Leaderboard

It's been a long time and I haven't shared any new updates since a while. Sometimes, I feel it's just 2008 and we just started our community but when I see the calendar, it's 2018. When we started while back it was just me, Rainier, Joe, FEM, yoyo and medic. Rest others followed over the period of time. Medic was the one who pursued me big time, to add COD4 servers when COD4 was at peak. Then we become super popular in COD4 in top 5 and over the period of time, server activity declined. My this year goal is to make COD4 popular again slowly with new server settings and bring some oldies back for fun. I still can't believe Anique, you are still around. Even V!per came back from FAG days. I still can't believe almost 10 years have passed by. 10 years is a long time. I was single, working, running community during free time and enjoying my free life. It used to be really fun time and it still is. But let's be honest, oldies are like your first love in life. You never forget them no matter what. I just wish Rainier, Joe, Medic and others would get active again. I kinda miss them sometimes. I am glad yoyo is still around and kicking, irrespective to our personal differences while back. But hey it's all history and I look forward each day towards rising sun! I never for even once thought I will get to see 2018 with =F|A=. I had some rough time in my life during 2010-2013 and lot's of people helped me out. It would really hurt when I have to say, sorry guys, we are closing our community because of less donations, less peeps, less server activity. I get it, whatever comes in existence has to expire. But then every year, I say to myself, God no not this year, one year more. I would hate to see not talking to all of you. We will be soon looking to promote some of our new members to help out oldies like me and fill in the shoes so that they can continue legacy of =F|A=. Does that mean, I am going inactive? No not at all. I will be around and kicking. In fact, I have started advertising about our website on COC, COR, COD4, ET, Insurgency and DOI forums to get more new players to our community. This community has given me so much, that I can't forget. For once, I wish, I can go on lunch with all the members but alas, we humans are dreamers and that's what keep us alive. We are nothing but emotional animals, looking for some love from our friends and family. In this case =F|A= has been my first baby, friends and family! I for one, thank you to all of you for being so nice to me over all the years. From members to staff, I am lucky enough to find friends who came out for rescue when I needed the help most. I will see you all tomorrow. Have a nice weekend ladies & gentleman!

I now bring to you the one and only von Rantala! Quite friendly, experienced admin and leader. Thank you von for taking the time to answer a few questions to let us get to know you a little more! What is something fun we don't know about you? Hmm, i am very open person, i have told a lot on my life in the servers and site. But maybe its that i drink a lot CocaCola xD Have you noticed anything changing within the FA community since you joined? DD is more active in these days, when i was first active and joined this clan. JoeDirt was running show when i orginally joined. DD was lurking around, but now he is more active, what is great. We haven't been active in sametime. When i was active he was mainly inactive, and now when i been inactive, he been active. What makes this gaming community unique from the rest? We don't have "dictartorship" in here. We discuss major changes with all the members. If members say no, we dont apply new rules. We do apply deniel, approval together by voting. Our owner trust, a lot on his leaders and members. We dont ban or kick anyone out of clan hastily, we are very fair to everyone and give always second chanse. We also are very patiance on members who we see have potential, but doing mistakes. We always believe doing mistakes is better than not doing anything. Where do you see FA going in the coming years? In new games, but keeping old ones alive. I believe we can be very healthy clan for long long to future. In the future, i believe we can go to games which we can't have own servers. Now we mainly stayed on games which we can run own server, but dont see it impossible to go to games which we don't have own server. We never had competion teams, (scrim teams), but i think in the future we might take part of price pool game tournaments, and we could make F|A tag know to world. Who are your top favorite members? So so many old timers, dont want to make list, because would forgot someone for sure. So instead i say those who came closest friends to me. Not commenting they admin job etc.. only guys who came close friend to me off the game. KevinBacon (missing him a lot), Chuckun, Krayzie and DD. I have a lot good friends in clan, so could make list a lot longer, but added only those who kept actively contact to me when i was inactive. KevinBacon i havent hear in while, but he was my first friend in FA. Have you met any members in rl? Nope. I am very shy in reallife. Get stomach full of butterflies even to talk Finnish in TS. Havent even talk to DD. Even that he spammed me on that many times, and I even got very angry to him, to forcing me to call him or talk to him. I runaway for minor inactivity to escape his request. Ppls dont understand that i dont want speak english in TS. I have minor aphasia, what make it hard to pronounce english words. Even in finnish i have that difficult when i am nervous or tired. Thats why i dont have many friends in reallife. Thats why i never met even finnish clan members. I just need build courage to meet some finnish members first What game did you first play while in FA? Any new ones? ET. Always played ET. Tested INS couple time, but always stayed in ET. Who is the most inspirational person in your life? Pappa, (grandfather) Learn a lot from him. He has passed away. Do you think FA should have a meet-up party for members? If so, where? Sure i do. Would love to go there, if would get enough courage. Maybe start for Finnish members meet up. Would also love to meet Chuckun, DD and Krayzie. Krayzie and DD live in USA tho, so i would need to win from lotto and get a lot more encourage to go fly and meet them. Would take my best friend to translator tho. That would help to meet english speaking members

Tonight I had to say goodbye to a loyal friend and guardian to my family. Hero passed away @ 11:55 pm on Tuesday, March Third in my arms. Those we love don't go away, They walk beside us every day. RIP You Gentle Giant, Enjoy that big, open field buddy

Thank you Vixy for taking the time to answer these questions! My goal for this interview is to have members and non members get to know her because she is not only an awesome FA member who's been around for some time now, but also a spectacular human. To kick off my hopefully series of interviews... based in Portland, OR, USA... Presenting: https://fearless-assassins.com/profile/13388-leftwingvixen/ 1. What do you like to do in your spare time besides gaming? * I like to read crime-related novels and watch Crime Drama movies, I'm heavily influenced by 1970 culture and love the thrill of chasing criminal psychology on a medical level. I also like to sketch using graphite or use some of my oil paints, I also write journal entries that I hope to collaborate and publish one day! 2. What are you most proud of? * My ability for my heart to keep beating, it has gone through hardships but has overall became resilient over time. As long as I'm not six feet underground, I'm grateful and proud of everything and everyone that has made my life what it is. 3. What are your lifelong dreams? * [rubs paws together] OKAY. Currently, I graduate Mortuary School next Summer, in which I will have an Associates of Mortuary Science. From then on, I’d like to continue working for my funeral home as I chase a Bachelors and/or Masters in Pathology [the study of disease]. I’d like to research into eventually becoming a Medical Examiner [physician], however my Plan B if I can’t get to Medical School would be to go into Death Scene Investigation or Forensics. I also hope to own a dog and a Cadillac Hearse one day. All the while becoming more proficient in my pole-dancing skills, I enjoy entering in competitions and hope to actually WIN one one day and become a centerfold for a local, Portland trade magazine -- just for my own ego, if anything. 4. What do you hope to achieve everyday? * To learn something new everyday, whether from life or school, and become one step closer to my goal(s) stated above. 5. What’s your greatest fear? * To die not on my own terms, suddenly/abruptly. I have many things to experience and people to love! 6. What’s your favorite album or song? * One of my favorite albums is AM by Arctic Monkeys, 2016-ish. I get to see them in October! I also enjoy the album How to Become A Human Being by Glass Animals. I have too many individual songs I adore -- I dance to damn near them all. 7. Early bird or night owl? * Night owl, definitely. I have diagnosed insomnia, so I like using the night time to limit my distractions I have during the day to focus on my art. 8. What's the last book you read? * Coroner At Large by Thomas Noguchi. The second book of his Coroner series, Thomas Noguchi is a Japanese-American physician who was the Chief Medical Examiner in Los Angeles from 1967 - 1982, making him responsible for taking care of high-profile autopsies such as Janis Joplin, Marilyn Monroe, Robert Kennedy, and Sharon Tate. I like to learn to what he has to say, in hopes of adopting some of his tips to when I eventually get into the field too. 9. What's the best movie you've seen? Series? * The Usual Suspects [1995], surprise surprise, a crime drama. I don’t believe ‘series’ can be quality when there’s multiple additions. It’s cute when some people name themselves Keiser Soze on the server, based from the movie. I also enjoy Seven [1995] and American Beauty [1999]; basically anything with Kevin Spacey makes me want to lick the screen. Other favorite flicks are Lucky Number Slevin [2006] and Harold and Maude [1971]. 10. What’s your favorite dessert? * MOTHER-FUKKEN CHEESECAKE. New York Style. 11. If you were an animal, which one would you want to be and why? * I feel if people don’t know my answer to this, they don’t know me very well at all. [Fox.] 12. If you could choose one superhero power, what would it be? * To be able to telepathically lift objects. It would be a lifesaver when lifting the deceased in the prep room to clean under them as well as casually floating objects my way that I’m too lazy to reach for, like the television remote. 13. Have you ever been in love? * “I still love everyone I’ve loved, even if I cross the street to avoid them.” -- Uma Thurman 14. Have you traveled? If so, where’s your favorite destination? * Yes! I’ve been to America [since I live here], Canada, Ireland, Scotland, France, England x2, and The Netherlands. Strangely I haven’t gotten a chance to go to Mexico. One of my favorite destinations would be Amsterdam, everyone seemed like they were on vacation and I loved smoking a joint publicly in a bar whilst working on my Mortuary Law homework, half a world away. 15. What made you join FA? * The community! I fell in love with the unified sense of pride that the members of F|A exuded, and I felt I would have been a good addition to heighten morale on the server and become a dependable admin. 16. What is your most memorable moment in FA? * Tipsy !disoriented me and told me he wouldn’t fix it unless I got at least two kills with the panzer. The first respawn I did, I got a double kill. HA! 17. What server is the most fun? * Jay1 all the way. Where the jokes are made up and the frags don’t matter. 18. Have you met other players from America? * Yes! I have met and hung out with EvilButters [and met his very nice family], had dinner with Sleepy in Salem, OR about 4 years ago, had dinner with Leon_S_Kennedy in Los Angeles last year, and Humpty lives near me so we’ve hung out and went to the movies and he supported me from my show. TheAbbot and Elk live near my hometown in Southern California yet I haven’t gotten to meet them yet. I’m probably missing a few, but I always enjoy meeting fellow players. 19. Any strange stories since your joining in December 2013? * If there wasn’t any strange stories I would lose interest fast, but none I can actively recall. 20. What piece of advice could you give to noob members? * Rome wasn’t built in a day, be patient and use good communication skills when addressing a potential problem or suggestion. 21. Any role models in the clan or people you look up to? * I’ve always looked up to RedBaird for his Service in the country and the experiences he’s faced. I also love RedAngel, Audrey, Neuro, Hecken, Phobia, DD, and AcidParadox. All of these members have made me feel welcome and included, while I enjoy all of their company. Oh and I GUESS Tipsy. ❤️

I decided to take a look at this beautiful new blog environment and submit the first blog on this new website. What better than answering the question "why are you in the clan?". When I talk to people, this clan can be one of the subjects of conversation. A common reflex: "Why are you in a gaming clan? You don't seem like a nerd?". Because that is what many people think. That we are nerds because we are in this clan. In this blog I will give you one reason why being in a gaming clan was a good idea for me. When I get time I might write other blogs, with other answers. My reason why I am still in a gaming clan is very particular. Indeed, it all started with gaming. I played the game enemy territory and had lots of fun with my real life friends. During my exams I went looking for other servers to take a short break. I ended up on nq2, where I played with some regulars who wanted to play objective-based, balanced games. We decided to join FA, first purely to be able to use !put to even the teams. We moved to nq3 and things shifted from gaming to talking. We all joked together late evenings during what we called "specparties". We became friends. When I had difficult times in my life, I had the luxury to have two friend groups to help me trough. When my real life friends grew tired of my nagging, my friends on the server were there for me. To give sense to my existence during those difficult times and to thank this second group of friends, I started helping out a lot on the forums. I was the one making gameday posts, I made some tutorials and so on. Years later here I am, a leader of a gaming clan. Unplanned and never desired. The lesson I learned from this experience and I want others to learn from it is this: you can never give too much to people who earned your respect. You will get back what you gave a thousandfold. Not only literally because these people will give you what you gave them, but also because you start feeling better about yourself when you help people. I decided to repeat the engagement I made online in my real life by doing volunteer work. As a result I now understand a lot more about the world and the people in it, my languages have improved and I get respect from people who know what I'm doing. Be ambitious in everything you do in your life. When you lived your life, it will always be incomplete but at least you can say you took everything there was to take. To me (and of course this is personal), the time I spend gaming is better spent being part of a clan made up of beautiful, motivated people. That way you can help out and when you need it, eventually you will get something back.

Okay, I am not going to name names or anything like that, but I feel like I should address this issue. Lately I have had a lot of people msg me in xfire and other methods, inquiring about forum/server levels.. Mostly in the race to recruit people and move up the FA ladder. So let me just say, if you are in this for just the levels, you are in this for the wrong reason. Why are you here if that is all you are worried about? this is a family, a community, our very purpose and goal is to keep the community alive and thriving, not to jump from level to level.. Some messages to me are upset because they have been here longer than me, or recruited more people than me, but their level is lower than mine. Well I got news for you, that isn't how it works. There are people here who have recruited less than me, or been here less time, but are higher admin than I am. What that means is, the co-leaders/leaders/founders have seen something in them that makes them think they have what it takes to be higher up on the ladder. Just because you have been here for a while, or that you have recruited more people, doesn't make you more qualified to be a higher admin. This is about the community as a whole, not for your own personal gain.. If you are not here for everyone then maybe you don't belong, and you should look elsewhere for a clan. If you can't/wont think about the greater good of FA, then you don't belong. We are a family, we look after each other, and we hold praise for those of us who make new levels, and who are worthy to take new spots among the higher admins.. If power is what you want, go somewhere else, if community and friendship is what you want, then you have come to the right place.. We are a family, and as corny as it may sound, United we stand, divided we fall..

Hey guys, first blog so don't be hatin' Anyways, let's get serious. I was asked many times "Dude, you're 18, don't you think FireWienie is a bit childish for someone your age?" Well... here's the true story: When I was about 6 years old, I wanted to go on the internet and try out new games. This was the time I had started playing my first online game (don't remember what it was called). I had no idea what to name myself! Luckily my grandpa was with me and decided to help. We were thinking of goofy names that match my personality. We thought of CrazyBoogers (I sneezed a lot...) and much more that I do not remember. I remember him saying "How about FireWienie" with his heart-warming voice. I laughed, and so did he. Fire to match how crazy and stupid I was back then, and wienie, because I love hot-dogs, I couldn't stop eating them. We decided to use it. We always laughed when one of use said that name. After that he would randomly give me a bear hug, but later on I expected it . 1 month later my grandpa left to go back to Saudi Arabia. 3 weeks later was about a week before my birthday. He wasn't going to come back at that time but I was looking forward to talking to him on the phone, telling him what I got, the flavor of my cake, etc. 3 days later, we were told he had passed away. We were all devastated but me and my mom were balling our eyes out. We had a funeral at our house. I kept crying. He was one of those adults who never yelled at me, laughed with me, tickled me, played games with me... I needed something to remember him by. Ever since then I had decided to use FireWienie as my name. Occasionally I would think of something new, but I always had the name FireWienie in my head. I will never let the name go. There must be a wienie in my name. This username was my way of keeping my bond with my lovely grandpa after he had passed away. Anyways, I don't want to show too many feels, but I miss him and love this name. Thank you for your time, I am content over those who had decided to waste there time and ready my blog! Toodles! FireWienie

Just wanted to say a few words, about things that were on my mind... Who am I really? I'm a dad, a father, the most important thing I could ever imagine being! The most rewarding, life changing thing a person could ever be.. My daughter is the most important thing to me on this earth. Would I murder everyone on the planet to keep her safe and secure? Yes, no questions asked. It may be cliche to say, but from the first time I saw her in the hospital to this very day, I fell in love, and as time goes by I only love her more. Nothing on this planet will ever surpass how I feel about my child. Sometimes I have been asked about my son, who died several years back. I didn't have him for very long, but the love I have for him is equal to that of my daughter. When I held him for the first time, I remember crying and my tears falling down on his face. It was just crying, it was sobbing. Nothing can ever come close to the love you have for your children, and if you don't feel the same about your child, you have issues and shouldn't even be allowed to have them.. R.I.P. Shane Lee Jr. Who am I really? I am Shane, I live in eastern KY, I have worked in the music business for over 20 years. I play, I am involved in production, recording at a studio, I recently wrote a book and became a published author. These are the things I love to do, and I couldn't imagine my life going any other way.. Music is one of the loves of my life, there are very few things, that I love more. Who am I really? I grew up poor, very poor.. I remember taking a bath in a metal tub on a porch, getting water from a well, using an outhouse, planting a garden, not because I was some hippie wanna be, or a hipster, but because if we didn't, who knew if we would eat during the winter. We had chickens, and pigs, and cows and all of that, not because we wanted to be wanna be hippie farmers, but because it was the only way to survive. Who am I really? My dad was a pastor, and I hated it.. I hated church, church people, and everything that went with it, so needless to say, I was out of control. I stayed in trouble, did everything opposite of what I thought my parents would want.. I stole a truck once, I drank, I did drugs, anything that would piss them off. My brother was the good kid, good grades, never in trouble and all that. I fought at school or anywhere I could, every single day of my life. Not because people hated me, but because I hated people. Did I pick the fights? Almost 99% of the time, though I realize now I was just trying to find a way to release all the anger I had inside.. Who am I really? I am a dad, a friend, a person in this world just trying to get by. I'm a liar, but truthful. I am a fighter, but all I want is peace. I am full of rage, but just want to help people. I will fight at the drop of a hat, but I will be the best friend you could ever have. Who am I really? I use to run head first at confrontation, but now I shy away, if at all possible. I avoid issues, but I try to fix them. When I don't know what to say or how to handle a situation, I pretend it doesn't exist. I have a hard time saying no, and will make excuses instead of saying so. I have a desire for people to like me so bad, that I will say or do almost anything to have their approval. In doing these things I often take on more than I can handle, which in the long run makes for a bad situation. I give more second chances than I should, and have gotten way more second chances than anyone should. Who am I really? I am just a guy, who wants to be a part of something, who longs to be just who I am and nothing more. Ph0eniX A.K.A. Shane

Only a day after the fifth interview, you will be able to learn a bit about your favorite Co-Leader Gubbi, a kind of intelligent, pleasant and sweet-tempered person. Thanks to CSL, stabak, GI-JOE, Joker and Alexandra for their valuable questions this time. Could you quickly introduce yourself? My name is Stefan, I just turned 24 last month and I am from Austria. I just finished my Master of Science studies in Microelectronics and I will start with my PhD in September. In my spare time I really enjoy watching all kind of sports, but football is my favorite. I spend a lot of time on ET servers and since a few months now I also offer myself as easy target on our CoD servers. An easy target? I would say so. I am not the very gifted with skills but I never really cared because for me other aspects are way more important in online games. On ET I was always the one trying to get the objective done, which was not that easy on a full jaymod server. Do you play any other games, apart from ET and CoD4? Not at the moment. I am still trying to motivate myself to get into Minecraft, but it is mostly a matter of time that I postponed my projects there over and over again. I used to play some games on my PS2 and I played the MMORPG Everquest for a couple of years before I sold my account. Are there any interesting Minecraft projects from you we should check out? No, unfortunately there isn't. I planned to build a big football stadium because, after all, football is one of my main hobbies. But I was interrupted by some busy times in RL and therefore the project is far from being finished. As soon as I have more time, I will continue with that project and I will post some pictures when I am done with my stadium. When did you start playing video games? I have an elder brother and when he started to play video games, I was interested in playing myself of course. So I started to play on his gameboy when I was quite young already. The first games I played on a computer were Age of Empires and Command & Conquer. It took a while until I started to play any games online because we didn't have a reliable internet connection for a long time. No reliable internet connection? Very rare for such a highly developed country like Austria. How come? I knew that was coming. I grew up in a rather small village in the mountains and there was no cable that reached to our house. So we didn't have a reliable internet connection and no cable TV at our house when I was a kid. And when did you start playing ET and discovered our servers? I actually started to play ET about 5 years ago but then stopped after only a few months. The main reason for that was my girlfriend. I then started again to play about two years ago and this may sound sappy, but when I looked through the server master list I felt that FA servers were the right one. I then connected to jay3 and kept playing there until today. Why and how did you join our clan in May 2011? I already had more than 100k XP on our server but I never thought of joining a clan before when Stabak asked me on jay3 if I would be interested in joining the clan. I remember that after he started to talk with me, I got more interested in the clan and so I applied. You became Co-Leader within less than a year. How did you manage to do that? This is a question I asked myself more than once. I think I am generally a helpful person and all I wanted to achieve was to keep the server fair and fun as much as possible. I believe I must have done something right to earn the trust I got from you, the founders and the other leaders. That means the key to promotions is being helpful and keeping the server fair and fun? Is there anything else one needs to do to gain trust? I guess the best way to get someones trust is to talk with him and show him what kind of person you are. One important factor is also to show respect to everybody and to act as a role model for newer members and trials. Now how would you describe the ideal member? The ideal member puts the interest of the clan in front of his own interests and has a good portion of common sense to handle the server. He should look out for cheaters and at the same time always keep an eye open for new members. He should not lose control at any time and always show maturity and good behavior to represent the clan in a perfect way. You are known to spend a countless amount of hours on one of our CoD servers. Isn't that boring? It depends really. Some days are really tiring when you camp there alone and only a few visitors show up. I am glad that I am not camping there alone most of the time though. It can also be really fun to play on the server and play all kind of wars with the regulars there. I hope that all the efforts we put into that server will eventually pay off and lead to a frequently populated server. How would you describe your role in the clan? I think people do not hesitate to contact me for any kind of problems or questions. I try to help wherever I can and I believe leaders as well as trials appreciate that. I am also trying my best to teach every new member and trial what I have learned during the time in the clan. If you recall your time in the clan so far, did you enjoy it? Absolutely! I didn't regret joining this clan a single day. I enjoy being admin and I enjoy helping people but the most important thing is that I got many friends during my time in the clan and I am really thankful for that. What are the typical tasks of a dedicated Co-Leader like you? I am reading the forum and I try to fix issues there whenever I can. When I get on xfire, I am available for random chats, questions or to jump on different servers to help out if I am needed. On the server, I like to sit back and let other members handle the daily admin work and only include myself when needed. Recently I started to submit demos to pbbans to hopefully get rid of the banned cheaters for good. And one more thing which is very important for me as Co-Leader is to watch applicants or possible applicants and guide them to our clan. It can be quite stressful on some days. Have you ever met any members in real life or plan to do so? I haven't met anyone in real life yet, but I am going to meet Joker in July. I find the idea of meeting people, you have spent lots of time over the internet with, quite interesting. There is also a certain leader in our clan that lives not too far from me and I would be excited to meet him for a quick chat and a coffee or so. What is the most important part of =F|A=? The most important thing for me is that we are a huge community with all different kind of characters and personalities and we are all working for the same goal. To keep our servers alive and fun to play for everyone. If you were in charge of =F|A= for a month, what would you change? Hmm, there is not much I can think of. I guess I would try to find a way to make our promotions a bit more transparent to our members. What was your most embarrassing moment? My most embarrassing moment. I once travelled from Rome to Austria per train with 3 friends and we were already driving for a few hours in one of these cabins made for 6 person, trying to catch some sleep. It was already too tight for 4 persons to get a good sleep but then in the middle of the way a chinese couple entered the train and they reserved the 2 seats in our cabin. I was complaining about that in German, thinking they would not understand it and then suddenly the guy answered me in German. It was quite embarrassing, especially since we were sitting another few hours next to each other then. Where do you plan to be in 10 years? A good job, famous, an attractive wife, kids, a goat? These suggestions sound quite attractive. I hope that I will have finished my PhD by then and found a nice job somewhere. I want to live in a nice house, hopefully with my girlfriend who could be my wife by then. If everything goes the way I plan, I will have two children, a son and a daughter, but no goat. What would you do with 100 million dollars? I would donate a part of it and I would support my family. I would buy a nice car and build a fancy house. I might try to build my own company. I definitely wouldn't stop working because I need a goal in my life to keep going. How was your childhood? As exciting as your virtual life? I had a nice childhood with two long time friends who were there for me whenever I needed them. Growing up at the mountains was quite exciting and I used to play a lot of football in my childhood. Is Gubbi a real word or just something random you made up? It is a pure fantasy name. I tried to find something short and memorable. So I pressed some random keys and then deleted some parts to make it readable. The result was Gubbi. What are your hobbies apart from football and video games? Obviously I love the mountains. In winter I used to go skiing a lot and in summer we were climbing up a few mountains. I also play some card games with a few friends quite regularly, just for fun though. What kind of music do you listen to? Depending on my mood I listen to rock, punk rock and indie but I also like some metal, alternative metal and such. What are you favorite movies or TV shows? I don't really watch many movies. I really like the Lord of the Ring movies. My favorite TV shows are Psych and The Big Bang Theory. Do you like pie? Yes, it is one of the only sweet stuff I am eating at all. What's your favorite food and drink? My favorite food would be Pizza. I also like to make my own Pizza and choose my own ingredients for it. My favorite drink is Ice Tea. Do you have a pet? I used to have a cat when I lived at my parents house. We left her there when I moved to Vienna because the cat was used to live in a house, surrounded by a forest and she could come and go whenever she wanted to and I didn't want her to become a cat locked into an apartment. Unfortunately the cat died last year when it got hit by a car and since then I don't have any pet. What kind of car do you drive? Me and my girlfriend share a Ford Mondeo. Imagine you would be stranded on an island with one =F|A= member. Who would it be? Only one? Hmm, I would have to choose between Krauersaut and Joker. I'll take Krauersaut and Joker counts as stranded luggage. What was your favorite subject in school? Watch out, nerd alarm. My favorite subjects were Maths and Physics. If you never got introduced to gaming, would your life be different? I believe it would be, but not too much. I could be still playing football at a hobby club maybe or do some more sports in general. If you could pick any celebrity for a wife (or husband), who would it be? I don't know really. Is there a celebrity you could stand for more than 10 minutes? Jessica Alba looks cute. What's your daily schedule, from morning to evening? I get up to prepare myself for work, then I get to the university, work for a few hours there and get back home to join servers and xfire. It is a calm schedule at the moment for me. At what age do you expect to retire from work, what are you going to do to make it happen and what are you going to do as an old man? Umm, I actually plan to earn enough money to retire between 65 and 70. I doubt that it will be realistic to retire earlier when I come to that point. I hope that I am still fit enough to make some trips and enjoy my life. Maybe I get to see some parts of the world then that I couldn't visit before. Parts like? I would be interested to see South and Middle America, Australia and New Zealand. And I guess there are plenty of other beautiful and interesting places on our planet. Are you aware of the fact that you sound like Arnold Schwarzenegger when he was allowed to dub himself in English in Ventrilo? Haha, that is absolutely not true. Maybe that is the Austrian accent of English but maybe people just think it is because they only have Schwarzeneggers voice as reference. Anyway, I hope to lose that accent during my time in England. If you could visit any point in history, where/when would you go and why? I think it would be interesting to go back to the 15th century and learn from Leonardo Da Vinci. Having said that, I prefer the standard of living from today and probably I would prefer to live in present time. Are you going to dare driving a car while staying in England? Yes, I really want to do that and I hope that I wont make too much damage trying it. I will start with an automatic car probably. Do you consider yourself a smart ass? No. I am a dedicated person and try to give 100% at everything I do and I believe if you love what you do, you are good at it. What's your biggest dream? At the moment I am dreaming of getting a good job for a few years in the US after I finished my PhD. If you had to move to a state or country besides the one you currently live in, where would you move and why? Apart from England, where I will be the next few years, I would really like to go to the US to work there for a few years.

