But does Robert have his own billhook? You can't do hedges properly without one.

The last reply, promise!...I remember the "Not spamming the Coffee-Shop rule..." Last one...



No, sir...But oi knows where oi can get me 'aaands on wun...*Winks*...

Besides...Oi'll naaaght be neiding one f'r 'baaaaht ten yeeeeers yet... ...

Naught Mcbadgere. You know there's a kiddie section for such posts

And it appears I'm going back the USA sooner than expected. I'm returning in March.

Weren't you supposed to be there for like two years?

Yeah, I officially live here in Brazil, but I'm going back to the USA temporarily. Like a few weeks.

Sounds like how my Dad officially lives in Malta, but comes home to blighty for a few weeks a year so that he can still claim his UK pension over there... ...

Buying myself a Eickhorn Advanced Combat Knife and/or a Gerber Mark II Knife. Things are getting out of hand here. Definitely getting my gun permit in the USA and bringing a nice firearm back to this dangerous place. The authorities can bend over for my foot for all I care. We people have the right to defend our lives damn it!

Some kid got stabbed yesterday downtown at night(which was considered the safest place in town next to the "Batalhao", a safe and secure military-owned neighborhood. Its a place I hang every weekend at night). And the only police I saw driving around stopped to pickup a scantly clad woman by a stop-sign and drove off to go get something out of it. On the plus side, though, many of the seasoned drug traffickers are being eliminated one by one by a bunch of twelve and thirteen year old kids! At first I thought it was a joke and then I found out from different sources, including a police officer, that it is true. Because they're below eighteen, they don't have the same penalty as adults and are only kept for a few weeks in custody. The reason? The drug dealers don't give them anything, so they're doing it for personal, sadistic amusement rather than legitimate self-defense.

Twenty of the known adult criminals were, well, ambushed and killed by these kids who have absolutely no sense of discreetness when taking out a person. One drug dealer was sitting at his porch with his daughter when a small group of twelve year olds walked up to the front of his house. He ran away as soon as they started shooting, probably thinking that if he made it into the streets in full view of the public, the kids would back off. And of course in fear that if he ran inside his home, they would kill off his family too. They chased him about a block in a very busy area and killed him right there!

Seriously. I'm just about done walking around with a pocket knife. I want some good potentially fatal weapons for defense. If the local kids are carrying black marketed revolvers and dispatching criminal scum on the constant basis, I thing I want a little something for my personal safety while cops are too busy chasing tail or working the day-shifts while the more dangerous hours remain unattended by the authority.

Never before had I been so concerned with carrying weapons with me. Now, I can only fantasize about it.

/rage. I needed an outlet. Sorry, folks.

That's really disturbing...

Christ. I think you're right in wanting to defend yourself.

Why don't you just come back to texas and we'll take good care of you.

Holy Gosh!*... ...

Dude, that's shocking...Hell's Bells lad, sounds like you've got a point with some sort of defence thing...I'm not one for advocating violence...Certainly not against children...Although, I will point out that - from what you've said there - they seem to be going after drug dealers at the moment... ...Hmmm...

Karmic?...Perhaps they've seen one too many Superhero movie and think that if no-one else is going to do something about the drugs, then they should...Methinks it's almost clever, if it wasn't a tad horrible and dangerous in the extreme...

Isn't there a film called Kids where a bunch of...Um...kids terrorise a couple (and end up killing them both) knowing that the fact they're being attacked by children will give the couple pause in defending themselves?...

Scares me how bad kids are getting these days...

Watch yerself Eternal-Boy... ...And stay away from the drugs *Points*... ...

You don't need a permit to buy a gun in the USA, you only have to be of age and have a clean criminal background. Unfortunately trying to bring a gun back to Brazil is an extremely bad idea, unless you love prison.

This is part of why I'm glad to live in the USA.

Over here that´s only the first barrier you have to overcome in order to get a gun!

Internet upgrade is nearly done. Just working out the settings for things like security and such. But the connection is up and running.

New speeds:

Ping: 42ms
Down: 6.7Mbps
Up: 0.8Mbps

Not top of the line but where I live you take what you can get.

Exactly what I have and it works splendidly

Damn, that's just scary.

Yeah, I've heard of all the hoops one must jump through. Even then it isn't legal in several parts of Europe to deploy a gun against a person who is trying to harm you. It is pretty crazy to me to believe that in most of the UK and other parts, if you've jumped through all the hoops to get a gun, you're still not supposed to protect yourself from people with it.

We´re not allowed to do that in Scandinavia either. We face criminal charges if we defend our own lives and our property. In other words, our law states it´s illegal to defend yourself but it´s totally legal to get mortally stabbed or shot. And you really should have provided them with your keys and passwords first

What... That's insane!!!!

Unless you join a Militia in a Favela

Thanks but no thanks. I've had enough of the US.



Violence is necessary in some situations. Though don't worry. I haven't heard of the children going out to rob stores or people but they certainty do that in Rio De Janeiro. Sadly, many of them grow up without parents and they are shaped by the criminals and crooks of the area.

