Noxx

Speaking of weight, i've been the same weight since the age of 16. Around 60kg, no matter what i do. I lived off junkfood for an entire two months and it did nothing to my weight.Really weird. I'm sure theres some problem with my diet, but i mean i'm still healthy so i see no point in fixing it.

Something interesting has happened over the past couple of weeks. When i was still "living" in the US i dated this girl for a while. She ended up moving to Portland, we obviously stopped seeing each other, and eventually we stopped talking altogether. About 2 years ago, for whatever reason, i decided to message her on Facebook. We started talking again, catching up, etc. Over the months we progressively started talking more and more. It went from once every other month, to once every other week, to once every other day. The conversations never really consisted of much more than small talk. Whenever i told her about my "travels" to different countries she's always mention how jealous/envious she was, and how she wishes she could travel the world as well. So i few weeks ago i mentioned to her than a friend of mine recently started working for our Airline, how much she's enjoying it, and how she's seen over 20 different countries in the 6 short months she's lived there. I mentioned to her that it might be something she should consider. At the time i didn't think much of it. I figured i'd mention it, she'll give me the usual "yeah i might look into it" response just to be polite, then never mention it again. Well... a couple of days ago she mentioned that she started working on her CV and wanted to know where the best place would be to send it. I was actually caught off guard a bit. Then she lowkey mentioned that it would be nice to see me again because she felt like "we never really had a chance to see where things would go" just before she popped offline. I take these things with a grain of salt anyway. I have enough experience to know that sometimes people say things in the heat of the moment. But either way, it would actually be really cool if she did end up working here. I think it would be the closest i've ever gotten to "helping someone make their dream a reality".

-- Henry David Thoreau, "Life Without Principle" Full-services gas attendants are metaphorically employed to throw stones over a wall. It is an antiquated thought that people must be employed. We are on the edge of a precipice where much labor in the first world--across sectors like transportation and retail--will be eliminated to automation (e.g., robots, AI). This perhaps extends to more skilled fields like law and medicine, where AI can provide speed and accuracy humans could never hope to match. We must re-evaluate what it means to provide value to society. We must look into providing for all citizens a basic quality of life, and jobs should simply be for personal growth--if you want something other than what is considered necessary--not a requirement to survive. I watched a video a while back somewhat relating to this. It's a scary thought that eventually humans could become obsolete and be replaced with machines that not only do their job cheaper, but also do it faster, more accurate, etc. With that said, however, certain fields will most likely never be fully automated. Machines still lack the ability to reason, adapt, and adjust in certain aspects. Take aviation for example. Right now a modern airliner can just about fly itself. 90% of the flight, if not more, is done purely by the auto-pilot. Most (if not all) Airlines have a policy that once the aircraft reaches a certain height/altitude (something like 18 000ft), auto-pilot is engaged. Auto-pilot is only disengaged again once it reaches a certain height/altitude during the approach segment of the flight. The exception to this rule being certain emergency/distress situations. That being said, the aircraft is more than able to conduct the entire flight with only partial input from humans, or even with no input whatsoever. The pilot is basically just there to fill a seat and look at instruments for the duration of the flight. But like i said, unlike machines, humans have the ability to reason and analyze matter on a level no machine can (yet). While i believe most fields stand the possibility of becoming automated, i also believe certain fields will never be fully automated and will always require some sort of human presence even if it's only as an observer. EDIT: This will most likely come across as extremely stupid, but whatever. I grew up in a country where self-service was non-existent. I don't even think South Africa had the option. To my knowledge every gas station i ever used was a "full-service" station. I think the only times this wasn't the case is when we traveled on holiday and stopped at smaller gas stations in very remote areas. Basically 1-horse towns. But even then, i think they all had at least 1 attendant. I can't be certain since this was a very long time ago. In Qatar though, i don't think self-service exists either. Not to my knowledge anyway. So as far as i'm concerned, i've never used a self-service station except when i was in the US. To be completely honest, my initial thought was something like "What the f is this crap? Why am i pumping my own gas like a pleb?" Ironically i thought having to pump my own gas was "backwards". Actually... come to think of it now, i think i misunderstood what you guys meant with "backwards".