It's a weird process, getting older that is. Now don't get me wrong, I don't feel like I am that old, I will only be 41 next month. But in the time I spent here on earth, things sure have changed. I don't mean just things like clothes, or music, or other fads that come and go. I mean more like who I am, and the things I care about, or that are important to me. Though the change in fads are amazing. Take this pic for instance I was like 3 or 4. Now I know the hair doo and the shirt is totally groovy, and even the bell bottoms I have on that you can't see. You don't really see this anymore, and if you do, it's probably on a freakin hipster, or like most fads, they usually come back in style eventually. I remember a time in the 90's when bell bottoms were a huge thing. Just like music, clothing always come back around. By the time the 80's rolled around things had taken yet another turn. We had bands like Devo, Michael Jackson, Poison, The Dead Milkmen and so on. And as we all know, the Movie and Music industry usually has the biggest effect on fashion and all that. But being from the Hills of Eastern KY, we stuck to Jeans, and Flannel shirts mostly. I never followed fads really, as you can tell from this pic of me when I was 14 (Yeah I know, Sexy right?) Though the world kept on moving forward, we mostly stayed the same. Being sheltered in a small town, by the time a new fashion, or something came around here it was already old to the rest of the world, but to be honest we didn't really mind. I am going to totally skip the 90's actually. I spent most of my time working and taking care of my baby that was born in 92. There really wasn't much for me, taking care of my family was my one and only goal. But I will post a happy pic of me and my daughter when she was small. This is from 95 I think.. Those were happy days Things have changed so much in the world.. Crime is up, the cost of living is insane, gas prices are at a place I never thought we would see, considering the year I was born, around here it was about .35 or .40 cents per gallon. $4.00 is something of a nightmare hehe. But as you get older, those are the more subtle changes to be honest. The biggest changes, are the ones that happen to who you are. I spent my life fighting, I was a very angry kid, life was hard when I lived at home, and things in my home life were horrible. Physical abuse can really set you on a crazy path. Because of the things that happened at home, I would go to school, or out with my friends, and look for someone to take my pain out on. There was a lot of hate and anger in my heart, and I needed to exact revenge on someone, or something. This way of living followed me into adulthood, though I vowed if I ever had a child I would never beat on it like how I was. I was determined to not be my parents. But I still had the same hatred for people in general. When I hit my 30's there was more of a change in me personally. I still had a lot of anger, but I stared to get somewhat of a grip on it. Not the greatest grip mind you, I still got into a lot of fights, but at least some of them were for the right reasons. Like the time my girlfriend at the time came home from the store crying. I asked her what was wrong, she said a guy that worked there had made a very vulgar remark to her. I felt that old hate and anger rise up in me, but this time it seemed more righteous, if that makes any sense. Well I went to the store, demanded to see the guy she described. One of the cashiers pointed him out to me. I went and grabbed him by his shirt, pulled him through the store, and then outside, to the side of the store. I cursed him thoroughly, then proceeded to punch him many many times, while he begged me not to. I quit once I noticed he had pissed his pants. I walked away feeling that justice had been served. The 30's were weird for me physically, I had multiple heart attacks, multiple surgeries, hard living was catching up to my body. It didn't quite bounce back the way it once did, but still I let that anger push me. To vent some of this frustration, I became a professional wrestler, which to be honest help me so much. Thought everyone knows it's entertainment, slamming someone through a table still is one of the greatest releases you will ever have. Somewhere in that time frame, a friend of mine was getting into MMA, which I also loved. He had an old building by his house, we built a ring, got the gloves and all that, and on like every monday and saturday of every week we got together at his house to fight. It started with about 4 of us, and before we knew it we were having around 20 to 25 people showing up to fight, and some just to watch. It was such an amazing feeling to punch someone in the face, or to be punched in the face, it was a great release. In my late 30's is when I actually had the heart attacks, which changed a lot of things for me. Yeah there was a big physical change, but there is nothing that will make you reflect on your life like laying on a hospital bed with a 98% blockage in an artery, knowing you are dying, and these last few breaths you take, will be it. Obviously I didn't die, but that night I was, even the cardiologist that saved me said he had no clue how I lived, and that I shouldn't be alive. Either way, it was now time for major reflection, though it sucks that I had to almost die to do so. Now I am not giving all the credit to the heart attack, but it played a huge roll in my personal change, but the biggest change was just getting older. Watching younger people, the things they cared about, the things that were important to them, for the first time in my life, I saw how stupid it was. Material things started to lose their value, and just loving my friends and family became far more important. The rage in me started to fall away, and compassion and understanding worked its way in. Yeah for the most part, people are stupid, selfish morons, but the biggest part of the time they are only a product of how they were raised, where they were raised, and the people that surrounded them during that time. Don't get me wrong I am not making excuses for people, most still need to have their teeth shoved down their throat, I just see them differently now. When someone does something that makes me mad now, I try to take a few moments to look at the situation now. I try to think of why they would do it, what the motivation was. I try to put myself in their shoes, or even remember how I use to be. Maybe they grew up like me, maybe they don't know how to process their anger. When these things come to mind, more often than not, I settle down and become a bit more rational. They say "Youth is wasted on the young" which is one of the most true statements ever made. They also say that "With age comes wisdom" and it really does. Thought by the time you become older, you will probably be living with a lot of regret, as I do. But what most don't understand is that, regret is wisdom, it is one of the greatest teachers you will ever have. The reason? It never leaves, it is always there reminding you of your mistakes, pushing you to learn, to grow, to be a better person. This to me, is the very definition of wisdom. This only really comes with age, because we have had time to make more mistakes, and also learn from them. So here I am now, turning 41 on the 8th of next month, I have survived heart attacks, more surgeries than I can count, mouth cancer when I was 19, and now Diabetes, which the Doctor assures me will shorten my life by many years, and a bad ticker hehe. But life is better now, I appreciate people, I love my family, I raised a wonderful daughter who is now married, and happy. I have an adopted daughter who is just awesome. She is a special needs child, but there is more love and excitement in her eyes than you could ever imagine. And she is as black as the ace of spades hehehe.. I call her Chocolate Thunder, and right now is the most special person in my life. I have a wonderful girlfriend who despite being 17 years younger than me, loves me more than life its self. This whole blog came about because of a post that was made by someone who I banned from a COD server, for what I considered cheating. He was disrespectful in his words, and carried a lot of attitude. Immediately I wanted to go to his post and rage on him for the little shit he was being, but I didn't. And I replied with a respectful, and mature comment. It hit me right after I got full of anger, why am I getting so upset with someone I don't know, over a game that is well, just a game. I remember coming into this Community because of my love for games, and how much fun and joy it brought me, and I am not going to let anyone steal that from me, no matter how disrespectful they are. This line of thinking has also come with age. So all that got me to reflect yet again, and here I am blogging about it. I realize most will not read all of this or any of it at all, and that's okay because more than anything, I just had all this in my heart and needed to get it out, and man do I feel better hehe. Getting old ain't bad, it's refreshing, relaxing and more than anything liberating. I love like more than ever, heck I just simply love more than ever! So to finish it off here is a recent pic of my in all my oldness and beardness haha.. Age is only what you make of it. Learn, love, laugh, and enjoy life, it's the only one you got, make the most of it Shane

The older faces remember me and the new ones haven't a clue. That is why I am writing this. To let old friends know where I have been and the new ones to get to know me. I joined FA quite a few years back and loved it here. The most fun I had ever had. I met so many new people and had a blast gaming with them. After a while, I had a few heart attacks, but then had a massive heart attack. I ended up having an emergency quadruple bypass. I didn't let it stop me though, I tried to hang out and play as much as I could. But not long after, I was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) and my health crashed. I was already dealing with extensive nerve damage and this put everything over the top. For those of you who do not know, CHF causes fluid to build around your heart and in that process your heart struggles as it beats and the fluid build up causes your lungs to also fill which makes it hard to breathe and in turn causes things like, Upper Respiratory Infection, Flu, Pneumonia and so on. Because of this, I took time off from gaming and focused on my family. My health continued to go south but at the same time, I had my first 2 grandchildren. They changed my life, caused me to want to live and I decided from then on out, I would do whatever it took to live and see them grow up. Right in the middle of all this I had another heart attack, I had a 90% blockage and as I was having the heart attack, it caused me to have a stroke. I spent quite some time in the hospital trying to get better and only about 3 or 4 weeks ago, I got out. I decided I would enjoy my grandchildren and my favorite past time, playing games. Well, that is what brought me back around here. I decided, I would come and try to have some fun with my old friends and hopefully make a few new ones. I don't know how long I have left, or what God has in store for me, but I plan on living life as full as I can, doing the things that make me happy. I will be around as much as I can and try to help out where I am able. It feels good to be home and hopefully I will be able to stick around this time. Love, Chameleon ❤️

Well its a bit ago when i started to work in clubs and on shows. Started as a small local stagehand. In the first place I only worked to get to know the artists and speak with them. Well after 2-3 Shows i realized that this wont work proper and its way to hard just to speak with them. I still didn't stop working as a local stagehand. for my luck ofc. One Day, after setting up the stage, the light operator was collapsing just 10min before the show was starting. No one was near the venue to help. so they asked me if i could do that. After the event, the artist came to ask who operated the light. i was basically to afraid that they hated it, but i had to tell them it was me. that was quite a hard step for me. I usually don't speak a lot with ppl. (small braininput: that why i'm not often in voicechat) They loved how i did the show for them and they wanted my to join their tour for the rest of the year (well. 8 shows to do in 3 months). I started to learn the console i was using every show. Even if i didn't had to work on weekends i went to shows and was just watching how other operators work. and if i had luck i also could watch them programming the show before. After the Tour had ended, i went back to my old company as a stage hand. But they just wanted me to do the lightning. no more building. just programming and operating. After a certain points where i was, working 80-100h a week just programming and operating i was done with the world. My back was hurting more and more every day. my only thoughts the whole day were where the highest building was to jump off. i knew i had to take a break or stop doing it. So i stopped doing it. for almost 2 years. In those 2 years i never were in a club.. i sat the whole day at home alone with no friends. I went to rehab. had several surgerys. After those 2 years i was opening my own business. I had struggles to get on the market again. I asked my old boss if he could help me or if he wants to cooperate. He agreed to the cooperation and i started to make light shows for bigger and bigger events. I also had the luck to get to make a show for Dillon Francis or David Guetta. And finally a dream has become alive.. i was asked if i could do a lightshow plot (the duration of 1 dj) on Tomorrow land... and at that point i knew.. This was the live that i wanted. To be continued...

Hey folks. I just had a really god day and good workout. I'm feeling good so I wanted to share a little bit. In the last 6 or so months I've been here, I've experienced a really powerful and positive change in myself. A lot of it has to do with the quality of the people here. It really feels like a family and that people genuinely care about each other here. Before F|A, I was struggling a lot in my personal life. My mom went into the hospital on christmas day and my dogs were sick and eventually had to be euthanized. I was in bad shape to say the least. I found some really surprising strength here though. That strength was being able to contribute to this community in a meaningful way; I could help make the servers a safe place, report some naughty-naughties and chat with people who really like the games I like. I felt USEFUL since I haven't been able to work for a while. At the same time, in real life, I've been practicing something called "assertiveness". Wikipedia defines it thus: "Assertiveness is the quality of being self-assured and confident without being aggressive." This community has allowed me the opportunity to develop that very productively and since I grew up, and have lived in, some pretty brutal and violent conditions, this has been key to my recovery process. The interesting thing about this is that all I feel is gratitude. I feel gratitude because this clan is more or less filled with people that want the best for each other. And while I struggled last year and early this year, I received nothing but motivation and support while I worked on myself. I've gotten so much better too. I have never had so much success in my life before, and F|A has been a valuable part of that process. Quite honestly, I think FA is giving people a place to feel comfortable, respected, and welcome in a way that their life can't, for one reason or another, provide. I might go so far as to say loved, even. And that is something so valuable that it can't be priced. I better stop there before the waterworks fire up and smear my writing. What a good chapter for my book this will be.. Sincerely, -V

Well, another years has quickly shot by me/us and we are now starting a whole new year. Sometimes it seems I have been a part of this community, and sometimes it is like I just got here. Now I don't say it feels like I have been here forever because it's like a relationship you want out of so bad, but more because it really feels like a family. There have been so many friendships made, that I would not trade for anything, and people that I have gotten closer to here than with some people in real life. And when I said "and sometimes it is like I just got here", is because I am always learning. Though A lot of things stay the same, so many change. Members come and go, people get promoted and demoted, things are always changing it seems. To be honest, it really keeps things fresh sometimes (Though I bet some of the older members may scoff at the thought of things being fresh hehe), but that is a good thing. There have also been a lot of ups and downs. Some have left, some have been demoted, for whatever reasons. For some it may be real life, jobs, moving, and so on. Sometimes people grow, and this was only a stopping station for them in their lives, and that's okay, we will enjoy them in the time they get to spend here with us. Some were forced out, some caused enough drama in a few days to last a lifetime, and that only cements to me how much we really are like a family. I mean there are so many personalities here, something would be totally wrong if there wasn't a little drama and infighting hehe. Overall I think it was a great year though. I am pretty sure we met the donations goal, or really got close. We added many new members to the fold, some of whom have become extremely important to the community (not saying all members are not important) with certain skill sets or what have you, that they have brought with them. The servers are still up and running, though there have been a few ups and downs. Overall the core of who we are, what we stand for, and what we believe has not changed, and if you ask me, that right there is a good year. Lots of promotions have been handed out this year, probably the most I have seen since I have been here, and that is awesome. I say they were well deserved, and much appreciated for all their time and effort they have put into this community. Of course I cannot name them all, but I would like to do a few shout outs real quick to some of my friends who have been climbing the ladder. SiD - He has done an amazing job helping out, he is with the GFX Team now, and if you haven't given some of his work a look, you really should. He also started a YouTube Chanel for game review-ish content, which I also love and follow like a creeper hehe. Von Rantala - I will say first, I consider Von a good friend, and hope that continues on. Von who is now a well deserved Co-Leader, has worked his butt off for this community, and is probably one of the nicest level-headed guys you will ever get to know, and if I were you I would take the time to get to know him! DJ aka GDR DJ - I am pretty sure most of you know of, or have seen a post from DJ, either Pic of the Day, or MOTD. I know he has been around for a while, but he just last year for a promotion to Co-Leader, and again it was more than deserved. DJ has taken every day to give us hilarious pics, and great videos, that on several occasions when I was having a bad day, would check the forums only to have my mood lifted up by one or all of the things he has posted.. Heretic - Yes another FA that I feel I have become good friends with, and for those of you who don't notice, he is always working hard on something for FA, well maybe not to hard, but always working hahaha.. Sometimes things happen for the good of the community that you never even know about, or hear about, and lots of times, he is right in the middle of it.. Short list, so to speak. Alex The Angry Mosquito RedBaird AnG3L Kat0n Kami LuCkY ' 13 Lady*Raevyn Hell, even Ol'Smoke got a promo this past year hehe (Love ya buddy) Well this list could go on and on, but I just wanted to throw a few notables out there, if I missed your name get over it lol This blog wouldn't be complete without mentioning those here that really make this place happen.. DareDevil, I mean really do I have to get in to it hehe. Without his time and patients, along with the other founders, we wouldn't be here, these friendships wouldn't exist at all.. There would be no forums, servers and so on. The work he puts into this is amazing, the time he takes is incredible. That's why I always get so mad when I see people verbally attacking him, or trying to slander this awesome community. Dare, I can't tell you how much I appreciate what you do, and the opportunity you have helped give us here. We really do owe you so much. Speed/Gi-Joe/KillerGun. If DD and the other founders are the head of this community then these guys are the arms legs, and feet. They do so much that most of you will never understand. From changing server rotations to dealing with all the trolls, and all the effing infighting.. They are leaders, mediators, Voices of reason, and always there to handle the punishments that no one really wants to deal with. Most of you cannot even comprehend what these guys go through, are more often that not, it is just for this community, just to serve us, and help. Makes me wanna punch people in the face when these guys get attacked on the forums over decisions made with servers or rotation, or whatever it may be. Let me put it to ya this way. If someone were to say of the things that are said to these guys in front of me physically, there would be a fight. These guys put up with so much crap, I just don't know how they do it. And the level heads they use in the process is amazing. I feel fortunate, and blessed to call these guys clan mates/friends. I am truly blessed to have them in my life. Well to close things out, I truly love this community, and the friends I have made, and hope there are more friends to be made in the future. I plan on sticking around as long as these people plan on putting up with my spam and nonsense. If I missed someone, or need to be corrected please feel free to do so.. Love you all <3 Shane aka Chameleon

Well I guess I coulda named this, "Why I Game" but, I didn't like the way that sounds.. You know, I have gamed my whole life, whether it was pc, console, handheld, or whatever, and one of the biggest reasons is, escapism. Now I know a lot of us do it for this reasons, and I know there are various other reason too. For me it is like getting lost in a great book, where you become the main character, and take on the quest or adventure that you are reading. It takes us out of our everyday mundane life. I live everyday on what feels like borrowed time, with the heart attacks I have had, to the surgery I had to repair, and the surgery that is coming up soon to try and prolong my life, just a little while longer. Seems like in these times, games have become just a bit more important, and at the same time less important, yeah let me explain. On the one hand, I love to get online with all you, and play, laugh, and immerse myself in an alternate reality, so to speak. If for only a few short hours of the day, I don't think about my heart giving out, or how much time I have left. I don't think about all the troubles of life, instead I am focused on the fun and I am having with you all, my friends. I can't tell you what that means to me.. On the other hand, all these medical issues make me think about how short life is, and how important it is to love the people around you, and enjoy them for who they are in real life. To see people face to face, to interact with them, and cherish them every moment of every day of your life. Looking death in the eye has a way of doing that to you. I just wish at a point early in my life I could have realized all of this, and made good on all the time I already had. Sadly I didn't.. I guess that is why, sometimes I literally get bumfuzzled when I see people on the servers getting so mad, calling names, fighting, and arguing. I realize some of you are very passionate about gaming, but seriously it is literally called a "Game". I understand being passionate, I have been a musician since I was about 3, and there is nothing in this world (Other than family of course) that I am more passionate about. I live, eat, and breathe it. I think if I couldn't be a part of it I would just go into some sort of depression, crawl into a large hole, and never come back out. Sure, there are genres I don't like, players I don't like, or think are super overrated, but it never brings me to cursing someone, or calling them names. Passion isn't being close minded or restricting yourself to one area of it. It is about embracing all aspects of the thing you love, learning from it, assimilating some of the other aspects, and incorporating those into your own, making them what works for you. If I had started out playing music, and only focusing on one genre, I would only be so good, and one dimensional... I see gaming the same way. I see the guys camping, and laying low, sniping and picking me off 10 times in a row, but instead of getting all mad, it motivates me. I want to put a knife in their back, and it changes the way I play in an attempt to exact my revenge on them, and when you learn how to work around it, and you finally get that knife in there, it is such a gratifying experience. Or the times when a map starts, and the opposing team rushes, and you are stuck in the spawn while they all start walling and spawn camping. Yeah it can get frustrating, but more than anything, it motivates me also. It motivates me to get out any way I can. Again it changes every aspect of my gameplay, and causes me to take a course, or measure that I had never tried. Again once I finally get out and am able to get the spawns switched on them, and my team has the upper hand, it is, again, most gratifying. Maybe it is my age that causes me to see things this way, maybe I have forgotten what it is like to be 20 years old, but I don't think I have. I think if anything, my passion to learn, to adapt, and overcome has gotten even greater. I guess what I am saying is, don't take things so seriously, don't take yourself so seriously, don't take others so seriously. When something outside of real life can make me angrier, and more upset than real life already does, I don't need it. When the thing that helps me escape my real life problems becomes a problem of it's own, no thank you. It's just a game, no matter what you try to tell yourself, it is just a game.. Love you all, Shane A.K.A. Ph0eniX P.S. Ima still load up my tube on COD, so no matter how much whining, that wont change haha

