Member Spotlight #16: Ask Kiss Land (The Notorious M.O.G.) anything

[The Man]

This is a new thing we're doing where we give a specific member a thread for a week in which they can share whatever information they want about themselves, then answer whatever questions the public asks them. It's sort of an expansion on the "Let's get to know each other" thread by, well, giving one member the spotlight. More information on the concept can be found here.

This week's participant is Kiss Land (The Notorious M.O.G.), who has elected to share the following information:

Hi guys! My current user name is Kiss Land, but I go by what my original name was and what most people know me as, The Notorious M.O.G., M.O.G., or simply Mog. I've been here since literally the beginning and the last parts of ACF, and I've seen this site in every iteneration. Things come and go, but this place has always been a constant.

About me? Well, 27 years old, mixed race 'black' guy, was born in the East Coast, oldest of 5, big city Pittsburgh/Philly/NYC, went to college, fucked around too much, dropped out, fucked around, joined the military, moved to Seattle, and now I'm doing pretty rad at life because I grew the fuck up. A lot of you know I'm currently active duty military in the U.S. Navy, but that's just what I do.

Who I am is someone who enjoys sports and physical fitness, is really into Playstation era RPGs, loves to travel all over the world, a bit of a horndog, but I'm in a great relationship with my wonderful girlfriend of about a year. She's more of a horndog than I am, so that's sobering.

I'm outgoing and sometimes a little loud, but I get on with people regardless, but I have a little trouble adjusting to the West Coast, because most normal behavior there is being a douchebag everywhere else, but I have my Southern girlfriend to teach me some manners and to keep my voice down in restuarants.

I'm learning as I go, and I'm really just a dude trying to finish out his military service, go to grad school, and stay in Seattle, being a big ass nerd about video games, comic books, and movies. I've been here since the beginning and I've seen all sorts of interesting and weird shit. Ask me anything. I take pride in being one of the most well rounded people I know.

Feel free to ask whatever you'd like. This thread will be up for approximately a week before we move onto our next participant.

[Octo]

What are you going to do after you finish in the military?

What are the most memorable moments for you from the history of TLS and ACF?

Favourite and Least Favourites:

Food?

Music?

Film?

Books?

Games?

Proudest achievement?

Something cringeworthy you're ashamed of and/or biggest failure?

Are you superstitious?

[LicoriceAllsorts]

One day, when you are the father of sons, what three pieces of advice about women do you think it will be most important to give them?

[Cat Rage Room]

What are you going to do after you finish in the military?

The military has given me great success and opportunity but it's definitely not something I want to do much longer past my obligation.

Go to grad school in (Seattle, likely) for marketing. I'd like to work as some sort of marketing director or something. People see advertising as some sleazy car salesman shit, but it's not; any idea in any field needs good marketing to get the right people to know about it and enjoy/invest/consume it.

Think about your favorite game or movie, or even idea that died off, not because it wasn't good, but because not enough people heard about it. That's what drives me.

What are the most memorable moments for you from the history of TLS and ACF?

Good and bad? I remember when ACF died. Seeing that degeneration of a community because of more or less one person was crazy. I also remember discussion the creation of TLS and volunteering to be a Super Mod and someone getting it.

I remember being not so liked because of my heavy handed attitude. I remember mellowing out and people really starting to dig me, which I appreciate. I remember the Great Schism in which a lot of cool people departed for other shores. And I remember the slow but sure regeneration of the site that leads us here now, a collection of cool folks.

Food?

I love to cook. I'll eat anything, so my favorite food is like picking a favorite kid. Uh, chicken wings? Chicken wings cooked just right are grand. Least favorite food? Refried beans. Texture too mushy.

Music?

I grew up with Rap and R&B, but as I got older my tastes diverged. Probably still R&B though! I love the Weeknd. Least favorite is country, even though my girlfriend loves it. Maybe I'll get a taste for it.

Film?

Favorite movie? The Godfather. Least favorite? Man, I'm not sure. The Room is the worst movie I've ever seen, but that's still one of my favorites.

