By: May Anne Uy
Since the airsoft phenomena gained big time popularity here in the Philippines during the latter half of 2005 due to the proliferation of value-for –money (re: cheap) weapons systems. The number of airsoft clubs as a result also increased like wild mushrooms during the rainy season. Since the working title of this digression is about what makes a bad team/group here is ten of my pet peeves:
10. Everyone on the team thinks that the one hit you’re out rule is for sissies.
9. Everyone on the team thinks that guys who are into classical music (Bach, Mozart,Beethoven, etc.) are gay.
8. The team leader runs the club like David Koresh runs the Branch Davidians in Wacko, Texas.
7. Everyone on the team thinks that classic rock (Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kiss, Scorpions, etc.) are for Satanists.
6. Everyone on the team thinks that women have something better to do than play airsoft games.
5. Everyone on the team thinks that anyone whose weapons system costs less than PhP10,000 lives in a shanty town and blows his nose on his shirt or one of his 14 children’s shirts.
4. Most of the members want the best airsoft weapons system, but wont shell out the required money.
3. You got kicked out for mentioning “Medical Marijuana.”
2. Everyone on the team thinks that rationalism is a left leaning thought.
1. The team leader’s claim to fame on his leadership skills is that he loves to boss around other people in an indignant manner.
There you have it. If your team manifests a couple of minor problems, all is not lost. Three or more, then you have a better chance of carving your very own team- mate out of a mango. Megalomaniac leaders are a special case in itself. In our Filipino culture, we usually deal this problem in an “Emperor’s New Clothes” or in a “yes men” kind of way. There are good even great teams out there, so shop around.
Showing posts with label Air Soft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Air Soft. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Of Airsoft and Hi-Fi
By:Vanessa Uy
If there is one thing I’ve learned in involving myself in lunatic fringe hobbies like hi-fi and airsoft is that these hobbies require one thing in abundance:money. Yep a Php 28,000 CD player and an airsoft replica gun of similar cost have more in common other than snob factor. A good ( re : expensive ) CD player is supposed to emotionally involve us by replicating the sound of a musical performance -albeit classical , rock, jazz or Islamic qawali- faithfully in your listening room ( or a cramped bed room or whatever ).Imagine Avril Lavigne,Lunachicks or Jimmi Henrix in your room. Just close your eyes and reach out. Pretty scarry isn’t it? Pricey airsoft guns vie for our emotional involvement by looking eerily like the real thing. A friend of mine using an airsoft kalashnikov once chased away those Hezbollah-esque Fraternity types armed with a real 9 mm berreta. But remember, these imitation assault rifles can’t cause your human targets ribs to stick out their backs after firing short bursts at less than 15 feet away. Come to think of it , am I comparing like with like? Of course not . But one thing I can conclude on my hands on involvement in both hobbies is that hi-fi is a personal endevour ,an enjoy yourself kind of undertaking.While airsoft breeds commoroderie.Some players may prefer one type of gun to another even though they all use 6mm plastic BB pellets .In hi-fi one persons preferred tonal balance is another ones sonic poison. Also music preferrence come into play .My tastes are as diverse as the latest softcore- porn- teen- rock-chick genre to Islamic devotional music , something the evangelical powers-that –be are trying hard to wipe out!Hi-fi is a 99% Nietzschean self-absorption par excellence,while airsoft is about networking to older men about guns and politics. They’re the kind that don’t pigeonhole me as some anglo-saxon paedopelia craze. In my opinion these two hobbies don’t make sense because they are designed to make magic!Isn’t the Newtonian physics involved to run these things seem magical?Except hi-fi though. I think some obscure quantum-mechanical principles may be involved. Does Professors Roger Penrose and Stephen Hawking own kick-ass audio systems?