This interview is with a member I've met via Day of Infamy (DOI) and discord voice chat. He has positively impacted me the first day I met him. Very intelligent and open person. A wonderful online friend. Many people here can most likely say the same about him. If you haven't yet met this well-spoken and friendly man, here is a glimpse. Presenting... GoongalaJones (Mr.Jones, Goongala, Goon) https://fearless-assassins.com/profile/23524-googalajones/ And thank you again, for taking the time to answer a few questions with such honesty and detail. 1. Where were you born and raised? My birthplace lies in the ancient city of Alexandria, just off the coast of the Mediterranean, North of Egypt. As for the latter part of the question, most of my early upbringing was spent in the beautiful city I call home, and later, in other places. 2. What languages do you speak? Do you have a favorite? A bit of backstory about that! Ever since my younger years, sounds has always fascinated me. Hearing the different calls of birds, the sounds of animals, and even to try and imitate these voices, thus evolving into mimicking different accents and dialects on the fly. Onto the answer! Fluently, eight. They are as follows: Arabic (my mother tongue), German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian and Mandarin. As an Egyptian, we’re not really taught the language of our ancestors (the ones you see in hieroglyphs), but the most recent script, Demotic, is one that numerous wonderful friends of mine have helped me learn and understand through Coptic, an Orthodox Christian script derived from Demotic, whom I have the utmost respect and gratitude for. Other languages that I’ve come to learn and be able to use in conversations are Greek, Swedish, Dutch, Japanese (on its way to become on the fluency list, wish me luck!), Pashto, Swahili, Zulu, Xhosa, Hebrew and Farsi. 3. What do you like to do in your spare time (besides gaming)? Reading and writing! Started reading when I was three and a half years old, and have been continuing to do so since! Writing soon followed when I learnt to love languages. I would (and still do) read just about everything I can get my hands at any time. When I started writing, I used to love recording the narration I would recite of my writings onto old cassette tapes my dad kept on hand at home. Usually, I also like making up characters in writing and giving them a voice. Martial arts have been a staple since I was at the wee age of twelve. My routine is usually to go to a dojo (where available), do a full body workout, practice on sandbags and dummies, then spar with anyone willing! Whenever there isn’t a dojo around, I love going for runs, especially after dawn, and ending just after sunrise. 4. What are you most proud of? Being blessed with strong willpower. There are times where I doubted it when it would have counted, but looking back, it’s been what has driven this humble human to become who he is today. 5. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? The future is most uncertain, but I have faith it shall be in a most wonderful place. 6. What are your lifelong dreams? To become a knowledgeable, multi-disciplinary, disciplined human being. 7. What do you hope to achieve everyday? Making someone’s day and brain happier and smarter! 8. What is your greatest fear? No longer being able to help myself or anyone around me, especially loved ones. 9. What’s your favorite album or song? Personally, I have no favourites. Instrumentals have always been my preference, just because I feel it’s a crime to tie down the beauty of music with lyrics when you can interpret it the way you would want. That is not to say that there are a lot of great hits out there! Music, in and of itself, is also a language. It’s also a huge enhancer to when you want to start learning a language! This would be one of my all-time favourites (That’s the oud. Used to play that for about 3 years until studies got a lot more hectic) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyNXeCfPB2U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGVyFbZfqdM 10. What's the last book you read? I am a HUGE film noir/detective and crime fan! Blood Test by Jonathan Kellerman. 11. What's the best movie you've seen? Series? When it comes to series, Band of Brothers, for sure! As for movies, Casablanca! 12. What’s your secret talent? Wouldn’t be a secret if it’s out there, eh? :’) 13. What’s your favorite dessert? Kunafa Nabulsia, a semolina cake stuffed with a mozzarella-like cheese in Nablus, Palestine! https://www.google.com/search?q=kunafa+nabulsia&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=L1wy6xaALyQlEM%253A%252CJsId5xSK5E_K4M%252C_&usg=AFrqEzdDQ9_IHp6OJFeHvxFhVmr7Qv0ow&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjuneO9t_ncAhUYbn0KHc3sAi0Q9QEwAHoECAUQBA#imgdii=ytyLLpB2zkYewM:&imgrc=SPSb4_UD7rbJoM: Long link, but worth it! 14. Favorite Beverage? Lemonade (Or anything citrus, really) 15. What’s something that will always be in fashion, no matter how much time passes? Bow ties! 16. What’s the most interesting conspiracy? The Internet being the centre of our lives. 17. Do you know a good joke? What’s the best thing about Switzerland? I don’t know, but the flag is a big plus! 18. Choose: Be deaf or be blind? Blind. 19. If you were an animal, which one would you want to be and why? Polar bears! They’re cute, but dangerous when threatened. If they weren’t fictional, I’d pick a dragon. Majestic and wise. 20. If you could choose one superhero power, what would it be? The ability to heal serious and fatal illnesses. 21. Have you ever been in love? Indubitably! 22. Have you traveled? If so, what’s your favorite destination? Travel is food for the soul! Thus far, it has been the Himalayas within Nepal! Spent a wonderful two weeks in a cabin up there with relatives! 23. Can you tell us a little about your experience with the military? Whilst it is compulsory for Egyptian males to be enlisted upon turning eighteen, I’m the only male child of my parents, and I have a sister. Therefore, I’m partially exempt from service, but I’m still tied to the military. However, I was a INTERPOL field officer for the good part of two years, mainly in crime scene investigations. Started out as an intern during my second year of college, and after much studying and training, I was given a service badge and pistol. I am no longer a part of the organisation presently, but I do help out as a consultant from time to time. 24. Why join FA? The wonderful people! Ever since I joined the DOI server, the deep sense of camaraderie and community was at every corner, whether in any form of chat, or the countless fun to be had! 25. What is your most memorable moment in FA? Crawling through Crete Stronghold in DOI, as well as Cards Against Humanity! 26. Which server is the most fun? The one and only DOI #1 Recruiting Server 27. Have you met in person, FA/non FA players? The only =F|A= member I have met would be my bestest best friend of almost ten years now, Chaos the Golden Dragon, but I have it as my mission to meet as many of the exuberant people of the clan as possible! 28. Any strange stories since your joining in April 2018? Meeting Major Stalvern and finding out he’s the long, lost, British brother I never had would be one of them! 29. What piece of advice could you give to noob members? Be who you are, be kind, you’re part of a family. 30. Any role models in the clan or people you look up to? Sis, RedAngel, Neuro, Verillaxus and d..x, for sure! /end 👌❤️

Now i'm not usually one to beg for attention or talk much about my personal life to strangers, but I am feeling pretty lonely at the moment and i just want to vent for a minute. I don't know how many people will read this or care to read this but bear with me. Well, to start off, i played football since i moved to public school in 4th grade. At the time I wasn't good of course because i was young and my first year playing, however throughout middle school i got good. I mean very good at the position i played,which was strong safety. over that time i was gaining a lot of muscle weight and got up to 160 pounds at the end of 8th grade. Then, when i got to the highschool i obviously wanted to play football and was at the field every day in the summer practicing and lifting with older students. By the time practice officially started the coach had asked me to play for varsity rather than the freshman team. I was very excited because the last person to start varsity their freshman year was Rushel Shell who now is a running back for WVU. I started to think things like "Hey if im playing varsity this early, maybe i'll become a D1 football player!" Then 2 days before our first game, i felt a searing pain in my ankle during practice. I sat out for a little then went back to work because i thought i felt fine and finished practice in a lot of pain. When i got home and took off my cleat, my foot had hurt so bad i couldn't put a pound of pressure on it. Later we found that my foot and ankle looked very deformed and went to the hospital for some answers. They took x-rays, CT scans, and MRIs and found nothing. They did not know what was wrong with me but said it didn't look good. They told me the worst news i never thought i would hear, "Your football career might be over." I didnt want to believe it and started to cry. I was not going to be the great football player i was going to be. Maybe next year i would be fine and playing like normal i thought. Doctors were putting me on different medications that wouldnt take the pain away. By the middle of 9th grade i took my first opiate which did take the pain away. Next thing i know im taking them everyday so the pain would be gone, but because they made me so drowsy, i never wanted to do anything but lay down and i started to loose much of my weight. At the end of 9th grade i was under 140 pounds. It was so rough to see my life not go the way i wanted it to and i was not taking it well, getting very angry and upset so easily. Soon i went to a therapist who gave me antidepressants. a few days of taking the antidepressants i started to get the shakes from it and i made a trip to the ER. (Note i was still on the opiates at this time) i was given valium to stop the shaking but it intensified it and i had a seizure and spent 8 days in a hospital bed without moving. After i woke up (i blacked out from the seizure) i had a very hard time speaking and to this day i still have trouble speaking, slurring my words most of the time. oddly enough it never affected me mentally that i came close to death and had permanent "scar" from it. By the start of tenth grade i had three different diagnosis for my foot and still on painkillers. i wasnt allowed to play football which crushed me so much watching from the bleachers. Surely next year will be different. then on December 21, 2013 i believe this was my worst night ever. It was the school christmas dance that i was at with my girlfriend of about 18 months when my friend asked me at dinner if i was high. i said no and that i stopped taking my pills because i did not want to be addicted. my girlfriend hated drugs and got very mad at me and thought i was on drugs. this set off a very bad mood swing for me and i ended up flipping out and punching my friend for "ruining" my relationship. I punched him so hard that i broke my hand and really hurt him. I was handcuffed by police and i was freaking out screaming and crying begging for everything to be ok but i was kicked out, fined, suspended from school, single, and lost many friends. It put a lot of stress on me and i got very depressed so i started using my pills again, but this time for recreational use. Within a few months i was completely addicted to painkillers and i didnt care because it got rid of the physical and emotional pain. Then in March i got an official diagnosis for my foot. It was a comlpetely torn postterior tibal tendon and an almost torn peroneus logus tendon. On April 22, 2014 I had a surgery that last nearly 3 hours and was said to fix my ankle and reduce pain by up to 80%. after my surgery i was sitting on my couch for three straight months, only getting up to go to the bathroom. Although my foot was 'fixed' i was still addicted to pain pills throughout the summer and up to about mid December i was using several times a day. I decided to get clean, so i tried and was for a month then relapsed for a weeks then was clean again. i used several times here and there but never fully addicted again since December. However, it still isnt good at all for me because im now looking for answers for my back pain that started with my foot in 9th grade. At the beginning of February, a doctor thought i might have cancer in my spine with the pain i was describing and, thank god, my scan showed that i was clean. As of my most recent doctor visit, we think i may have a compressed spine, but dont know for sure because i havent had any trauma to my back. I dont know how my life got so f***ed up in the recent years. I mean it really sucks to know that i am a drug addict and im not even out of highschool yet. I thought i would be able to play football next year but my career is over as my first doctor had said and it hurts me deeply to watch football and think i could be one of those players on the screen. It hurts me a lot knowing how much different my life could have been right now if i never injured my foot. I do have to say though, joining FA has been one of the greatest things that happened to me in that time period and im glad i can know so many different people of different ages and ethnicities, so thank you guys and gals so much for that. P.s. sorry that is so long and thank you if you read it all. I dont usually tell people my story but i feel so alone at the moment and i often have trouble explaining how i feel..so ya.. /awkward

I'm going to keep this short and to the point. Have we forgotten the ability to discuss topics, while keeping mutual respect for each other? Many people (it seems like) want to avoid the hard discussions, but why? Well, because they are hard discussions, and generally (it seems like) these discussions turn into a fight or a yelling argument. Once a fight or "yelling" comes out, the discussion is lost and becomes pointless. Arguments and discussions are great and it seems like in some subjects it goes very well. However look around the internet, even some of the topics on this forum, it seems like the mutual respect has been lost and so there is no discussion. A good example is when discussing religion. On all sides, the respect has disappeared and people end up fighting and yelling. Look at youtube, yahoo answers, etc who have degenerated further. Where even a simple discussion on an opinion (which singer you like) has become fighting and yelling. We have lost the ability to discuss topics, and unless we start relearning (ourselves) and teaching our children to do so...it will only get worse. *edit: I was kinda hoping this would turn into a good discussion, but I guess that would disprove my idea. hehe

This is my first ever attempt at a blog so I thought I would start with telling a little about me. I think you have truly understand where a person has come from to know a person, so this is my attempt in my first post. I was born in East London to a quite a poor family. From what I remember we lived in squats, although I think that was the done thing in those days. Finally we moved out of London and I remember our very first house, all be it a council house. Anyhow, school was pretty much the normal for me as anyone else. I didn't go to great schools, and even if I did I don't think I would of done any better then I did. I was a trouble maker, I did some bad things. I then found Army cadets (for anyone else, it's like a youth club if you don't understand, but with discipline), this taught me respect, and I left most of my troublesome past behind me. I left school at 16, and joined the army. After 16 years I could boast a career, that started in tanks, then infantry. I went on to become a helicopter pilot and finally a skydiving instructor as my last post before I left. After the army, I found myself getting offered jobs in Iraq as private security, so decided that I would go, I then spent the next 2+ years, mainly in Baghdad working on contracts. After getting blown up and shot at way to many times, I decided it was time for a change, went back to the UK and started my own company, all was great, started a second company (died, but that's another story) then the recession hit and found myself back into private security. After the failed companies, I was then back in private security, but this time in Afghanistan, not as intense as Iraq but still quite dangerous. Spent the next 3 or so years dodging bullets and bombs, then left as it felt right to at the time. Probably, best to go back over the places I have lived to show how I ended up where I am today. Lived in the UK most of my life, except when I was in the army which took me to places such as Germany, Northern Ireland, USA, Canada, Africa, Balkans and some other great places. I spent some time living in France, Germany and now I have found myself living in Bangkok. I find I can get quite bored if I am in one place for to long, normally dependant on relationships etc. Now I am just chugging along with life. Probably the same as most, looking for the next opportunity, or maybe best put, the next chapter. Anyhow, not very interesting, but I felt I needed to say something about myself before I could write anymore. Ha, to be honest I have got so much experience with life in such a short amount of time I could write a book. Hmmm maybe I should. I am going to go back over my life and elaborate of things in time. Probably call it the early years. Like I said this is my first attempt at this blog thing, and I am writing this not just for you the reader, but a little for myself as well. As always be safe and enjoy whatever it is your doing.

Lets start this from the beginning. At the start of 2011 I stumble into a beginners jaymod server. It's wonderful, admins doing their job and maintaining a fun environment to players to derp around. But the troll inside me that had developed during puberty, woke up. I started spamming and harassing other players and admins. The admins took it for a while, I was surprised, but kept going. Then Joker stopped me. Got muted several times and even kicked, then I applied. (Can't remember what I was thinking) ''Nooo way. B!tch at the server, spam a lot, messing with teammates'' Then I realised what I was like, I was like an 9 year old. I started to change, tried to be better, tried to behave. My re-apply got denied immediately, didnt wait 3 months. I actually started to hate the people that I was like just a few months ago. Spamming vsays, b!tching, moaning, crying all the time. I helped admins, defused arguments and tried but failed at busting cheaters. When I did my second re-apply I thought to myself, third time's a charm. ''Wow, seeing ur old application and this new one proves that you did a 180 turn, looks like you went thru some changes and learned a thing or two.'' Purpish. ''Okay. Extended trial though.'' Krauersaut At this point I had learned so much from admins, my english had gotten a lot better, I got more patience and, well, more polite. I was a trial member for about 1,5 years, I got asked many times that why am I not a full member yet, I always gave the same answer; " They (higher admins) have their reasons and im happy with what I have." Last autumn I resigned, didnt have time to be active. Now im writing this in a bus going back to army from vacation as man that has to give his thanks to this amazing community that made him what he is.

Roughly half a year after the last one and more than a year after the first one, you are going to read the fifth interview in this series. This time about our Co-Leader Raziel, a more or less interesting person. Read it to find out why. Thanks to darkfag77, Marar4, and RoosterCogburn for their... inspiring questions. Could you quickly introduce yourself? My name is Marcel-René. I am a 19 year old student from Germany who has just finished school. I spend my time playing ET and Poker mostly. I also consider myself being a part of the Brony community. Brony community. What's that? Bronies are mostly males, teenagers and 20+ year olds alike, who enjoy watching the show My little Pony: Friendship is Magic. A big and still growing community has been established over the internet. It's a fandom, like the Star Trek fans, for instance. How did you get introduced to the world of video games? That's a tough one... I started playing PC games at the age of 12. No online games though. It started with the AOE and AOM series. I also bought a PS3 when it came out, my very first console. But =F|A= is the first gaming community I joined in. I've been playing ET for some 4 years now. Are you playing Poker on a competitive level or just for fun? I consider it playing for fun. But I recently started to play online-cashgames. I've put some money into books to improve my play. So it's still a hobby that involves money but I suppose I'm no opponent for competitive playing due to my lack of experience. Did you already win some real money from these poker games? Yes, and I also lost some. I play homegames with some friends. 10 € are the usual Buy-In there. So how did you manage to join our clan? Skullcollector invited me and I got the trial status right away, without applying. Big coincidence imo, given that I just started playing on the NQ server and was a total noob back then. What's the key to get up the ladder as fast as you did? Again, it's the things everyone tells you: huge amount of server activity (too much when you ask my mother ^^), decent forum activity, reporting cheaters and trouble makers, and also a mature attitude whilst admining. I also think that I took my "job" very seriously and put effort into it (since I had nothing else to do). You are a regular on our NQ1 Enemy Territory server. Are you active in our other games and game servers as well? No. I stick to ET no matter what. I never bothered looking for other games for PC. How would you describe your role in the clan? Good question. I guess I'm kind of a reporter and live policeman of the NQ department along with nani*, pepperonipizza and skully. I guess I am the most active one though. I do give orders and advices to trials and members alike, but they know what to do most of the time. I also bug a certain leader when it comes to new maps and such things, which have to be implemented in the server. I consider us co-leaders a bridge between the members and the leaders/founders. We are still online most of the time but also take care of things not directly related with the in-game developments. Things not directly related with the in-game developments? Well, if there are, for instance, conflicts between members or trials, we (also the staff) try to settle them. We help deciding about promotions and demotions as we know the respective members better than some leaders (who are seldom present at the server) do. How do you imagine the clan's future? Is it going to grow any larger, expand into more games? I guess that's the plan. I'm not certain of the ET development as it is an old game and such. I wonder what I would do if ET died. I am not that into trying new games out. But I guess this time has to come. I think this clan has enough potential to grow even larger, but the problem with the new games is that you have to find enough members who are willing to try them out. I think that's the case with TF2, for instance, I'm not sure though. But I am looking forward to spending some more years in this awesome community. Have you ever met any of our charming members in real life or had any contact apart from the servers and the forum? Well there was one single videochat with Alex, Baska and General, I remember. I learned that I can't handle these women, lol. I vividly remember the TS meetings with Masa,Reptile, Boombas, Retroleaves and some others, as they are always fun. I also enjoy the Xfire conversations with my favourite leader ^^. I can recall another spoken conversation with nani, Txoko and Ischwars (how can spanish people speak so fast?), but that's it. No real life contacts yet, well apart from T2WAII who is one of my best friends irl but his appearance in the clan was quite short. Describe the ideal member. Me. Ok just kidding. Let's see, the ideal member should be able to help out in every situation regardless of the game, be it CoD or Minecraft or whatever. He/She has to be very active and helpful on forums and servers alike. The ideal member doesn't care about promotions at all, but rather puts his/her very heart and soul into admining whilst still being humble and lighthearted. He/She is known to hang out and fool around with the regulars and admins on the server but also solve eventual problems with talking rather than commands and that easily. He/She has to be friendly and well-mannered, mature and good tempered. The ideal member can recognize cheaters with ease, apply the rules to whatever situation may come and is able to recruit tons of new and good members. My ideal member doesn't exist but maybe we can build one lol. You joined the clan in September 2009. Did anything change since then? I guess lots of things changed since then. The clan has definitely grown and expanded into more games and more servers for each game. We gathered so many helpful and amazing members for those games and servers that it's no big surprise though. Settings changed, people changed, people joined and left, we had some drama times and what not. But a few things didn't change: We are still banning cheaters and the like from our servers and keep them clean.We still try to create a fair and fun gaming environment with success. And we are still one big =F|A=mily. How were your first days as a trial? I can't remember these days very well...I guess I was not that talkative apart from the inevitable spamming with skully. I mostly put afks spec and tried to write proper english in forums to get the post count up. If you were in charge of =F|A= for a month, what would you change? I guess I would let everything remain untouched for I don't want to mess it up . Where do you plan to be in 10 years? A good job, famous, an attractive wife, kids? In ten years... of course everything you've mentioned would be awesome. I have no real plans for the future to be honest, so I stick with your proposals for now. What would you do with 100 million dollars? That's a huge amount of money. I'd like to donate a few millions to the clan, some other millions would be for charity and I'd keep 10 or so for myself. And what would you do with the 10? Buy myself a nice house filled with fancy things and luxury. Maybe on a beach, but with internet access. Of course not too far away...I'd like to keep in touch with my friends and family. What was your most embarrassing moment? I was outside of the school and my classroom because some girl threw my hacky sack out of the window. I went out through the window, but my so-called friends found it tremendously funny to shut them so that I couldn't get in. Well, I was very stubborn and wanted them to open the windows again (I figured if I used the door, they would hold it close, too) and made some drama out of it trying first to kick the window (which failed, much to the amusement of my friends, it was stupid anyway) and then beat the glass in order to show my anger and desperation. Well I succeded: The window consisted of two glasses one thicker one on the inside and a weaker one on the outside, I made a very neat, middle-sized hole into the glass, as if a ball crashed into the window. Cullets, screaming and I hurt my hand in the process. I didn't have to pay the damage in the end, but it was quite a shock. What's the story behind your name? Oh that's a simple one. Raziel is the name of an Archangel. He appeared in the "The Mortal Instruments" book series by Cassandra Clare. I was thinking about a name while I was reading the books and I found that it matched perfectly. Well, that was before I got to know about this famous RtCW player RaZiel . Some people even asked me on forums if I was that player lol. What are your hobbies apart from playing ET and poker? I like reading, mostly fantasy but also other things. I have a whole lot of books in my room. I also watch the anime Naruto: Shippuuden and of course My little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I hang around with my friends, watching movies, partying, playing PS3 and the like. I also go to the gym. What kind of music do you enjoy? You bet there is a lot. I listen to rock, punk, alternative, dnb, dubstep and most of the music the artists of the brony community makes (The Living Tombstone and Glaze/WoodenToaster are my favs) which ranges from electronic/dance to classical music. I'm a huge Muse fan and went to a concert of Rise Against in March, which was awesome. I do appreciate all kinds of music, so there are few things I don't like. But a lot of things I rarely listen to because it is too much. What's your favorite movie? A beautiful Mind, Dead Poets Society, Scott Pilgrim vs. the world and Kick-Ass are some of my favs. What's your favorite food and drink? That's hard to answer because I appreciate all kinds of good food. I do like the Mediterranean cooking, sushi and other spicy Asian food, but also the Swabian and German food I've grown up with. I love to drink apple juice, black tea, beer and tequila. Any pets? No. Maybe a spider and some flies from lack of cleaning. Imagine you would be stranded on an island with one =F|A= member. Who would it be? Nani* or Pepper hopefully. Or anyone of my TS crew. Can't I take all of you with me? What was your favorite subject in school? English and Mathematics. If you never got introduced to gaming, would your life be different? Big yes. I would have spend more time with my friends and outside. I also would have had getting more important things done. Such as? Better grades of course, deeper relationship with all my friends and maybe even a girlfriend , who knows. I would also have spent more time with my family. If you could pick any celebrity for a wife who would it be? George Clooney. Why is your member title "Wonderbolt"? That has to do with the ponies. My profile picture is the cutiemark (a thing the ponies have on their flanks and indicates their special talent) of Spitfire a female pegasus character who is the captain of the Wonderbolts, the greatest flyers in all of Equestria (the pony universe/world in the show). Do you like potatoes with ice cream? No. Do you like Sauerkraut or Schnitzel? Both. I love Wiener Schnitzel and also Sauerkraut. When RoosterCogburn was little he would eat crayons to see what funny colors he could get his poop to look like, have you ever eaten anything funny to make your poop a different color? No lol. I guess such things were/are beyond my imagination.

This is Radar. We are currently bonding and hanging out as I recently adopted him from a shelter. It will be interesting to watch him change and grow up. There is another dog in the house so they are bonding too (slowly). Radar is a male Belgian Malinois mix.

