Saturday, June 18, 2005

   WARNING! Long post ahead...
Ok, this is going to be one long post. I decided to begin at 7 p.m. my time (Pacific). Otaku resets at 9 p.m. here. So, I have 2 hours to type out what I want. Well, and if you want to consider that I have to step away for a bit to make dinner.

So, if you don't have time to read all of it, perhaps come back later when you do. Otherwise, enjoy "Everything you wanted to know, but were afraid to ask." O_o

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Anyway, I decided to talk about me. (I hope that doesn't seem too self-centered.)

Ok, I think you all know that I'm a 33 year old mom of four. My kids are Tawny, 14; Casey, 9; Tyler, 6; Amber, 4. Yes, this means that I had my first at the age of 19. But I turned 20 later that year.
Although I'm 33 and a mom, I still remember what it's like to be young.
Well, I had a hellish life as a teen. So, I know what a lot of you are going through. I would also like to mention my background as far as gaming.
My first experience with video games was with my g-parents game Pong. I loved playing that game. Then my neighbor had an Atari. Boy, does that bring back memories. Then I had a couple of handheld games... yes, they had them back then. One of my favorites was Space Invaders.
I played quite a few arcade games, quarter after quarter. Boy, video gaming was a lot more expensive back then! But then I stumbled across a game called Black Tiger. This became my favorite game. Lucky for me, when I was 17, I landed a job working with my mom cleaning a bowling alley, which had a gameroom with the game Black Tiger. They had the keys to open the games and you could wrack up as many games as you like. For several months this became a habit. I would take the high score, then someone with the initials ACE would take it. The next night, I'd take it back.
Well, my gaming days came to a halt for a few years. Until Tawny was a toddler, then I took up playing Sega. I played California Games most often. I got hooked on the skateboarding. Man, my fingers got some serious blisters from that game!
Then a few years passed and my next experience was with the Nintendo Entertainment System. I got into The Legend of Zelda on that one.
After that led to my longest period of non-gaming. Let's see, to my best estimate, it was about 6 years since I had anything to do with video games. (This is what happens when you get wrapped up in the life of raising a family.)
Anyway, I got a used Nintendo 64 system. I acquired several games for that, including Zelda. But I never got into it. I found myself playing Super Mario. Which I've completed atleast a couple of times now.
My next step was a Playstation One. I have a few games for that, but my favorite is The Legend of Dragoon. I fell in love with this game. It's still my favorite yet. Although, I'm still lacking when it comes to current video gaming. After joining Otaku, I had a few people tell me about Final Fantasy, particularly FF8. So, this last Christmas, I got the FF8 game. I really like it too. Not as much as LOD, but among my faves.
I still have yet to get any of the newer game consoles, but I expect I will in the next year or so. I may just skip the second generation, and move onto the Playstation 3 when it comes out. I'd like to just have them all. And as many of the best games as possible.
This also reminds me... back in my arcade days I played a game called Tempest. Well, I found out that I can play it on games.com. So, I've been enjoying that recently.

Ok, now I will talk about my love for music. I've always liked music. And my taste has always been a little on the hard side. Although, I like all kinds of music. My first vinyl album was AC/DC: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. Before that I had a lot of 8-track tapes (hopefully you've heard of those). I built up quite a collection of vinyl singles and albums, of which I still have quite a few.
Then I moved onto cassettes. I don't remember what my first one of those was. Probably because I think my first was a blank one that I recorded on. The idea of being able to record was so cool. This went on for sometime. Then along came compact discs. My first one was Guns 'N' Roses: Appetite for Destruction. I was just blown away by the quality of the sound.
My best friend and I were going to start a band called Destiny. Well, we could never get the equipment we needed, so it was a short-lived dream. Although, I did have a bass guitar at one time, it was one of those short neck bass guitars. Then I got a small drum set later on. My passion has always been the drums. I can play the air drums with the best of them! ^_^
Also, in this time I went to a few concerts that were pretty cool. I remember one that is rather memorable to me. The headlining band was Great White. Their guitarist was killed in a club fire last year. I loved that band. Anyway, the second opening band was Tesla. They didn't really make too big of a name for themselves, but a good band all the same. And the first opening band was a little known band at the time called Alice In Chains. I have to be honest, I hated them at that time. Most people into the big hair bands, just weren't ready for the grunge thing yet. This was in the late 80s. Also, I have to note that since I live in the Northwestern part of the US, we were exposed to a lot of the grunge bands early on. Anyway, I did become a fan of Alice In Chains later on. I love the music they did.
And now today, I listen to hard rock/metal. But believe me, I have listened to all kinds of music. And this is the music that I feel the most passionate about.

There is one more topic that I felt I would like to mention here. Before I became so passionate about anime, I was a huge Lord of the Rings fan. And of course, the Legolas thing... yep, Orlando Bloom. But it wasn't just that. I've always liked the JRR Tolkien stories. For some time when I was young, The Lord of the Rings animated movie was my favorite... that and The Dark Crystal, and The Secret of NIMH. I guess I just like fantasy type stuff.
Anyway, I bought the book The Silmarillion written by JRR Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien. The story was written by JRR Tolkien, but never published before he died. So, his son Christopher took it upon himself to edit it and get it published. This was actually the first of Tolkien's works, and he continued to work on it throughout his life.

I must not forget one other of my passions, and that is astronomy. Ok, when I was younger the kind of people who were interested in Astronomy, or anything to do with Science, were nerds. Well, as I got older I found out that this nerdy stuff is pretty cool. I was fascinated by the stars. So, I checked out books and learned, and learned, as much as I could. It's a really fascinating subject.

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Ok, now that I've told you all this info about me. I just realized there is one more subject that I've left out. Right now our city is holding it's annual car show. I live in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and they hold this annual event called Car d' Lane. Well, last year it was really hot out and we walked downtown looking at all of the cars. I educated Tawny a little on the difference between the '55, '56' and '57 Chevy Bel Airs. I know these cars well. But this year, it's been in the upper 60s for the high temp, and raining. But they will have it no matter what.
Then earlier today, one of my neighbors apparently knows someone participating in the show. There it was... a beautiful, black '68 Camaro. The guy undid the straps on the trailer it sat on, then he proceeded to start it up. This thing purred! God, I love the sound those old cars make. One of these days I plan to get a '66 Caprice that has a motor that will just blow away the competition.

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Ok, I'm gonna end this really long post. I hope everyone had a good day (Friday).

Hey, look at that...my timing was perfect, it's 8:50 my time. I finished with 10 minutes to spare.

Oh, and thanks for taking the time to read my biography. ^_^
Take care!
Catcha later...
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