Congratulations on making entry to Behind the Mixer, the main world of Ryu, the aspiring recording engineer.
Age: 19
Location: Illinois, near Kat and Carney, south of Schultzie.
Aliases: Tycho, g4me_h1ro, bloodyshnozz, DERP, ryu6fw
Vertical Status: Pretty up there
Most Associated Color: Brown
Occupation: Driving Pizzas/College Student
Time Consumers: Video Games, anime, racing canoes, music, being an anime club president, traveling
Money Consumers: Video Games, manga, traveling, collecting vinyl records, expanding selection of musical instruments, Pop-tarts and Mountain Dew, conventions
"You were probably the last person I'd expect to be a dumbass." -Katana
"That's OK, I'm not too attached to my beard, despite it being on my face." -Ryu
"Because he is the Tycho, that's why." -Hider
"MUUUUNNNGERRRRRRRR!!" -Old Proverb
So, I turn on Skype and automatically thrown into a converastion for whatever reason with Otaku folk. Eventually, I discover that changing people's names to your liking is possible. So! The challenge is this: Can you match the aliases to the real names! If you have similar skype friends, you can probably figure it all out pretty easily, but still, it'll be fun.
Freebie, the first one is the Voice Test thing. :P
So my dad looks at the college reciept and says, "You don't have enough hours on here. Register more classes."
So I look at the courses in the international studies section and register two classes.
"In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different."
Hey all.
So, things that happened since last post's downer ending...
I went to that place in Antioch and picked up two Allegro speakers for twenty bucks, as well as some records for cheap (best of Doobie Brothers rocks) and a Jimi Hendrix poster. I knew I should have been conserving my money, but walking in there was like a candy shop. My friend let me borrow his turntable since he bought one that I was eyeballing, as well as gave me a reciever that he has no plans for (he collects junk and forgotten treasures like a cobweb collects dust.) So I got that all set up in my computer room, and it sounds awesome.
I beat both Borderlands and Metal Gear Solid 4 pretty quickly. I'll go through Borderlands again to do every quest, but I'll probably do that only when I have a craving for blowing things up needlessly. Metal Gear Solid was a great game, but it wasted time that I will never get back. Hours upon hours of cutscenes. It was the first game to fill up a dual layer Blu Ray disc (almost 50gb, people) so it was graphically and cinematically pleasing, but Hideo Kokima has a tendency to believe that he's Tom Clancy.
I got a tipoff from a friend that a pizza place was hiring. I went down there and it's a cool little place. Almost no dining capabilities, it's mostly a delivery joint, and they needed somebody to take calls and do deliveries. I went there during my friend's hours, whom I haven't to face-to-face in a few years, so that was cool. I also think I have a good shot there. I'll ask the next time I go down there, which will be very soon, because I found the answer to not buying expensive PS3 games: renting.
Close by to the pizza place is Sky Video, and I always knew it was there, it just never clicked that I could rent games. I walked in on my way to apply and picked up Assasains Creed 2. Game rentals there are five bucks for three days, with a dollar twenty five added for each additional day. So I hammered through that sucker, and beat it in 14 game hours. Quite honestly, I was disappointed. It was more of the same as the first Assasains Creed, and it was a graphical let down after seeing something as detailed as MGS4. By no means am I saying it was a bad game, I'm just saying there wasn't much I could wrap my fingers around. There's a bunch of treasure hunting I could have done, towers to climb, contracts to do, but it's all pretty much the same after awhile. Oh well.
I picked up my last paycheck from Target on Friday. With it I paid registration for Acen. So that's a plus.