So I'm thinking, since this is a diverse community filled with people from all over the world, I'd create another word barf of a blog revolving around travel. The following are places that I have visited around this wonderful world. The reviews are purely from personal experience. In no particular order: Sweden. This country is beautiful inside and out. The architecture is amazing with the cobble stones and yellow buildings. There are some awesome museums there and the boat ride is a must in the summer otherwise prepare to freeze in the winter. There are charming hotels located everywhere and things are walking distance, but transportation is fairly easy to navigate. The country side is beautiful. My favorite are the Falu Red style homes. Many Swedes tend to keep to themselves and their social circles most of the time. Knowing the language can help when visiting smaller towns (obvi). The food is delicious, fresh, and healthy. Sweden plays a big role in science and invention. You may have heard of the Nobel Prizes. Or dynamite and Ikea. There’s this thing called “fika”! It’s like a coffee hour, where you relax and chat over some pastries and coffee. Prepare to get fat. Financially, you’ll want to save up a great deal if you plan on visiting here. You can see the northern lights in the...northern parts. I want to visit northern Sweden sometime and attend a reindeer race. Norway. There is literally a bald border line between Norway and Sweden-no trees nothing. Otherwise it all looks the same- green forests and beautiful people. Until you get to the coast. Fjords will blow your mind. If you like seafood, you're in luck. Thailand. The rural villages I saw were life changing. Riding elephants near Chang Mai was amazing. You’ve most definitely heard about this country’s diverse selection of food. If not, you’re in for a piece of heaven when you visit. The CURRY. VEGGIES. MEAT. THE SPICES. You’ll find temples all over Thailand! Buddhism is very much prevalent here and like they say, it’s not a religion, it’s a lifestyle. I’ve heard Phuket is a place to visit. Never been. Also heard it’s fairly dirty. Can’t forget about the islands! There are many. The one I went to had resorts all along the beach as well as restaurants and bars. I may be a little biased, but California is the best state around. You’ll notice that it’s pretty diverse all around. All you need to do is follow the US 101 and you’ll see all kinds of good stuff. Or head over to Yosemite for some nature walks. Obviously you have to see San Francisco, the city by the bay. Don’t forget to hit up the beaches as you visit. Venice, Santa Monica, Carpinteria, San Diego and Santa Barbara are some great spots. When in SF, try the clam chowder. I have yet to visit sea glass beach in northern Cali. New York. There is a lot to see there. Went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and saw The Thinker and some of Van Gogh. Walked the Brooklyn Bridge. Went to the top floor of the Empire State Building. The transportation via subway is good as long as you’re paying attention. It was freezing and windy when I was there, but the sun was out so it wasn’t all that bad. Gotta visit the Statue of Liberty and Ground Zero memorial next time. The other part of NY I’ve seen is upstate. The Niagara Falls are a must see. Beware, make sure you have your passport so you can visit the Canadian side if you decide to drive there, it’s prettier. Otherwise you can walk without needing a passport. Seattle. Hip and busy city. There are some good outdoor things to do like a walk through a modern art gallery and shop the market. Don’t forget to visit the first Starbucks. I was there for a wedding and it rained LOL. Colorado has a lot to see. There's the dry desert east and the ski-town, agricultural west. One of the highlights you may have heard of, CO was one of the first to legalize marijuana. There is some great skiing here. You may have heard of Aspen, Vail, and Breckenridge. Utah. No offense to the Mormons, but they ruin it. They chose a perfect place to settle themselves long ago. They do keep the city clean and trimmed I'll have to admit. So just ignore them and their views when you visit here for world renowned snow. There are I think about 5 resorts within 45 mins of the airport. There's also national parks in the southern parts (Moab and Zion are big ones). Hawaii. Kauai is known as the Garden Island of the chain. It’s beautiful here. Again ABC stores are pretty pricey so save up folks. Jurassic Park was filmed here. Lots of beaches to snorkel and lounge at. Some are less touristy. The big island, Kona, has the volcanic parts and green parts. Be sure to buy a good tourist book that will help you find your way around these islands. ---------- Well folks, I’ve been to a few other places (Australia, London, Germany) but I was too young to remember all of the details. One day I’ll add photos of my travels to my gallery. Hope you enjoyed this! Let me know what you think. Where have you been?

A rather short entry. I started working in september. "Real" life has kept me from being here regularly. I was hired for something between social and legal work for a half time but the organisation was also looking for someone to handle the communication (I haven't studied that). I started to do it for one newsletter. Now I'm handling project calls, facebook, twitter, website, newsletter and yearly report next to the legal and social work I'm doing. If it wasn't for my experience with organising stuff and speaking in clear words in this clan, I would have had a much more difficult time. Thanks to you I know how to find words quickly and eloquently. I have been dreaming of writing a book for a long time. If I ever manage, I have you to thank, among others. My salutations.

Since everyone writes such kind of stories in here, I thought I also may able to add one of these. How did I get into this clan, what happened throughout the last 2 and a half years, what are my thoughts of the clan nowadays and so on. (I guess I get sentimental since i'm finished with school and am at a turning point in my life (heading for a university, that is) , so I want to share some nostalgic and dear moments of me being in this clan. Maybe it even helps to encourage new trials when they see that if a noob like me gets to be co-leader, they'll do it in no time . OK enough about my high hopes on that piece of typing, let's head back to 2009. I was 16 back then and played ET regularly at the -=AN=- NQ server. A friend of mine, T2WAII (maybe some of you remember him), who had recently started playing ET, led me to the very first NQ server of this clan I'm a proud member of, now known as NQ1. Good old days, I have to say. Just imagine: Unlimited charge, ammo and iirc a guidable Panzerfaust. I remember Skullcollector rampaging through the server with nonstop adre (nub lol ^^). Airstrikes all over the place, extreme rambos and the like, sure, it was chaos, but soo much fun. One memorable day, Skully asked me via pm whether I had interest in joining the clan, first inquiring about my age. Back then, I used the default settings (mouse sens at 12 lol) and didn't knew anything about PMing people. So I wrote my answers in main chat (and today I get a headache, when I am asking someone via pm and receive answers in main chat ^^). Long story short, I eventually found my way to forums, got the trial status without applying (yay). And wore the tags (seriously, it took me about half an hour to find out how to make that middle bar thingy, I was just too stubborn to ask lol). Being shy and not used to the English language at all, (now I love to write and speak English, more than German tbh) I made few posts, most of them being one sentence long. I remember my trial time the following: I was at the server and watched the afks, eager to put them spec after 30 seconds of inactivity without asking (nothing changed here lol), I occasionally spoke with skully and nani* (besides the infamous WAAZZZAAAP spam). Eventually I spotted Medic's cfg helpdesk topic and received my very own cfg days later ( which was really amazing, so many nice changes, especially the xhair). Boy, I had fun at those times with skully, nani*, F257 and Nik00 (who seems to have disappeared for good). I can tell, even the maps were almost the same like nowadays. Changes were made, for instance, the soundpack and the overall settings. No unlimited ammo and charge, but still guided zooka (oh the raters hated it ^^ ). Somewhere around the 1st anniversary of this very clan, I got promoted to full member. What a spamfest *sigh*. Honestly I have some blanks in my memories there. I witnessed the very first arrival of Ischwars and Pepperonipizza, Masa and Reptile (with the BH tags) amongst others. I started talking more spanish with nani* ( when I got to know that she was female, well, she's been my "guapa" ever since [stupid hormones huh?]) and opened up in general. My English also improved over time. People I remember from that time were Crokiller, Locoman, ofc T2WAII, Biscotte (with his old clan tags), Jor-el aka [CCT] un4given back then, Soul, Killar, Master and Skills (those three always with identical coloured names, I found that strange), Angels's, Peppero and Ischwars. ( I bet I forgot a whole bunch, sry guys ^^). I also installed a name changer in my config. Oh one funny thing I have to tell you about: My very first ban. One stormy and pitch-black night a unknown aimbotter came on to the server and pwned all. I issued the ban command, well almost, I forgot the reason, which made that attempt a failure. (I was sweating bullets back there lol, didn't want to do anything wrong), then I changed my name and finally issued an impressive 999 seconds ban. One regular asked me then if I was Daredevil due to my clantag-free badass name lol. Time passed by, Masa and Reptile's old BH tags got replaced by shiny new FA ones, I created a vsay spam bind in my cfg, which allowed me to play every single NQ vsay with only one key. (greeting from Jukebox btw ^^) which got out of hand sometimes (sry again Caldas :S). I also discovered that I could mute players (Chappie, Reji) ever, ever, ever, ever, yeah make that 4 evers, FOREEEVEER (or 999d). (that was soo cool) Promotions arrived, to Ischwars, at least, not me (I was pretty concerned about that, like "I was there before him omg where's my promotion?"), but the world seemed fine again after I received the same level ^^ (Silly me lol) along with Peppero. Again guys, promotions are earned you can't just sit on your lazy bums and expect to get one. (yeah, I didn't like that fact at all either ). NQ1 was full at peak times and we even had to kick specs (awesome!!!). But then a little something happened. Ischwars (co-leader at that time) decided to leave us. Along with Angels's and Soul. Unfortunately, furious Soul kept his Admin levels and decided to kick players out of the server. Mass admin and xp level reset was the consequence. Pepper and I were temporarly set to co-leads to set levels. (more toys to play with lol). I was proud to have some kind of responsibility then. Yeah really, I liked it..a lot. Another turning point in my admin career. Txoko asked out to promote me as full time co-leader. That actually was quite a boost in self-confidence for me. Even more so when I finally got to be co-leader, I love that orange coloured-name. And the other perks too (Staff as servants, free access to Dare's cookie jar etc.). And by now, I witnessed a lot of new things in my NQ home: The population of the NQ3 server and, most recently, also of the NQ2 server. Many new trials and members, no guided panzer (R.I.P. Gingerfish will miss you ). Endless new map discussions, annoying German and Swedish cheaters, me getting highest fragger and most hs (Aiming by Raziel jk all honors to RaZiel and his tutorial), 650k xp that guarantee me at least two awards in the roll of honor, hilarious TS weekends...and the list goes on and on.... Tbh I do spend an awful lot of time in front of my PC. My server activity is one of the reasons I got promoted I believe. Also, good knowledge of English (not the swear words), a sincere and mature behaviour when it comes to admining, without taking things too serious though, came in handy. I know how trials might feel about the decision-making but honestly: don't worry about things, sit back and relax. Share a good laugh with others, have fun while doing your duty as admin. Try to solve problems with words rather than commands. Communicate and interact with the community, players and admins alike. You can make some nice e-friends here. Share your thoughts, your hobbies and whatever you want with them if you feel like it. Oh and talk with Krauersaut. Bug him via Xfire whenever you see him online. It may be awkward at first, but in the end it is fun. Even if he doesn't admit it and starts insulting or threatening you, keep going! You are on the right way. Also feel free to bug me via Xfire or PM if you want. I'd love to chat with some new people. Not too many, I'm not Alex ^^ but well... I hope you get the point. Let me share some love and make this one sappy. First of all, my utmost respect goes to Dare, Joe and Rainier for steering this ship to safe shores, whatever storm there might be upcoming You know that we all love you, even though we might not show this at times. Keep up the amazing work. You can count on us, too. Secondly, my most fav leader, Krauersaut. Kai, I always enjoy our Xfire convos, no matter how absurd and fantastic or hilarious they might get. Keep on rocking, Austrian pirate. Another shoutout to my second fav leader , yoyo. You are always welcome to abuse the batman vsay on NQ, matey. I always crank up on your comments, be it in unban requests or other things. You are truly awesome. Last but not least Saizou. I remember you from the old days on NQ1 with those c o l o u r f u l binds. Onwards to co-leaders: I guess, I do love all of you guys, though there are three special ones. I'll get to you later in this blog. You guys are one bunch of a failboat crew I am genuinely happy to join in. I have to mention Baska, for being one of the first (evil) admins I've ever recognized as such, Joker, for ..well..being the Joker (and stay out of my NQ area, I dare you ^^) and also Scream for no particular reason hehe. When it comes to the members, I have to shout: YEASH! EAVEN! FUNK! FACKING MORON!. TS crew with fintards, ponies, sweet girls and a movie quoting dutchman. Hilarious. All the NQ members: Madara, Katon, Killar (or Pinkie Pie, you are some random, love Dashy xoxo),Strangelove, Txoko, Jor-el, Biscotte, Ark, Proffa, Vodka, eclips, Comeback, Deathshead, Joske, Orel, Mukiko...and all the ones I forgot. Big hug to you guys, really I love to see how much effort and time you put in this clan and the NQ servers, without you, NQ1 wouldn't be as awesome as it is. To the NQ trials: Learn, learn, learn, even out, report trouble makers and cheaters but first of all HAVE FUN. Don't get stressed over little things like aiming (yeah KGB this one's for you) and making mistakes, just keep moving on. At Julez, Platonic War and Adryan: You guys are doing an amazing job for NQ2. Keep it on. I have to mention also: Chuckun, for the amazing guy that he is, helpful and friendly and a great addition to this clan. And now for my undeniably, unquestionably, unstoppable 3 co-leaders. I admit I wouldn't have gotten so far if it hadn't been for you. 1st: Pepperonipizza. I was jealous of you by the very first moment, just because you were shooting so damn better than me, lol. But the work you've put into this clan made me feel kinda outranked, so I pushed myself to do something more, in my way, and it worked. But it is not like we are competitors though. No, you kinda inspired me to keep up my good work in order to not fall behind .... in a good way. I love you bro and hope to see some more of you on the server. 2nd: Skullcollector. For inviting me to this awesome clan thus making everything possible in the first run. Thank you soo much mate. You are one tough guy and I am glad you recovered from all those surgeries you had to face. 3rd: Last but NOT least: nani*. Big sis, I guess I owe you more than I can think of. You always supported me and believed in me. And even though my Spanish sucks, you will always be my guapa, hermana and whatnot. Your chiquitin 4ever. Wow what a hell of a ride had it been. I guess I am happy now. I wanted to write this so badly. Btw here are my most used nicknames in the game. Enjoy. =F|A= Raziel ( Surprise) JUKEBOX ( I play the music) Rainbow Dash (20% cooler in 10 seconds flat) =F|A= BelacQua (P. Pullmann: His Dark Materials) =F|A= r@2!3L <3 nani* (because I do) Archangel out.

So, i dont know if anybody will read this but here i go. As i talked about in my previous blog, I used to be addicted to pain pills due to a long lasting injury that i got hooked on just from being on them for so long and eventually self medicating for my mood swings. But as of today, i am one year and one month clean and to me that is a HUGE milestone. Since i got clean, i took up working out to occupy my time and i have seen some tremendous gains. When i started working out I weighed a measly 138 pounds and standing 6 foot 1 inch tall. I put my whole self into working out and gained almost 30 pounds in three months which was great to me. It has changed my life for the better in ways i couldn't have even imagined and i cant see myself not exercising and taking health important. Not only have i grown physically but i also grown mentally that has made me a better person. As of right now i weigh 164 pounds and im trying to stay around there because i pole vault with 165 pound pole and i just feel good using that pole and if i gained more weight, moving me to a heavier pole, i feel i wouldnt do as well as i am right now (probably just a mental thing though). Another thing is before i started lifting was that girls never really paid much attention to me, i guess because of drugs and i was really skinny but now that i have some weight to me, they seem interested. Weird right? (lol) The strange thing is however, i feel like no woman is worth my time just because of my attitude towards life is drastically different than most people my age and they just wont work well with me. I have been talking to this girl for a while now that i feel has been worth my time and i can definitely see myself with this woman long term, but there is big problem with our situation. When we started talking, she just got out of a year long relationship a month before and she recently told me that she feels as if we jumped into things too quick, which we kinda did. Not only that but we are graduating next month and i will be going to a college thats about 3.5 hours away and she is staying home to attend a local college. We talked about everything and we decided its probably best to not start a relationship just to have it ruined by distance and not being able to see each other often. I said we could try to work it out but she just did not want to get in another relationship and have her feelings hurt in the end, which i completely understand but it just hurts so damn much. I felt like i found someone that can be there for me and support me through everything and vice verse but it just isnt working out how i would like it. I guess you can say that its depressing me a little and i've been in a funk since we decided that. As i mentioned before i am senior in high school and a graduation requirement is senior project which i have been finishing up in the past few months and it has been placing a huge amount of stress on me. Tomorrow however, I give my presentation on it, giving a 15 minute speech in front of panel of judges who basically decide my fate, which as you can imagine is placing a lot of stress on me but i will feel relieved after its all over. With all this stuff that is happening and things that are not going how i would like it really suck, I just gotta keep on moving forward. But hey, thats life.

It’s time to turn the tables!!!!! Yes….. the interviewer has become the interviewEE. He has taken time out of his busy schedule to interrogate several of us. Now it is his turn. Our very own Leader Krauersaut has graciously granted me a few minutes (actually less than a minute) to give YOU….. his loyal subjects…… a piece of him. So are you ready for your interview? I’m not going to do an interview. If you want one you are going to have to make it up all by yourself. And no asking Gubbi for any of the answers. Could you quickly introduce yourself? I am not giving you an interview. So you are saying that you are unwilling to participate in something that you, yourself started? Not unwilling. Just unable to. Why are you unable to? Are you like in a witness protection program or something? Yes. I see. So you are in a witness protection program. Isn’t it dangerous to be talking to people on x-fire all the time then? I mean you never know who you might be talking to. For instance…. I have Mafia connections. And you may have a nice bounty on your head. What do you know about me that I should worry? I’m asking the F*#@7’in questions here!!! And I’m not answering any questions. Again with the refusal. Well….. I guess I’ll just have to go by what I know of you from the countless times you x-fire me in the middle of a game. BTW…. Do you do that to EVERYONE else? Pretty much. Ha! Sucker! Guess what? You just answered a question! How easy was that? I RULE! <silence> in recognition of just being !owned. Do you want to do this or not? I didn’t want to do this in the first place. So how did you become a part of this great clan of ours? I played. I joined. I see. And how did you get to be in the position you are now? I sat down in this chair. Is it a comfortable chair? Comfortable enough to have sex in. O.o……. moving on…… It is noted by many that you have a tendency to like to turn the tables on people to make them look foolish. Is that true? I find most people are able to look foolish on their own. So what is the key to being a member/admin here? Be more like me. But because you are not really participating in this interview and I am making stuff up because of your refusal, how are we supposed to know how to “be more like me”? OK. Be more like you. More like you? Is that a compliment on my abilities as an admin? No, Shirley. Did you just call me Shirley? I said “surely” not “Shirley”. Oh. My mistake. So hard to tell over this phone. But we’re on x-fire and not the phone. And I’m in the middle of a game. I know that. You should not be playing. You should be doing admin stuff. So an admin should not play at all and just police the servers? You said that in the interview I did on you. Oh now you are just making stuff up? No you are. You are the one doing this interview without my direct input. So now you are saying I’m just making stuff up as I go along here? Well….. you are the one typing both the questions and the answers. So now you are making the claim that I am crazy and having conversations with myself? Well….. you are the only one here. Fine. Let’s get on with this interview. What is the most important part of this clan in your opinion? Me. Fair enough. How did you come up with your screen name? I hate sauer kraut. What did it ever do to you? Well….. I sharted once after eating it. So you picked on a popular food item to get revenge? It bullied me so I decided to bully back. What kind of car do you drive? We go from food to cars? Man you are crazy. I am not giving you what kind of car I drive. Since I am in the witness protection program, someone may want to blow me up. If you were to be stranded on a deserted island with one clan member, who would that be and why? Gubbi. He is the only one that really understands me. A bit insecure are we? You are one of those older Goths with trust issues, aren’t you? I AM from Austria. If you could visit any point in history, where/when would you go and why? I would go back and offer to give you a serious interview. Oh no sir. You refused and told me to make one up and now you are stuck with this on the blogs until the end of time. I did? Yes. And I have the screenshot to prove it. Next question comes from a member who wishes to remain anonymous. Do you like pie? Anonymous for THAT? OK….. yes I do. What kind of job do you have? Would you believe I’m a pole dancer? Well based on my conversations with you, it is not out of the realm of possibility. Our next question is from another member who wishes to remain anonymous. Where you that transsexual pole dancer in the film “The Hangover II”?......... I KNEW IT!!!!! I’m busted. Imagine you were in charge of the whole clan for a month. What would you change or would you leave everything as it is? I would strip YoYo of his Leader title. You would? Why? There’s only room in this town for one sheriff. What would you do with a million dollars? I would by me a computer that would actually make it possible for me to be seen on the servers once in a while. If you were the first person to make contact with an Alien life form, what would you say/do? I am the greatest authority on earth and I request you wait for my response on the forums to see just how foolish you really are. If you could pick any celebrity for a husband or wife, who would it be? I am an internet celebrity and there is no one that could top my status. Everyone I come in contact with automatically gets a bump in their status. So adding you on my x-fire and friend list on the forums has in turn made me more popular? Exactly. What's your favorite cuddly toy? I have a life sized picture of Gubbi that I sleep with. What's one thing you'd like to do before dying? Go to Antarctica to swim with the penguins. But you would freeze to death in that cold water, wouldn’t you? No….. I am a LEADER in F|A clan and that protects me from all types of things. What was your favorite subject in school? I have a degree in Awesomeness. You think pretty highly of yourself. Is that a problem? Not whenever you are as awesome as I am. And 1 final question. Do you have any regrets? Yes. Giving you permission to do this interview on your own. And with that folks, I hope you have a better understanding of our Leader Krauersaut who was gracious enough to answer only the 1st question in this interview. I hope those mentioned here have the understanding that it is all in fun and do not take any offense where they are mentioned.

