Panda

I'm in the "depends on situation" category when it comes to communication. There are good and bad to all forms of communication. In a general sense I enjoy face-to-face contact for the same reasons others have already mentioned. Next to that I would have to say emails rank very high. I like them since they give you time to think about your response before replying. This is also the case for leaving voice mail. The phone would be next on the list. I suppose you can add in VoIP in there just as a side note. I am not really a fan of IM. Whenever I get on I get this massive flood of people who want to visit and I end up in a ton of conversations. That and since I have arthritis typing for an extended period of time becomes painful. :animeswea So, to sum up: In person, email, phone and snail mail. I thought I would add in snail mail since getting an actual letter in the mail is such a treat. It just makes me feel so special to have someone take the time to handwrite to me. :D

"Burma!" "Why did you say Burma?" "I panicked." LOL! Asking me which Monty Python skit is my favorite is like asking me which of my pets I love more. Needless to say I am a big Monty Python fan and yes both my husband and I quote the series and the movies all the time. For instance, while making dinner if I ask my hubby how long it's going to be he will respond: "There may be some delay..." We own all the episodes and movies on VHS and have the soundtracks. Yes, we also have several books including the scripts. My favorite actor, oh boy that is a tough decision. I love them all but I do love Terry Jones since he does all these crazy physical things that are quite impressive. Like the time he was dressed in a tux, carrying Carol Cleveland in a wedding dress, running down the street. He was running really fast too! It was the beginning of "Dog Kennel" (ie mattress) skit. As for favorite skit, I really can't choose. But I will give a nod to all of those weird animations by Terry Gilliam. I love the one with the Siamese cat destroying the city. "You've saved our city!" "But at what cost?!" Then the cat eats the city. There is also the one where this guy is watching the tv and these bizarre things happen to his eyes. Then you hear a "female" voice saying: "Henry! Stop watching the television, you know it's bad for your eyes!" Ah, it's all very good. I will say this, on the top of my favorite skits list would be the Upperclass Twit of the Year and the Olympic Hide and Seek. Umbra II already listed some excellent skits. Oh I really could go on for hours and hours about this... Now, to end my post: Umbra II, will you please stand up? :p

Currently my most outrageous purchase would be my new iPhone but I think the item that totally trumps that would be my wedding gown. I spent well over $1000 on it. Considering I only wore that dress once for a few hours it was a bit outrageous. Add to that the numerous across state trips I had to take to go for fittings, the accessories... oi, it's more money spent on a one time outfit than I want to think about. :animedepr

I love watching anime, reading manga and playing video games. My number one hobby is cosplay. I enjoy taking my favorite anime/manga/game character and bringing them to life. Needless to say this hobby is one that takes a lot of my time and all my money. Other than that I love traveling. I usually head to 3 conventions a year and manage to get some non-anime con traveling in as well. Besides that I guess you can count my internet browsing time as a hobby. Somehow I find myself spending way too much time on YouTube. :animeswea

Well besides being a 31 year old woman who is obsessed with anime, goes to conventions in cosplay and loves video games? Most of my other things I do are pretty lame. lol There are lots of things I do that are pretty embarrassing. I love 80's music, especially hair bands and have to sing along. I should note that I am not a singer. For this very reason I love karaoke. I also love to sing while I play Guitar Hero. The newest 80's Guitar Hero has made me happy. Now I can be the true 80's rock god I was intended to be. I can't wait til Rock Band comes out. I need to recruit some band members...

One of the worst customers I had to sort of deal with was at my first job working at a movie theater. About 10 minutes into the start of the first movie the power went out. It was the entire downtown area. We announced in each of the theaters that there was a power outage and we would wait a bit to see if the power came back on. After about 20-30 minutes the power wasn't back on yet so we told people they could come get a refund and a pass for a free movie to use at a later time. Most people were very happy to take the refund plus the pass and went on their way. The assistant manger and I were handing out passes and refunds. One guy decided that wasn't good enough. He decided to yell at the assistant manager who was 8 months pregnant at the time. This guy I knew from attending the same church that I did was anything but Christian like. Swearing, swinging his arms around and carrying on like a murder took place. He was yelling at her telling her it was her fault she ruined his evening out! Like this 5 foot tall pregnant woman had anything to do with the power outage. He pretty much yelled at her until she cried. I could hear the ruckus over on her side of the counter so I went over to tell him to get out of the theater but as soon as he saw me (probably recognized me) he left. This guy was a foot taller than her, twice her age, three times her size and to top it off is the perfect God fearing Christian at church. I was going to tell him that I was calling the cops if he didn't leave but since he left before I could tell him I never got the chance. Needless to say it took everything I had not to stand up the next Sunday at church, tell the story and ask for prayer and forgiveness for a certain member of the church who needs to realize that being a good Christian is more than just an hour on Sunday at church.

