what else do you guys do?

[Tricky-Loops]

Not to mention, damn it feels good to have some peers; a larger population of gentleman in their 40's who also delve in the electronic arts such as I. Unless, of course, you're all teenage girls just posing as 40-something men just to be cruel.

Damn! My cover is blown! Okay, this is me:



"You're not blowing..."

How much time the sex change has taken?

[Bronto Scorpio]

Your English is much better than many native speakers'

Definitely is good!!

Thanks! Good to know

remember, its not about being interesting...

+1
I also think that these kind of storys tend to sound way more dramatic than they really are when they are written down. Mine surely does. I just read it again
It sounds like some melodramatic movie with Kevin Costner but it really isn't

so thanks kvr for showing your true colours, the colours that actually made me love this place in the first place.

Agreed.

Big +1 on this...

Another +1

Cheers
Dennis

[Tricky-Loops]

I'm absolutely surprised at the straightforwardness of some people here-

I think it's different depending on cultural background, and other reasons as well.
Some cultures show more willingness to be more open than others, and it's also individual choice there too.
I've been learning a lot about Germany lately, and I've found that being soft spoken, and not speaking too much about personal things is the way to go there.
There's a show here called "Made in Germany" that I really like watching.
Which is about the culture and business there.
I believe there is different ways that different cultures express themselves with language. More open about personal stuff, is completely standard from where I'm from. But people from other places, may not feel the same.

In contrary -- I'm rather surprised at the plain honest story of Dennis ("BrontoScorpio"), and he is a German guy...

So this is the proof that German people aren't self-contained. And there is no cultural background that applies to all Germans - I can show you 1000 Germans, and everyone of them is absolutely different. You couldn't find the exemplary German. It depends on region to region (Bavarians for example are totally different to people from Hamburg, Dresden, Berlin or Aachen etc.), and much more it depends on individual to individual.

I'm from Bavaria, but am I an exemplary Bavarian?? My father came from Upper-Bavaria, my mother from Baden-Wuerttemberg... As an exemplary Bavarian I should be crazy about Hendl, Leberkas, Bier, Weisswurst, Schweinshaxn and musically I should listen to Blasmusi (Bavarian folk music).

But guess what? I don't like Bavarian folk music, I love Latino, Indian and Oriental music, I love wine far more than beer and I cook Italian Food.

[mellotronaut]

weilst hoit a bazi bist

[Tricky-Loops]

weilst hoit a bazi bist

Do legts di niada!

[justin3am]

I'm 29 and married w/o children (unless you count our two adorable kittens and our slightly less adorable aquatic turtle). Work is 75% of what I do, the other 25% is split between doing husband stuff, charity work, surfing, RC cars, and being generally overwhelmed by life.

That said, things are going very well for me. While life is overwhelming, it's mostly good stuff, I just have a tough time getting everything done. I have two full time jobs, both of which are music industry related. I just bought a house which we are in the beginning stages of remodeling (converting the garage to a studio, adding a bedroom). So again, things could be much worse, it's just very difficult to keep everything moving forward at once. Luckily, my wife helps out a lot so I never feel like I'm in this situation on my own. She is the woman of dreams in every way.

I have lived through lots of struggles. Drug addiction, mental illness (this one still makes things tough on a day to day basis), medical issues, family problems... but I've learned to approach these things one at a time and I have an amazing support system of family and friends (including my exteneded KVR/VS family ) to help me through even the toughest shit.

I have a very positive outlook on life. Even when things are not going so well, I tend to think in terms of what I can do to make life better. I just terrified of falling into a negative mindset. I fear that if I start to focus on the bad stuff my whole life will fall apart. Some see this as a personality flaw (and I admit, it does get tiring if you have to live with me for any period of time) but it's how I keep myself sane.

All in all, I consider myself very fortunate. I work with music or music equipment every day. While I have less and less time to work on my own music, I find the the stuff I do work on to be very rewarding. More than anything I feel happy that I still have goals to achieve. Hell, I'm happy that I'm capable of achieving goals at all.

[cuppa]

43, wife (with benign brain tumor), so trying to help as much as i can in the household, daughter 15 yrs old, i'm key account manager at a sheltered workplace, always torn between digital artwork and music, digital art i know when it's finished, with music the song's never good enough...wine guzzler...use the car only when i have to, 100% bicycle lover, i love singapore and hate life...btw, belgium where i live is the most depressing country ever, if you like dogshit on yr shoes feel free to visit...

[hibidy]

I relate to hating life (but I have my shred!)

[lionscub68]

...always torn between digital artwork and music, digital art i know when it's finished, with music the song's never good enough...

Amen, brother.

[Vintage73]

I've been trying to decide what to post here. I didn't know how personal I wanted to get.

38, female, divorced with a fiance.

Up until about six years ago, I wanted nothing more than to be dead. I attempted several times with overdosing on insulin, but always something prevented my actual death.