After a long absence I finally present the eleventh interview in this series. This time about Thistle aka Spaceballs, an ET member from Germany. Since he has a habit of writing very long blog posts, I thought he deserves a very long interview as well. Decide yourself if it's worth the long read. Could you quickly introduce yourself? Hey, I am 27 years old and live in Wiesbaden, Germany. I like cycling, volleyball and badminton. And I enjoy eating. I am studying English and French to become a teacher and most hopefully will finish by next summer. Unless =F|A= keeps me busy like this. Have you already had some form of internship or teaching experience during the studies? Yes, I was sent to France, Lyon, for a year to teach French students. It was quite an experience as the French school system is very different from the German one. Also, the way of teaching differs. Yet, it was very nice and I enjoyed it. I learnt a lot, made many friends and acquaintances. So you taught native French speakers how to speak French? No, that would have been awkward. I could never really teach them anything in French, I guess. I taught English and German at the time. Back in Germany I had several work experiences in high school, too. There I taught French and English. Jokes apart, what's so different or special about the French school system compared to the German one? In Germany we have a threefold system, which allows the parents to decide which school suits their children best. The school is divided into three levels and each school branch has a different qualification in the end. In France, however, until high school, there is just a single branch and all the students are together. It is called "collège unique" and school takes the whole day. In Germany, there is a similar development, but afternoon classes are not yet that common. Are you going to teach German high school students after finishing your studies or something abroad? I don't know yet. I always wanted to live somewhere else. I thought about living in England and teaching French. But in the end I will probably stay in Germany and simply teach here, since my family lives here and I don't want to be separated for too long. Now why did you choose to become a teacher? To be honest, I started studying languages out of a whim. I didn't know what else to do. With time I realized that being a teacher could be fun. I tried to teach in a primary school first, but that didn't suit me at all. So I tried high school and I enjoyed it. I've heard you spend some of your time supervising children in summer camps. What's the matter about that and might that have been a factor as well? No, the summer camp job came after the decision to become a teacher. It's a job I do, because I need money to support my studies. I enjoy summer camps, but I would not do it if I had enough money to get around at the end of the month. Any other notable activities with children? Before I started university I worked in a hospital for children with cancer. It was only a year and I did it because I did not want to do military service, but it sure was the hardest time in my life so far. I have seen too many children die and I still remember their names. It also was my first encounter with death... The first one? Yeah, to that point in time I didn't know anyone who died. Not even in family. It was the first time that someone I knew in person died. Have you been a good student, teacher's favorite? Not really. I always was average. Even in my studies I am just average. But that does not matter to me. Even if I am not the "best", as long as I get along with children and adolescents it is okay. What was your favorite subject back in school? German, English or French? Actually, it was P.E, still love it. I was above average in English and French, enjoyed both subjects, but they were not my favorite. And I was horrible in mathematics. Do you speak any languages apart from German, English and French? No. Have you ever been to England, the USA or France? I have been to all three places. I first went to England when I was fifteen years old. I spent two weeks alone in London to explore the city and its people. During my studies I went to Exeter, in Devon, South England. There I spent several months in order to improve my language skills. France is a country I visit very often. I am in France 1-2 times a year. I have many friends in Lyon and some family as well, so I try to go there every now and then. I can't remember my time in the States. I was two years old and my parents took me along. So no chance. I have not been to the States since then. Do you also have such a cute girl's name like some of our members? My real name is Darius. It usually does not get mistaken for a girl's name. Just recently though my new nickname was mistaken for a girl's one. Is "Thistle" that girly? Yes, very. Back to the gaming part. You've mentioned some quite old games in your most recent blog entry. What was your first console? My first console was Nintendo's NES. A few years later I started playing on a N64. I still have that one connected to my TV to play Diddy Kong's Racing or Mario Kart. I never had any other consoles apart from these two. What were your favorite games back then? Or was it only the two? Mh,... I liked those two games a lot. And I was not so much into RPG games or shooters at the time. Yet, I played Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. Those two games were revolutionary. I still have them and play them sometimes. I often listen to the soundtrack on youtube. And what are they now? Besides W:ET of course. You shall not love anyone besides W:ET. Joke. I play Guildwars and ET. I still have old games on my hard drive such as Keen Commander, Master of Orion and Doom, but I only play them occasionally. I would love to play Guildwars 2 and Skyrim, but I would need a new PC for that. Do you play CoD4, Minecraft, BF3 or TF2 as well? No, I have never played any of these games. Your laptop is apparently too slow for CS:GO, Guildwars 2 and Skyrim. Are you more of a console gamer than PC gamer? No PC builder? I definitely am a PC gamer. However, I would need money to build a new PC. When I saved up enough, I will order my new computer at an online store, which lets you choose all the components you want. I did that a few times already and it always worked out fine. Unfortunately, I only did it for friends who had money but no knowledge of putting together a computer. I never had the chance to put one together for myself. How and when did you start playing W:ET? Must have been around 2005. And I stopped in 2007, only to restart playing in 2011. I missed it so much. A friend told me about a freeware game which was supposed to be great fun. When I tried it, I sticked to it. Have you been member of any clans before joining =F|A=? Yes, I have. But it is a long time ago. My last clan was a Guildwars guild. I also was in an ET clan, but I forgot the name. It was no big clan. A community such as =F|A= is the first time for me. And I would not want to miss this experience. Why did you join =F|A=? When I started to play ET again in November, I stumbled upon the =F|A= servers. First, I did not intend to join any clan at all. I was not even sure, if I would continue playing the game. However, I liked the atmosphere on servers and the people. In December I registered on the forums, but was not very active. So I just played and sometimes even talked on servers. That way I got to know Pianist. We played often together from then on and in February he asked me, if I wanted to join =F|A=. I liked the idea of a clan and community that does not recruit because of skills but rather depending on social interaction and motivation to contribute something to the community. Your favorite server appears to be Jay4. What's so special about that one? I like the ping I have on that server. Apart from that I play there whenever Jay 1 is too full to play on. Jay 4 is just perfect, if I compare to other servers. Jay 2 is to hard with many raters on it. And I don't like fast shoot on Jay 3. What are the parts you enjoy most about the clan and what do you dislike? That's a difficult question and I cannot give a straight answer. The overall image is coherent. The system works. Perhaps I could say that I like most to play together with the friends I made in this clan. I enjoy spending time on the server with them and chat while playing. There is not really something I dislike. What do you think about the clan's future? Are we always going to run ET servers? Should we rather expand to newer or at least more popular games? Well, perhaps not ALL the ET servers will survive, but I hope that some will. And as far as I know we are already expanding. We just started a new server for CS:GO and I think I read somewhere in the forum that someone wanted to start a Guildwars 2 section. I don't know if it worked out, since I barely visit the RPG forums of =F|A=. I think it is good to expand in new games, but not too fast. One game at a time, if there are members interested in it. We always need capable admins to supervise the new game section. How did you learn the principles of administrating the servers? Purely by reading the guides in our Wiki or did someone mentor you? The basis should be the admin guide. Everyone should take to heart what is written there. After that I always ask more experienced members when I have questions. That happened quite often in the beginning. I am doing good now, I hope. What do you think was the reason for your promotions? Hard work, coincidence, luck or a good tongue? I always tried to contribute the best I could for the clan so far. So I was promoted to full member and am thankful for that. I will continue to help on servers, and be active on forums. If you were in charge of =F|A= for one month, what would you change, what would you improve, who would you kick out? If I were in charge and paid the server costs, I would probably start praying to God for the donation bar to be completed before the end of the year. I would not kick anyone. People who do not fit into =F|A= usually don't need to get kicked. They often realize it themselves and leave. Do you consider yourself the ideal member? No, surely not. I am bad at spotting cheaters, rather poor at recruiting. Yet, I try to do it and learn. Have you already made some more or less severe mistakes in your clan life? Mh, I once thought that the tracker was private and posted some confidential information. That was... stupid. What's your role in the clan? Thistle sounds rather prickly. Are you goosing people to do their best? I am just a normal member and do nothing special. I also don't tell people what to do. I just do what I think appropriate according to the situation. Share a funny, weird or suggestive joke. "Very dark the side is." - "Oh Yoda, shut up and eat your toast." We have a good amount of German members. Have you ever met any of them in person? Not yet. Only know some of them through xfire. Would you participate in the meeting some of our members are trying to organize in Germany this time? That depends on how my schedule is around November. I cannot say yet, if I will participate or not. Ghostwind proposed to meet in Mainz, which is near where I live. I might just go, if I have time. What's your favorite movie, TV-show and book? My favorite books/films are Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. I am eagerly awaiting the film The Hobbit. I love Six Feet Under. What kind of music do you enjoy? Retro game soundtracks? I listen to house music, electro house, and sometimes classical music. Tell us about your most embarrassing moment. In middle school I liked a girl and told her. The next morning I saw her kissing some other boy in school. That was embarrassing. Everyone knew I liked her. I felt dumb. You told us the story behind the name "Thistle" in one of your blog posts. What's the story behind your original name, "Spaceballs"? That name came to my mind when I watched the film "Spaceballs". A parody of Star Wars, which I like very much. I simply decided to take on that name. What would you do with 100 million dollars? That is beyond my imaginative capability. What about one million then? Oh yea, pay the debts I accumulated during the studies, give a little to my parents, keep the rest for me to save up for bad times. Where do you plan to be in 10 years? Teaching German in France while leading =F|A= in your spare time? Haha, if =F|A= still exists, and I hope it does, I want to be part of it. Of course I hope to be a teacher by then, have a family and children, probably in Germany. Tell us more about your sport hobbies, cycling, volleyball and badminton. Are you a competitive sportsman? No, I am not. I do these sports in my freetime with friends. I do cycling the most. Volleyball and badminton are sports I do occasionally in summer. And the eating part? What's your favorite meal and drink? Weißwurst and Weizenbier? Mh, I like schnitzel most. I barely drink any alcohol since it's not too good when doing sports. If you had to eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be? Rice. What did you cook while answering these questions? Noodles. Do you own a car or do you prefer to go by bicycle? I have a car, which I need for my work as I often have to change locations. What kind of? It is a grey Peugeot 206. I named him Gandalf. How cute. Who are your favorite clan members and why are they? I like all the =F|A= members I have to deal with. I was really sad though, when Pianist took his leave some time ago. And really happy when he came back. Would you pick him to be stranded on an island with you? No. I would pick my girlfriend in order to satisfy my natural desire to reproduce my genes. You wouldn't want to have a baby with Pianist? I am afraid, no. Sorry Pianist. Imagine you could swap roles, permissions and duties with a =F|A= member for one month. Who would it be? I don't have someone specific in mind, but I would switch with someone who has the same level as me. Otherwise I would be afraid not to meet the expectations, if I just swap with someone who has more responsibilities than I do. What's your favorite color? Dark Blue. Do you have any pets? Yes, I have a lovely overweight cat named Max. If you were the first person to make contact with an Alien life form, what would you say/do? I would turn around and run away. What kind of cellphone do you have? I use an HTC smartphone (HD2). If you could pick any celebrity for a wife or husband, who would it be? Zooey Deschanel! What's your daily schedule, from morning to evening? I get up at 7 a.m. and after breakfast, checking emails and forums, I continue writing my dissertation. And I play ET somewhere in the recreation time. When I go cycling, it is usually in the evening. Bedtime is whenever I am too tired to watch TV. At what age do you expect to retire from work and what are you going to do as an old and grumpy German? Mh, with the current demographic development in Germany and Europe, I will not be able to retire before 75, I guess. Who else will pay my pension? I am going to sit in my wheelchair in some retirement home and scowl at the personnel. If you could visit any point in history, where/when would you go and why? I honestly don't know. Which comic character would you like to be? Mickey Mouse. He gets sexy Minnie. Are you happy with your life so far? Yes, I am. Money was always a big issue, but I doing fine and never had to suffer. I am happy the way my life is now. What's your life goal? Teaching children? Not the teaching itself, but giving the children the possibility to choose for themselves what they want to do. My job simply is to make sure they have what it takes to make that decision. My personal life goal would be to see my own children live happily before I pass away. Or rather before you move into the retirement home. What's your biggest dream? Not to move into a retirement home. I hope that I will be independent until the end. Who is your hero, who or what inspires you and why? I don't have someone like that in my personal environment. Sometimes I am inspired by politicians who dare to stand up against their own faction, because they do not simply say "yes", but rather use their own brains to think. What is one thing you could not live without? Water/Food. What is the biggest influence in your life? My girlfriend is. She educated me. Or at least, she tries. What's your favorite cuddly toy? My little elephant. Do you like to travel? Where have you been so far? I love to travel and have been pretty much everywhere in Western Europe. I travel light, with backpack, and sleep in youth hostels. Would you rather prefer a city trip or going to the beach? I like both. If I go to the beach, it becomes boring after one week. But a city can offer much more for a longer period of time. What is one thing you'd like to do before dying? I would like to do some mountain climbing. Not without security though, because it might actually end up being the last thing I do before dying. Have you ever forgotten your sports bag in the school bus? Yes. Who hasn't.... How does it feel being in a social gaming community? Does it change your prospects in traveling around the world after knowing some of the people in other countries? Perhaps, who knows if I will travel out of Europe in the future. However, if I do and travel to some country where I know somebody from the community, meeting would not be so bad. It is an opportunity! If your girlfriend told you no more video games, which would you choose, her or the game? Her. No buts and ifs. If you never got introduced to gaming, would your life be any different? Yes, for sure. I spent a lot of my youth playing internet games. I could have learned an instrument perhaps. When thinking back, I would have liked to play the piano. It's never too late. Anyhow, if they made a movie of your life, what would it be about and which actor would you want to play you? George Clooney would do fine I guess. My life story is about how I met my girlfriend because we exchanged our luggage by mistake. She opens it and finds my Nespresso. That means your life is a Nespresso advertisement? Mh, something along the way. Yes. What was the best gift you ever received and what was the worst one? Cliché: The best gift I received was my mother's love. The worst was a pair of socks. Would you like to come to the US to visit fellow clan members? And who would you want to meet there the most? Yes, I would like to visit the States. But not just for meeting members, but to see the country itself and travel through the states. What are you most afraid of? Losing my family. What is your dream job? I don't really have one in mind. Would you eat a live tropical fish? No, I like sushi, but I would not eat it, if it was still alive. I would knock it dead and eat it then. If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out? I would kindly ask you to help me out, Krauersaut. And just hope you don't refuse.

2015 for me, was probably the craziest year I have had in the 42 years I have been on this planet. As some may or may not have noticed, I was absent most of last year. This was due to a massive heart attack and the subsequent quadruple bypass surgery. Well I was fortunate enough to beat that monster and survive with quite a long recovery. I'm not sure of the time table, but sometime during recovery I am diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure. For those of you who don't know what that really means here is a link to kind of describe http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/guide-heart-failure So with all the Dr. appointments, and more than anything, my failing health, I spent far less time on the forums and servers last year. I took almost all of last year to get a grip on my situation, even moving back closer to my family, realizing your mortality has a way of bringing you home. It took me a while to come to grips with everything and more than likely don't have enough of a grip as I should. I tried to focus more on friends and family than I had, spending more time in real life than with gaming, plus staying well long enough to get through COD match was an issue. Sitting behind my desk required more energy than I had at the time. It wasn't that I didn't want to be here with everyone, I just didn't have the strength to do so. A couple months ago I started some new meds, a new diet and also found out that the reason I was unable to control my diabetes was because I was insulin resistant. I didn't even think such a thing was possible. My body wasn't absorbing the insulin I was taking, so my Endocrinologist put me on a new med that helps my body absorb the insulin and finally I am seeing good numbers. With these new meds for my diabetes, neuropathy and CHF (Also diet and exercise) I started to feel better, and become more active. Things have been better the past couple of months, I have gotten some gaming under my belt and been on the forums again. I have tried a few times in the recent past, but was unable to maintain because of my health, but I hope things are different this time. I have missed everyone here greatly, and missed all the fun on the servers and I hope for now I am able to continue to be a part of this awesome community for as long as possible. I have made some incredible friends here and I hope to make more. Hopefully 2016 will be a much better year, so far so good

As most of you may know, I recently had another heart attack, and as a result ended up going through a quadruple bypass surgery. It was crazy but I survived. So I figured I would post this blog to give a bit more detailed idea of how it all went down.. I Had been having some chest pains through basically all of march, but that was nothing unusual considering I had had a couple of heart attacks in 2011, and even some stents. The reason I didn't worry as much was, as soon as a rested for a moment the pain would go away, and all went back to normal again. Well early on the 3rd of April we were having a downpour here where I live, and the water was up really high. Normally I wouldn't think much of it, but considering all the flooding we had been having I was keeping an eye on it. As the water rose I decided I would walk out to the creek and have a look, so my lady and I put our shoes on and headed out. By the time we got to the water, which was well less than 1/4 mile from my house, I was out of breath and having bad chest pains. Again I caught my breath, and everything seemed to be okay. We decided we would come back to the house, jump into the suv and go for a drive, and check out how high the water was in other places. Once we walked back to the car, I had to run in the house to get the keys. My chest was hurting again, so I sat down to catch my breath, but this time the pain did not leave, and I couldn't catch my breath, which made me more than nervous. I walked back out with the keys and told Teresa that I thought we should goto the ER and have this checked out. I still didn't think it was anything serious, but I can't lie, it was worrying me. We get to the ER, and because of my history they brought me straight back. After an EKG, and the usual things you do to check for heart issues, my Cardiologist who happen to be there recommended a heart cath. For those of you who do not know what that is, They put you on this table, give you some goofy drugs and then run a wire through your arteries and look for blockages, the goal being to find them, place a stent and keep the blood flowing through my body. Well turns out the heart catch did more than find a simple blockage, it found 3 100% closed off and 1 that was 99% so they realized indeed I was having a heart attack, and a massive one at that. The doc informed me of what he found, and informed me that I had to undergo surgery. By the time we had gotten to this point, it was Saturday the 4th, and the surgeon that should have been there had taken a vacation, so we had to wait for another to arrive. They scheduled my surgery for 9am Sunday morning, which can give you way to much time to think about having your chest cracked open, fortunately because of the pain, the kept me doped up on morphine and painkillers. Sunday morning rolled around, they put me under and went to work. It only lasted around 5 hours, and then I was out and straight into recovery, which was pretty sucky because, if your oxygen levels aren't right, even though you may be breathing on your own, the keep the tubes ran down your throat. Now it was bad enough that they had all sorts of tubes stuck in my chest, and a pump in my leg to keep blood flowing, but now I was awake with a giant tube in my throat, which prevented me from talking, or drinking anything at all, not to mention that I constantly felt like I was suffocating. I understood that I was breathing, but the machine was doing it for me, and let me tell you, nothing can ever feel more suffocating. Later that evening they started taking all the tubes out of my chest, and out of my throat, which was awesome no matter how bad it hurt when they did it, and man did it hurt. I stayed in the hospital a few more days and they were amazed at how fast I was recovering, so they decided I could come home, which I was far far beyond excited hehe. I have been home for a week or so, not sure on the timeline as I have been on painkillers this whole time, all I know is I am home, and alive, both of which almost never happened. The Doc said I was very ill when I came in, and told me it was more than a miracle that I was alive, and that is awesome and the scariest thing at the same time. I am doing pretty good atm, I stay tired and am unbelievably sore which is to be expected, I mean, they did saw through my chest bone, crack it open and work on me hehe.. Anyway, I am alive and getting better, and maybe soon can rejoin FA on a regular basis, heck, I even got some COD in today, and man did it feel good.. I am posting these pics just because I think you can see where I was to what I became.. I am so thankful to be alive, and so thankful to have all of you my friends here.. This pic is right before I went in for the heart catch, and I think you can tell, I didn't seem all to worried hehe This pic is after I had all my tubes removed after the surgery, I think you can see here what a toll it took on me, not to mention the awesome scar haha. With all that being said, I am thankful for being alive, for all my friends and family, and I truly do love everyone of you!

I guess most everyone here has figured out that I like to talk a lot, or at least type a lot, so here goes something I find not only interesting, but way more important than we really give credit to.. So I believe in general, that I am a pretty nice person, though flaws like, forgetfulness really can make me seem like a ****. Anyway, I was heading over to town yesterday, it was very nice, I had the windows down, had some of my favorite music playing, and of course, my gay pirate glasses on (but I totally rock them!). Anyway, some of you know where I live is a very wooded area, and there is wildlife everywhere. We have deer, elk, raccoon, bears, and well anyway you get the point. I was very much just enjoying being all out in it. So as I was coming around a sharp curve, just past a bridge, I saw something in the road. Now my eyesight isn't what it use to be, and with this stupid diabetes, it is getting even worse. Figuring it was more than likely a dead animal I didn't decide to slow down, but as I got right up on it, I realized it was a turtle. I swerved to avoid it (And thankfully did), but as I traveled on, I began to feel bad for this little guy. He was making his way to the creek, and hadn't even made it across the first lane of traffic. Now granted where I live, there isn't a lot of traffic, but the spot he was in, is kind of a blind spot, and anything coming the other way may not have time to stop or to swerve to avoid him. Even with this knowledge, I was convincing myself that I didn't have time to stop to help him out, or that the danger of me stopping to help, outweighed his plight. So I briefly decided to go on. Well, about 1/2 a mile down the road, I couldn't get the poor guy out of my mind, and what a task it must have been for him to make his way from the mountains to the creek just to get some water. So I found a wide spot on the very narrow road, and turned my car around. Oddly enough, on the not so traveled road, on my way back, there were cars behind me, and cars coming the other way, which made me only hope that he hadn't been squished yet. As I approached the curve where I had last seen him, I could see in the distance, though not so well, that he was still sitting in the same spot. Which, to be honest gave me a bit of relief. For some reason at this point I felt like I had became responsible for him. I slowed my vehicle, easing the traffic behind to acclimate them for the stop I was going to make. There were no places to pull off the road where he was, so stopping in the road was my only option. I came to a stop, clicked on the hazard lights, and stepped out of the car. While the hazard lights would work fine for the cars behind me, they wouldn't work so well for the ones coming towards me. So after I stepped out, I put both hands up, waving at the cars coming my way, to signal for them to stop, which worked, and I know by the time they stopped they had to be thinking, "What is this crazy person doing?". After they stopped, I got the turtle and walked him over to the creek, walked down the bank, and sat him down just beside of the water. I knew this was a bit much to go through over a turtle, but I just felt like it had to be done. I walked back up the creek bank, and to my surprise some of the cars beeped their horns, and either waved, or gave me a thumbs up, which actually made me feel good considering I was thinking they would be upset that I stopped traffic over a turtle. I left from there feeling quite good about what I had done, and about the life I probably saved. Granted it wasn't a person, but a life is a life in my eyes. Skipping ahead, I ended up having one of the best days I have had in quite sometime. It seemed like things just went my way, and instead of just blowing off the turtle incident, I took time to realize that I was being repaid the kindness I had shown, and that in its self put a big smile on my face. I said all that, to say this (for those of you still maybe reading hehe) imagine if we put a quarter of that effort into helping out fellow our fellow man/woman the great things life would bring back around out way. I think this goes for all aspects of our life, be it work, family, friends, here in our gaming community, basically in our everyday walk in life. I think if we could apply this to ourselves, and instead of thinking, what can we do for ourselves, and more of what can we do for others, it would be a life changing experience. It doesn't take a lot to be nice or to be helpful, and it seems more often than not, we put way more effort into being the exact opposite. Anyway, just wanted to share that with you all, and I hope you have an awesome day! Shane A.K.A. Chameleon

Let's writeup a rather...interesting journey I was doing last weekend. Some of you (the people who this is directed to) may have heard of it as the infamous "F|A IRL meeting" . You might have stumbled upon a blog of a certain fintard about the very same topic. So this is basically the same but from another point of view (from a co-leader and archangel that is), without those nasty spelling and grammar mistakes and overall in a better English, hehe. Alright, let's get this started. My very first journey all on my own via train. The ride took about 6 hours and all I can say is that the ICEs are a nice way of travelling. All trains slower than ICEs suck. When I arrived at Antwerp Centraal, a quite impressive train station with over 4 levels and lots of stores, I finally received the awaited messages from Alex, that she and the others were about to meet me. First challenge for me was then to find Starbucks, which took me quite a while due to my poor orientation skills. Eventually I found the way all by myself and had some time to sit down and contemplate about the meeting. What would the persons be and look like? How would I react? Would it be a loud group already waving and shouting out for Raziel as soon as they would arrive or the opposite? I wasn't that nervous but rather excited about the new experiences and friends I would make. As Alexandra was the only one I had made contact with (via webcam chat) and from her acting on forums I figured she would be the kind of loud, opened-up and nonstop talking girl you could have lots of fun with. I didn't know anything about the others, little about Joske, who was the only other NQ person. I was surprised when they finally arrived. Alex was rather shy and quiet, not like I thought she would be. The others looked like nice bunch of guys and the atmosphere was friendly too. No overwhelming first meeting but the usual when you first meet a bunch of unknown people. We introduced ourselves to one another, preferably by our gaming names, Alex being the exception. (The Dude, AJ, Joske, DFighter, Yellow Flash and Raziel) while we were waiting for Moron and shagger who both, due to unfortunate circumstances, failed to join us in the end. So we took a metro to a pub. I immediately lost trust in our guide the Dude, as his first accomplishment was to lead us in the wrong direction. We arrived at the pub nevertheless while Belgium was greeting us with its own interpretation of summer - it was raining hard. In the pub, we got into talking and drinking beer or whiskey. I contributed with my own set of (bad?) jokes and an inspiring talk about food. Logically, the next goal was to find a place to eat. At the chosen Italian restaurant we were having a good time and pizza, except for Alex. What she ordered and did to her pizza was a crime, a cruelty, just plain evil, which I also told her several times that day. On the way back to the train station (Dfighter was about to leave us) I had lots of fun talk with all the guys. I guess I was talking and joking with them a lot. Dfighter, who got rid of his pizza in a natural but not very elegant way as soon as he was out of the restaurant, was soon in his train and the rest of us was about to do some sightseeing. I eventually left my heavy backpack at AJs German car (I'm not good with cars, it was a VW Golf, right?). We soon had a nice view of Antwerp from the top of an interesting building with lots of "art" inside. While Yellow Flash and AJ raced to top, we others fully enjoyed the purpose of the escalators. After that, we wrapped up the meeting with two rounds of pool. It was the Dude,Alex and me vs. Yellow Flash, Joske and AJ. We won 2:0, or rather the Dude won. I hope Yellow will share the video footage of the fails made there. It was hilarious. The entertaining value cleary outweighed the poor quality of the game. It was then time to say goodbye to Joske, the Dude and Yellow Flash. AJ drove Alex and me home to Dordrecht where I would stay at Alexandra's house. When we arrived at said house, I was receiving a warm welcome by her mother and some friends of her mother and also the kitty, small, orange, cute, hyperactive kitty. I suppose my gift - a bottle of wine soon emptied by them - made them open up even more along with the German bits Alex threw in once in a while (Scheisse [shit], Ich muss Pipi machen [i have to pee] and Durchfall [diarrhea]) the last one made me laughing quite hard. She also has a brother but I only saw him when I was half asleep, I guess I was partly in dreamland then. Mumbled a "hi" though. Well the rest of the evening we were outside at the Rivers Festival that took place in Dordrecht. Many bands and beer and Dutch food, delicious Stroopwafels, for example. Lots of people were out there and everyone was wearing some cheap pearl necklaces in different colours. I got a violet one. But we went back to Alex's house having some forums and Xfire convos at her laptop. Kai, for instance, started to write to Alex with "Hi Raziel" and insisted on talking German with me and ignoring Alex. But the small Kitty took her full attention from time to time, so that was no problem. I also discovered (much to my amazement) that she owned a yellow Gameboy Color (I had that one too once) and Pokemon Crystal. At the next day, we went to some cafes with Yellow Flash who arrived at Dordrecht with the train. It was a partly sunny day (awesome since sun was a rarity these days). So we enjoyed Palm and Hertog Jan aside with bitterballen (deep fried balls of beef and something else, maybe mashed potatoes). Also I cooked Maultaschen for Fintard and Dino. We enjoyed them with salad and Jupiler on the balcony with some cool music we could hear from the festival. Kind of a rock mashup, we tried to sing along, but well, they sometimes surprised us with another song starting right in the middle of the other lol. Even though I met a creepy man who was looking for trouble or a fight at the train station when we said goodbye to Fintard, the day was outstanding. I travelled home the next morning. I had a great experience from this weekend and met nice people there. Pictures can be found in the trials and members section, FA IRL meeting reviews topic by DFighter. I certainly would like to attend another one in the future. Also I want to thank Alexandra for the hospitality, Yellow Flash for the company that weekend, AJ for the drive and Joske, The Dude and DFighter for the nice time we had that saturday. Other things I have learned: - Demote the Dude for hacking in pool. - Demote Alex for torturing pizzas. - Demote Yellow Flash for being a fintard and multiple fails. - Demote Dfighter for the pizza incident. - Demote AJ for drinking a scotch as driver. - Demote Joske for speaking Dutch in main chat with Alex. - Dutch food is lekker. - Alex's Kitty gets her whole attention as soon as he appears. - Beer is more expensive and served in smaller glasses than in Germany, but still good. - Dordrecht is a nice city with lots of cafes and bars. - How weed smells. - Summer in Belgium and the Netherlands equals rain. - We didn't split up the bills exactly. Whoever had his purse and money out first, was paying. - Meeting people over the internet can be lots of fun. - Antwerp and Dordrecht would make good maps in ET, COD and BF. - Alex is a mixture of Applejack,Rainbow Dash and Rarity according to the Pony Personality Test. Archangel out.