I too love all the generic "everyday" fruits like apples, pears, peaches, bananas and such. Unfortunately for me I have a condition called Sjogren's Syndrome which causes some issues with my mouth. It's another autoimmune disease like Rheumatoid Arthritis. Anywho because of this I have a very sensitive mouth so I can't eat any citrus or other acidic fruits. Pineapples, oranges, lemons, limes... they all cause mouth sores. It makes me very sad since I love fresh pineapple and really love orange juice. I also rarely get to eat mangoes, which are tasty, since my husband is allergic to them. He breaks out in poison ivy like sores on his lips if he eats them. Mango is in the same plant family as poison ivy (cashews are in the same family too). So no mangoes and cashews in this house. But all in all, nothing beats a Washington State apple. :catgirl:

I just sent you a PM over on myOtaku from my site. Everything appears to be working fine when I sent you the PM and things with your site appear to be in order. As the message told your friends, have them make sure they are spelling your member name correctly and try again or have them use the PM link on your myO site since it will automatically put your member name on the PM. Otherwise, as Des mentioned, we really need more information to find out what the problem is.

I live in [u][URL="http://www.moses-lake.com/"]Moses Lake, Washington[/URL][/u]. If you are really interested about my little hometown you can also check out this link to [URL="http://www.ci.moses-lake.wa.us/history.html"][u]the history of Moses Lake[/u][/URL]. The town is pretty much in the middle of Washington state. If you head between Seattle and Spokane on I-90 you will pass right by Moses Lake. The population is about 16,000. We don't have a shopping mall but we have a few small strip malls. Wal-Mart is the biggest shopping center here. It is very rural so many of the people in the area work in farming. There is one high school. Moses Lake High School, the home of the Chiefs. We do have quite a few Seattle e-commuters that live here since it is much cheaper than living on the coast. I guess you can consider my hubby an e-commuter too since the company he works for is based out of Washington DC. Since we are close to all the hydroelectric dams we get our electricity for very cheap. I believe we have the cheapest electricity rates in the country. The main draw to this area is the recreation. There are sand dunes for ATVs, plenty of lakes for fishing and watersports and lots of areas to hunt and camp. Oh, and it's pretty much desert climate here. Sagebrush and dust. None of that stereotypical "Evergreen State" stuff here. Today it's suppose to be 112 degrees outside. Yeah, toasty.

Ah, the joys of the DMV. :animeangr For me it's always the same thing. I am going in there to renew my license. I usually head in there in the middle of the week sometime in the early afternoon. This way I miss the working class lunch crowd and after school teenage crowd. It's pretty quite around that time. I get my number from the little paper number dispenser. Usually it's something in the 70's. The "now serving" sign will read something in the 20's. I take a seat and wait.... After the one and only person who seems to be working finally calls my number I head to the counter, give them my old license, tell them everything is exactly the same, take the eye test, pay them money, stand on the stupid line for my picture that will make me look like I just got out of a bar room brawl, then wait for the new license. I am very fortunate that I live in a small town so I don't have to deal with the uber-long lines seen in larger cities. But even so the shortest wait I've had there was 45 minutes. Also, I am not sure if it is the same everywhere but people don't seem to talk there. It's library quite. Perhaps it's because there is the testing area near by, but everyone seem so somber. Perhaps just being there makes people emo, who knows.

[QUOTE=Roleni-Chan]In my opinion, I tend to get frustrated in the pms I received? Mines states that I have 3 unread messages and I don?t have anything waiting for me. I mean Im glad with the progress MyOtaku is doing to our fellow users, but that?s the only thing I wished for it to be fixed. I understand that you guys are working hard so if his is a meaningless suggestion, you can ignore it.[/QUOTE] Adam just spent 3 solid hours on Monday working just on this very problem. You can head over to his myO page to read about his adventures with the PM issues. This is a problem we are working on so please be patient as it is sorted out.

[b]1. Has anyone ever had gator bites?[/b] No I have not but I am more than willing to try them. I just have not had the opportunity. I don't live in 'gator country. [b]2. What is the weirdest thing you have ever eaten? (Did you like it?)[/b] Weirdest thing to me (which may be completely normal for someone else) would have to be [b]jellyfish[/b]. It was pretty good. Very salty. Texture wise it was a bit gummy (like a gummy worm) on the outside with a crunch on the inside. The crunch was like biting into a rice crispy. I would not actively seek it out but if it were presented to me again I would eat it.

