas other than my own, for that matter (unless you count Aruba as a country). It's one of the places I'd like to visit.

I have only been outside of the U.S. once (Mexico City) thus far, but it was a good trip. I really, really want to travel globally so much more, and I plan on utilizing summers thanks to my shiny professor position (when I'm finally done with schooling to get me there) to do so.

That said, there's still a lot in the U.S. I want to see. It's definitely a lot of pockets of subcultures that make up a country, so I would recommend covering multiple areas if at all possible.

Not all Americans are Baptists. In fact, I would venture to say that most of us are not. What MP says s true. It is a huge country, with many very different cultures. You will not get the same experience in the Deep South, Southern California, New England, the Midwest, the Pacific Northwest, Texas, New York, or Flyover Country.

Sorry, I didn't mean that. I was implying that most of my friends or (former) colleagues who are baptists usually take trips to the States, provided or not by their church, whether they already have relatives there or go for a summer job or go to church camps. My best friend literally has hopes that in two years or so he can fuck this hometown and move to the States with his wife and children.

thellama73 wrote:Not all Americans are Baptists. In fact, I would venture to say that most of us are not. What MP says s true. It is a huge country, with many very different cultures. You will not get the same experience in the Deep South, Southern California, New England, the Midwest, the Pacific Northwest, Texas, New York, or Flyover Country.

Incredibly true.

It's amazing to me how different Cincinnati, OH is from San Antonio, TX, for example, having lived in both places now.

I plan on arranging Syndicate meetups in the future, so whatever I can do to help get some of you non-USAers in for any of those, I'll consider it.

It would be cool if we could get together on a cruise. Then we could play the party game version of mafia.

G-Man wrote:It would be cool if we could get together on a cruise. Then we could play the party game version of mafia.

That'd be badass.

And we're definitely going to play the party game version in any meetup. Required.

I would have to make sure to take a ton of Dramamine though, since I get terribly seasick. :P

I was at a music workshop in April and one day, after playing mime and stuff the previous nights, the violist suggested we could try playing Mafia as well. They never witnessed me this excited at any other point during the whole workshop.

We didn't play, though.

linki: Real life emotional outbursts from MP would end up on YouTube.

MovingPictures07 wrote:

G-Man wrote:It would be cool if we could get together on a cruise. Then we could play the party game version of mafia.

That'd be badass.

And we're definitely going to play the party game version in any meetup. Required.

A bunch of us on a boat drifting around the ocean for weeks, constantly suspecting and accusing one another... Sounds awesome and also like the beginning of a horror story I may have to write.

Ricochet wrote:I was at a music workshop in April and one day, after playing mime and stuff the previous nights, the violist suggested we could try playing Mafia as well. They never witnessed me this excited at any other point during the whole workshop.

We didn't play, though.

linki: Real life emotional outbursts from MP would end up on YouTube.

I'd have to go all John McEnroe on your asses.

"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS! YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!"

thellama73 wrote:

MovingPictures07 wrote:

G-Man wrote:It would be cool if we could get together on a cruise. Then we could play the party game version of mafia.

That'd be badass.

And we're definitely going to play the party game version in any meetup. Required.

A bunch of us on a boat drifting around the ocean for weeks, constantly suspecting and accusing one another... Sounds awesome and also like the beginning of a horror story I may have to write.

My birthday party in August will be a Mafia-themed party, complete with several rounds of the live game.

MovingPictures07 wrote:I plan on arranging Syndicate meetups in the future, so whatever I can do to help get some of you non-USAers in for any of those, I'll consider it.

What are you doing on August 8th?

Metalmarsh89 wrote:

MovingPictures07 wrote:I plan on arranging Syndicate meetups in the future, so whatever I can do to help get some of you non-USAers in for any of those, I'll consider it.

What are you doing on August 8th?

Quasi-Syndicate meetup.

Haven't played real life mafia since 2005. When I played it like 10 times in a row in one night.

Then I didn't play it again until 2014, when I found out it was possible to play mafia on the internet.

Real life mafia is a ton of fun, but internet mafia is so much better.

I remember a game where I was mafia and I killed a guy who was suspecting me. I got lynched for that in the next day and didn't even understand why until after the game was over. I was such a noob.

Nowadays, I'd see it coming in the previous day, do it anyway and plan my posts in preparation for the inevitable WIFOM defense I'd have to use.

MovingPictures07 wrote:

Ricochet wrote:I was at a music workshop in April and one day, after playing mime and stuff the previous nights, the violist suggested we could try playing Mafia as well. They never witnessed me this excited at any other point during the whole workshop.

We didn't play, though.

linki: Real life emotional outbursts from MP would end up on YouTube.

I'd have to go all John McEnroe on your asses.

"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS! YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!"

Courtesy of G-Man:


Saved for posterity.

Dragon D. Luffy wrote:I remember a game where I was mafia and I killed a guy who was suspecting me. I got lynched for that in the next day and didn't even understand why until after the game was over. I was such a noob.

Nowadays, I'd see it coming in the previous day, do it anyway and plan my posts in preparation for the inevitable WIFOM defense I'd have to use.