I have severe clinical depression, and have for most of my life. Anxiety has piled itself on in recent years, and now I'm stuck on psych meds that I'd really rather not be on, but when I stop taking them, I try to kill myself again, so it's best I stay on them.

I've never really been good at making friends in real life. Online I have a few, but I've only really ever had three close friends. I was married to one of them, I wanted to marry another (which is also the reason we're not friends anymore), and I'm going to marry the third. I suppose it's good that when I've been married it's been to my best friend.

I had a happy marriage for the most part, but it all fell apart at the end.

I don't have any children, and I don't want any. I don't trust myself to be responsible enough for children, not to mention that they cost too much money, and I feel I have nothing to offer them, anyway.

I've worked in customer service, service, housekeeping, and the movie biz as a spark.

I've attended school at several of the colleges around the Twin Cities. I started going to school to become an architect, then a mechanical engineer (I love working out how things work, mechanically), film, and 3d animation.

I don't have any degrees.

My life completely fell apart in late 2002, and I haven't had a job since late 2001/early 2002.

I found my soul mate in 2006 when Mark contacted me online. We're almost a mirror image of each other interests-wise, other than me hating sports when we met, but now I'm a Patriots, Wild, and Twins fan (although he likes the Red Sox). I took a chance in meeting him in person and traveled from Minnesota to Alabama by myself (by plane) and stayed with him for a week. He didn't harvest my kidneys, so I was happy about that.

He moved here in June of 2006, and we bought a house together (with my parents' help) in 2009.

We have a cat, Kaylee, and a Border Collie/Siberian Husky mix puppy. Kaylee is 2 years old this month, and puppy will be 15 years old in August (if she makes it that far ).

I used to play bass in high school and just after, but I gave it up when if I played for an hour it hurt for a week.

In 2009 when I decided to get back into music it nearly split Mark and I up. I spent way too much money on ACID Pro 7 and a Keystation 88es. He wasn't happy.

I've only recently written my first, second, and third compositions ever. I like them, but I know I can do so much more.

I have too many hobbies that I don't spend enough time on, so I'm only marginal, skills-wise, at any of them.

If you think that's a lot, there's so much more that I think I'll keep to myself for now.

[justin3am]

I don't have any children, and I don't want any. I don't trust myself to be responsible enough for children, not to mention that they cost too much money, and I feel I have nothing to offer them, anyway.

My Wife and I feel exactly the same way.
...about us having kids, not you. I mean, I'm sure you would be great parents if that's what you wanted but... ugh. I'll just put my foot in my mouth now.

I hate telling people this because they (especially family) always tell me that we're just naive or selfish. Well, that may be true but it doesn't change the fact that we'd prefer not to risk destroying another person's life considering how irresponsible we are with our own.

Cats and turtles are just about our speed. Even dogs are too high maintenance.

[Jace-BeOS]

... Sure wish there were some peers in my burg that were like-minded. Either there aren't any; or they are so wrapped up in their career/wife/family/selves to care; or are closet/bedroom musicians; or lost the craft; or are afraid to admit in this rock/country town that they wanna get together and start a Depeche Mode/NIN/Thomas Dolby cover band... and get beat up in the parking lot by a bunch of homophobes, who think the band is gay. LOL.

I have seen a few interesting want-ads in the local craigslist looking for musical partners, but 99% of them are age-discriminatory. i.e. A recent ad i read: "I'm 25 and looking for someone my age to work with, no geezers above 40." Dork.

My point being, Syracuse is not very accepting to change or different stuff, IMO.

I don't know that I'd get beat up here (people here are more into being creepy Internet stalkers or just being passive aggressive), but but there's surely little art and music round here due to lame/old conservative majority. New artists/musicians move away as soon as possible because of it. I didn't. I'm working on my late 30s soon, too. Age isn't bad on its own. It's the aging without living that I hate.

[Jace-BeOS]

... I hear ya! That said, knowing something personal about people has a tendency to change one's interaction with them, primarily because it can cause you to empathize,....

Or, if people are sociopaths, they use that bit of info to attack. In general, though, I think the kvr community is safe. Most people here aren't likely to go stalking (even web stalking, far as I can tell, unless one of you is my hate blogger).

[Jace-BeOS]

...I also think that these kind of storys tend to sound way more dramatic than they really are when they are written down. ...

Heh, mine really was worse than I wrote . I shortened mine by thirty pages. That said, no, it's not a contest. Better part is seeing how not alone we are in life struggles and music interests

[lionscub68]

Not to mention, damn it feels good to have some peers; a larger population of gentleman in their 40's who also delve in the electronic arts such as I. Unless, of course, you're all teenage girls just posing as 40-something men just to be cruel.

Damn! My cover is blown! Okay, this is me:



"You're not blowing..."

just... pure awesome sauce.