der meister

Both of the images on this page are stellar

I have concerns

Thank you! I figured it was for the greater good.

1) I hope Shev can help! 2) Congrats! I will bring my lovely self and hope that the smashing waits until after the ceremony. 3) Vegas is the Raiders of the Coyotes in the VHLM. Too much uncertainty has their team distracted. Cakewalk series. 4) My kids are usually pretty busy in the summer so it's just shuttling them around and doing chores. I like having summer hours at work though 5) I'm right there with you. Our solar system is boring AF. 6) I'm taking Tuesday off to cut wood. We just had 3 trees taken down, so now I have to do cleanup. If you never hear from me again, assume it was a mishap with the chainsaw and not a lack of interest in the VHL.

While his time spent with the Vienna Capitals of the International Central European (or ICE) Hockey League did not lead to championship glory, Ukrainian-born sniper Kostyantyn Shevchenko has found the experience to be immensely rewarding on multiple levels. For one, his ability as a player has led directly to his parents being able to flee his native Ukraine and keep his father free from any fighting. Secondly, the chance to play with fully-grown adults has helped Shevchenko develop his game to the point where, rumor has it, he is planning on declaring himself eligible for the upcoming VHLM Entry Draft. The rumor, or perhaps it's simply conjecture at this point, originates from several key items. Firstly, Shevchenko has reportedly been working diligently on learning English. Obviously, he speaks fluent Ukrainian, and has now lived in Austria for a handful of years and has an excellent grasp of German. If his plan was to simply stay in Austria, there would be no pressing need for him to expand his linguistic abilities beyond what he already has. The Capitals celebrating a win Secondly, in response to a reporter's question about what the future holds, Shevchenko was recently quoted as saying that, while he values team success, money is of utmost importance to him, at least at this point in time. While it's possible that the translation was a little rough, and perhaps more blunt than the young Ukrainian intended, the comment got some scouts around the hockey world talking. One scout called it, "Refreshingly honest," while several others voiced concerns about what they perceive as a bad attitude. Finally, Shevchenko's contract is said to be expiring at the end of this season, and with the Capitals struggles in the standings, he would have his pick of the litter, so to speak, on where to play next season. While most of the conjecture at this point is simply that, his expiring contract is a known fact. The team's General Manager has admitted in the media that Shevchenko has a contract offer on the table, but as to what the youngster would choose to do, there was little he could offer. So where does that leave us? At this point in time, it's hard to say. If he decides to stay in Austria for another year or two, there are pros and cons. He could, for instance, lead his team up the standings by sheer force of will and talent, but some scouts have expressed concerns that course of action could lead to some bad habits in the defensive zone. Shevchenko could also use more time in the weight room, as he is easy to get pushed off the puck and frequently comes up short in one-on-one battles. Of course, this also has its own positive, in that he is learning to move the puck quickly, whether it's a pass to a teammate or a shot on goal. As he is still a minor, however, strength and physical development, growing into and filling out his lanky frame, will go a long way toward helping him reach his maximum potential. As for asking Shevchenko directly, he has publicly refused to confirm his plans moving forward, only saying that he has a lot of options and wants to do what's best for him and his family.

Every time I start a new player in the VHL, I think about the history I have with this league, so I thought it would be fun to do a cursory revisit on the players I've had in the VHL since joining around Season 30. As the title suggests, this will be broken into two parts. My first player here in the VHL was Till Lindemann, a heavy, shutdown defender where I roleplayed the singer from Rammstein. That was fun until real life got in the way and Till more or less went inactive. Not an auspicious start. Further, last year [2023] the real life Till Lindemann was accused of some pretty heinous shit, particularly as it comes to sex crimes. I haven't looked into the current status of those allegations, but needless to say as a fan of Rammstein's music and persona since 1997, it was deeply unsettling, and I have regrets about my first player here being modeled after Lindemann. Next was Christoph Klose, which was a really fun player to have. In this case, I was roleplaying my old SHL player coming out of retirement in the "rival" VHL. Klose was my most successful player, and was an excellent two-way forward. For anyone who's read a number of my pieces, undoubtedly you've seen me say things like "Klose was a Lord Karnage away from being a Hall of Famer". That was because Lord Karnage was frequently a quarter of a step ahead of Klose in key categories, which meant that he won a multitude of individual awards while Klose was the runner up. Still, winning 3 Cups in 5 seasons with 3 different teams, and getting to the finals in the other 2 seasons, is a hell of an accomplishment.

