Say something about yourself.

[Scubax]

When I was 22, I spent a summer working at a dude ranch in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. My job was to tend to about 5of60 horses and we would take guests on two hour horse back rides at about 10,000 feet. We'd go twice a day. I started out a city slicker, but found my cowboy roots by the end. I'd had ACL surgery a year prior, but the horse back riding totally rehabilitated the surrounding muscles. 

Three years later, post college, I met my wife outside a cantina on Tattooine. 

 

Steve

[Synaes]

I'm another one on Team Shy and imagine that doesn't come as much of a surprise. That said, this thread got me thinking and brought back some memories.

I used to live in Philadelphia going back a little over 10 years. While there, I played around with electronic music as a hobby. I had a number of friends I had made over the years and it was easy for us to collaborate despite not living near each other. At any rate, a friend of a friend wanted to learn a bit about the various software used for working on music. We met up, I showed him around Reason (I think 3.0 at the time) and he was off to the races. Over the next couple years, I saw him go from playing around in Reason to playing live keyboards for bands like VNV Nation and Combichrist (for anyone familiar). By this point, we had become decent friends, and it was really awesome to see him chase his dream and start his own band: Projekt2501 (name from Ghost in the Shell)

Shortly after, he had put his band together and made a few original songs, I found myself hanging out with him and our mutual friend who introduced us (visiting from out of state): Kriegmachine (http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=204173). He asked us to do a remix for one of his songs which we naturally agreed. We spent the better part of the evening, through the next morning working on the remix. 

The next day we handed off the remix with a "that was fun" mentality and not really expecting to hear much about it again. A week or so later, our friend invited us out to some random club in New Jersey. We were hanging out chatting with he and his band mate when the remix started playing. I'm not going to say the remix was all that great, or that it brought a lot of people to the dance floor, but it was pretty awesome to hear it played in a club and not something I had ever even thought about happening.

Over the following years, my buddy fought against, and lost his battle with brain cancer. It was difficult saying good bye, but this story is just one example of things I look back on and smile about. This guy had the ability to light up any room he walked in to and you just could not be in a bad mood when he was around. Even now, thinking about his passing, I still remember some random thing he did that made me laugh. :P

His passing brought comment from the bands he played with, various websites for the scene as well as Metropolis records. It really is amazing to think how far he went from sitting down and asking "how do I use this program to make music?". I don't claim any credit as he was determined enough that he would have picked up the information somewhere. I am just amazed at what he accomplished and the impact he had on people's lives in such a short span of time. 

At any rate, here's our goofy remix: https://youtu.be/86sAqBreGvY. My buddy, Frank, is the one crouching down.  I can't find the original version online at the moment. It was on the compilation "Interbreeding IV: Gefährlich" (http://www.amazon.com/INTERBREEDING-Gefahrlich-dangerous-Various-Artists/dp/B0006OA86G) in case that is on any of the streaming music services. If I find it, I will update this post for anyone interested.

 

edit: I know that was more 'story' then 'something about myself', but hopefully, it said enough about me in the telling. :)

[Iolo'pax]

This is good stuff. Merilin, I too am amazingly private. I think it is either like a defense mechanism to me identify/control threat or a subconscious fear of rejection (or maybe that gas station sushi I ate for dinner). Scubax, that is awesome. I think of what I did when I was 22 and it's nothing like that. Ashas... wow... Powerful stuff right there. Reminds me of a line from a song 'Funny how a melody sounds like a memory' Thank you Very much for sharing that :)

Great thread all! Keep em coming!

 

[Synaes]

great quote Iolo. Thinking about Projekt2501 got me thinking about another band back when I lived in Florida (too many years ago to say). Essentially, I grew up in FL (moved there young) and, ended up getting a retail job while in highschool. There were some other guys there that I became decent friends with. They put together a rock band and, while this wasn't really my style, I would go hang out at with them while they practiced. It was something to do and I wanted to support their effort.

One day, I showed up and the guitarist had a new keyboard. I want to say it was a Roland XP-60 which, I believe, was the predecessor to the Fantom line. I totally fell in love with the keyboard. Until then, we'd only really goofed around with it, and others, at the local music shop. I would mess around on it, during breaks, just to figure out what weird sounds it could make.