Number 10 of the interview series. Co-Leader Pepperonipizza tells us about him, his life, his thoughts and his future. Quite an interesting one, absolutely worth the (long) read. Thanks to GI-JOE, Krayzie and Corey for their superb questions. Could you quickly introduce yourself? My name is Joachim. I'm from Belgium and currently studying in Leuven. I am a last year Master's student studying computing science. I like playing W:ET and Dota2. I like traveling with my girlfriend. Computer science? Would you mind explaining what that is, for the non-experts among us? Computer science is, well, the science behind computers. We study computers, how they work and how we can use them. It's very abstract and we don't really have a lot of practical knowhow of setting up servers or managing databases. We study mechanics that are behind these systems. What are computers capable of? How can we improve their techniques? How can we make them learn? And what are computer science students going to do job-wise? In the business world, people with this kind of education usually end up in the IT consultation business. They visit a firm look at their (computer) system and try to improve it and/or construct computer systems that the costumer (the firm) wants. I'm not going in the business world though, I am starting my Phd. coming september. That means you are going to stay in the university? Yes. A Phd. student is a student as well as a faculty member. Aside from researching in my research group I will be an assistant for one or more courses. This means I will be responsible for exercise sessions for students. Do you already have plans for the time after you finished your Phd? That will depend on how well the Phd went. If they are very happy with me they might keep me around. That is called a post-doc. After post-doc it's a route to being a professor. It's all a bit abstract and hazy, but that's the academic career ladder. If it turns out I won't be able to continue researching I want to start teaching at colleges. In Belgium, you need a Phd degree for that. (A college is different than a university here, college is higher education that is practical-oriented, university is academic stuff) So you're going to be a teacher basically. Yes I like teaching and helping people understand things. Did you like your teachers? Some of my teachers I liked, others not. I guess it's no different than anyone else. It's not because I was very fond of my teachers that I started liking teaching. It's rather a result of some fellow students (or people at home) not understanding something and me helping them with it. Your favorite subjects in school? Math. And to a lesser extent physics. No languages? Do you speak any apart from Dutch and English? I also speak French. Belgium is bilingual and every adult has studied French for at least a few years at school. I do not like studying languages because when you study languages you study something that is man-made. The reason why something is what it is in linguistics is usually historical and based on something trivial. Studying sciences is studying something that man had no hand in. You're discovering laws that were there long before man was. Understanding these things is a lot more interesting I find. How did you learn English then? I learned English on the internet long before we started the subject at school. I used to have one English friend from a website-based MMORPG that was into studying English and I definitely picked up something from him along the way. Did you start your gaming life with that MMORPG? Not really. My gaming life started with Age of Empires. I had it on disk from a friend from school. I didn't understand anything but I still found it fun to play (remember the wololololo monks). After that we got a playstation and a few games for that. What are your favorite genres apart from Real-time strategy? My favorite games are team-based games. I like team-bases FPS games (like W:ET and TF2). My other side is addicted to Dota2 which is genre that is not very known: it is a Action real-time strategy game (or also called a MOBA game). Does that mean you got your first computer before you got your first console? Yeah we had a computer before we got a console. It wasn't very fancy but AoE 1 was manageable. Do you currently have a powerful computer? My current setup is two years old. Cost me about €700 at the time (a keyboard and screen included). It's definitely on the powerful end (still to this time) but it's no powerhouse. I can run most games at maximum graphical settings. My CPU is rather regular, a dualcore Pentium and my GPU is a ATI Radeon HD 4870. Do you play CoD4, Minecraft, BF3 or TF2 as well? Of those games I only play TF2. Do you only play free games or is that a coincidence? Hehe. I also play some other paid games. I enjoy the Assassin's Creed series. I was also into Starcraft (and its MOBA custom map) until I got Dota2. Coming summer I plan to get into Witcher. So when did you dive into the fabulous world of ET and TF2? I got into W:ET by a pure coincidence. My neighbor on my first dorm in Leuven played it. He wasn't really into it but he enjoyed hopping onto it for relaxation. I played it on his computer for a bit and I was immediately hooked. This was the first 'online' game that I had ever played. I immediately installed it on my crappy laptop (or as I call it: craptop) and lagged around in the ET universe. I used to play on Evil Smurf's servers before coming to =F|A=. Played there with 200+ ping , 20fps and a crappy mouse and laptop keyboard. I'll never forget that. I got into TF2 after I got my current desktop setup. It's not as serious as W:ET for me but it's 'quick fun'. Playing a round or two as medic healing heavies and helping them pwn the other team is fun! When and how did you join us? I started playing on the NoQuarter server and I really liked it. After a while someone asked me to join. I think it was .D... (or detoren). Everyone was very friendly and welcoming. People seemed to like me enough and I got accepted as a trial pretty fast. And you became Co-Leader pretty fast, didn't you? I consider myself a fast learner. I am also community-oriented. I learned so much during my stay in =F|A= I hardly know where to begin. But becoming Co-Leader was not only about learning admin commands and protocols. For me, it was about learning to take a step back and look at the big picture. You also managed to make 970 posts in slightly more than two years. What a spammy person! Is the forum an important part of the clan for you? I'm not as forum active as some other forum 'spammy persons'. Certainly not last year with my thesis and whatnot. But I do find the forum very important for the clan. It's the central mechanism that brings us all together, every member of the clan. It's a place with a very broad use: it can hold clan-wide discussions on rules or a topic that considers one single server. Elaborate on the "taking a step back and looking at the big picture" metaphor. How do you mean that? I will be brutally honest. Many of the topics that talk about promotions also say that "you should play for fun and not for levels". Well, when I joined this clan, I was definitely having fun, but my personality was very focus on the rules. I wanted to be mister perfect and jump to any situation that needed handling. I didn't question my actions, I was merely following the rules. I'm not saying what I did was bad, but I didn't see what was really important: having a good time on the server. I played on the server neurotically looking for a rule to apply and feeling happy when I could do so. I wanted to see my level rise. I was in it for the levels. At first. So you were an uber-admin, looking for every chance to use your commands? Yes. Then I learned one of the most valuable lessons in the world. I learned that it's not about the rules but about what they stand for. They stand for a fun gaming environment. I learned that rules don't always need to be applied and that sometimes it's better to just talk or joke about things. I like to consider that as the moment that people truly started appreciating me and the things I did. Enough people noticed so that I got promoted to co-leader. Summarizing it, trials and members should loosely follow the rules and put fun in front of them in order to get promoted? Trials need to follow the rules. If you're trial you're still learning the ins and outs of the clan and its stances. Trials should follow rules best they can and in the meanwhile learn the procedures. Once you're a member you can start reasoning more about what would be best in a situation. Communication is also the key here. Try to sync up with the fellow admins that help you on the server. But in the end the founders make all the decisions. Jumping straight into the next question, what would you change if you were in charge of =F|A= for a month? I don't think I would be able to improve things much. I imagine that running =F|A= is a fulltime job. There is great communication from the founders. This is not a given since most of the time they are very busy. I think the only thing that I would work on is a fixed schedule for map changes on servers. The procedure could benefit from a bit of stability I think. What do you like most about NQ1? The mod? The settings? The players? Some settings appeal to me. I like the fact that picking up an SMG will give you all of its ammo and not just the bullets currently in the clip. The double jump is different from Jay and I like the NQ double jump better. It allows you to double-jump even thought you are falling. This makes descending mountains with a single, well-timed double jump right before you splatter to the ground possible. But what I definitely like most about the server are the people. There are really some players with a great sense of humor, laughing it up and being very relaxed. Have you ever made any severe mistakes when it comes to the clan? We all make mistakes. Back when I was in uber-admining I was very stubborn and always thought I knew it best. There were times when I didn't respect fellow members enough. I guess those are my worst mistakes. How do you see the ideal member? For me, the ideal member needs to only have two very important qualities Listen and learn from both members, (co-)leaders, founders AND regulars Be patient and communicate well How do you imagine the future of the clan with all its games, servers and members? That's very hard to imagine. At first the clan will definitely keep growing. But I imagine that we definitely have a limit. This limit will probably be reached when dare's duracell battery runs out because he'll be working 24/7 on all the servers. And what's going to happen then? Worst case scenario is that the clan will fall apart. But I don't think any of the founders will ever let that happen. What will probably happen is that the community becomes too big for everyone to know everyone. What this will mean for the clan I do not know (especially at midnight after a very long day :> ) Probably separation into smaller groups? I imagine something like that happening, yes. Let us know about how you imagine your role in the clan. Well, before I went semi-inactive this year, I think that my role, when fully active, can be described as follows: A person that you can always come to with your problems and questions. Someone who can teach new players/trials the ropes. Someone who brings the people on the server together with witty talk and funny jokes. And after you became active again? I will definitely try to be that person again. But it's hard because I missed a lot of stuff and the growing of a lot of new members. Personal communication and creating bonds is pretty essential to what I want to do. Share a funny joke. Question: Who prevents a gorilla in a pink tutu from attending a ballet class? Answer: The people responsible for that decisions. Got one which is actually funny as well? It's not really funny I know but when I talk about funny jokes it's rather practical humor about things that happen in-game. Have you met any members in real life? Like Moron4 or any other Belgians? Nope, I haven't met anyone in real life. Are you going to take part in the meeting in Belgium in a few days? I'm afraid I won't be able to. I will be in England then! Roaming the country side with my gf's family visiting those cute little villages you usually see in British detective series. Your favorite TV shows are the ones with cute little British detectives? I really enjoy a good detective series. One that isn't cheaply written. If you want a nice example, you should see the modern Sherlock Holmes series, they're really great! Another TV show I like are Game of Thrones. Also I'm currently watching The Wire. I heard that it was well worth the watch. It is, but Benedict Cumberbatch is pretty ugly, isn't he? How about movies? Ugly? How can you say no to those cheekbones? There are a lot of great movies. You can watch nearly any Disney movie and it's awesome. I also really like Osmosis Jones. You may now comment that all those movies are animated. Oh and for TV shows I forgot to mention How I Met Your Mother. That's a great series! Your favorite music genre and bands? I enjoy almost all types of music. As long as it's pleasing to the ear. My favorite bands include Muse, Coldplay and Daftpunk. If you want to listen to a great electronic album, listen to Daftpunk's soundtrack of the movie 'Tron: Legacy'. Do you like reading? Yes I really like reading! I read all the current Game Of Thrones books. I also like reading detectives, Agatha Christie is a great writer. One of my first big books was The Lord of the Rings. And let me tell you: that is not the kind of book you want to start reading if you're not really an advanced reader! You seem to be a huge detective fan. I like solving puzzles and understanding things. What was your most embarrassing moment? Crying in front of a table of 8+ people over something that happened at school earlier. What happened? Something very silly. I saw my best friend walk around with other people. I was very young and very silly. Anything else, more logical? I really liked this one girl. I chatter to her after school for quite some time, always trying to make her laugh. We really seemed to get along well. After some time the classroom gets reorganized. In the new seating arrangements, I'm sitting next to her. Needless to say I'm in pure bliss. Next day the teacher tells the class the seating arrangements have to be redone because a parent complained that the current arrangements were made based on our grades. The teacher tells us that we can switch individually if both people agree. The first one to ask for a change is my girl neighbor. She asked me if I minded. I said "No" and felt gutted. Why did you choose the name Pepperonipizza? Lego Island! Pepper is the main character and he works in a pizza restaurant! Also I should mention I'm a quite terrible at picking names. My other name that I use in Starcraft 2 is Stechm (you can laugh now). Why Stechm? It's phonetically equivalent with "Stack'em" if you speak like a drunk russian. And I like the odds stacked against me. So it was kind of a "come at me bro" name. Do you often speak like a drunk russian? I don't but I sometimes use crappy english variants and their phonetics to justify very bad name picks. Who doesn't. Well anyhow, what car do you drive? I don't own a car but my dad sometimes borrows me his Peugot Partner. Would you buy a car if you had 100 million dollars? Probably. What else would you do with it? With 100 million dollars? Set up a scholarship in my name or a gaming charity. Invest wisely in longterm reliable technologies. Secure enough for a nice wedding and a nice house and a nice bunch of savings for the future kids. A scholarship? For the fame, your ego or to help? The help. It extends my joy of helping people understand things. Would you stay in Belgium or move to a different country? I think family is pretty important. If that wasn't a restriction, I think that we would settle in Amsterdam. It's a great city with great people. And with certain coffee shops. I'm afraid I'm a bit too straight to be making that suggestion successfully to. Where do you plan to be in 10 years? Hopefully not a retired teacher speaking like a drunk russian? I wish. Speaking like a real drunk russian takes at least 20 years of living in the gutter with a hangover! But seriously in 10 years I hope to start as a professor teaching a course. I also hope to be settled in a nice home with two kids and my better half. Why exactly two kids? Talked about it with my better half. Currently the plan is two kids. What are your hobbies when you're not looking at males with appealing cheekbones or helping people? Gaming W:ET or Dota2 I'm afraid I'm a rather dull person considering my hobbies. Who are your favorite members? Hard to say, certainly now that I've been semi-inactive for some time. I could name all of the good folks of NQ here, each of them have their own special qualities and personality traits. If I had to name a name, I'd name Raziel. Razbro has been a great friend ever since I joined =F|A=. We grew side by side in this clan and it was great to have the opportunity to have him help me grow. Who would you pick to be stranded on an island with you? Him as well? Yes! All hail the razbro! Imagine you could swap roles, permissions and duties with a =F|A= member for one month. Who would it be? Tough question. I think I'd pick chuckun. He's never on NQ and if we swapped he'd be forced to actually play on NQ! I would also benefit from the hands-on experience I get from trying to perform the same computer-wizardry he does. What's your favorite food and drink? Belgian cuisine and beer? I'm what you could call a "food-slut". I like almost any type of food. Usually the more greasy a food is the more I like it. But my appetite ranges from chinese (om nom nom babi-pangang!) to real Belgian fries to (German?) kebab. If you had to eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be/why? Bread with different things to put on it. You don't grow tired of that. Anything else you really grow tired of after eating it a lot. Choose one thing to put on it. In that case I'd take Toasted bread with the option to add butter to it with ham and/or cheese. What's your favorite color? and why is it? Bright, lightgreen. You know, the color a new branch on a plant has before it is fully matured. I like how it represents growth and nurturing. Do you have any pets? Dogs, cats, guinea pigs, goats? Not at my apartment. My mom has a lazy, fat cat. At my dad's there's no animals. My older brother breeds reptiles for a hobby (although he has quite a lot and is very good at it). Also I'm allergic to almost every pet imaginable except for horses and dogs. But I've never had either of those as a pet. What is the pet you want most? During growing up I have had several cats. But I think that if we ever had a dog I'd totally be a dog person. But my favorite pet would have to be a goat! Just kidding, I'd really like to learn how to work with dogs. If you were the first person to make contact with an Alien life form, what would you say/do? Establish communication protocols. If they understood english, the first thing I would say is "Please have patience with our species, we have a lot of developing to do". If you could pick any celebrity for a wife, who would it be? I'm really not up to date with celebrity talk. My favorite celebrity is my better half. If you could spend one day with a celebrity who would it be and what would you do? If he/she could be deceased, I would pick Nikolas Tesla. What would you do with him? Talk and listen. His vision on things like electricity and electric power are unmatched to this day. If you had to move to a state or country apart from the USA, where would you move and why? Still the Netherlands? With no family restrictions, yes. In the current situation, I'd just stay in Belgium and look for a nice village that's not too far away from either of my parents or the parents of my better half. What's your daily schedule, from morning to evening? You seem to be a night person. Get up at 10-11am. Eat and relax until noon-1pm. Work until 5-6pm and then make dinner. After dinner work if it's needed otherwise game it up until my better half is done studying around 9pm. Spend quality time until she goes to bed at 11pm. After that I game until I fall asleep which is usually 2-3am. What phone do you have? An old Nokia 3120. At what age do you expect to retire from work and what are you going to do as a drunk retired russian teacher? Well, drink and talk crappy english of course! Preferable along with my buddies in =F|A=. I have no idea when to expect to retire. I will probably be past 65 before I can retire fully. But if I have enough money and I am no longer liking working I will certainly try to retire earlier. If you could visit any point in history, where/when would you go and why? I would visit Benjamin Franklin when he's setting the convention for charges in physics. He defined them wrong. For reference: http://xkcd.com/567/ Are you afraid of spiders or snakes? Spiders very much so, snakes less. Who or what inspires you and why? My father is a big inspiration to me. The way he is always calm and understanding will always stick with me. Are you happy with your life so far? I have no reason to be unhappy. I am blessed with an amazing girlfriend and the ability to do what I love. What's your biggest dream? I'm not much of a dreamer but I think that one of my biggest dreams would be to make a fundamental breakthrough in my research field. What's your research field? I will be working on a system that uses Logic to represent and solve problems. It is entirely different from the current mainstream where programs are written with regular code. Logic is more complex and has a lot of hurdles but also has some distinct advantages. What's your life goal? Be as awesome to my kids as my dad was to me. If ET and Dota2 died today, what would you do with your free time? Heh. I guess I'd find a new game to play with awesome people! If your girlfriend told you no more video games, which would you choose, her or the game? My gf wouldn't ask it without a very good reason. She knows what they mean to me. If she would ask I would listen given that there is a very good reason. Now which would you choose? Her or the game? Some things last longer, I'd choose my girlfriend. If you never got introduced to gaming, would your life be different? Very different. Gaming and especially social gaming has taught me very much. I would not be the same person without those lessons. How does it feel being in a social gaming community? Does it change your prospects in traveling around the world after knowing some of the people in other countries? It's great seeing different perspectives from different countries in our clan. I'm a bit of a shy person so I'm not quite ready to go visit people in real life yet. If they made a movie of your life, what would it be about and which actor would you want to play you? A russian actor? Benedict Cumberbatch of course! DEM CHEEKBONES. And I guess it would be movie about a kid learning how the world works. What was the best gift you ever received? Tough one. Most of my most prized material possessions I purchased myself. It might be a lame answer but the best gift I have received is the support of my parents in everything that I do. What was the worst one? When my mom remarried, the mother of her new husband gave me a coloring/drawing book for christmas. It was awfully nice of her and she was a very kind woman, just not the sort of woman that I was used to. What makes it the worst gift is that my mom asked me if I liked it and I said "no" in front of both of them. It was true but I still regret it to this day. Would you like to come to the US to visit fellow clan members? And who would you want to meet there the most? I don't know a lot of USA-based clan members. Of most of the non-NQ people I don't know which country I they are from. So I can't think of a name. What is one thing you could not live without? My girlfriend. What scares you, other than spiders and snakes? Losing the people most precious to me.

I know I think about this alot, and I know some of you all do too, I have conversations with quite a few members as to what their goals, and plans were, as far as their future with FA is concerned. I don't think there is another topic that asks this question, so I thought I would. And so to start us off, I will go first, and hopefully this will catch on, and others will do so too.. Besides, it is good for leaders and higher ups to see where you stand, and I am sure will help us all when it comes to promoting, and putting people in the right places.. I joined FA almost 2 years ago, I was playing ET and found the Silent server, and starting playing there. The first thing I notices was how nice the members were, and how eager they seemed when it came to helping me out, or giving me advice. So I played there for a while, I wasn't very good, but I started to get to know the member better, and I was totally impressed with their willingness to help others with game play, graphics issues, configs, and so on. And that got me wandering what this community was all about. I decided to hit the forum and sign up, and see what all the fuss was about. It didn't take long for me to figure out the rest off the community were just as nice, just as helpful, and really welcomed a stranger to their forum with open arms. So unlike most of you, who were invited to apply for actually membership, I was not, but it didn't stop me from wanting to be a part of this awesome community, and maybe in the future, be able to help people like me, as much as FA had helped me. It took a few months, and then I was finally accepted to trial, which was an awesome feeling. And to shorten the story a bit, not much longer and I was accepted as a full member, which honestly (and some may laugh) was like a dream come true. I was so excited, I was going out and telling people in real life about it. Yeah I was called nerd or geek on several occasions, but I didn't care. Fact was, I am both a nerd and a geek hehe.. It took me a while to find something I could be good at, and/or helpful with in this community. But after a while I found something I liked to do, not that I was good at it, but I sure did enjoy it, and some of the others seemed to like it also, and that was making signatures. Jesus, my first few were terrible, and I knew they were, but people in the community continued to encourage me to keep it up, and keep trying. And so I did, and not to day that my sigs are awesome, but they sure have came a long way since I started hehe. So this was great, I had found a place in the community where I could be helpful, and actually had a few people request me to do their sigs, which I thought was amazing. I continued to do that, and eventually got put on the GFX Team, which was also great! So not only did we do sigs, we did banners, and all sorts of stuff, which was a great feeling, getting to be so involved. That continued for quite some time, and then one day I logged on, and noticed I had been promoted again, which totally blew me away, I did not see it coming. When I checked, I noticed I had been promoted to the Recruiting Team! I couldn't believe that the people of FA had enough faith in me to trust me, along with some others to be a part of this team. In my eyes, it was a pretty big deal, going through apps, discussing potential members, or others for promotions, and new levels and such. It was and is an honor to be a part of this. So that leads me here, where do I see myself in the future with FA. I'm not going to lie, I don't see me as a co-leader. or leader of FA right now, maybe later once I have learned more, and believe me, there are always things to learn in this community, and about being a leader. But once I had become a part of the GFX Team I learned something about myself, I really like to help. I think I am a helper at heart. I love the feeling of being able to fix problems for people, whether it is explaining how to add a sig, or adding a GUID to someones profile, the general help in these forums. Once I had learned that I had set my sights on being a part of the staff. I like what they do, and how they help, and what they do is really important, and don't get me wrong, every job we all have is important, we all help FA to run. And no matter what the title of the level, we are all equal, and we all server a purpose. But to answer the question, that is where I see myself in the future, and what I would like to do.. Feel free to answer this question here in this blog, let us know what your goals and dreams are, and how you would be able to better help this community. Do you see yourself as a leader, co-leader, or even making sigs and banners for GFX Team? Thanks for reading, and I hope to hear from you all soon! Shane A.K.A. Chameleon

Hey everyone, New Week, New Part A full show of a Deejay or a Band needs a lot of Know-How, Technics and ofc a lot of effort to get everything working. I'll just make seperate chapters for each part (of a show) 1. Preparation: 1.1 Concept What is the theme of your show going to be? What do you want your show to say about you? Take some time to reflect on this, and what you want your visual presentation onstage to communicate to your audience. 1.2 Design Are you a handyman? Is there anything that you could build as a weekend project that would look great, or be fun to play in onstage? Could you create a unique table for your gear, some sort of crazy spaceship enclosure? Gather some inspiration by watching big budget productions, and brainstorm to see if there’s anything you’d be able to emulate from those performances that you could build for your show. I usually start by writing down my ideas and draw them on a piece of paper. Always stay in contact with the event manager and tell them your ideas. After they say yes, start to make a 3D Demo. i usually use Capture 2018 & Vectorworks for that. It gives me the opportunity to make also a Demo of the Lightshow and if they agree i can plot it and everyone who's helping knows where to put what. 2. Food for the Eyes & Ears 2.1 Visuals Almost every great show includes visuals these days. You can use your own visuals, or collaborate with others for the visual aspect of the performance. Have the visuals correspond with the theme of your set, and make them an important part of the show. Visuals can be very simple, and needn’t be expensive to be effective. There are 4 Kinds of Visuals possible: - Collaborate with a VJ (my first option everytime so i can focus on the light) - Use software for video DJing (if we got smaller shows and the dj has music videos, this is the right thing) - Rent a hardware video mixer (if you work in teams one can help u doing that. especially for live video feed this is a cool thing) - Find someone who can create custom visuals (not rly my stuff, but i also got always a small vj desk with me in case we don't have a VJ there) 2.2 Light Most Artists don’t think about the impact of lighting onstage, but it’s a good idea to give this area some thought. The color, and type of lights will have a big impact on your stage presence. Also u should watch if it matches the visuals. My Lightshow depends on the music the artists play. If i get onto a Rockshow i won't use lasers, on a EDM Show i don't use "par cans" (google them) Perfect way to get an idea about what u can do: - Call the club to see if you can speak to the in-house technician before the show, and ask them to demo their lighting for you. - Rent extra Lights at a Local Rental to improve the lightshow and define it like you want. - Go to Light conventions (like NAMM, ProLight & Sound etc) to get ideas about new technics. 2.3 Audio I usually keep my variation very small. I only did small shows as Audio Technician. Never had to get the right size for the audio.. so this part is not gonna get answerd yet :( 3. The Show 3.1 Week before the show (this depends on the show size) Usually one Week before the show is gonna run, i call all the rentals and check if my rented gear is still there and i can pick it up anytime. If not i'd change the rental and see if theres another one where i could rent that, in case that the thing isn't there any more Also i'm doing some preparation on my lightshow, adress everything, try to make some small effects with 3D rendering already. 3.2 Day of Load-out / buildup (this depends on the show size) When we build up, i usually check all the lamps of the gear and see if there are some damages. If you run a light and it stops working 10 metres in the air, you will thank yourself for not checking it. After you build up everything and adressed it and start to make some positions (in my case) and programm the rest of the show 3.3 Showtime! Well. talk back with the artists again if there was something changed (if you use timecode shows). If nothing changed, do the show and have fun :) 3.4 Load-in Clean the stuff maybe and bring it back. it was a bit a longer part but here you see what i need to look at everytime i'm planning / designing a show.

