The Politically Incorrect Gamer: Chuckle and Shrug

Hey, folks. SinSynn here.

So like most of my plans, my previously scheduled 'argument with Loqacious' post is getting put on the back burner. Neither of us seem to be coherent at the same time, which makes debating with me either annoying and frustrating or completely impossible, depending on who's coherent and who isn't.
Not that coherence is something I strive for, mind you.

*I always choose Chaos. Iz moar fun*

Anyway, I wanted to share some jokes with you.
Have you heard this one?

Q: What's the difference between a Frenchman and a trampoline?
A: You take your shoes off before jumping on a trampoline.

Hardy-har, amiright?

Yeah, I'm sorta technically French. Or of French descent, or whatever you wanna call it.

But, hey...it's just a joke, right? Let's have another one!

Q: What's the difference between a Frenchman and a catfish?
A: One is an ugly, scum sucking bottom feeder, and the other is a fish.

No, it's cool...just jokes. Heh heh.....

Q: What's the most common French expression?
A: I don't know....I give up.

Oh, I get it...that's funny...ahem.

Q: What's the shortest book ever written?
A: 'French War Heroes'

Sigh...yeah, that's a riot, cuz  y'know...whatevs.

Q: What can a Frenchman do in 5 minutes.
A: Surrender twice.

Alright, listen...maybe we should move on....

Q: Why did the French invent perfume?
A: Hey, buddy...YOU try sleeping with a French woman!

-_-
My great grandmother was a French woman, pal. You don't say shit like that 'bout my nana...

*Gah! I dunno, man*

So, when do I get to be offended?
I mean, I know. They're just jokes, right? And, hey, it's not like the French are like, some 'special interest group,' or whatevs. Like retarded people. Lord knows, you don't crack jokes about retarded people. That ain't funny.
Except only...I kinda think it is, sometimes...

Listen, one of my favorite things to do when I'm forced to go shopping with a Terran female is wait until I get a lil' bored...
...and then I pull 'the retarded act.'
...I start drooling. I make loud 'derp' noises. I flop my arms around and knock stuffs off the shelves.
The instant whatever Terran female I'm with starts to say something, I interrupt by yelling: 'You said you would buy me a toy! You promised! You promised to buy me a toy!'

I am reliably informed that my lil' act is...very convincing. I'm not sure how I feel about that....
Gotta tell ya, I have great fun doing it, but umm...I think I'm alone in that. Terran females definitely do not like it, that much I know fer sure.
:P

I also used to go Herald Square with a friend of mine during lunch to watch a very racist Nation of Islam speaker preach. We'd snuggle together, hold hands, whispering sweet nothings to each other, right in front of this preacher guy.
I'd do this with my buddy Jean, who's a gigantic Haitian man. The preacher dude would practically have convulsions. It was awesome.
Him and I would then go and fake fights in Macy's in front of the large crowds of Asian tourists.
Heh.

Jokes are awesome...'cept when they're not, apparently.

*This is the internet, and cats are the ultimate judge of what's funny or not*

If there's one thing I like to do, it's be a goofball. One of the great things about my hobby is that it allows me to do exactly that. Why else would I have bikini-clad aliens leading my Flames of War Grenadier Kompanie? Sheesh, historic gaming is too serious, if you ask me. And it needs moar Xenos, naturally. Everything needs moar Xenos.

Our hobby is well-served by goofballs, I think. And Xenos.
Many of the games we play, of every type, have a certain sense of humor about themselves. That's probably a good thing too, cuz in some cases if you take their subjects too seriously you might cross the line from 'game' to 'fetish.'
I mean, seriously, there's some weird stuffs goin' on in our hobby, and we play at it.

I'm sure you've had that moment. Y'know, the one where someone comments on one of yer lil' models, or yer RPG rulebook, or yer Magic cards, or whatever it is, and you casually laugh it off.
'Haha, it's just a game. It's no big deal.'
...oh, but it is, isn't it? We just don't tell them that.

I kinda feel like that's why the rulebooks and whatnot always seem to have that core of tongue in cheek humor to them. It's almost like they're saying, 'Look, we know all this is really silly, but hear us out. It'll be fun, we promise! Remember, it's a game!'

I've spent so much time laboring over tiny lil' 15mm tanks and troopies that it's definitely not a laughing matter for me any more. This is my hobby. This is what I do. I don't 'laugh it off' anymore. I don't chuckle and shrug about what I do, cuz I think that what I do has value. My 'chuckling and shrugging' days are over.

When I play Flames of War, I can't help but feel like a kid who's pushing around toy soldiers in a sandbox. But it's like, so much cooler now, cuz I'm grown up and there's like, cool lookin' books and fancy rules and ohmygod I can afford all the lil' toy soldiers I want!
Mwahahahaha!

I have little shame about things I should, most likely, have shame about....

*Like how many times I've watched this movie, for example*

Do I feel like 'what I do' is silly? If I said yes, would that excuse all the silliness that occurs is my hobby? Would that excuse the scantily clad females, or the horrific stereotypes? Can I chuckle and shrug that stuff away?
Jokes are awesome...'cept when they're not.

Our hobby is filled with questionable stuff that gets chuckled and shrugged at, because hey, that's how our hobby does things. Like I've said, it's tradition.

*Try explaining this model to yer significant other. Good luck with that*

I tend to embrace the silliness, the wackiness of my hobby. I understand that there's always some knucklehead who's gonna build something like the infamous 'Eldar Rape Scene,' or worse yet do something the authorities will blame Dungeons and Dragons for, but whatevs. These things are by far outweighed by the awesomeness I see when I go to a tournament, or hit the blogs.

I kinda wish my hobby, and the people involved in it, would let go of the whole chuckle and shrug thing. But then again, I'm not sure if I want my lil' thing to like, get popular, or whatever.
Sigh. You know us hobbyists...we're rebels and we're no damn good. If our thing ever went 'mainstream,' we prolly wouldn't like it anymore.
:P


Until next time, folks- Exit with catchphrase!

-SinSynn