My first language was Japanese. My family is pretty new to the US so it's pretty much what the family spoke around the house. My older cousins were all born in Japan and the younger ones, like me, were born here in the States. When my older brother started school and had to take the English as a Foreign Language class my parents made us speak in English at home all the time to make sure we did well in school. So we are just in the habit now of hearing them speak in Japanese and we respond in English. At least this way my hubby can understand half of a conversation. lol Now that I am older I very rarely speak in Japanese since I am really embarrassed by my terrible American accent. I love being able to understand two languages I just wish I were a bit more fluent. I understand why my parents wanted us to stick to English as our language but it really would have made my college Japanese class much easier. lol

Here are some random suggestions of videos I've seen on YouTube. [URL=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDCs2rXlFRY][u]Samurai Panda[/u][/URL]. Japanese commercial for a karaoke company. Just more proof how much pandas rock. The stuffed panda is really cute and kicks much behind. [URL=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IIWV01Sjic][u]Katamari Damacy: The Movie[/u][/URL]. Completely random, so stupid it made me chuckle. Large groups of people running in terror is always a fun thing to watch. [URL=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQcFYUBLzcw][u]Tom Kills Oprah[/u][/URL]. It is a YouTube classic. It always makes me laugh. [URL=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNqiSkd1M6k][u]300 - PG Version[/u][/URL]. "This is delicious!" I have a crazy amount of "pandas falling from..." videos saved but I'm pretty sure if you've seen one panda fall from a tree or playground equipment or walkway... then you've pretty much seen them all. Pandas sure to fall a lot.

I share my home with 2 dogs and 2 cats. They are all rescue pets from my days working in veterinary medicine. Most vets and techs have the "special needs" pets since they are the ones that don't easily find homes. [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/Panda_chan_/misc/ana.jpg[/IMG] The evil overlord of the house is my Siamese Cat. Her name is Ana Ng. Named after the They Might Be Giants song of the same name. "Her voice is like a backward record, it's like a whirlpool and it never ends..." For those who have had the pleasure of hearing a siamese cat meow they know they don't sound like a normal domestic cat. They scream or screech. I figure much like a banshee would. The siamese cats Sia and Am in Lady and the Tramp pretty much sum up the siamese cat attitude. They are pure evil. My dogs, who are large dogs, are afraid of her and will not fight back even when she is swatting and scratching them. She will also attack me as I sleep just because she feels she rules the bed. I figure she just keeps us (the humans) around to tend to her needs, otherwise we are completely useless pets to her. [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/Panda_chan_/misc/heshar.jpg[/IMG] Harrison (cat) and Heston (dog) are my two sweet boys. Heston. He is my nervous guy. Found starved and covered in fleas and ticks by a client. I knew he wouldn't get adopted at the Humane Society so I took him home. He is afraid of men and after 10 years he will only approach 4 guys. He will run and hide from everyone else. He's a bit of a momma's boy, but he is very sweet. For the longest time speaking in a loud voice or picking up something would make him flinch. It was very sad. We figure it is from an abusive puppyhood. He is a cancer survivor and he loves baby animals. He will make happy little hoots when you show him a kitten, puppy or any small critter. [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/Panda_chan_/misc/catshoes.jpg[/IMG] Harrison was brought into the vet clinic by a client who thought he had two broken front legs. He was actually born with a birth defect. His front legs didn't form correctly so they are short and curved. He spends a lot of time sitting up on his hind legs which makes him look like a penguin. Unfortunately since his front legs are short he cannot defend his head. So Ana usually likes to smack in on the top of the head. Overall he is very happy and loving. You can say his name and he will "meh!" and start purring. When he is sitting up on his hind legs you can put your hand out and say "high five!" and he will paw at your hand. It's really cute. He also likes to wear my shoes. I think it's because they raise him up so his back doesn't hurt. He never does this with my hubby's shoes, just mine. Currently as I write this he is "wearing" my black Roxy flip-flops. We joke that he's that little boy who sneaks into mommy's closest and wears her clothes. My crossdressing kitty. LOL [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/Panda_chan_/misc/bun.jpg[/IMG] Brynner. Named after Yul Brynner. He was one of 12 puppies brought in by a rancher who killed the mom after she was stealing his chickens. He only found the puppies after the mom was dead. Brynner is a big boy. He is around 100 lbs and when he stands up on his hind legs he is as tall as me. (I'm 5'2). He thinks everyone comes to the house to visit him. He loves everyone. Unfortunately he is big and usually ends up pushing people over trying to snuggle up against them. His favorite toy is a giant stuffed fish which he will get when you ask; "Where's the fish?". You can also ask him: "Who is in the tub?" and he will jump in the bath tub. He is a big bear of a dog. He really looks like one when he holds his stuff fish toy. Kind of reminds me of those pictures of grizzly bears catching salmon in the river. His nicknames are: Bun Bun, Boo Buns, Bear Buns and Boo Bears. For some reason guys really like him. They always think he's a cool big dog.

