Man this is relatable. Had some thoughts on “press start to continue” unfortunately too long in the writing of for the neocity comment sections. Accursed word limits. But also don’t feel like writing a 20 message thread, so have a doc link instead. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-M4QbD2Iq2ziCcfmT2R7iWJPMy04dptF7mNiBRAdpm0/edit

Thank you for your kind words, I'm happy someone else could relate to my situation enough to give such a thoughtful response. Truth be told I'm not used to it. I left my proper response as comments in the document, and while I already said it there, I do once again apologize if I came off as rude toward the end there, but I felt like that was a good time to adress that interest of yours that I've long been aware of.

No thank you for taking the time to respond as in depth as you did! And you have no need to apologize! I don’t think you were rude at all. I deeply appreciate your honesty. Frankly I prefer that level of candidness. It’s refreshing. I too left a more in depth response to you in the doc. I do apologize for the delay in getting back to you, but I wanted to take the proper time and care in crafting a suficent response.

Ps. I fiddled with some settings so hopefully you shouldn’t be locked out again but let me know if you have any trouble accessing the doc

Oh, yes, I forgot about your response here as well. It was no problem, I try to be as thorough in my replies to such responses as possible, though I don't get many.

I'm also glad things seemed to be cleared up (or rather, didn't need to be). I'm used to people taking my honesty for rudeness, and while I honestly don't really care most of the time, you are a friend of friends, and not only was I asked to play nice with you by them and respect that request, but you seem to be a good friend to them, and it would be a shame if you thought less of them for their association with me.

I know what you mean. Was brought up Dutch, we say what we think. But it often comes across as rude. Growing up in the states I’ve learned the soft wording of Americans. But lot of my fam either never succeeded in learning or never cared to, so they are quite blunt and not very pc at times, for to be anything but brutally honest is seen as rude and deceptive.

I appreciate you playing nice lol. Though I would never think less of my friends for who they are friends/ associate with. Besides the friends in question tend to have good taste in people, and based on talking to you & what I have seen and heard I’d say this continues to hold true 🙂‍↕️ imao.

Eyyyy no game no life mention? Based.

Had thoughts reading this. Been meaning to write a full comment for a while I just keep forgetting/pushing it off, but better late than never. Once again… my thoughts are too much for the humble comment section. Here’s a doc link. https://docs.google.com/document/d/10GBijvtkr9jIdFugn6zpTG2iEOBp74ni9k7RlMnfR-I/edit Tldr: be gandalf, zoocosis is a bitch, are you aware of the humble olm? Wrote some other stuff too…

Yes! I love NGNL, have since I first watched it back in the day. Glad to see a fellow enjoyer. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to respond to all that you wrote in your doc, and it seems that it's now been locked. I can't remember all you wrote, but I do recall some rather kind words, so I appreciate it. Apologies if my being busy made it seem that I didn't take kindly to your response or anything of the sort.

Ah sorry about that, wasn’t an intentional lock out, been having technical issues on my end. Didn't even realize it was locked so thanks for telling me. Should be fixed and unlocked, I do apologize for any misunderstandings. And no worries I know how life can be so don’t worry about taking ones time. I’m grateful you’ve been taking time to respond at all!

That's alright, it happens. Sorry I took so long to start getting back to you, as always: I've been rather busy the past week.

Hey no worries! I know how life can get. We respond when we can. Thanks for your latest response. You have given me much to ponder✨🤔

A few years ago I visited the zoo in Sibiu, Romania. I personally found it pretty disappointing and underwhelming. It is now that I realize the misery of those wild animals kept captive. Life kept in cages is ugly because it is not allowed to grow, because it is not allowed to actually live, both in the case of humans and other animals.

Man I remember being obsessed with kagerou project back in Highschool. The music especially. What a throw back. It’s been forever since I’ve listened to em, due for a revisit fr

Ah, I seem to have missed this reply of yours. I wish Neocities notified us when someone replied to older posts. But yes, KagePro was an obsession of me and my friends back in middle school. It meant a lot to us then, and still does to me now. It's nostalgic, in a melancholic sense. I recommend going back to it every once in a while, if they meant anything to you what they do to me. I listen on my scant excursions.

Neocitys be that way sometimes. And indeed I did go back and gave a relisten, shortly after I wrote up my initial response actually. Wow, and I'm glad I did. Despite the time thats passed the feelings the music stirs up are no less strong than they once where. If even more so with time. Nostalgia and melacholic is right. Those quality's especially are probably only gonna strengthen with time

Summers always come to an end, but we can still cherish the memories.