Books?

1984 really struck a chord with me. I've read so many books though, it's hard to have a least favorite one.

Games?

My favorite game is a tie between Xenogears and Breath of Fire III, for opposite reasons. Xenogears is one of the most ambitious RPGs I've ever played, and even though it's flawed in a lot of ways, I respect it. Breath of Fire III is a classic tale of self discovery through a journey, and incidentally that game is how I met one of my best friends.

Proudest achievement?

Helping my grandfather move across cities before he passed away so he can have his final resting place where he wanted. Second is graduating boot camp.

Something cringeworthy you're ashamed of and/or biggest failure?

Getting distracted by bullshit and dropping out of college and wasting a shit ton of money. I could have done so much more, but everything has a reason, and I'm not fucking done yet.

Are you superstitious?

Normally I'd say 'no', but I've seen some weird shit for me to say I'm not spiritual with a straight face. On a lighter note, the astrology shit can be fun, mostly because my girlfriend fits her sign to a tee.

One day, when you are the father of sons, what three pieces of advice about women do you think it will be most important to give them?

This is an excellent question and it's something I think about, especially considering I didn't really have a father figure to tell me about women. Now that I have a long term girlfriend, I can make my own advice.

1. If you'd like to attract women, the most attractive thing you can offer is respect. Respect for yourself, respect for them, respect for everything. No matter what type of personality you have or interaction you pursue (anything from a casual thing to the love of your life), respect as a basic notion and branching from there will get you far.

2. Nothing and nobody is perfect. The past is not important if it doesn't have a negative bearing on how you treat each other now. You don't have to condone or like each others pasts, weird shit you may have been into, or what you might have done before you met, and hell, people are entitled to a few secrets, but the most important thing; are you down for each other now? Loyal now? Love each other now? That's what's important.

3. Learn to be wrong.

[Cabaret]

What do you think is the path to being well rounded?

Do you like to take people under your wing? Or admire and emulate others? Or are you a lone wolf? (which is an odd way to describe a pack animal... are you a lone tiger? fixxed )

How often do you see your girlfriend?

Do you think relationships are harder when one partner is in the military?

Since you have been in and about this community for so long, do you think you intimidate newbies?

I don't get racism whatsoever, so please excuse if this is an ignorant question. Have you ever encountered.witnessed racism and were you able to see any logic/understanding/rationalisation or whatever to it? (idk like feeling compelled to educate an ignorant person gently?)

After you grew the fuck up, did you appreciate your screwing up days or cringe at them?

Do you put eggs on things like burgers, steaks and gammon? Srsly what is up with that America?

When/before ACF disintegrated - do you think anything could have saved the community? Would you have stuck around if we were still spamming away at ACF?

Which other country do you enjoy doing military stuff with? Like training with France or something.

Do you remember your dreams a lot?

Do you speak any languages to any extent? Like for the countries you've visited?

What is your opinion of red heads/ gingers?

What interesting facial hair have you experimented with? Do you dig facial hair?

Do you prefer big medium or small boobed women? Are boobs and their size important?

How would you describe your best friend? Why are they your best friend?

Do people who snore keep you awake?

Have you ever had a medical issue that you thought may be far worse than it was? EG seeing a bruise and assuming you have meningitis?

Why did you choose Mog as your name?

Have you been in a fisticuffs fight? What happened?

do you keep a diary?

[LicoriceAllsorts]

I just wanted to say Mog was the first person to welcome me onto these forums and I'll always have a big soft spot for him.

Mog, what do you think of America's current policy with regard to IS and air strikes?

[Addy Carver]

You mentioned sales and marketing in terms of a future career path. Sell me the Playstation 1 game The Wild 9.

Which global cuisine would you eat time and again given the choice? Can you cook?

[Ghost X]

^Oh, god, The Wild 9...

[Tennyo]

Why "The Notorious M.O.G.?"

Why the Navy and not the Army or Airforce or Marines?