I didn't watch the show but I have seen the clip of the U.S. representative fall on her bum. I probably lost some karma points but I laughed when I saw it. There is just something funny about beauty queens and supermodels falling down. Perhaps if their ankles weren't as thin as toothpicks they would be a bit more stable.

I have many, many strange animal stories from the vet clinic. Here are a few of my favorites. [b]Tampon eating dog.[/b] We had to remove tampons from the stomach of a dog who got into a box of feminine products and decided to eat them. The owner told us that the dog has been known to steal food (candy bars, bread, rolls, etc...) off of the counter so it must have associated "plastic wrapping" with "food". Needless to say the dog was a bit bloated with puffy tampons when we took him into surgery. [b]Jean crotch eating dog.[/b] A client brought her dog in after it had decided to eat the crotch area of several pairs of jeans. This dog also has a history of eating panties. Apparently there is something about the scent of the owner's...area.... that attracts the dog. It never ate other family member clothes, just the mom. [b]Woman with muu-muu pulled up over her head.[/b] While waiting in the exam room with her pet for an appointment my best friend who is the office manager at the vet clinic walked into the room to get some updated information from the owner. The owner, a fairly robust woman, had hiked her muu-muu up over her head. So when my friend walked in all she saw was this woman's very large and dimpled butt, granny panties and back fat rolls. She said Oh! Excuse me! and promply walked out. We, to this day, have no idea what the woman was doing. Nor do we want to know. [b]"Arthritic" dog house call.[/b] My boss went to the home of an elderly woman who said her dog's legs were stiff. Sounding like it was an older dog with arthritis we packed him up with medications and everything needed to give an exam on site. He came back to the office with a bizarre story. As he pulled up to the house he noticed the owner "sweeping" the front porch and the ol' dog laying nearby. As he gathered his stuff he noticed that she wasn't sweeping the porch, but shoo-ing flies away from the dog. As he reaches the dog he realized that the dog was dead. The legs were "stiff" because it was dead! Being the good guy he is, put his stethoscope and listened to the dog's heart. He informed the owner the dog had passed and offered to dispose of the remains. Well, I think that is a good start. I have tons of weird stories. I might come back later to add more. Like the story about the cereal stealing monkey with a broken leg, 25 lbs. angry albino python who put his owner in the hospital for 3 days or the time we "cast out the demons" from a guinea pig and it got better. So many weird pet stories...

My first name, Gail, doesn't seem like it would be an issue but it somehow gets people confused. It gets spelled incorrectly all the time. I get Gayle or Gale mostly...except for the time some thought it was Heidi. I'm really not sure where the heck that came from. My maiden name is Shimura. She-Moo-rah. I get Sam-Mir-ah quite a bit. Oh well. My married name causes my husband more grief than it does for me. Brightbill. You pronounce it like it is spelled. Simple enough. He gets called Bill all the time or Mr. Bright. Mr. Bill Bright. Annoying. Or we get variation on it like Brightville, Rightbill, Rightville, Vrightville... oh the list goes on and on. I think the worst mix up came from a hospital that gave my hubby the prescription for a William Bright instead of his. He caught it before he left the counter... but still! His first name is John not Bill!

On the college note: Starting my junior year I started taking classes at the community college after my regular high school classes in addition to working more than part-time. I did this my senior year too. It made for very busy days but it was well worth it. Yeah, I'm a nerd. So basically I graduated high school and college with my AA at the same time. I then became a transfer student and not a "new applicant" since I already had an AA. If things are still the same as when I was going through college then transfer students continuing on with their education are in a different acceptance pool for admission. Things may have changed since then but back in the day it was much easier for those with some college under their belts to get into the schools they wanted. It may be something to look into. :catgirl: As for current growing pains, I would have to say it's the constant pressure from friends and family to have kids. This has been going on for over a decade. I know I am getting older but I don't want to have them. I've never wanted to have kids. Now that I am on the sickly side and on nasty medication that can cause all kinds of terrible birth defects I REALLY don't want to have kids. Yet even with explaining this people still say I should have a baby. Wah? It's kind of funny how the growing pains never really stop, they just change into new ones.

