Hello and I am excited to be here!

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yusaku
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Hello and I am excited to be here!

Post by yusaku »

Real First Name: Freddy
Gender: Male
Anime Fan Since: 1988
About Me: My anime interest started watching Robotech in the late 80's. I would get up every morning around six in the morning to catch it before grade school. The local tv programming included Voltron, ThunderCats, and other such animations. When I was fourteen I was forced to live with my grandmother in Mississippi and was out of the anime scene until college. Ninja Scroll was blaring from a college dorm room. I went to take a look and I was reacquainted with the anime genre in a new and interesting way. The imaginative and taboo form of entertainment that had an adult feel. It only lasted one night. I was a poor college student without a television. Most of my roommates were the same way. I won an Academic Scholarship and was paired with other such students who tended to be just as gifted and just as poor. The anime stopped for until I graduated and went off to graduate school due to the time consuming work to maintain my final 3.75GPA(4.0=A) at graduation.

Graduate school was more work as usual and it was socially isolating and stressful. I was alone in the college town without friends and family. I made friends with the local musician friend that opened his own music store. I would watch the store for him on the days when I skipped school. By the way, no I did not graduate; back to the story. I told my buddy I would watch his music shop for him but he was late coming to open up. So, I went next door to the comic shop to kill time while I waited for my friend to show up. This is when the anime love affair started again. I started getting into scifi books and eventually manga. The shop owner was really smart and liked to talk to me. Maison Ikkou came into distribution and I fell in love with the main character Kyoko and the awkward young character Yusaku, who I still identify with now. Thus Yusaku is my handle. Then came along Ghost in the Shell and the like. I even got some live action Japanese films like Weather Report Girl. Comic book stores became my new hangout because back in those days they had the good anime. Plus I got turned onto other comics by hanging out at the comic books stores.

Graduate school ended on a sour note and I was thrown out in to the work force. I lost a lot of my anime collection due to economic troubles due to a lack of consistent work. I was stripped down to one DVD, Colorful. Colorful was random, sexual, stupid and downright funny. Hey, how serious can an anime devoted entirely to panty shots be taken? It lifted my mood.

I since have recovered and I have all of Maison ikkou, Haibane Remnai, Ping Pong Club, Weather Report Woman, Gilgamesh, Revolutionary Girl Utena, His and Her Circumstances, and Mermaid's Scar to name a few of my complete collections. I am also into a lot of independent comics like Harvey Pekar's National Splendor or Daneil Clowes's Ghost World. I also have both films. I have many interests.

I play the cello and I am studying under a cello instructor. I have been a musician decades. I got tired of being a ronin. I am big into anime soundtracks now. My movie case features anime, american independent films, scifi, horror, documentories, dramas, and romantic films. I got how to draw anime books and how to learn Japanese, but I never got anywhere. I even downloaded Retas Pro demo to try to make my own animations; it was just to complicated for me. I own a PS3. My favorite games are Catherine and Alice the Madness Returns. I also got the new Duke Nukem Forever. I only had to wait FIFTEEN YEARS for them to put it out. The game got horrible reviews, and I bought it anyway! My life is simple.

No wife, girlfriend, or kid. I am not complaining. I like the "nothing" that I have right now. I got a few guy toys in my apartment, aka the primary mancave. My secondary mancave is my storage unit which I use to play my cello at ridiculous hours of the night. I work in customer service instead of manufacturing now. Got a TON of student loans and an equal amount of weight to lose. When you make your living sitting down you can really pack on the pounds in eight years. Not to say that I am pessimistic; life can change. Yet, I think I am going to need a LOT more anime before it is all over.
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Animusubi
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Re: Hello and I am excited to be here!

Post by Animusubi »

Welcome to the forum, yusaku! Maison Ikkoku is definitely one of my favorites!

I love the sound of the cello~ I am actually looking into buying an ukelele, my first instrument!
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yusaku
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Re: Hello and I am excited to be here!

Post by yusaku »

You should study under a teacher to help you along. Most music stores have teachers that teach out of the store. Having a teacher makes your progress solid. Never get one of those teachers that cannot read music. You want the best instructor for you money. If you want to learn cello and want to obtain a cello, your local luthier, cello maker, will gladly sell you a cello on a rent to own basis. My cello rents to own for $40.00/month; and the rental price is applied to the purchase price. There is no interest. No deposit is required. You can even rent an instrument online and have it shipped to you. This option costs more because you pay shipping and the yearly rental fee up front. Here is a link to my people:

http://www.kcstrings.com/shop/index

Here are the online rental prices:

http://www.kcstrings.com/shop/scripts/W ... UMENTS=-N7

I highly recommend Krutz instruments. I have two of his cellos. They were rented two months apart; I got a cello for home and the other cello for my practice studio, storage unit. Try one! I am fairly certain you will like it.