Kostyantyn Shevchenko was born in Rokhmaniv, Ukraine, a small village in the western part of the country, in Ternopil Oblast. It's a tiny town of fewer than 1,000 citizens, and a town where Shevchenko always stood out. Standing almost exactly 2 meters in height and weighing in at 97 kilos, Shevchenko was always highly athletic and physically capable. It was as a young child on a field trip to Kremenets, the nearest city of comparatively substantial size, where Shevchenko first witnessed hockey, though in this case it was a group of slightly older boys playing a variation of street hockey. Shevchenko slipped away from his group to join the boys, who provided him with a battered old stick. The young Kostyantyn, despite not understanding the rules, proved to be a fast study and dominated the impromptu game, using his size and strength to gain control of the ratty ball they used as a puck. Several years passed before Shevchenko had another opportunity to grab a stick, though this time it was on ice, skating on a lake west of Rokhmaniv. Although only a passable skater, his size led to a traveling scout who happened to be in the area, Volodymyr Andrichuk, to ask the young Shevchenko if he had ever played hockey before. Shevchenko told of the trip to Kremenets, and the scout gave him a stick and a handful of pucks to "show what he's got." The scout appeared impressed and asked the youth his age. When Kostyantyn revealed he had just turned 12, the scout's eyes went wide, as even at that age, Shevchenko was over 1.7m tall. Due to his rapid growth, most of his clothing was too small, so his musculature was plainly evident as well. Within a month, the 12-year-old Shevchenko was offered an opportunity to relocate to Kalush, nearly 4 hours southwest of Rokhmaniv, to play for the Legion Kalush youth team. After a series of discussions with his parents, Kostyantyn finally accepted the offer, conditional on being provided an apartment in Kalush for himself and his mother. Playing for the 16u Legion Kalush squad, Kostyantyn Shevchenko registered 13 goals and 4 assists in his first 9 games, mostly as a power play specialist. Within a month, he was being recruited by several different teams in Slovenia, Poland, and Belarus. His loyalty remained with Legion Kalush, however, and his skills grew rapidly. While Legion u16 did not win their league championship, the now 13-year-old Shevchenko was clearly the star of the team and often drew double-coverage. Learning to play through adversity of that nature proved to be an extraordinary development tool, and in 36 games the following season, Kostyantyn set a league record with 103 goals and added 35 assists, en route to a team mark of 34-1-1. Not everything was positive for the young Shevchenko, however. Rumors swirled that the Russian Federation was planning an invasion, likely launched from the illegally-annexed Crimea region of Ukraine. While Crimea is nearly all the way across the country from Kalush, Shevchenko could sense the anxiety from both his coaches and his mother. On one particular weekend, Shevchenko overheard his parents speaking from the living room in their apartment, and heard his father, not yet 40, express concern that he may be conscripted to fight against the Russians should a full-scale invasion take place. Secretly, Kostyantyn wondered if he should use his ice hockey talents to get himself and his family across the border into Poland or Slovenia, having fully discounted Belarus as an option due to their political closeness with Russia. Before he had the opportunity to broach the subject with his mother, a representative of a team located in Vienna, Austria, reached out to the coaching staff of Legion Kalush. To this day, Kostyantyn is unaware of all of the details of that conversation, but what it led to was his head coach, Roman Levchuk, encouraging his family to sell their home in Rokhmaniv and move to Vienna. Levchuk had negotiated on behalf of his star player, concerned that Russian grandstanding could lead to outright violence and war. Levchuk had arranged, if the Shevchenko family accepted the offer, for Kostyantyn to play for the 15u UPS Vienna Caps, and between UPS Vienna and Legion Kalush, would provide the family with the funds necessary to relocate and secure housing. Fast-forwarding a few years, Shevchenko has become a promising blue chip prospect in the International Central European Hockey League, or ICE Hockey League, playing for the Vienna Capitals. The league consists of 8 teams in Austria, 3 in Italy, 1 in Hungary, and 1 in Slovenia, and while Vienna hasn't won the league championship since 2017, before Shevchenko joined them, he has proven to be a stalwart left winger who projects as a top line scorer at the highest levels. With the VHLM Entry Draft on the horizon, Kostyantyn Shevchenko has declared himself eligible, despite the fact that he would be once again asked to uproot his life, this time to move to North America to play for one of the 10 teams that make up that league. As for his parents, they have grown accustomed to life in Austria, and as Russian aggression did indeed escalate into war, they began working to secure evacuation for fellow Ukrainian civilians, having started a foundation within Austria to aid refugees. Kostyantyn's biggest reason for declaring for the VHLM Entry Draft is one he has kept secret from his parents: he wishes to provide them with the money they need to continue their foundation and grow it as much as possible.

Player Information Username: der meister Player Name: Konstyantyn Shevchenko Recruited From: Returning Age: 17 Position: RW Height: 79 in. Weight: 214 lbs. Birthplace: Ukraine Player Page @VHLM GM

If you haven't yet, read "Snow Crash" by Stephenson and "Neuromancer" and "The Peripheral" by Gibson, and Very different kinds of technology-based sci-fi.

For those of you reading Wheel of Time, stick with it. Some books are a bit of a slog to get through (looking at you, book 10), but it's worth it. Don't watch Wheel of Prime. Complete trash. The WoT audiobooks are excellent, as well, and a lot of libraries have audiobook lending via app. I'm currently listening to book 8 again as I make my way through the series. As for Sanderson, don't sleep on his one offs. I'm a big fan of Warbreaker, and Elantis is a fascinating debut. The first book of Mistborn was my favorite. I'm still slowly working my way through the Warhammer 40k book Xenos. I did buy myself The Last Ronin, the Ninja Turtles graphic novel in hardcover. That's my treat after Xenos. Then it's on to either Deus Ex: Icarus Effect, or a John La Carré novel, of which I have several and have read none.

Re-create? Hmm.

This is why I clicked on the thread.

Your sister's got it going on.

Potentially DOZENS of dollars!

With that logo, you tell me the city and I'll be there.

One of my coworkers watched that as their first of my videos and was horrified

Recruit me, cowards!

Congrats DC. Your timing kinda sucks, though. Love, Ryuji

A few quick PROGRAMMING NOTES as we are reaching the end of multiple games simultaneously. So once the current round is wrapped, we're looking at: Sunday - Illusion of Gaia (SNES) Monday - Magic Arena Tuesday - 7 Days to Die Wednesday - Dead Island Thursday - 7 Days to Die Friday - Donkey Kong Country (SNES) Saturday - Random Showcase

The kid's book feels the most mainstream marketable. But if I don't have an agent by the end of the year, I'm self publishing a novel next year. I wish there was a way to add a poll topic to a post within a thread, so I can present the two main self pub options and see what the VHL community has more interest in.

Decided that since my kid's book is designed for kids who loves the Magic Tree House series but have outgrown it, I would send a query to the agent who reps the author of that series. Rejected within 2 days, based solely on the pitch.

Write in for Ryuji