[center][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/Panda_chan_/images.jpg[/IMG] [size=2][B]Pogs[/B] [/center][/size] Pogs became so popular in the 1990s that hundreds of types of pogs were manufactured, covering a wide array of toys, cartoons, movies, games, sports and images of famous people on the front of the pogs. The popularity of the game spawned knockoffs, such as "Slammer Whammers," a similar game released under a different brand name. Today the pog craze has tapered off, but pogs can sometimes still be found on eBay and in game and card stores. During the early 1990s, a national pog tournament was held every February 7 in honor of the game's inventor's birthday. Ah thank you Wiki for that bit of info I posted above. I was past the age of Pog playing when it became popular. I remember working at this music/video store and we would sell them. One of the more kitschier ones was a metal Pog with the image of OJ and the infamous white Bronco. It said something like "The Juice is Loose" or something to that effect. I swear, the kids would come in a spend all their money on these little cardboard pieces. I do just want to make note that the TMNT original animated series came out in 1987 making it instantly popular with the Saturday morning crowd. Being a child of the 80's I totally remember my big brother collecting the comics that started in 1984. So the 80's should get credit for starting that fad. ;)

Hi FountainStarr! Unfortunately I have to lock this thread since it breaks this rule of the forum: [quote name='Otaku Lounge Basics: Read Before Posting']Threads that don't spark conversation should generally be avoided. Search threads, asking where to find something, are one example; simply use Google instead.[/quote] As stated above searches can be done using Google or another search engine. Even though I have to lock this someone may be able to PM you some help. But as stated above this type of thread is a no-no. If you have questions about the rules feel free to PM myself or any of the other staff members. Best of luck in your search for strategy guides!

Hi mintchip74! Welcome to the OtakuBoards. Please take a few minutes to review the stickies at the top of each forum before you continue to post. Unfortunately since this is an intro thread I am going to have to lock it since we do not allow intro threads on the boards. This is one of the rules listed in the sticky at the top of the forum: Intro Threads Posting a new thread purely to introduce yourself or look for friends is considered spam. It's much better to jump into discussions straight away and let us get to know you through your posting. Intro threads will be deleted or closed regardless of content. If you have questions about posting or any of the rules of the site please feel free to PM myself or any of the other mods. Thanks!

[quote name='black rurouni']how is ''I enjoy those series more when I have actual music to go along with the series'' a con, it should be a pro to you.[/quote] It's not a con for me. I have music listed as a pro. I said it could be a con [b]for others[/b]. This could be since they may not like the casting of musicians, songs or some other reason. Just because it's a pro for me does not mean it would not be a con for someone else. I was just acknowledging that in my post. For me, a music based manga being converted to anime is a pro since it gives me actual music to go along with the story.

I know it's not the end of the world yet... Dying batteries in remote controls and game controllers. The batteries work enough that they do work on occassion so you don't want to replace them yet, but it's not consistent enough to not annoy. I hate trying to turn the tv on with the remote and no matter how many times I hit the button or try to angle the remote the stupid thing won't work. I can easily get up and change the channel but that is the sole purpose of the remote so it should do what it was put on this earth to do! Game controllers also seem to only go out when you are gaming against someone. The latest controller to do this to me was my wireless guitar during a face-off in Guitar Hero II. Just so you know, when the batteries start to go on a wireless guitar it will just randomly strum on it's own and/or register your strumming late. Which is just great when you have a really long note with star power deployed. Right in the middle of the long note, *twang*, great now I just get to watch my opponents score continue to rise as I stand there and curse. :animeangr

In addition to the budget issues many series are plagued with, I would say fillers are an anime con. They are a necessary because of the production time vs. airing time but many times series, especially long ones, will venture off into left field with a side story that is lacking, characters that are boring and just end up being bland. There are exceptions to the rule but more often than not the fillers are painfully slow and fans just have to struggle through until the original story arcs begin again. A pro. That is a bit tougher for me. I would have to say something like series that are based on music. When they make the transition from manga to anime you now get to hear the music that is a major component to the series. Series like Gravitation, Beck, and Nana I really enjoyed when I got to hear the music from the bands. This could be a con for others, but I enjoy those series more when I have actual music to go along with the series.