Nah, drug dealers won't give them the drugs because they think kids won't have the money to pay later. Plenty of people died here due to not paying the money. The dealers don't want to waste time with the kids, and then the kids end up going on rampages since they can't use the drugs to make their own money.

The main reason one of my relative is in the city is to take care of poor and orphaned children. To help those in need. And I'm here to aid them. So . . . yeah I have a soul as hard as it may seem


I'll keep away from drugs, but certainly not some guns. Great news is my relatives who's coming to visit knows a thing or two about firearms in other countries and will bring a few of them so I can keep home. Yes! My Christmas present!


Yeah, it is!

Almost did. I have to present myself this year for the Militia bootcamp training for the Military Police. The training is for a whole year but my friend knows the commander, and already spoke to him. The commander says I'm in the clear and he can pull a few strings so that I don't have to join.

Its good to have contacts. Phew.

I’ve been having some spine issues again. In the pain-coherent-medicated continuum I try to only post while in the middle part, so I might be quieter than usual for a bit. I’ve been promised an MRI this week. Just more of the same situation, there’s no drama.

On the plus side I’m getting to watch a lot of TV.

I´m very sorry to hear about your spine problem, Grits I really hope you can get a permanent fix for it, and soon.

We understand, Grits. Feel better soon.

Grits, I at least hope you get ice cream. That's supposed to be part of the deal when you're not feeling well. I know I join everyone here in wishing that 2014 brings you some back relief. Good luck with the MRI and thanks for letting us know a bit about what's going in in Grits' world - even when it isn't all butterflies and unicorn kisses.

Hang in there Grits.

My NES collection is growing insanely fast right now and I use the money I get from the unemployment insurance to buy them. Within the last 30 days I have bought 25 items, both games and accessories, and my account is now dry! I have planned this carefully though and I will get two payments before I have to pay any of my regular bills.

I have been focusing on the 18 launch titles and when my last auctions are over I will have them all, except Stack-Up and 10-yard Fight, both nearly impossible to find in my part of the world and I won´t be using ebay because it requires Paypal and I don´t like getting involved in that.

What I´m trying to say is, I´d be happy to accept donations if anyone happens to come accross those two games and maybe other games too

Just poking my head in to say howdy. I should be haunting this site again for a while. Missed you all while I was away. Hope everyone had a great holiday season.

Welcome back home.

I was wondering where you went!!!!

Welcome back!

Hello, ThatSkyrimGuy...

I don't believe we've met...

We all just figured you were hibernating. That's what all sensible folks (like us bears) do up in Skyrim in the winter.

I had like 2 or 3 chances to ask my crush to talk in private to tell her I like her and I didn't take them.

I'm stupid sometimes.

Go easy on yourself there, buddy. These things ain´t easy and I bet everyone here has been in that situation

Lets just hope you get another chance soon

I will have a chance tomorrow.

For some reason each day I've put it off,I've become more confident and,maybe because I have some I like,I'm feeling..really happy.

I'm usually pretty happy,even on a bad day I'm never THAT sad but I feel really good.

I usually got worse for every day!

I thought that'd be the same for me,I don't know why I get more confident.

I actually think I never wanted anything to really happen. I prefer the dream...

But go get her!!

I'd always make myself so sick during the buildup that they'd always be like "You look realy sick. Go away." XD

I'm still kinda confused when it comes to what to say.

Let's move this to the everything thread so we can help you

I'd appreciate that.

I’ve had some good news from the latest MRI/spine doc visit. The countless hours of physical therapy I’ve done in the last two years have really worked, and surgery is no longer my next option. However those exercises have aggravated a different situation that has been a problem since an injury this fall. So we have a plan that includes unpleasant things but nowhere near as grim as spinal fusion.

Folks here have been quietly supportive for a long time now, and I’m very, very grateful. Hopefully I’ll soon be saying “ha ha, I fixed it myself” or something along those lines.

Also when I mentioned running I got the fish-eye from the doc, so I’m guessing that was and still is a bad idea. Oops.

And furthermore, it’s snowing! It won’t last and certainly won’t stick, but it’s enough to look pretty and make The Girl obsessively check all media outlets for a delayed school start even though The Boy’s bus has already gone. Optimists.

That's great news Grits! Now just cancel your plans to run the marathon. We were supposed to get a dusting of snow here (central Alabama) also, but it never materialized.



Holy crap on a cracker! It's 5:30 in the morning! How far away is the school?

His bus comes at 6:20. It’s ridiculous. The buses have to run two routes and high school kids are often left in charge of younger siblings after school, so they go first and get home first. This means that teenagers get up early and elementary school kids get home late if they take the bus. Our school system has a lot of issues.

Great news there, Grits! I´m waiting for that "haha, fixed it myself" and I´m holding you to it!

Ah..for some reason (not sure why), I thought you were on Central Time like I am. 6:20 makes a little more sense! Still pretty early to deal with though. The earliest I can remember catching a school bus was like 7:15.

Good news, on balance, Grits. I'm so glad you can bypass the spinal fusion. So sorry about the other problem though, and I hope that enduring the unpleasantness pays off in a happy resolution.

No snow here yet. Although real snowfalls can rarely happen (almost a foot two years ago), light dustings are more the norm and I don't even see those every winter.