Facts. I blame my schools unofficial idol club (a group of upperclassmen girls who did idol dances on the local convention circuit) never joined them for their con performances but I did regularly take part of their dance practice during lunch. (Anyone who wanted could join the practice sessions) They introduced me to kagerou project, Touhou, vocaloid and the like. Learned a lot of cool stuff from them. Good times

Interesting. I never imagined those were a thing, or that any gals before 2020 gave a shit about vocaloid, let alone 2hu. For me, I basically grew up with the stuff, had been listening to vocaloid on YouTube since I was about, oh 8 or so? All my interaction with all this stuff only occurred online, I was always too young to go to cons myself, and once I was I had lost interest and never went to one until recently.

Ikr? It’s a fun niche fr. And yeh lots of gals love this stuff, even back in the day. (Had 2 friends Obsessed with 2hu. Unfortunately never got a chance to play any of the games myself.) than again I went to a small/ weird highschool where most everyone was some sort of nerd, otaku, geek or other flavor of weird kid. normies were the minority.

Oh sick! You’re a vocaloid og I see. I came late to the party (as I often do😭) around 2013. but once I got a taste, YouTube was a god send for discovering more. Speaking of online communities, are u familiar with durarara and if so did you ever take part in the dollars forums? Made friends there with some real interesting folks back in the day.

Yeh you mentioned going to a con in one of your writings! U did ngnl casual cosplay iirc? They can be a lot of fun, but also overwhelming. I remember the first con I went to I didn’t have any friends with me 2 of the three days I was there. It was intimidating but in the end was a neat time

Hmm, I guess in fairness I was so used to the idea of being ostracized for my interests I never bothered to ask or reveal that I liked vocaloid. Hiding one's power level was common practice before normies suddenly decided they too were "nerds". But yes, I've always liked vocaloid. While it still goes strong in many ways, I prefer the older stuff. It reminds me and I think is emblematic of better times.

Speaking of, I recall watching Durarara as it aired, and yes I used both the old Dollars BBS forum and the accompanying DRRR chat room site that emulated the one from the show. I didn't really make any friends there, though. I had many an interesting conversation, but I'm afraid even for relatively early days of anime becoming mainstream here, the Durarara fandom was full of people who I wasn't compatible with.

As for going to a con in casual Sora cosplay, it was certainly interesting to say the least. Still not sure they're my particular cup of tea. Beyond being intimidating, many of the con-goers were not "my people", despite what I'd been told by the more optimistic of my compatriots, though I perhaps made the mistake of taking the advice of a normie con goer, instead of trusting my gut.

Nah thats understandable. I remember a time when folks would get beat up if it was found they liked anime or such. As a kid I figured I was always gonna be ostracized for who I was and what I liked, regardless if I hid it or not, so I thought eh, damed if I do, damed if i don’t, may as well just be me.

That and the bullies who tried to give me trouble realized (eventually) that I wasn’t worth messing with as I wasn’t afraid to fight back. The high school I went to was a little oasis away from all that. Then that odd change happened and suddenly anime was cool for everyone?

Oh for sure, the new stuff in vocaloid is fun, and I adore it in its own right, but the old vocaloid just has a different feel, Could be nostalgia on my part, but I gotta agree with you, better times indeed.

Eyyy nice. Quite liked durarara, Been so long, forgot the exact site names. Ngl the friends I made were sparse and I’ve lost track of em since. Made more temp acquaintances than anything. But I know what you mean. Lot of interesting characters on site…

…Which on the one hand can make for interesting conversations, or debates, as was often the case with me. On the other, Some folks… well, “not being compatible with” is a very nice way to put it. Admittedly I was a little bit of a troll in those days and had a little too much fun messing with folks. All harmless fun really, but some folks, don’t like jokes.

With regard to cons, its also worth noting they are kinda all different. Not just size but also scope, what niches they have and who they cater to. Most massive cons are generalist, got a little something for everyone. But by virtue of their size, finding one’s niche and one’s people isn’t a guarantee, and why it helps to go with like minded friends to better help one’s chances of finding said niches.

Small and midsize cons tend to (but don’t always) focus on a more specific niche. Easier to find ones people assuming the con one is at is geared toward one’s interest. Something to also consider, cons with similar niches or audience can still have a totally different feel. For example South florida anime con panels are kinda shallow and you see one set of panels you seen em all for the rest of time…

…Insert the latest fandom trend here. Were as anime boston panels were almost academic in the depth and rigor. Felt like a college lecture, well-researched and unique. They focused on alot of classics and retro stuff. (Not to say you couldn’t find new things there to) but I noted that these two cons which on the surface seemed like they would be the same in all but location and maybe size, where actually rather dif.