Wow Saq really wanted an answer to his question. Anyway, i think you guys missed my point. My point was that having a "full-service" gas station isn't something you can call "backwards". It's something i'll always support. Like i said, if i have to sit in queue for an extra 10 minutes every time i fill up my car i'll do it, as long as i know i'm keeping a few people off the streets. I understand that in NA and EU people might not feel the same way, as gas is already so expensive in those countries, playing even the slightest bit more to pay for someone else's salary might not be something a lot of people are willing to do. But we pay something like just over $1 per gal (if my rough estimation is correct) so it's really not a big deal to us. That being said, i can't even imagine the chaos self-service gas stations would cause here. I actually think people would end up killing themselves by putting themselves on fire, or blowing up the gas stations.

Never realised creating jobs in a world where unemployment is prevalent in every country is a bad thing. Guess it's better to sit on a street corner and beg rather than do something as mundane as pumping gas for an income.

Back in South Africa, and even in Qatar, every gas station i've ever been to had someone to pump the gas for you. I don't think it's a matter of being backwards. Really don't see how anyone could draw that conclusion, if i'm being honest. Frankly i prefer having someone pump the gas for me. I get to sit on my ass, in my car, while someone pumps my gas, takes my money, and brings me my change.

That's pretty much a re-skin of H1Z1, right? I've always been very interested in trying a game like that, but never really followed through with it. Probably mostly because i need a better PC first, but also because i feel like my internet/region isn't very favorable for most multi-player games. Speaking of getting a better PC, it's something i've really been thinking about for a while now. I want to build (or have one built for me rather) a PC that'll be capable of playing whatever i want at max/near max settings. Honestly that's the only justification i can find for building a PC, since if i'm not planning on playing games at max settings, i might as well stick to console. Anyway, i have no idea how much (or rather, how little) i'd be able to spend to get what i want. Obviously i don't give a shit about recording, streaming, rendering, etc. etc. etc. so i know i won't NEED top of the line, but i'd want something as close to it as possible. Another thing that is probably going to be a MUST is water-cooling. I'm fed up and done with conventional fan-cooling. There's way too much dust where i live, and it takes the fan no more than a few days before it starts sounding like an old car engine. I had my Laptop for a year in the US and it ran perfectly. After about a month back home it started running hot, started crashing due to overheating, fan started running noisy, etc. I'm hoping that i can get something decent for around $1500 - $2000. I think the real issue however is going to be shipping costs. Since it'll be much cheaper for me to buy the parts abroad (because stuff like that is stupidly overpriced here), i'll have to find some way of shipping it here cheaply. And then there's also the fact that i know little to nothing about building a PC and PC parts... will require a lot of research before i actually get to it. Completely unrelated topic... back in Greece for another session of exams. Kinda nervous. The closer i get to finishing, the harder it's becoming to stay motivated and focused. Really all i want to do is go home and play video-games. I think that really says something about my mentality when it comes to life. Sometimes i feel the reason it's taken me so long to commit and finish what i started is the fear of growing up and having responsibilities. Having to start paying my own bills, having a someone large amount of responsibility placed on my shoulders, etc. At the moment i think the only thing (and it's really not a good thing) that's helping me get through all of this is the idea of what my life could become once i'm finally able to say "I'm a pilot". The respect i would get from my family, not just my parents but my aunts and uncles, my friends, people who've always told me i'll never be anything or anyone. And of course i think it'll make pulling girls just that much easier, which is a bonus.

Finished the new DLC for Dark Souls 3. It was really fun. One of the bosses seems a bit BS though. Very poor design in my opinion. High HP, attacks that basically take 80% of your HP, attacks that can literally 1-hit you, attacks that are almost impossible to dodge. But it was really fun. Better than the first DLC imo. Still making my way through Nioh as well. Really fun game. Really enjoying the fast paced gameplay.

I went to an event a couple of weeks ago and the event's page finally uploaded the pictures taken that night onto their Facebook page. I scrolled through them and stumbled upon a picture of a girl that used to go to school with me back in South Africa. Sent her a message on Facebook and turns out she moved to Qatar about 5 months ago. She's one of those girls who was very average looking in High School but turned into a solid 9. She works for Qatar Airways as an air hostess so she spends more time out of the country than in it, but she's very keen on meeting up when she's back. I think it would be fun "reconnecting" with someone from my home town again.

Played the Dark Souls 3 DLC yesterday. Took me a couple of hours to get through it. It's really good. Much better than the first one, in my opinion. However, there's an optional boss that i don't really agree with. Probably one of the hardest boss fights in the Souls/Bloodborne series. And the worst part is that the difficulty feels very artificial. Attacks that either kill you in one hit, or take off 60% of your HP. Attacks that are hard/impossible to dodge. Basically, you can get the boss down to within a few hits of death, then die to some random bullshit RNG attack that's impossible to dodge. Not my idea of good design.