Friday through Sunday was the United States Canoe Association delegates meeting in Oak Brook, IL. I'm not a delegate, but I do want to know whats going on inside the organization firsthand. Plus, my aunt is the president and my paddling partner is at the center of most the debate that happened. So I went and helped out anyway I could prior to the meetings, and acted as recorder and tiller during the meetings (I counted votes/ballots.) The politics in the USCA are usually pretty petty and mind numbing, and more than once did I get the visual of myself running full sprint against a wall over and over again. Luckily, I only went to two out of the three meetings, because I had to ditch the Competition meeting to go meet Kimmeh, Bellpickle, Kat, and Kimmeh's aunt and uncle (cool folks) in Chicago at the Museum of Science and Industry. So far, this is my favorite pic:
"You stretched out my hat!"
"You shrunk mine!"
The museum was meh, because I've been there done that mostly, although that was the first time I went through the submarine. And the last; it's not meant for tall people. The tour guide made it better though, she was very good at her job.
The resteraunt, which has a weird name that I can't quite remember Ed something, was really cool. The waiters and waitresses were assholes, and I loved it. They had a "Eat and Leave" policy, and it was basically the fine grey area between 'no customer service' and 'lawsuit'.
Oh, and Kimmeh drew me an awesome picture of L, which I'm actually kinda afraid to hang anywhere because my parents would be wondering why I have a bishie portrait. But it's really cool; it's the first I've changed my avi in months.
Oh, and as for the college thing, I'm good to go. It's amazing how much I get done when I don't go through my parents' bullshit and just go straight to the source. My scholarship was from my Grandma, and the rules that she made only applied while she was alive. However, she did state that there is plenty of money in each recipient's inheritence to pay for any four year college. My uncle is in charge of all of this, so I basically showed my Mom and Dad the email he replied to me, and they went 'Ah.' They did make clear that this semester is the last straw. So, I scheduled only three music classes, and plan to transfer to Columbia in Chicago.
Unfortunately, I have a long track record of making plans that work in theory, but never take the effort to carry them out. I think I got this this time 'tho. We'll see.
And Fasterisk reminded me how good Bitches Brew is.
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
Hey all.
So, I didn't really get what I want for Christmas. I only asked for two things, first and foremost a cat, because it gets rather lonely in the house I often don't converse with the parents, and a guitar center giftcard. Didn't get the cat because of my dad, and I was in fact mocked because of the suggestion throughout the holiday, and the giftcard was pretty much forgotten right after I mentioned it. Instead, I got the annual pajama bottoms and ornament, as well as a book about cats ("It's the next best thing." This is where the mocking began), a coffee maker, a gift card to Best Buy for thirty bucks, and some tie downs for a canoe rack I don't even have yet. I got an additional fifty bucks from my uncle, and another fifty five from my grandpa. The rest of my extended family gave me little knick knacks that had little meaning (news of the cat got around, and my aunt gave me a box of Thank You cards, some stamps, and a picture of a cat.)
So I couldn't get the recording studio stuff. My paycheck from work was of course less than I predicted as always, and if I had scrounged every cent together, I would have absolutely no money left over for savings, and more importantly, food. So like many times prior, it has to be put off.
I had to get something good, so the next day I called sick to work and got a PS3. Now, you may be thinking, "PS3's are pretty freakin' expensive, and you say you can't get music stuff?" Recording junk costs a LOT. Just research it; it takes a lot of investment to get decent equipment. Anyway, got a PS3, because I knew I wanted to get FFXIII when it came out. So, I got Borderlands to accompany it, as well as the Blu-Ray version of Advent Children. Quick researching beforehand informed me that the Blu Ray version is in fact, Advent Children Complete, which has a buttload of scenes that were cut from the original. And it would look killer in Blu Ray, so I had to get it. I put the Best Buy card to use and got a HDMI cable for thirty bucks. Got that sucker hooked up to my wireless internet, and I can now really do anything on my TV. You've seen the commercials, but it really is cool. I can stream anime onto my TV. That's boss.
The next day I got Metal Gear Solid 4 and a headset, as well as Gurren Lagann Vol. 3, which I have yet to read.