[Celes Chere]

Favorite candy bar pls
WAIT DID I ASK THIS TO YOU YET i think i did

[Ghost X]

Whilst you're at it... favourite nut and/or legume?

[Cabaret]

What do rations taste like?

Have you ever done any drugs? Which/which would you like to try?

What childhood beliefs has adulthood dispelled?

What did you do last weekend/day off?

Tell us a soldiers behaving badly story.

Do you think your online you is very similar to your reallife you?

Could you survive alone on an uninhabited mountain with nothing but a penknife and a copy of housewives weekly magazine? How would you survive?

If you had kids, what would you call them?

Do you get much time to play games/would like more time for this?

What kind of sunglasses do you wear? (shape, size etc)

[Cat Rage Room]

I'm getting ready to go home from work, so I'll answer this first batch of questions. I'll answer more later today! Keep them coming, I'll answer them all.

What do you think is the path to being well rounded?

Keep an open mind, be willing to learn new things, do something despite your fears, and say more 'Yes' than 'No'.

Do you like to take people under your wing? Or admire and emulate others? Or are you a lone wolf? (which is an odd way to describe a pack animal... are you a lone tiger? fixxed )

I've done all of these things at one point or another. My preferred style is to have one or two people working under or alongside me to learn the ropes of whatever I'm teaching them, so I can personalize and have more time to pass on my skills. Sometimes I get tired of questions, though. "UM PETTY OFFICER I HAVE A QUESTION"

I can absolutely lead a large group of people though, I'd love to have some sort of instructing or teaching gig in the future.

How often do you see your girlfriend?

Pretty often, we're both in the service together! I get out before any of us would get rotated away from each other so I don't have to worry about that. It can be hit or miss dating a fellow servicemember but I lucked out I guess!

Do you think relationships are harder when one partner is in the military?

Oh absolutely! The military is not a 'natural' way to live. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad, and we have our off time to do whatever we want (so yes, I don't live on a ship (unless we're out to sea, obviously), yes, I have an apartment and a car, yes, unless I'm out at sea or deployment I go home every day and change out of my uniform, yes, I get to experience the same Seattle/city living that anyone else does), but there are many parts of the military lifestyle that don't mesh with relationships, namely, deployments.

It's really difficult to maintain a relationship while in, but it's doable, especially if you just do one tour and leave (like I will!)

Since you have been in and about this community for so long, do you think you intimidate newbies?

Maybe? I've been told I can be intimidating but I'm fine with that, since I don't feed off it. I actually rather like to be friendly and charming, but hey, the world needs personalities of all types. Newbies generally find me okay I believe. I'm content with it.

I don't get racism whatsoever, so please excuse if this is an ignorant question. Have you ever encountered.witnessed racism and were you able to see any logic/understanding/rationalisation or whatever to it? (idk like feeling compelled to educate an ignorant person gently?)

Oh, absolutely. Not exactly overt, but you see people having second thoughts or generalizations about people based on their skin color. I've been discriminated against before. Racism is dumb and has no excuse, but it's more complicated than that; the reason why many Europeans don't 'get' racism is because they've never really experienced it; having been to Europe, a lot of it is very, very homogeneous. Nowhere in Europe is anyone near as diverse as say, most major cities in the US.

With that being said, no, everyone is not alike, cultures are different, sometimes wildly different, from one another, and generalizations about different peoples comes into play in the US because it's many different cultures smashing into one another. Racism is wrong, yes, but its less about trying to convince yourself that all cultures and people are the same, or even worth the same to a society at large (they're not. Yes, not all cultures have an equally valuable contribution to society. It's a hard pill to swallow, but this is truth), and more about individual liberty and equality.

After you grew the fuck up, did you appreciate your screwing up days or cringe at them?

Both. I can appreciate the mistakes I've made for the growth and perspective, but recognize the fact that there are some things I did/didn't do that I just should not have done.

Do you put eggs on things like burgers, steaks and gammon? Srsly what is up with that America?

No, but considering I'll eat anything, I might. I don't know what's up with that! Cuisine is weird! It's delicious though.