Dear community, Today I am announcing to you our beta program. TrackBase is seeking users and enthusiasts of its platform and supported games to join together in a team where new ideas will be brought up, discussed and realized. I encourage you all to think of something that you would like to see on TrackBase or report things that shouldn't be kept in future versions. As we are approaching our ten-year-anniversary we as TrackBase want to give back to all the users of our platforms who are still active after all those years. What do you need to do? Join our Discord server at https://discord.gg/dah6x4h and/or text JoNny directly via JoNny#4423 Visit our forums and create a thread in the relevant forum: TrackBase Bugs, Feedback & Feature requests Contact us via pm or email I am looking forward to hearing your ideas and feedback from you! JoNny & The TrackBase Team

An international gaming clan... What's that? Instead of with friends, you play with virtual strangers with whom you can't communicate? No no no no no. Instead of friends you already have, you play with people you have not yet met. Those guys are flesh and blood just like you and when you wanna meet them, guess what? You can! In this blog entry I'll tell you the story of how this gaming clan made me meet with total strangers, delivered me a bright yellow "F|A Clan Co-Leader" T-shirt and made me invite a guy in my home who used to kill me several times a day on the server. First there's Hamburg. How do you set up a real life meeting? It's simple. You make a topic on the forums, make a poll about the meeting place and date, someone books a hotel and... You meet there. Or do you now? Our good friend Raziel was the one booking the hotel, you see. And this nice mister had disappeared from our good earth. So we ended up looking for a new hotel for Destiny and Guardian and I ended up at the strangest camping site I have ever encountered (there was no grass for the tents, but stones). Once we all found a place to sleep, Kowalski was ready to show us the city of Hamburg. We ate some weird fish burgers at the port, took some pictures for the rest of the clan and ate ice cream, bathing in the sun. It was all really fun. My only complaint was that DJ, Destiny, Kowalski nor Guardian were pretty girls but eh... You can't have everything! DJ bought us cookies and this is also where DJ told me I was promoted to co-leader! Quite strange hearing about clan stuff from a real life DJ :p. As if that ain't enough for the strangeness, I received a yellow "F|A Clan Co-Leader" T-shirt in my letterbox a few days later. How often do you get those from your other friends, huh?! At night we went for drinks. We took some extra beers to the port and stayed there talking until 4 am. What do gamers talk about? Yeah, sure. Games. Clan gossip. But also politics (it's allowed on those meetings!), life, girls,... The advantage about having no girls in the company is... You can talk about them. When Guardian and Destiny went home I stayed a little longer to visit the Schanzenviertel with Kowalski. It's a really cool "slum" (see picture). Last year I returned him the favor and showed him Ghent. I have a feeling we may meet again. Eh, I can't tell you everything in one blog entry so you'll have to hear about the other international encounter in the next part

This is an interview with =F|A='s resident chicken, CheepHeep. He's pretty boring, but I decided to post this anyway because he took like 5 minutes to answer every damn question. 1. What's your greatest fear? I definitely have a few fears, most of which are not likely to happen. The most realistic fear I have is probably being alone. Not physically alone but for instance, I'm a pretty social person, I like to connect with people and share my story and i guess i just worry sometimes that one day I'll have nobody to tell it to or nobody I could trust to share things with. But for real though, KFC is my greatest fear 2. What's your biggest pet peeve? Your existence. 3. What's your favorite flavor of Skittle? ORANGE 4. Celebrity crush? Clara Oswald 5. Favorite TV series? oh god....theres so many, I can't pick. So many people have asked me what my favourite show, movie or song is. I enjoy almost everything which makes it hard for me to have a favourite 6. If you were the dictator of ET, what change would you make? Hmmm I like ET the way it is, I wouldn't change it. There's always going to things to complain about but I honestly love ET and wouldn't risk changing the game because even the bits you hate make the game what it is. 7. If you had to get a tattoo on your butt, what would it be of? Your mum. JK. I don't really like tattoos but if i had to get one, I'd get a small dot on my upper left cheek so it matches the small birth mark I have on the other. 8. Invisibility or the ability to fly? Invisibility, I'm a chicken, I can already fly or at least suspend myself in the air for a long period of time 9. Are you doing no-shave November? Well I'm not shaving but I am going to trim, does that qualify? 10. I know you love basketball. Where do you stand on the LeBron vs Michael Jordan argument? Neutral. I love playing the sport not watching other people play it. I do occasionally watch it here and there but only to learn from professionals. I don't worship celebs 11. Favorite dessert? If we are talking about ice cream, my favourite flavour is Mint Choc-chip. So gooooood and refreshing. I love cheesecake too but nothing toO over-the-top because too much sweetness makes me feel sick. 12. What's one fictional world - from books, TV shows, movies, etc., that you would enjoy living in? Your mum. JK. OOO Mass Effect would be cool. 13. Do you agree that Harry Potter was a huge a**h**** and probably the least exciting character in the entire series? Like, he spent seven years terrorizing his friends with his own problems, ya know? They had their own shit going on and here comes Harry f***ing Potter just f***ing shit up left and right? They had lives, too. They all had lives, Harry. IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT YOU. Well no because the books are called HARRY POTTER so he's the focal point. ITS NOT CALLED RONALD WEASELY AND THE ATTACK OF THE GINGERS 14. What do you do when a baby just stares at you in public? Like, doesn’t even blink, just maintains intense, aggressive eye contact with their dumb baby face. I go cross-eyed and make stupid faces until they laugh or cry, then look away just in time so the parents dont catch me making them think that they're child is bonkers. 15. On average, how many times a week do you hurt yourself trying to dance in the shower? 0. I don't dance in the shower. Who the heck does that?

The following is an interview with a superstar regular of ET Jay 1, Humpty. I met him there one evening in late 2017 and I've gotten to know the guy more and more. And it's all good things 😊 You can find him creeping the forum or using discord. Very welcoming dude who's full of good vibes. Hope you can get to know him a little from this interview. I was crackin' up! When did you first start playing on ET FA servers? I came back to ET and found your servers about 2 years ago. Before that it had been over a decade since i had played. A long winter!! Were you ever in a gaming clan? I have been in a few clans; =PSG= (which stands for Paper Street Gestapo, a reference to Fight Club) , S.S. Shit-Storm and =POW= PrisonersOfWar What FA server is the most fun? Jay 1 is my most frequently visited. Where are you from? Born in Wisconsin and live in Portland,OR  What is something special about you? I can cook like Walter White!! Is the world better or worse than it was 50 years ago? Well I wasn't around yet!! Neeeurrrro.......but I imagine it is better now because I am here! Single? Kinda-ish What’s the perfect date? One that ends with breakfast. Are you a dad? Negative Any tattoos? Negative What’s your dream car?  A dumptruck filled with gold bars! What do you do for living? I am a traveling salesman, I sell fake wood to RV manufacturers. What do you like to do in your spare time (besides gaming)? I enjoy going out with friends and family What are you most proud of? That I am better at admitting when I am wrong. What do you hope to achieve everyday? 11pm the night before: "Greatness!!" , the morning of: "f*** you where's my coffee!!!" Ever kiss a dude? Haven't found the right man yet! What is your greatest fear? Flying Spiders!! Who’s your role-model? Bruce Lee of course! What’s your favorite album or song? Frank Sinatra - Reprise "The Very Good Years" What's the last book you read? A Clive Cussler book I'm sure What's the best movie you've seen? Series? The Big Lebowski and the first season of True Detective. What’s your favorite dessert? Ice Cream  What place has the best fries? Red Robin with the campfire sauce. BBQ Ribs or steak? Steak Favorite choice of alcohol? Vodka Any drug use we should know about? What do you want to know? Do you know a good joke? How many Vietnam vets does it take to change a lightbulb? You dont know maaaaan!!!!! You weren't there!!!!! Choose: Be deaf or be blind?  Deaf If you were an animal, which one would you want to be and why? A Portuguese Man Of War If you could choose one superhero power, what would it be? Telepathy Have you ever been in love? Yes Have you traveled? If so, what’s your favorite destination? I like San Francisco if I couldn't live in Oregon. Tell us about you’re most embarrassing moment. I got drunk and pissed my pants and my buddys daughter sat in my lap...... Have you met in person, FA/non FA players? Vixen, Sleepy and Boozer Choose to Kill, F*&$, Marry, Cuddle, Sidekick?…Vixen, Elk, Sleepy, Tony, Insomnia Insomnia, Vixen, Sleepy, Tony, Elk ❤️ What a catch, ain't he?! btw...there's a photo of him in the forum somewhere.

Through countless social interactions, most of which were unwanted, I've come to the conclusion that I'm a mother effin awkward guy. Being "awkward" by definition is to lack skill or dexterity but society has dumbed it to down mean weird/odd basically. Being weird is completely relative though because my normal isn't yours and your normal isn't mine so in theory someone on earth will think YOU are weird or awkward too! The reason I say that I'm awkward is that in most social interactions I tend to say something that doesn't really fit the situation. I do this without thinking because an idea pops into my head then I verbalize. Idk why I just do. For example I was in a store, today in fact, and purchased a few goodies and the cashier says "that'll be 16.82" and without thinking I say "Ah the year I was born" and preceded to laugh out loud at my own sillyness because I heard 1682 and thought of something funny to say. She expressed and extreme amount of uncomfortableness and handed me my things. All I really did though was be myself. That particular experience made me ponder. I realized every time that I did something that could be considered "socially awkward" all I was really doing was being 100% myself. So now I ask a question. Is there really such a thing as "weird", "odd", or "awkward" or is someone saying/doing something we don't really understand, them just being their unfiltered self. And if so isn't that what we all strive for and makes the universe so rad?

Here is the ninth interview, perhaps not as long as yesterday's, but still quite a good read. This one features our member docwarren, an interesting and more profound person than one would imagine when he is on a killing spree on our servers. Thanks to Krayzie and GI-JOE for their questions this time. Still no adjective I can think of. Could you quickly introduce yourself? My real name is Brook. Yes I'm a guy. Ever hear the Johnny Cash song " A boy Named Sue"? I am 41 with a wife & 9 year old twins. I live in Dallas, Texas, but am originally from farm country in Ohio. You've been helping your parents farming as a kid? My parents weren't farmers, but their parents were. I worked farms as a kid to make money though. What kind of? Goat-sitting? They don't respond to you as good as sheep. Seriously though, I worked mostly cattle farms & general farming.... bailing hay & harvesting crops. Did you visit a university? Visited several for parties. Went to college right out of high school. Partied too much and ended up with a 0.92 GPA. So flunked out. Went back 8 years later when I was more mature and graduated with a Nursing Degree. What's your current job? Vascular Access Nurse. I start IV's & central lines on kids. (I work in a pediatric hospital) And what did you do before that? I was a pediatric Flight Nurse for 11 years. Airplanes & helicopters. I guess you're not airsick then? No, but I do have a slight fear of heights. Yet you used to fly? How does that work? Never looked out of the window? I focused on the job at hand. If you are busy worrying about a patient, you don't have time to worry about anything else....... exception would be when you are crashing. So when did you discover video games? Certainly not during your farm time. Well...... we were pretty poor growing up. Some of my friends had Tandy 1000's & Commodore's and got to play some games when I went to their houses. FPS games I started with Wolf 3D & Doom. When I found ET was a free game, I tried it out and loved it. This was a few months after it's release. Where did you play ET during that time? LOL.... at work mostly for ET. We had alot of downtime. I surfed alot of servers. BnB, AE, and something with "Airborne" in it. I found Nuremberg Clan servers pretty early on and camped there long enough that they eventually asked me to join them. Nuremberg was your only clan before =F|A=? {NB} was my only clan before joining here. {NB} was getting inactive servers. I happened across F|A server one day and found JoeDirt. He was a long time regular on {NB} servers years ago. He told me this was a clan he formed and soon found a few old {NB} members here too. Along with some old regulars. I stuck on F|A servers because I loved the rotations & servers settings. Talking about rotations and server settings, what's your favorite ET server and why is it? Jay 1 & Jay2 are my favorites. Mostly because of the ping I have on those two. I have been venturing to 3 & 4 as well as the Silent servers a bit here recently, but I always prefer Jay 1 or 2. I used to like NQ, but the mod doesn't suit my style of playing. Oh yeah..... I like the players on Jay 1 & 2 best. And do you currently play any other games? One often spots you on CoD4 lately. I got COD4 when it 1st came out. Sucked really bad at it. Went back to ET. This past December, someone here talked me into giving it another try and am loving it. Favorite haunts are Recruiting & Beginners. Once again..... I have the best ping on those 2 and we have gotten alot of good recruits out of those 2 servers. Never tried Minecraft or TF2? No. Never tried them. To be honest, my schedule gets pretty full playing COD during the day and ET at night. Gotta make time for the wife and kids in there somewhere. Because if MaMa ain't happy.... ain't nobody happy. Your time in the clan seems to be pretty successful so far, as a level 17 member. So far..... with a few rough patches. Made a few mistakes here & there, but tried to learn from them. The co/leaders/founders have graciously trusted me with this level. I try not to fail them or our visitors. I am not here for level, though. It's about having fun and to do that, the servers have to be maintained. What kind of mistakes? Mistakes I have made........ I have ticked off a few here & there. Mostly unintentionally. Going between COD & ET, the commands are different and have made a few mistakes with lengths of bans. I guess that means you liked your time in the clan so far? It took me a long time to drop the {NB} tags. Probably because I am a very loyal person. 2009-2011 while {NB} was inactive, I still wore the tags. I am proud to be able to wear the F|A tags. This is such a great community of gamers and imho, the most respected clan in ET & COD. And it's not just about gaming. There is support for any issue. Gaming, computer tech as well as personal help. That is a real family feeling here. Are you satisfied with your member title or do you seek the leader title? Well.... as I said. I'm not here for level. Any level you have has been granted based on performance. Just like any structured group, there is always a small (or big) desire to move up in the rank & file. So yes..... moving up to Co or Leader is an aspiration. But, level is something that is earned. If the higher ups feel I have earned it, it will happen. If your ONLY goal here is higher level, I think you are here for the wrong reasons. Man.... that was one question I was dreading. It's hard to answer in a way that conveys your meaning accurately. Push it too much and you sound over ambitious. Go too lightly and you sound like a brown noser when you are just trying to remain humble...... which is how I truly am. Do you think ET is going to die soon? How do you imagine =F|A='s future? I think ET will run on until the server providers decide to stop supporting it. PB dropping ET was a HUGE blow to the ET world. But I don't think it is death knoll. There are still a lot of people playing ET. If we provide the clean servers..... they will come. As for the future of F|A...... expanding out into multi-gaming has pretty much ensured it's survival for many years to come. Isn't it quite exhausting for the members and difficult to keep more than 10 servers without a cheat detection engine like PunkBuster? If we have the members and those members are dedicated to helping keep the servers clean, I think the job can be done pretty successfully. When PB dropped ET, I found myself in spec more than playing. I have since seen how our newer members have stepped up to police the servers and have gotten to play more knowing that they are on top of things if I don't spot the problems. COD...... wow..... PB down on Recruiting & Beginners has been exhausting as well. But as with ET, we have gotten in some newer members that have stepped up to help handle the cheaters. And that has helped tremendously. So you would like to have the newer members police the servers and the older members play? No.... of course not. Just saying that it takes teamwork and the newer members have made it alot easier than just 1 or 2 admins on a server keeping an eye out. It should be watched equally by all members. Hope that came out right. You are probably the right person to ask about it with level 17. What's the key to promotions? We have a thread for that in our private section. I would say, however....... just do your best to use your level to help keep the servers clean & fair, help others in various ways. Posting helpful things instead of spam goes a long way. Basically..... do what is right for the clan. Well then how would you describe the ideal member? Ideal member is someone who is proud to wear the tags of this community and does everything they can to maintain this clan and maybe even improve it a little. Can we make some clones of YoYo? How would you describe your role in the clan? Do you have one or do you help out wherever you are needed? I'm not that great of a player. I get some kills and have fun doing it. ET & COD are stress relief for me. Some know that if they call me on x-fire to come help populate a server, that I usually go to lend a hand getting it going. Even if my ping is so high I can't see someone running around me in circles. No role? Multi role...... I'm the player, the enforcer, the joker, the voice of reason, the good guy, the prick, the friend, the enemy. But...... NEVER the troll. Did anything change since you joined the clan in May 2011? I have learned sooooooo much about admin tools and have gotten 100 times better at knowing the difference between a cheat and "just a good player". Several higher admins helped me with all of those and now I find myself doing the same with the newer members. But.... I listen as well, because I will be the first to admit I don't know it all. What's the most important thing of the clan for you? There is not just one thing that is "most important". Every part of this clan has to work to keep us going. Members, website developers, etc. All make this F|Amily possible. Have you ever met any member, clan friend or server regular in real life? Nope. What would you change if you were in charge of =F|A= for a month? Map rotations on all servers change once a week. I would chain DD to his chair and start IV Redbull to make sure he stays on top of it. Your most embarrassing moment? In game......... A few times I have banned cheaters on ET for 6 minutes instead of 365 days. Twice the players came back after the 6 minutes and I got the right length of ban the 2nd time. IRL....... most embarrassed when I pulled on a pregnant lady's pony tail as a joke and it was a wig I ripped off her head. Where do you plan to be in 10 years? Flying again? A third child, a bigger house, a faster car, a goat maybe? Done flying. Had a vasectomy, so my wife would have to really explain the 3rd kid, bigger house & faster car (1969 Chevelle or Camaro). No goat..... unless it was a 1969 GTO. I still see myself playing computer games (if they still exist in 10 years). Hopefully in the same job because I love poking kids with needles. Hopefully still with this great clan and it's great members. What would you do with 100 million dollars? That much money...... I would keep about 40 million to live comfortably on. The rest would go to family members and to the hospitals I have worked at to improve care in some way. What the heck would you do with 40 million?! live VERY comfortably Like? Houses in several countries, boats, hookers, cars, kid's college funds...... did I say hookers out loud? Who is or was Doc Warren? Last name is Warren. Doc is a family nickname that has been handed down for generations. Started in early 1800's with Dr. Harrison Warren. Any child with the name Harrison is given the nickname Doc. My middle name is Harrison. However, being a nurse, I don't use it as it can get confusing in the hospital. I started using docwarren as a tribute to my uncle Daniel Harrison Warren. He was a WWII soldier. Won several citations and 2 battlefield promotions around his actions on D-Day. Since ET was WWII based, I decided to use it as a tribute to him. What are your hobbies? I heard you enjoy Nascar? Playing guitar. I play alot of poker.... was even part of a reality TV show that has never aired based on poker. NASCAR and me go back to the 1970's. I love old cars. I am an assistant coach for my son's little league baseball team. I collect NASCAR diecast cars. Can watching porn be considered a hobby? Do you play in a band? I did in high school. I jam with some friends every once in a while, but it's mostly just goofing around. Already won a lot with poker? Play alot of free league poker. Cash games...... usually end up breaking even over the course of the year. What kind of porn? lol.... not going there How many diecast cars have you collected so far? 42. Some are pretty rare. Have 1 that is 1 of 500 produced. At one time, it was selling for over $3,000. Who is your favorite Nascar driver? Right now I root for a few drivers. Harvick, Burton, Martin, in cup...... Austin Dillon in NW. I was a Dale Sr. fan since 1980 until he died. I haven't found that ONE driver to back since he died. Have you ever been to Disneyland? Going there next month. What kind of music do you enjoy? Everything from Beatles to FFDP...... except rap. Before 1990 is ok..... after that.....no. What are your favorite movies or TV shows? Favorite movie is Patton. Favorite TV show is Top Gear. What's your favorite book? Favorite book is "Don't Stand Too Close To A Naked Man" Who are your favorite clan members and why are they? Too many to list. Not going to play favorites. Imagine you would be stranded on an island with one =F|A= member. Who would it be? KevinBacon Why? The laughs. Plus there's a chance he might be gay. Imagine you could swap roles, permissions and duties with a =F|A= member for one month. Who would it be? YoYo. So I could !pants him ..... along with a few other fun commands to torture him with. What's your favorite food and drink? Food is Sirloin steak cooked medium. Drink is sweet tea. Alcohol drink is 90 proof Vodka & Fresca (soda) What's your favorite color and why is it? Red...... don't know why though. Do you own a gun? Yes....... you have been warned. What gun? 9mm pistol, 12ga shotgun. Getting an AR15 in the next year. If you were the first person to make contact with an Alien life form, what would you say/do? Shoot them. Have you seen what these things do to people in the movies? What was your favorite subject in school? Chemistry. I built a solar powered still. Was my science project for 3 years. Made our own hooch right there in school. Do you have any pets? No. Wife allergic to pet hair. You seem to be a car fan. What kind of car do you currently drive? Chevy Cruz. If you could pick any celebrity for a wife, who would it be? (Porn stars don't count.) Cindy Crawford...... it has always been her. What's your daily schedule, from morning to evening? 3 days a week.... sleep all day/work all night. Other days divide between COD/Kids/Poker/ET..... with sex slipped in there from time to time. With your wife or your hand? does it matter? If you had to move to a state or country apart from the USA, where would you move and why? UK countryside. I have never been there but it looks beautiful. At what age do you expect to retire from work and what are you going to do as an ... even older man? Hopefully at about 60-62. Enjoy life. If you could visit any point in history, where/when would you go and why? My early childhood and warn myself about all the bad stuff coming my way. Are you happy with your life? Is anyone? I am OK with where I am at. I would like to have the means to make it better. What's your biggest dream? Hitting lotto for at least 20 million. What's your life goal? Life goal is to be able to live long enough to see & have fun with my grandchildren. Who or what inspires you and why? My brother who has had a rough life and keeps plugging away without complaint. How does it feel being in a social gaming community? Does it change your prospects in traveling around the world after knowing some of the people in other countries? Of course. Any interaction with another person changes your perspective on that culture/country. If they made a movie of your life, what would it be about and which actor would you want to play you? Cindy Crawford? It would be about struggling to get out of poverty. Emilio Estevez would play me. If you had to marry one clan member, who would it be? Ohhhhhh the choices......... next question What was the best gift you ever received? A bicycle at 5 years old...... first taste of freedom And the worst one? A brick disguised as a duck doorstop. Would you like to come to Europe to visit fellow clan members? And who would you want to meet there the most? Yes...... Think it would be fun to meet any members. you of course. What is one thing you could not live without? My wife & kids. If ET and CoD4 died today, what would you do with your free time? Go work out at the gym. I need it. If your wife told you no more video games, which would you choose, her or the game? Her..... but she works so I would play anyhow. If you never got introduced to gaming, would your life be different? Of course. The exposure to different races/cultures has an impact. What is your dream job? Dream job. Manage my own spy store. Would you ever have a boa constrictor? Boa .... no.... hate snakes. What scares you? Scared of losing those close to me. Would you eat a live tropical fish? Tropical fish live..... yuck How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? 5 pounds