Decided to buy Nioh last night. Really good so far.

I've never felt the need to lie on Tinder. I'm very intimidated (not the right word, but i can't think of a better word right now) by the fact that i might be confronted about whatever it is i'm lying about. Then again, i don't really have much to lie about. I don't have to lie about my height, my weight, or my "job" (or lack thereof at the moment). I've been on my fair share of Tinder dates and i don't think i've ever met someone that blatantly lied or misled me either. There was one girl who showed a lot of cleavage in some of her pictures, so i assumed she had bigger breasts than she actually had (turns out push-up bras really helped her out in that department). But that's about it.

I'm sure she knows the difference, but it's difficult for anyone to call themselves fat, let alone when they know it's going to disqualify them sexually. I don't disagree with your choice (I'd have done the same thing) but I wouldn't have bothered responding at all. It's a tough situation. Generally i really don't like just flat-out being rude to people, or hurting their feelings. I didn't want to not reply and have her think it's because of something she did. Truth be told, when we were driving in the car and i didn't have to look at her (because i was focusing on the road) it was actually fine. i actually think i had a good time. Fun to talk to, etc. So i didn't want her thinking she's a boring person, or she did something wrong, or whatever. I'd rather have her think i'm just another shallow prick instead. There are a lot of guys that prefer larger women. I don't see why people aren't just honest about it upfront, instead of trying to be deceitful about their appearance. I find the fact that all of her pictures are just to her neckline deceitful, honestly speaking. This way you don't waste my time, and you don't waste your own time. You also spare yourself the pain of having to hear "sorry i don't like fat girls" over and over. I'd rather just be honest about it

Girls really need to learn the difference between "curvy" and "fat/overweight". This girl sent me a message yesterday afternoon saying she had fun on our date, and we should do it again some time. I told her that i don't think it was going to happen, i felt no sort of attraction to her AT ALL. She asked me why and i told her the truth, told her that i just prefer girls more or less in my own weight class. Nothing personal. She hits me with the "so you don't like curvy women?" Couldn't even be bothered responding to that. Being 50lbs over your suggested weight does not make you "curvy", that makes you fat. I don't have a problem with fat people either, i should mention. I just have zero physical attraction to them. Even less when they're as [bleep]ing delusional as this girl. Curvy my ass.

I made a rookie mistake tonight. Went on a Tinder date with a girl who had no full body pictures in her profile. She turned out to be rather large. Nice personality, funny, etc. just no sexual attraction at all. One of those girls with a 9/10 face but a 1/10 body.

Friday night we went out to celebrate my sister's birthday. Everything was going great for the first few hours, but then it turned sour pretty quickly. My sister is a diabetic and it [bleep]s with her hormones/mood really badly. One moment she'll be happy as can be, the next she's moody and depressed. So it was just a matter of time before she'd get moody. I don't really know what happened or what started it, but i was busy chatting up some girl when i saw her sitting at the table rubbing her eyes. I went over to talk to her and she was very upset. She wasn't having a very good time apparently. It took some time, but i finally convinced her that we should leave and go somewhere else. I called up some of her other friends who weren't able to make it because one of them spends Friday's with his family and the other's sister had her engagement party until a bit later. They both agreed that they'd be able to meet up with us in about an hour which gave us enough time to go get some food. I was sort of pissed about having to leave because the girl i was talking to... i feel like she was really into me and she was very hot. Mexican girl with long hair, great legs, an ass you could write poems about. Oh well... So we finally met up with her other two friends and we decide to book a hotel room for the night, stay there, smoke, chill, watch some movies, etc. We hotboxed the shit out of the toilet. I don't remember anything hitting me as hard as it hit me that night. Within about 10 minutes i was so [bleep]ed i couldn't move, couldn't even keep my eyes open. I think we all ended up passing out for like 3 hours. I wake up at around 2 am and tell my sister i was gonna go home while i'm still awake and feeling fairly sober again. I'm halfway home when it starts pissing down outside. Like Florida rain. I couldn't see anything in front of me. Had to pull over for a few minutes and wait for it to pass, but it didn't. So i started driving again, slowly. Somehow i took a wrong turn and ended up on the highway to Saudi. I was so [bleep]ing lost. I couldn't even use GPS either, cause my phone died earlier that night. I finally made it back to a familiar road and made my way home only to find the only two roads leading to my house (literally like half a mile from my house) flooded to the point where i would not be able to drive on it with my car. Ended up having to take a [bleep]ing dirt road but i made it. Never been so scared driving in my life.