If there is one thing I’ve learned in involving myself in lunatic fringe hobbies like hi-fi and airsoft is that these hobbies require one thing in abundance:money. Yep a Php 28,000 CD player and an airsoft replica gun of similar cost have more in common other than snob factor. A good ( re : expensive ) CD player is supposed to emotionally involve us by replicating the sound of a musical performance -albeit classical , rock, jazz or Islamic qawali- faithfully in your listening room ( or a cramped bed room or whatever ).Imagine Avril Lavigne,Lunachicks or Jimmi Henrix in your room. Just close your eyes and reach out. Pretty scarry isn’t it? Pricey airsoft guns vie for our emotional involvement by looking eerily like the real thing. A friend of mine using an airsoft kalashnikov once chased away those Hezbollah-esque Fraternity types armed with a real 9 mm berreta. But remember, these imitation assault rifles can’t cause your human targets ribs to stick out their backs after firing short bursts at less than 15 feet away. Come to think of it , am I comparing like with like? Of course not . But one thing I can conclude on my hands on involvement in both hobbies is that hi-fi is a personal endevour ,an enjoy yourself kind of undertaking.While airsoft breeds commoroderie.Some players may prefer one type of gun to another even though they all use 6mm plastic BB pellets .In hi-fi one persons preferred tonal balance is another ones sonic poison. Also music preferrence come into play .My tastes are as diverse as the latest softcore- porn- teen- rock-chick genre to Islamic devotional music , something the evangelical powers-that –be are trying hard to wipe out!Hi-fi is a 99% Nietzschean self-absorption par excellence,while airsoft is about networking to older men about guns and politics. They’re the kind that don’t pigeonhole me as some anglo-saxon paedopelia craze. In my opinion these two hobbies don’t make sense because they are designed to make magic!Isn’t the Newtonian physics involved to run these things seem magical?Except hi-fi though. I think some obscure quantum-mechanical principles may be involved. Does Professors Roger Penrose and Stephen Hawking own kick-ass audio systems?
No Women Allowed?
By: Vanessa Uy
Why women players are few and far between in airsoft clubs.
General Philip Sheridan once said “War is hell.”Isn’t it anyone,of his or her own free will,entitled to experience this “hell”regardless of race or gender?Maybee I live a charmed,sheltered life surrounded by high browed idealists (re:anglo-saxon folk).So I set out to a “networking” trip to a sport that prides itself on commoroderie;airsoft.It went alright compared to the other harebrained schemes I’ve been,but the few weeks I’ve spent playing only provided flack on my critique on the Philipine society in general.Lesbian/dykes stereotypes aside,the few women that I met in this clubs are quite normal.A wife or an engaged girlfriend of one of the members.So what is there to complain you say.
The problem manifests itself during breaktime conversations.It’s like being an extra for a t.v. pilot episode of”That Chauvanist Show”.Majority of the men’s perception of women and sexuality harks back to the time when Queen Victoria ruled the British Empire.Existential introspection is a loaded topic at most,never mind your personal views on abortion and capital punishment.Museum curators might have a field day in that setting,but to me some artifacts,like Marxist-Leninist Socialism or Christian Slave Morality are ment to rust and decay away.
I know that rules and regulations are there for the player’s and spectator’s safety,but for the club itself to become interesting and or fun, a dose of liberalism certainly won’t hurt.
Why women players are few and far between in airsoft clubs.
General Philip Sheridan once said “War is hell.”Isn’t it anyone,of his or her own free will,entitled to experience this “hell”regardless of race or gender?Maybee I live a charmed,sheltered life surrounded by high browed idealists (re:anglo-saxon folk).So I set out to a “networking” trip to a sport that prides itself on commoroderie;airsoft.It went alright compared to the other harebrained schemes I’ve been,but the few weeks I’ve spent playing only provided flack on my critique on the Philipine society in general.Lesbian/dykes stereotypes aside,the few women that I met in this clubs are quite normal.A wife or an engaged girlfriend of one of the members.So what is there to complain you say.
The problem manifests itself during breaktime conversations.It’s like being an extra for a t.v. pilot episode of”That Chauvanist Show”.Majority of the men’s perception of women and sexuality harks back to the time when Queen Victoria ruled the British Empire.Existential introspection is a loaded topic at most,never mind your personal views on abortion and capital punishment.Museum curators might have a field day in that setting,but to me some artifacts,like Marxist-Leninist Socialism or Christian Slave Morality are ment to rust and decay away.
I know that rules and regulations are there for the player’s and spectator’s safety,but for the club itself to become interesting and or fun, a dose of liberalism certainly won’t hurt.
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