The next day, Monday, I learn that I have failed not one, but two classes at ECC. I knew I was gonna fail math, and that didn't bother me. What was a suprise was the grade in Synthesizer Technology. There were a few things I didn't do, but last I checked before finals, I was doing ok. That's really a class I shouldn't fail even if I tried to. I gotta figure out what went awry. So, that said, that kinda kills my family scholarship. The rules are that I will get full tuition paid if I get passing grades. I could have talked my way out of ignoring the math class, but not this. So, I really wish I knew this before I bought a bunch of expensive, non-returnable stuff. Time to put on the Target hours heavy duty for college on my part, cause I'm gonna have to cover the bill.
Today, I went to work, and one of the Team Leaders calls me into the office for a sec. He gives me an envelope, and the letter inside says 'Seasonal period is now over, thank you very much for your hard work, apply again next year.' with my final days of work attached.
To give you an idea of how hosed I am, this year I made myself responsible for
-car insurance
-tuition
-trip to New York for Triple Crown canoe race (now pretty much dead.)
-saving to get the hell out of my house
-miscellaneous other stuff (food, race expenses, pocket cash)
And now, no income! Yay!
Watched Up last night, and very much considered backpacking to the west coast and back. Going off the map for a long time doesn't seem like a bad idea now.
-Ryu
"My theory is that all of Scottish cuisine is based on a dare."
Hey all.
So, day before Christmas. Happy holidays everybody; I hope you all get what you want this year. This year's festivites was kind of uneventful for me; I put a lot of time and effort into work, and haven't really paid any attention to much else. I was able to get all of my shopping done within four days, at a total of three stores. Efficiency strikes again. I'm kinda afraid that I'll turn into a workaholic like my dad. Case and point, I had a day off today, but not anymore, since I took a cashier shift. At some point in time, I need to figure out my priorities.
Thanks to Japan for sending me that cool drawing. I drove through ice, sleet, and snow to get it, and it was worth it. Very nice. I'll let constructive criticism peek out for just a sec: Yoitte's coat is black, and his scarf is white. But I still think it's great.
Thanks to Schultzie for sending me a Christmas card, very nice. I enjoyed the Peter Griffin bit, lol.
Wednesday night, I met up with Kat to go see Rifftrax live, Christmas edition. At the end of it, I was very inquisitive of Kevin Murphy's sexual orientation. The first tip off was the fashionable earring. Second was the toy commercial "Gaylord the Walking Dog" (Comes with his own bone!), where the other two said "It reminded us of you." And thirdly was the ending, where he cross dressed, which resulted in much vomitting.
On Monday a friend and I went up north to go drop off a gift for Schultzie. The plan was to go to his place the come back down to Antioch to visit a record store with supposedly good deals. Unfortunately, the record store was closed on Mondays, but I still wanted to do a roadtrip. Due to bad navigating, we overshot a turn and found a musical instrument store to browse around. They had good selection, but really weird prices (36 bucks for a box of sax reeds WTF?!) not to mention totally unrealistic prices for Made in Mexico Strats and such. Their recording and mixing section was also weirdly priced. I guess the store owner made Wisconsin musicians out to be total idiots or something.
Went over to Schultzie's (your house is NOT on the street of address...we must of have turned around about 4 times, lol) and found he wasn't there. I was prepared for this, wrote a note, and left, because the dog was gettin' angsty. Went to record store in Geneva and picked up Electric Ladyland by Jimi Hendrix. Twelve bucks, not so bad, though it was used. The bastard was trying to get me to pay eight bucks for a Pink Floyd 45 (has only two songs on it.) Hell no.
Anywho, just waiting for Christmas to come and go. I'm hoping to have enough money to purchase a shitload of recording gear after tomorrow, but I know I'll probably be disappointed. I've got no luck with money. But, I can plan positively. Like I said before, I've been working REALLY hard, so I just want this to pay off. If I get all I want, I'll be able to start moving my music life along. I've been plateuing for quite a while, and with this, I'll be able to start projects that I've put on hold for a long time. Uploading stuff to the internet, maybe making videos if I decide to get a digital camcorder, and doing online recording with other artists.