Still sick. Bit better now, but not much to be honest. Last night i went to bed really early. Couldn't fall asleep because my nose kept running. And i mean it was gushing. So i tried to stop it from running. Nothing worked. Ended up just rolling up tissue paper and showing it up my nostrils. Worked for a while until i noticed the tissue paper was actually soaked now. Went to the sink to take it out. Oh my god it was a scene from some sort of low budget movie. Looked like i just opened the flood gates. I'd never seen anything like that. About an hour later after consuming a lot of water (apparently it was supposed to help) it stopped. Managed to sleep for about 4 hours before i woke up drenched in sweat. I was so wet i had to get a towel to dry myself off, and had to sleep on the couch the rest of the night since my bed and sheets were completely wet. I don't think i can recall ever being hit this bad by a flu/fever. My mom makes this bomb ass cough medicine though. So i mean at least there's an upside to all of this.

But who fires the nuke when russia and the us are friends. Middle East? EDIT: I was watching some documentaries on Nostradamus during the week and it honestly would make the most sense if this was the case. I sort of figured out an easy way to bring e-juice into the country. Last time i went to Greece (in December) i tried bringing back some with me because i wasn't really aware that you weren't allowed to bring it in. I knew they didn't sell anything e-cig related here, but i figured you'd still be able to bring it in from outside. Anyway, so i got to customs and they asked to search my shit. Found all my juice and vape as well. Confiscated it. Was pretty bummed because it was easily $400 worth of products. When i went to Greece this time however i decided to buy a new vape and new juice and shit but instead of putting it in my checked luggage i'd keep it in my backpack instead. Just put the juice in a ziplock bag. Once i landed at home i went to the toilet and put the juice bottles in my pockets (cause they scan your hand luggage on arrival). Bob's your uncle i managed to bring 6 bottles back with me.

I actually had a thought to log back into RS a couple of weeks ago but i quickly changed my mind when i realised i'd probably have so much to learn and that i would either just play a few days til the nostalgia wore off, or i'd get consumed by it again. Also i' sick as a dog. Don't really remember the last time i was actually sick. Went to bed last night and i was feeling fine, woke up this morning with a slight fever, shivering, aching, etc. Had to take an exam this morning as well, and i was so tired and it was so hard to focus. Ended up getting 75 (which is the pass mark). I was actually so relieved. Got another test tomorrow. Not really excited, but it should be an easy one.

So this week has been pretty shitty so far... I arrived in Greece on Saturday somewhere around noon-ish. As i get off the plane i do what i always do first: i activate my roaming and i buy the necessary data package with my carrier in Qatar so i don't have to pay the ridiculous roaming costs. It works out around $30 for 100 minutes and 1gb of data , which is enough for whenever i'm not within wifi range. I pick up my luggage, head outside, get in a cab and tell him where i'm going. Soon as we get onto the high-way he tells me he's not 100% sure where i'm going, can i maybe direct him. I'm slightly annoyed, but i figured this is exactly why i have GPS on my phone. So i get the location and i direct him. It's about a 30 minute drive and he's very chatty (and ignorant). He makes the usual small-talk. Asks me why i'm in Greece, where i'm from, etc. When i mentioned i was from South Africa he made the typical "but you're white?" comment. I noticed about 10 minutes into the trip that he didn't turn the meter on. I figured he was a.) either going to try and bullshit me or b.) ask me for the normal price, but just not "clock" it so he makes some extra money on the side. Cab drivers in Qatar do this all the time as well, so it's nothing new to me. So we get to my destination and i ask him how much for the ride. He asks for 60. I just stand there in silence. Generally the trip from the Airport to that hotel is only around 38-40. I tell him that 60 is too much. He tells me no, it's 60 "how would i know different". So i told him i know what the price is, i've been to this hotel 4 times in the last 6 or 8 months. All of a sudden he tells me "yes sorry i meant 40". So i open my wallet and i take out 30 and told him it's all i have. He tries to argue with me and i just told him that i'm more than happy to call the police and have them settle the situation for us. By law if the meter's not running i should pay for the trip at all, so i mean he's lucky i'm even giving him 30. He mumbles some shit to me in Greek and got in his car and drove off. I get to my room, settle down a bit, etc. Few minutes later i decided to call my parents just to let them know i'm safe and whatever. My phone has no service. Try for about an hour to get it working. Turned the phone on and off several times, took the sim out, cleaned it, put it back, etc. Nothing. I give up and call them on Skype. Next day my dad calls me on Skype (still had no service) and tells me my phone account has been cut off because apparently my bill is sitting at 4000 Riyals which is about $1200. Told him it's impossible because i haven't even used up all my data/minutes from January. To make a long story short, my service provider in Qatar charges around $16/mb when you're roaming without the package i purchased on the airport. So i can only assume that somehow an error has been made and the package never activated or whatever. Either way, no way i'm paying that bill, they can go [bleep] themselves. So today i went to write my first exam for this sitting. The exam i wrote is known to be a [bleep]. The way it works is that the exams are all randomly generated from a multiple-choice questionbank. This subject has 35 questions from a possible ~500. Generally you get around 28 theory questions and 7 graph-based questions. It's structured in a way that the theory makes up around 70% and graphs make up the last 30% (graphs generally count for 2 or 3 marks and theory for 1). The graphs are known to be very tricky. Either your margins are extremely close and very hard to be accurate with, or the actual material you're given to work with is littered with lines made by previous students (it's hard to explain, but it's not that important). Since you need 75 to pass you generally don't want to get more than 2 or 3 theory questions wrong, since you only need to get 2 or 3 of the graphs correct for a pass. Well.... as luck would have it, today RNG decided to give me around 20 theory questions and around 15 graphs. I looked at it and laughed. I know i had all the theory questions correct, and i was uncertain about only 1 of them. Even with that, i was looking at a max of around 40% guaranteed. I tried my best with the graphs, but yeah... got [bleep]ed in the end. Real pain in the ass. Have to wait till next month to retake it. Got 4 more exams left till the 22nd. At least they're all just theory-based, so not too worried. Just... hasn't been a good couple of days.