I was ninja civ once, killed a baddie, but left bad reads for everyone (actually just one guy, but everyone followed him blindly ) to suspect me of actually being that baddie's teammate. I had to shoot my way out of the lynch, but blew my cover in doing so and was an easy kill the following Night.

Incriminating reads, crumbs or vote records always get me in trouble when I'm not a baddie.

Me, meeting an internet friend for the first time ever. She is cool, but I am not.

A Person wrote:Me, meeting an internet friend for the first time ever. She is cool, but I am not.

Hello internet friend who is cool.

I really like your MattMatt. I wouldn't mind if my hair grew like that.

hi

thellama73 wrote:

MovingPictures07 wrote:

G-Man wrote:It would be cool if we could get together on a cruise. Then we could play the party game version of mafia.

That'd be badass.

And we're definitely going to play the party game version in any meetup. Required.

A bunch of us on a boat drifting around the ocean for weeks, constantly suspecting and accusing one another... Sounds awesome and also like the beginning of a horror story I may have to write.

I would LOVE to do this.

A Person wrote:Me, meeting an internet friend for the first time ever. She is cool, but I am not.

Epi and I met on AOL IM 16 years ago, September of 1999 We met in person on St. Patricks day in 2000. We were 16 years old. We celebrate 12 years of marriage July 6th, in less than a month. Time flies when you're having fun.

I was poor. I only had AIM.

Also, it's funny that we met on St. Patrick's Day. Mama made me wash my own clothes, and I did so with my green robe in the mix, so everything thing I washed turned green.

Here is me and the family this morning making a special announcement about our baby due in October.

Happy fathers day G-Man!

That's a happy announcement, Happy Father's Day indeed!

Well-positioned Lost DVD collection, G-Man!

DisgruntledPorcupine wrote:

hi

No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

G-man looks like a G.

But DisgruntledPorcupine looks far from disgruntled.

Epignosis wrote:Happy fathers day G-Man!

Thanks! Happy Father's Day to you too!

Golden wrote:Well-positioned Lost DVD collection, G-Man!

Haha I hadn't noticed that when framing the shot. The DVDs on that shelf pretty much sum me up- Lord of the Rings, Lost, MacGyver. The only thing missing is one of my 5 copies of the original Star Wars trilogy. My wife's Harry Potter DVDs are on the second shelf down, right under LotR.

Us in a big goddamned bouncy house.

Nice photo!

Giant bouncy house sounds awesome.

Whoa, sweet thread. I guess I actually posted pics in here a long time ago but here's a few more for everyone to swoon over...

Me and my mom a few years ago...



From the left, my brother Mike, ME, my cousin Alex...as you can see, I am immune to the bald gene that has apparently hit my family with a vengeance...



From the left, my friend Johnny, ME, my friend Jaquan...



My friend Lisette and I at work gettin' pumped up for a shift!! And yes, that facial expression is exactly what civilian Matt looks like trying to figure out who's bad.

Nice pictures, Matt!

Your expression in the last one accompanied with your description cracks me up; I just pictured you fervently typing on your keyboard looking like that.

MovingPictures07 wrote:Nice pictures, Matt!

Your expression in the last one accompanied with your description cracks me up; I just pictured you fervently typing on your keyboard looking like that.

Hahaha! For real, tho, now peeps know why they should never take me seriously. I'm thinking of cropping that pic, and making that face my avatar.

Maaaaaaaattttttttt! I adore those picts!!! Thanks for posting them!!!

When we gonna go get lunch neighbor????

You are one of 4 long time internet friends who live in the same metro area as me and I still haven't had face to face time with yet. I'VE BEEN OUT HERE 5 YEARS!!! WHY DO YOU PEOPLE HATE ME??????? *cries* *wails*

I'm growing a playoff beard for the Stanley Cup Playoffs even though my team didn't even make the cut. Here are my pics so far:

April 10th- the last time I shaved (and the last day of the regular season). My daughter was baptized this day. April 17th- One week in... April 24th- Two weeks in and growing fast. May 1st- Three weeks in. I'm going for a 'Most Interesting Man in the World' look here. :P

Looking good sir! Beared and shorn!!

I'm not going to post a picture here until my beard is long enough to braid.

Wow, G-Man has got the authors dustcover look down.

Hello Syndicate, I have been absent for a while so I thought I'd share some pictures from my recent adventures to make up for it.

Here is Graduate Sloonei with Mrs Sloonei Here I am attempting to climb a frozen mountain: Here are my feet lounging near the top of said frozen mountain before finishing the climb Here I am climbing back down the mountain on a slightly less frozen but more cliffsidey path, after a successful hike to the top: And last but not least here's what my chin currently looks like after a recent biking accident (don't look if you're squeamish):

Awesome pictures, Sloonei!! (well, except the last one)

I like the first one best, personally. Very nice!!

MovingPictures07 wrote:Awesome pictures, Sloonei!! (well, except the last one)

But it's gonna look so rad once it scars over! I may have also suffered a slight concussion, but I can't get a definitive answer from anyone.

indiglo wrote: I like the first one best, personally. Very nice!!

Thanks! That was a very long day, but it was a good time.

Not quite as devastatingly handsome as I had imagined you, Sloonei, but close.