When/before ACF disintegrated - do you think anything could have saved the community? Would you have stuck around if we were still spamming away at ACF?

Someone beating sense into SummonerYuna, I suppose. As far as I know she had the absolute reigns on the site. I think if the site banded together before the Great Blip and moved elsewhere (like what sort of ended up happening anyway; here), sure, but ACF was doomed. I may have stuck around, I dunno.

Which other country do you enjoy doing military stuff with? Like training with France or something.

Japan is fun to do exercises with. They're so cheery and polite! Aussies are kickass too. I feel weirdly nationalistic saying this, but it's objective truth and I'd be lying if I said otherwise; the military power of the US is far and above any other nation state by several orders of magnitude. Far above. Ridiculously above.

The biggest thing about working with other countries is appreciating the scale. I remember doing exercises with some sailors from New Zealand and they were walking around the aircraft carrier in awe. I met one and he was like "This ship has more personnel than our entire Navy." It feels weird, but military personnel of other countries are well aware of how much of a juggernaut we are. Most of our interactions with them is with them gaping with their mouths open.

With that being said, yes, it's cool, but damn, we can afford to funnel out some of that money to buy some public schoolkids some books or something.

Do you remember your dreams a lot?

I get some weird ass dreams. My dreams are usually a reflection of my feelings, and I have a lot of dreams in recurring, fictional locations. The earliest, fondest dream I remember from a little kid is being on a balcony in an apartment I lived in as a kid, overlooking a huge field of wheat in a sunset (which that apartment didn't have). I dunno. Dreams are very nostalgic for me.

Do you speak any languages to any extent? Like for the countries you've visited?

Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch. Only a little. I'm very apt at picking up things by hearing though. If I'm somewhere long enough I can understand a little of what's being spoken very quickly. I had a pretty easy time in Italy.

What is your opinion of red heads/ gingers?

They're alright! The really pretty ones are stunning, however.

What interesting facial hair have you experimented with? Do you dig facial hair?

Since the military? None! You can grow mustaches in the military, but to me very few people can pull them off. I had a rockin' goatee before I joined, but after I leave I might just rock that 5 o' clock shadow. Facial hair in general is very variable on the person. Some people can and can't pull off certain looks.

Do you prefer big medium or small boobed women? Are boobs and their size important?

To be blunt (and I don't mind being blunt), I don't mind as long as I can play with them. Different sizes have different things going on, sure, but a medium size fits me just fine. So no, it's not too important as long as you're happy with them!

How would you describe your best friend? Why are they your best friend?

I have two best friends! One before I joined and one after. The one before I joined is because we've been through a lot since we were kids, have very similar interests such as RPGs and movies, think pretty similarly, and we've been very loyal to one another.

The friend I have in the military is quite different from me on the surface, but we're both people with the same ideas about life, both enjoy exploring, and while in the military we both were down for some weird ass shit. That's good to have. A 'weird ass shit' partner.

Do people who snore keep you awake?

Having worked on the flight deck and falling asleep on a catwalk on top of equipment, while jets were taking off and landing, several times due to exhaustion for several years, I can safely say I can sleep anywhere.

Have you ever had a medical issue that you thought may be far worse than it was? EG seeing a bruise and assuming you have meningitis?

I remember one time in college I thought I was a diabetic because I drank so much. A lot of times in the military I was scared every rash was syphilis or something. "OH GOD THIS IS IT ALL OF THOSE TIMES SLEEPING AROUND HAS CAUGHT UP TO ME I'M GONNA END UP JUST LIKE AL CAPONE AND GO CRAZY FROM A DICK RASH"

Yeah, uh, let's just say 'getting tail' is a lot easier to those in the military. Those days are behind me though! Valuable life lesson and no I don't have any dick rashes, clean as a whistle!

Why did you choose Mog as your name?

Mog from FFVI is my favorite character. I really like the design of most Moogles.

Have you been in a fisticuffs fight? What happened?