I must add a small disclaimer here. You NEED a teacher for this instrument. I am self taught in piano and electric bass; but I would not try to tackle this instrument alone. The cello is fretless; thus, there are no visual markings to tell you where the notes are located. My teacher used tape to mark the first position notes for me. I still use the markings. The cello has eight hand positions and one hand position called "half position". You do not even get to treble clef, the range for playing melody lines, until fifth position. Get a teacher. I am serious.
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Animusubi
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Re: Hello and I am excited to be here!

Post by Animusubi »

yusaku wrote:You should study under a teacher to help you along. Most music stores have teachers that teach out of the store. Having a teacher makes your progress solid. Never get one of those teachers that cannot read music. You want the best instructor for you money. If you want to learn cello and want to obtain a cello, your local luthier, cello maker, will gladly sell you a cello on a rent to own basis. My cello rents to own for $40.00/month; and the rental price is applied to the purchase price. There is no interest. No deposit is required. You can even rent an instrument online and have it shipped to you. This option costs more because you pay shipping and the yearly rental fee up front. Here is a link to my people:

http://www.kcstrings.com/shop/index

Here are the online rental prices:

http://www.kcstrings.com/shop/scripts/W ... UMENTS=-N7

I highly recommend Krutz instruments. I have two of his cellos. They were rented two months apart; I got a cello for home and the other cello for my practice studio, storage unit. Try one! I am fairly certain you will like it.

I must add a small disclaimer here. You NEED a teacher for this instrument. I am self taught in piano and electric bass; but I would not try to tackle this instrument alone. The cello is fretless; thus, there are no visual markings to tell you where the notes are located. My teacher used tape to mark the first position notes for me. I still use the markings. The cello has eight hand positions and one hand position called "half position". You do not even get to treble clef, the range for playing melody lines, until fifth position. Get a teacher. I am serious.
Yeah a cello might be much for me right now. XD;;; I just said I love the sound of it, but I don't think I'd ever get one myself. I've never played an instrument before, that's why I was planning on getting an ukelele, which I can just purchase for about $150. Something a bit more chill.
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Re: Hello and I am excited to be here!

Post by greg »

Welcome to the forum! This is the type of self-intro I enjoy reading on here: lots of back story. After graduating, I lived and worked in Japan for two years, and then moved back to Arizona, thinking that I could go back to school to get a masters while being married. Yeah, right! After a semester of preliminary courses, I realized that I was just wasting my time. Going to graduate school can certainly be tough.

I got tired of jobs sitting behind a computer all day, doing business administrative jobs. The very last job I had in America was a bit of a blessing. I could take a train most of the way downtown, and the job was very light and I was pretty much self-managed. Plenty of time I had nothing to do, yet I still got paid rather well. So, I would go out walking around downtown Phoenix for long periods of time. Now, I am on my feet, standing in front of classrooms. I can ride my bike and take trains to work. So, the change from sitting on my can all day long to being a bit more active helps a bit.

As for me, I had an electric guitar and an amp. I tried teaching myself guitar for a while, but it was a hobby I lost track of after I graduated college. I also had a bass, but no amp for it. I would attempt Joy Division and New Order songs on it because their songs' melodies are nothing but bass. I bet you could play a fretless bass no problem!
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Re: Hello and I am excited to be here!

Post by Sgirl »

I had two run-ins with grad school. One I won. The other I did not.
And it's okay - grad-school was sapping my soul. I'm happier now :)

Welcome to the boards! Now I'm now the third newest I think, but you're the newbiest!
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Re: Hello and I am excited to be here!

Post by usamimi »

Welcome Yusaku! :D
Ah, Maison Ikkoku...such a great series. When I was young, I really enjoyed the slice-of-life comedy aspect about it, but now that I'm older and more experienced, I can definitely relate to the characters a lot better (esp. Kyoko and Yusaku). Utena is also one of my favorites! Such a beautiful, thoughtful series <3
Anyway, hope you enjoy it here!
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