It's been quite a while but this is round 4 (for our newer members, round 1-3 could be found here). My victim in this quite long round is our beloved leader GI-JOE. Again I've got some guest contributions, from Corey, stabak, Speedfact and Raziel this time. Could you quickly introduce yourself? I'm known as GI-JOE, I'm 22 years old and I live in "The Air Capital of the World" How's life in The Air Capital of the World? Not nearly as exciting as it sounds. Sure, there's plenty of clubs and bars with live music, but it gets old after a while. Sometimes if the air is just right you could go cow-tipping and all that jazz but that's mostly out in the boonies. When did you join =F|A=? I had been playing on F|A servers for almost a year before I finally applied to join. I applied at 4:12pm on April fools day 2011 and was accepted to Trial at 6:18pm April 1, 2011. And what/who made you join us? I was in a 2-man clan with a friend for a while named {HectiC} but we sort of fell out of touch and it fell apart. We played on F|A all the time so that kind of became my hang-out. Then I became pals with people like Funkbut, Milli, sicsiksix, Avaa, Theo, Speed, Hannah and Rolf. Speedfact and Hannah finally convinced me to apply to join. Do you only play CoD4 or are you already showing up on our other gameservers? I have been known to play ET on occasion. I'm even worse at it than I am at COD, but the people are fun so I don't mind losing all the time. I also play Counter-Strike: Source (since '05), Battlefield 2, Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, Team Fortress 2, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. I don't have as much time for that many games anymore so I mostly stick to COD4 or ET now a days. What's your favorite ET server? Thats a tough one...If I had to pick one I have to go with Jay3 with Silent being a close second. I picked Jay3 because I get a good laugh out of the vsays and most of my F|A pals play there. What are your tasks as a famous =F|A= leader? What are you doing all day? As Leaders we are problem solvers...which is basically the role the average member probably wouldn't want. We have to look at a situation or problem that members of the community have and find the best way to resolve it and it's not always easy. I mostly deal with Hackers, rule breakers, trolls, you know all the fun stuff. I also help answer questions that members have about rules, technical problems etc. I also help deal with reports and complaints whether it be about admin abuse or server issues, those sorts of things. Mostly I sit on my ass all day and play the "keep track of what's going on" game. Describe the ideal member. Someone who isn't afraid to ask questions or do a little research. They pay attention to the way senior admins handle problems and emulate it in their own way. They're friendly and have fun with people and not at their expense AND they are just as active on the community forums as they are on the server. Judging from that description, a member needs to show respect and accept senior admins as role models. How important is respect? Respect is very important in a community. It helps make things work and is key in making sure it stays in working order. As corney as it makes me feel to say it this community really is like a Family. Sure you hate your parents because they scold you and ask you to do things you don't want to do...but later on you realize that by doing that they have helped you learn right from wrong and helped develop problem solving skills in the process. How were your first days in =F|A=? I remember I spent a lot of time reading all the stickies and getting used to how things worked in F|A. I remember the crippling fear of messing up or doing something wrong. Thankfully everyone was very supportive and helpful. Comparing your early days in the clan and the situation now, what has changed? Heh it seems like it was so much easier then! No one coming to you with questions, petty problems or looking to you for answers not nearly as many tough decisions or judgement calls. Don't get me wrong though I love being able to help people, it's probably my favorite part of where I am now in the Clan. Have you already met some of our members in person? No, but it's fun to think about. Why is it? Well, you meet all these people in game and on the forums and you get to know their personalities. I don't know about you but I can't help but wonder what they must be like outside of the Internet. Where did you grow up? How was your childhood? I grew up in trailer park in a small hick town, where everyone owns a pick-up truck and no one brushes their teeth. My childhood was fun actually, I spent a lot of time climbing trees, catching frogs and racing bikes around the convient circut that surrounded the trailer park. Some of us already know you're a musician. Tell us more about that. I've been playing the drums for close to 7 years now. I've never had a lesson in my life outside of the drum videos I watch on youtube. I've played in bands whose genre ranges from Death-Metal to Rock to Funk to Psychedellic. There's never a dull moment for me when it comes to music. I enjoy every part of it, from writing it, to recording it in a studio, to going out and playing it live in front of a crowd. What are your hobbies apart from playing the drums? I like to hunt and fish. I also enjoy drawing cartoons (drew cartoons for my high school newspaper for 3 years) and have been known to paint on occasion. I like to listen to music a lot as well, although I usually listen to entire albums rather than individual songs. Do you like your own music? Sometimes. After you spend a couple of hours hearing the same bit of the same song over and over again it can get old. What's your favorite musician, movie and book? Favorite musican: 4 way tie between Josh Freese, John Bonham, John Paul Jones and Dave Grohl. Favorite Movie: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (huge Kubrick fan). Favorite Book: Farenheit 451 What car have you got? Right now I'm rolling around in a Buick Rendezvous...its kind of a soccer-mom car but it makes hauling around my drum kit easy. What's your favorite food and drink? I'm a sucker for good Chinese food...no one dish in particular...I love them all. Water is my favorite refreshment, but I am a big fan of good burbon/whiskey. Do you like pie? Love it Have you got any pets? At this moment I have: 4 dogs, 2 cats and a very noisy cockatiel What's your favorite color? My favorite color is green. What is your favorite cereal? My favorite cereal is Raisin Bran...I know...I'm an old man... Do you look more like a monkey or a ape? Definitely more like an Ape...straight out of "Planet of the Apes" If you would be in charge of =F|A= for a month, what would you change? hmm...hard to think of off the top of my head...but it wouldn't be much. Maybe speed up the app process on the COD4 side of things. Clean up members again, get rid of some people who haven't logged in to the forums in months. That's all I can really think of right now.. Where do you plan to be in 10 years? Any great achievements? Job? Girlfriend? Family? I hope to be touring touring the US (at least) with a successful band. I'd like to be a working session musician, go around and play with all kinds of people on all kinds of albums and tours. A wife and a Family would be nice but I would settle for a fun Girlfriend. What would you do with 100 million dollars? Idealy I would live a comfortable life in a modest home and hopefully live off of the money for many years. But I like to try and be a generous person so I would probably try to help as many with it as I could...because there's no way I could spend all of it on myself. What was your most embarrassing moment? Hmm...probably the time I unknowingly exposed myself to a crowded bar while setting up my equipment for a show. I hadn't realized there was a gaping hole in the seat of my pants. Who are your favorite =F|A= members? I don't really have one favorite I like a lot of members for many different reasons. But my best pal is probably Speedfact...he makes me laugh

I am boy with consentratie lack to keep it short oxygen have been too short to me during birth. I'm not highly educated. but that does not stop me to the bar for myself again and again explaining something higher. I love game programs and make time for my family. I lost my father when I was six months old can not understand and down with guilt but I try to accept now that is not so and pull me up. and the sweetest of all is to help where I can be there for the people us that made me strong. grts be activity so thats me so far and con make fun on the servers I promise that

The start: This i the first blog i do so be nice lol Hello im coming here to discharge myself published....Every Starts on the Police Academy was a hard year betwn made the hit on be a graduate when they give me my badge and my gun i was proud of myself finnaly i can call me as proud Police oficer after all the work i´ve done for.... The ride in the workplace was quiet at my first few months, from concerns me and kept on with my normal life, girls, alcohol and even started to return to play the great game that captivated my entire teenage years Wolfenstein Enemy terretory where I started to be active again in the F | A servers after be almost 8 months out of it... My parents returned united states, southern virginia where my grandfather still lives on .. He was in his last days .. I returned with them.. , I was with him in his last moments that's what makes me happy and that was very happy that her grandson was going to be with at that moment.After the funeral through the coming 15 hours on a plane in a tight seat with constant turbulence sometimes i had no choice but to go back because I asked a couple of days at work and special mourning my case anyway, back my native country (Im half American-Uruguayan) cuz my parents are from united states but i borned here (Uruguay) ... One month later you guys take me on the awesome,great,and lovely Fearless Assassins Community where I met some great players and people made me administrator and give me the opportunity to be part of the F | Aamily as a full member, bein a Trial was a great notice for me laugh if you want but I was going through a bad time and the news that you had taken me under your wing I comfort enough even was best news I had all month After Months of regulars stuff new friends, new girlfriend than i love her with all my hearth travels for work,coder classes and nub paperwork lol almost forgive the two months than my pc was broke oops Had a bad experience on work one of my colleagues was shot in the head I affection much, I thought "I could have been me" was the one turn before I also was the one who had given me more advice and is partner to more appreciation of i meet at the station where I am .. I was assigned to the hospital I was visiting his family tried to support her, luckily I came out of danger but his recovery was gonna take a long time After that back to normal life Normal stuff to this day and I've seen some shameful fact that I would rather not have to say here lol I want finnish saying thanks To F|A for the opportunity i had some lot of fun with you guys as already never had on other clan the appreciation i have its so big for F|A I love this community... though I had my bad times as all and was out of the servers a while I did my best guys "was" and is a great pleasure to be part of this ... Thank you a lot ....

Ok i wanna share my view about this clan so bare with my english and nonsense somewhat lol So i started playing et from 07-08 and there was many new clans at that time and i njoyed in many clans many big clans and small clans and came across hundreds of rules and i know many many rules about servers and forums and many clans have rules different from each other... before i quit et 2 yrs back my last clan on which i played like 2 -3 times was F|A and i was like cool clan and i made an account but then i quit et cause of college later when i came back to ET well there was no shadow of doubt which clan i shall play and love to join and represent and be a part of F|Amily so i started playing ET bt like never thought i shall apply the day i started playing et again cause i didnt knew i would be playing it regularly then when i started play on F|A and saw admins being cool i mean seriously cool like i have seen many admins from many clans they are kind off not so friendly and like supports each other sooo much and gives exception to use some words so i loved it like they are having awesome fun with players and within admin team i loved that and then the players were epic from many different nations ( my country india too) and were just respecting each other and even have sarcastic moments well whatelse u need after a hectic day a fun great hours ... and then i went and read the rules the admin rules and player rules and i was like WOW this rules are some really kickass rules i mean other clans will mute kick ban like after 1 or 2 bitching and i see this clan gives player chance to make himself clear or like change and i was like wow this is different and cool... i knw i m boring u guys hehe so i shall conclude it with saying THIS IS EPIC CLAN THAT'S WHY ITS No.1 (sorry for caps ) and i m really really happy i applied and i will be sooooo sooo honoured if i get accepted and to my referalls u shall be one proud referals Sorry for my grammer and spellings

I thought I would make a new blog on a followup on my old one a few years back because now I'm active for good this time. I once joined this clan because it was a big ET community, very friendly. I was once an ET F|A member. Eventually I discovered other games such as COD4 and TF2, and eventually I volunteered to become a TF2 member! It has been a great number of years and it will only continue to grow. I feel as if I don't know many of the new people coming in so this will be a great opportunity to meet my new family. I did make another intro earlier but I think this will be a lot better. I'm turning 24 this year, I had a 2 year college education in IT, I obtained my A+, the MTA 98-365 and as of this writing, I am working on my Network+ and Security+ to perfect the triad of certifications. I recently came back into ET and found that I'm SUPER RUSTY! XP I think it'll be a long time before I gain my skills back, same can probably be said about COD4, i'll probably make the same mistakes like using the running ability too many times and give kills to the other team. Well, like I said before, I'm here to stay like an old tree with many roots and hope to bloom to life anew again and meet new people here. Thanks for reading my boring blog. -Crasher

The 7th interview will be about our Co-Leader Stabak. Like Thundercvnt, he is a man of little words, which doesn't make him uninteresting though, quite the contrary. Read it to find out more about his views on life, the universe and everything. Thanks to Alexandra, Maximo Decimo and darkfag77 for some interesting questions. I am slowly running out of questions for my interview partners. If you have any suggestions or a specific person you'd like to see interviewed, feel free to contact me. Could you quickly introduce yourself? my name is christoph, with my young age of 32 years some people told me already that i am a old fart. i have a wife, 2 kids (girl and a boy), a chocolate brown labrador with a age of 10 years and a fat cat. I live outside the urban in a little village with less than 700 ppl in hessen / Germany. Any other pets, apart from the kids, the labrador and the fat cat? ... i don´t count my children to my pets, and no there are no other pets What games do you play? i play Enemy territory most of time, sometimes you will also find my in COD4, and from time to time you will see me in Brink How did your gaming life start? C64? yes with C64, there was some good games on it. like who dares wins, Maniac Mansion, Zak McKracken, Turrican only to mention a few And when did you start playing ET and CoD4? i started to play ET a short time ( 2004 i guess ) after it was released , but i played only few month. I stopped to play because i lose the interest for playing fps games at this time. I decided to play again fps games @ work with some work colleagues. we set up a private network and started to play medal of honor in our "free time". some weeks later i suggest them to play ET. and from this time i was back in ET How did you discover our servers? i did play on some servers, before i joined F|A - Jay 2 my first time. I decided to play there, because it was one of some servers with more than 4 ppl on it (i.e. it was european night time). i did play more as 1 year as regular before i found jay3 and started to play there as a regular player. So when did you decide to join the clan? There was some guys with F|A tags C@nos, Avrae, Sextoy. i did not often talk to them. at one day a guy with name F|A Daredevil was coming to the server, i never saw him before. we did talk together and he was asking if i am interested to join F|A. spontaneously (after a few seconds) I said yes. He told me, to make a Forum account, submit my guid, make a introduce yourself topic and post your apply. so i was going to Forum and did all the stuff he wanted. What did it take you to become a Co-Leader? i was Co-leader from start up, i had to do nothing. seriously what i did ? i guess same as every other co-leader too. Be helpful on Server, report/ban cheaters, handle troublemakers, provide the best you can do, to get the server enjoyable for players. get new clan members, be active on Forum, help other players with problem solutions, submit Files for Dl area. What does one need to do to get promoted in little time? i guess for this question you can take the previous answer too. What are the attributes of the ideal member? the ideal member? be active 24/7 on servers / Forum, spend 100 $ each month, know all things. and can handle everything.... for me as ideal ppl who want to apply /Trial / Member you should have at least 3 attributes of the answer to the above question regarding the co leadership How would you describe your role in the clan? co-chief cook and bottle washer What are the tasks and duties as a Co-Leader who is active in ET and CoD4? reading the Forum more as once day (if it is possible) to handle things and stay up to date, take care about members and Servers, talk to players / Members on xfire, handle problems/lvl´s on Server, suggest Promotions / Demotions. get new members. Did anything change since you joined the clan? some people left, some ppl joined us, we have nearly doubled our ET servers, we have got a new COD server, did expand in TF2 / BF3 / COD MW3. so yes, there are much changes. What's your favorite server or what would your favorite server look like (game, settings, ...)? hmm thats a hard question. I love jay3 and i know many ppl there. lately i was much on jay 4, and atm i try to make Silent#2 more popular. If you ask me what is atm my favorite Server about the Gameplay i would say its Silent#2, about the Serversettings jay 4, and about the players jay3. so if you ask me what my favorite server is look like, i must say give me a European silentserver with the players from jay3 and the settings from jay4 ... omg that would be a wired mess Have you met any members in real life so far? no What's the most important part of the clan for you? i cant say there is any part which is most important, all parts are important. without members we will die, without servers we cant play so we have no needing to be a gaming clan, without Forum we cant talk so will mess up everything ...... imo there is no "much important part" of F|A all things together are important. How do you imagine the clan's future? so or so the day will come, ET will die. So we loose a big pillar of our gaming network. I hope we will find a new good game we can support. some ppl say its TF2, maybe it is, maybe not who knows. I had big hope in Brink, but you all know what happened, its almost death. So lets look forward i guess we will grow and will also support some new games in Future. If you never got introduced to gaming, would your life be different? sure, i never would sit in front of my computer and answer questions like this to such a wonderful person If you were in charge of the clan for a month, what would you change? i guess nothing, maybe i would create a new rule, which allows our Founders to play on our Servers from time to time What was your most embarrassing moment? i really had never any embarrassing moment in my life, or? of course, i had, it was on a trip, and i had to sleep in a Hotel at a lonely lake is was very romantic region and the maid opened the wrong .... oh thats another story What would you do with 1 million dollars? i would give 75.000 to my parents, 50.000 to my brother, 100.000 to each child, 75.000 for new car and motorcycle, 499.990 to my bank account, 100.000 for donating, and 10 for my wifes bank account Where do you plan to be in 10 years? Old, retired, sunbathing and milking goats all day long? sunbathing and milking goats all day long is cool, but i hope i will stay where i am. i love my life as it is Imagine you would be stranded on an island with one =F|A= member. Who would it be? omfg, I would actually take you Imagine you could swap roles, permissions and duties with a =F|A= member for one month. Who would it be? any trial member or new Member, you have asked me before what did change since you joined F|A. I guess one of the best ways to see and register changes is to look from bottom to top. So i would like to be an trial Member or new member for one Month to see the whole clan from his eyes. maybe there are some changes i dont have registered. How did you grow up? i grow up in a small village with less than 700 people. i did some work in agriculture and a butchery (my neighbor was butcher), had friends was going to school, played soccer and basketball. after school most of my friends was leaving our village and settled out to the bigger city´s. I also left for some years to make my education. after this i decided to come back to my home village. Education? Did you go to a university? no What's your job? i am working in Law enforcement to be exact, i am working in a criminal investigation unit of the german Federal police What's a Stabak? and now the first embarrassing moment in my life has come as teen i was looking the TV Series "Kampfstern Galactica" better known as "Battlestar Galactica" there was a very cool Viper Pilot called "Lieutenant Starbuck". no english lessons in school, a cool star-pilot from a TV series and a young fan boy who use this name for games on his C64 so what was coming out? "Stabak" Who are your favorite clan members? i dont have a favorite clan member. I enjoy it to talk with some people on xfire. But i have not a Favorite What are your hobbies apart from playing ET and CoD4? Fishing, jogging/running, and smoking. and of course my Family What kind of music do you listen to? Heavy Metal What are your favorite movies or TV shows? Lord of the Rings i love it (even more the books), From Dusk Till Dawn, Oceans 11/12/13 What's your favorite color and why is it? black and red but i dunno why. What's your favorite food and drink? cheese and fresh Bread, water and beer What kind of car do you drive? Audi 80, construction year 1993 with 400000 kilometers. i just use it to drive to work What was your favorite subject in school? I always liked history If you could pick any celebrity for a wife, who would it be? Salma Hayek What's your daily schedule, from morning to evening? its based on work, but a normal day is: stand up, bathroom, coffee, drive to work, work, drive home, family At what age do you expect to retire from work and what are you going to do as an old man? i hope i can retire with 62-63. Than I want to sit on an old garden bench, keep my wife in the arm and take care of my grandchildren If you could visit any point in history, where/when would you go and why? once see a authentic dinosaur rawr What's your biggest dream? dreams are for dreamers, I live in the here and now If you had to move to a state or country besides the one you currently live in, where would you move and why? i really guess austria, because it's almost like Germany. with exception of the ("Arnold Schwarzenegger") dialect Who or what inspires you and why? my kids because they are fantastic What was the worst gift you ever received? panties, it was a gift from my grandma she is old, so also is her taste for clothing What's your life goal? get a age from 90 years without having to be bedridden

1. Topic title: It should be useful and relate the issue which you are having. Good Example: Ignoring Queries Kick by Punkbuster Laptop FPS issue for Enemy Territory Lag problem for Enemy Territory Bad examples of above topics: Help – Does help says anything? No. FPS Sucks – Ok we understand you are having low FPS but sucks for what game? Problems!!!! – Ok does it make sense to you? If topic title doesn’t make sense to you, then let me tell you it will not make sense to others also. 2. Tags: Use some tags so when someone clicks on it, they can find related topics. I mean really some people use pretty much very bad topic tags. By tagging you are saying your topic relates to this and this subject. Example: http://fearless-assa...illed-in-sirte/ Notice the tags? “dj-news” You ask yourself who in the world is going to search based on dj-news ? People are going to search based on Gadhafi, killed, etc. Right tag would be gadhafi, killed, leader, dead, libyan and if you want in the end add dj-news. Now when user click on that tag gadhafi, they can find all posts related to it on forum. Same goes for FPS, Enemy Territory, COD, etc help related topics. Use valid tags and help others at the same time. By choosing right tags you are not helping yourself but also helping someone who might be having same issue in future. 3. Google +1. In each download or tutorials links, we have added Google +1. If you like something nice rather then saying +1 or nice one, click on Google +1 icon. This way rather then having 50 "nice" post, you can easily see 50 users liked this tutorial. PS Keep up the Good work with news reporting. At least now I/we have something worth reading rather then useless spam in spam section. Special thanks to those who are reporting news, submitting tutorials and maps, software, etc in our download section. Thanks!

Death's Fee The night goes cold deathly and still Death is on the prowl looking for a kill You try to run but cannot flee Death is here and wants his fee A blade slashes out covered in blood Then you hit the ground with a sickly thud You beg for mercy but cannot see Death is here and wants his fee As your life begins to fade An ultimate price paid The night goes cold deathly and still Death is on the prowl looking for a kill =F|A= Shadow!

As you can tell by the title I was an only child. Oddly enough when someone asks "do you have any siblings?" and I reply with "No I was an only child" I get a very negative reaction. People always tend to think I should be lonely, sad, or I've missed something. Don't get me wrong the thought of a big brother to run around with sounded appealing as a kid, but now that I'm older I realize my childhood ruled! Growing up I liked to be home. Of course in my teenage years (which wasn't to long ago) I went nuts and hung out with friends a lot but as a little kid I liked being home in my room. One of the "only child perks" was that I had a room all to myself. My own fortress of solitude. That's the place where I decided that I wanted to play music, I watched/discovered my favorite movies and games. It's where I came up with my own ideas about what I wanted to do or become. The best part is that I was completely uninfluenced by anyone while I was alone in my fortress of solitude, and that's my point I've been getting too. Personally I feel like where I grew up an only child, I've made a lot of conclusions all on my own. I feel as if I got to create my own views. That being said I'm sure there were times where that big brother would have come in handy, and I'm in no way saying that people with siblings haven't made conclusions on their own. For me personally though I feel that I am the way I am and I think the way I think because of growing up an only child. From getting the full attention of your dad at all times to sharing with someone because you wanted to, not because you had to, being an only child was an interesting adventure. With no one there to question the mysteries of the universe with I was forced to create my own opinions out of nothing more than my own brain. As I said before, the thought of that big brother to cheer me up and run around with was appealing, but I'm glad I grew up as an only child. -Taborham Lincoln