I've been in a lot of fights. I never started them, but they usually resulted to either a, someone trying to bully me, or b, an argument going south. Fights aren't as scary as most people think, though. I don't mind fighting, but I don't like confrontation. Does that make sense? Nowadays though, I'm done with that sort of nonsense over stupid shit. Not trying to lose a tooth or get into trouble.

However, maintaining the capability to defend yourself and others is very important, I think, which is why I keep up physical fitness and enjoy boxing. I dislike confrontation, but I'm not afraid of a fight to defend myself or those I care about.

do you keep a diary?

I used to. I'm quite terrible at it though!

[Cat Rage Room]

MORE ANSWERS. The questions I 'skipped', I'll get to them, I didn't forget!

Which global cuisine would you eat time and again given the choice? Can you cook?

Actual, no bullshit sushi. Delicious! Incidentally, the best, most authentic sushi I've ever had was this ultra legit

sit-down-on-a-mat-entirely Japanese staff-warm sake-authentic Japanese restaurant in a back alley in Naples, Italy. No

joke!

And yeah, I LOVE cooking. Like, it's one of those things that I have a real passion for. Many, many good things have been

said about my cooking. I'm glad and grateful.

Why "The Notorious M.O.G.?"

Why the Navy and not the Army or Airforce or Marines?

I wanted to travel. You travel in the military, but the Navy, you really, really travel. Welp, I got it. The Air Force fit

my ambition and the Marines fit my personality, but the Navy was what was taking in people at the time and yeah, traveling

was something I wanted most from the military.

Favorite candy bar pls
WAIT DID I ASK THIS TO YOU YET i think i did

UM I'M NOT SURE...! Twix bars! Either that or Reese cups. My grandma taught me to leave them in the fridge and eat them

cold and they're extra delicious.

Whilst you're at it... favourite nut and/or legume?

Walnuts!

What do rations taste like?

Dry. Gross. Restores health. Thankfully, sailors are generally spared the ravages of rations.

Have you ever done any drugs? Which/which would you like to try?

I smoked weed from time to time before I joined, but I can't do that now, the military has a strict no tolerance about

drugs besides cigs and alcohol. Now that it's legalized in Washington, I might indulge after I get out, but rarely.

It was mostly a rebel young adult thing for me. I totally support legalization though! Weed is pretty harmless!

If I were to try something new hypothetically, I've always heard weird shit about magic mushrooms. Not in the near future

though! I dunno. Life is pretty long, enough time to get weird.

What childhood beliefs has adulthood dispelled?

Life ain't fair.

What did you do last weekend/day off?

I went hiking up a mountain. Washington State is awesome for outdoorsy stuff!

Tell us a soldiers behaving badly story.

Thailand is crazier than you can imagine. Last time we went, I've personally witnessed a guy I know walk up to a random Thai guy on a crowded street at night (Thailand has crazy parties all the time and the streets are super crowded with neon lights and clubs/bars) and ask him for some coke, you know, booga suga...and get it in a back alley literally 2 minutes later.

Do you think your online you is very similar to your reallife you?

Sort of, yeah. I don't purposefully try to act different online so I'd say I suppose!

Could you survive alone on an uninhabited mountain with nothing but a penknife and a copy of housewives weekly

magazine? How would you survive?

As long as I have a knife, I'd be really ragged and worse for wear, but I think I'd be able to manage. It's less about the

tools and more about what you have to make tools.

If you had kids, what would you call them?

My father named me after himself, but I'm not interested in passing on my entire name. I'm fine with passing on most of

that power to my kids mother. As far as nicknames, I'm pretty good with those, a nickname depends on the kid of course.

Do you get much time to play games/would like more time for this?

Not so much going out to sea, no. But my last sea tour is coming up, and then I'm working on shore until my military

obligation expires next year, so yes! I'd love more game time. It's funny that now I have the income to enjoy games, but

not the time.

What kind of sunglasses do you wear? (shape, size etc)

Ray Bans all day baby!

[Ghost X]

To clarify, if "life is not fair" was a dispelled childhood belief, are you saying you believe life is fair, or are you saying life is neither?