I'm thinking about getting Nioh when i get back from exams in about 2 weeks. Looks really good from the minimal gameplay i allowed myself to watch. Has anyone else played it yet?

That's the only part of NFL i dislike, the short bursts of action. With my ADD it's very hard for me to stay interested in a game when there's a break in action every other minute.

Have you ever watched rugby though Everyone is so small and slow It's like watching high schoolers out there You must not have been watching high quality team then. Many rugby players would make some of the NFL players look scrawny. Many rugby players were decorated track athletes in high-school. They just appear much smaller because... well they don't have all that padding to make them look bigger. Granted, there are certain positions where being smaller is beneficial (like rugby's equivalent of a QB). But in general i'd say that for the most part there's not too much difference in terms of size. In terms of speed though, i'd wager that the average backline player in a rugby team would easily outrun most NFL players. If you've ever watched teams like South Africa, Australia, New Zealand (especially), even England and Ireland to an extend, you'd know just how absurd of a statement you just made. I mean, we watched Jarryd Hayne try to play in the NFL and he was physically outmatched at the easiest position to play The biggest rugby players are like 250 The problem with your example is you're using someone who plays a position where players are known more for their speed and agility than anything else. I mean trying to compare rugby players to NFL players really just doesn't work either way because you're trying to compare people who are built and trained for two entirely different purposes. It would be like comparing a cross-country runner with a sprinter. Sure, they both do the same thing (ie. run), but they do two completely different versions of it. Can't really use that as an argument because an NFL team playing against a rugby team in rugby would not make it was the first 10 minutes. While there might be 1 specific area of the game they could win, everywhere else they would be outmatched because of how different the games are in dynamic. In an NFL team you have a handful of people who are good at running the ball. In a rugby team the entirety of the team needs to be good at running the ball. So having a 400lbs "meat head" on your team wouldn't do you any justice. There's just really no way you can compare the two sports in a serious argument.

Have you ever watched rugby though Everyone is so small and slow It's like watching high schoolers out there You must not have been watching high quality team then. Many rugby players would make some of the NFL players look scrawny. Many rugby players were decorated track athletes in high-school. They just appear much smaller because... well they don't have all that padding to make them look bigger. Granted, there are certain positions where being smaller is beneficial (like rugby's equivalent of a QB). But in general i'd say that for the most part there's not too much difference in terms of size. In terms of speed though, i'd wager that the average backline player in a rugby team would easily outrun most NFL players. If you've ever watched teams like South Africa, Australia, New Zealand (especially), even England and Ireland to an extend, you'd know just how absurd of a statement you just made.

This morning one of South Africa's Rugby legends passed away. He has been suffering from ALS for the past few years, probably close to 6 years now. Really tragic.