A little while went by and it seemed like they weren't really leveraging the keyboard for much of anything. This was around the time "Nu-Metal" was blowing up and, I would say, they fit in that category. I kept bugging the guitarist to put a bit more electronic elements in their music if for nothing other then to set them a bit apart. Working with some of the presets in the keyboard, I came up with a little intro loop and they ended up using it one of their early songs. You can here it in the first 9 seconds (and looped under throughout) of "Reflection" (https://youtu.be/BtMgULATL7s). I even got a mention in the liner notes of their first album \o/.

Since then, they had brought in a few more members and changed a few people over the years before eventually going on to their own projects. In one of their last albums, you can hear more of a Rob Zombie influence then the Nu-Metal era bands in my opinion.

Again, they would have made good music without me being there, but I get a kick whenever 'Reflections' comes up on random play and I hear the intro. It takes me back to my buddy's tiny room, crammed with 5+ people and all the equipment, and no hope of the air conditioner doing any sort of adequate job. good times! :P

 

edit: alright, that's it on the flashbacks. Just figured this was a bit happier tone then the other. :P

[Tastierkakes]

Wow, I can not come close to matching these amazing stories.  

I'm a pretty open person about my life when I'm online so I'm sure most of you know where I grew up (western Canada), where I live (Philadelphia) and what I do for work (teach at the University of Pennsylvania).  

However, I can contribute at least one story that is along the same outdoorsy theme of some other peoples stories: I spent an entire summer building fences at an elk farm in Yorkton, Saskatchewan.  Go ahead and google it: it is the very definition of middle of nowhere.  

It was during that summer that I learned you have to keep the male and female elk seperated by more than just a single fence.  They WILL have sex through the fence.  Thus far, the university I teach at has not heeded this gained knowledge with respect to its undergraduate population.  

[shuyachen]

 i really enjoy fishing, I live by a big lake so i like to go fishing for the peace and quiet

 

also I volunteer as Dora the Explorer and I wear a whole mascot thing 

will provide pictures

[Zojen]

Introverts unite! Super shy person here too! Nice stories! Thanks for sharing! :) :)

Adding to the thread, I'm a amateur film photographer, meaning a still take photos in a 35mm film camera.

[Kénpachi-zaraki]

Great thread and great stories everyone :) I'm typically shy as well, at least when I'm not inebriated lol.

I would like to take this opportunity to announce that I just got accepted to the Pharmacy School at Midwestern University. I'm super-excited about that. I was so stressed going into the pharmacy school interview, but I felt the interview went really well and less than an hour afterwards I got the notification I was accepted. :) I want to become a nuclear pharmacist and work in a lab preparing radioactive medications for diagnosing patients.

[Swishiest]

We got some new folks in the guild, so hopefully they can add to this and maybe learn something about us they don't know!

To keep the spirit going, to go along with me being extremely shy, I'm also an advocate for mental health. I go into schools and give talks/presentations about my own struggles with mental illness in an effort to spread awareness.

In the past 3-ish years I've done close to 100 talks.

[Narr-Hann]

Well let me add to the thread.

I do a bit of work with the tabletop rpg industry as a freelancer and I cook professionally. During the summers I also do some contracting on the side as well. 

I am getting married this November on Guy Fawkes day. Cause that way I never will forget my anniversary. Remember, remember the 5th of November. We are doing the ceremony in a state park in Southern Indiana. 

I am not really shy and tend to love to chat lol.

[Nwahs]

That's awesome Swishy!

 

Nice Narr-hann!  Congrats!!!!

 

New about me:  I have a crazy psycho for an ex! lol

[Z'inn]

I like to MTB riding.

Love animals, love trying different foods. Love trying different wines.

Been Married for 22 years. My 27 year old daughter moved back in with us.

I live in NJ, was born in raised in NYC, my wife is from the Bronx.

I love Star wars, and I like be butts and can not lie!!!. I work in IT for to long..

And I am a clown....

[P-Rife]

Wow reading through this I never realized how much I've been missing in the guild :(  My name is Brian and I live in Harrisburg PA.  I joined Pax the March after launch, 2012 I think?  I've always loved Star Wars and this was my first MMO, since I have nothing to compare it to many of the issues with the game aren't a big deal to me.

I'm a father of two girls, who also love Star Wars, and have been married for 7 years.  I do a lot of volunteer work with Children's Miracle Network and specifically their Extra-Life program which raises money through a 24 hour video game marathon the first week of November.

[gluefoot]

I dance.

Your move.

[Kayllek Veran]

I row.

 

You're it.