Forums > Off Topic > Where are you from?
Matt Neuteboom (976) on 2/15/2006 1:09 AM · Permalink · Report
There are gamers from all around the world. Gamers come from America, Canada, Europe, Asia, South America, etc. So, tell us where you are from and tell a bit what its like there. That way, we can get to know the users of Moby a bit more.
I guess I will start. My real name is Matt Neuteboom, and I live in New Jersey in the USA. The temperature is pretty temperate here. It is cold in the winter (it is winter right now, but we've been having a fairly easy one this year) and warm/hot in the summer. New Jersey, however, has pretty crappy weather. During the fall and winter it is almost always cloudy and dreary. It rains a lot during the Spring, and if the sun is shining it is almost always too hot (mainly because the sun comes out in the summer here).
The part of New Jersey I live in is almost completely developed land, which is unfortunate. We have a park nearby, which I don't use since its winter now :-P. There are very few areas where you can see wildlife, which also depresses me so much. The main form of transportation in New Jersey is vehicles. New Jersey lacks proper sidewalks meaning pedestrians sometimes have to walk on the side of the road which is dangerous, especially in New Jersey where the traffic is often very fast. Bicycles, for some reason are also not very common in New Jersey. Often they are used for recreation, but very few adults use them for transportation (children and teens, on the other hand, use them all the time because they cannot drive yet).
The one thing appealing about the town I live in is it has a good educational system. I have brilliant teachers, whom I cherish and value, because of the education and understanding they can give me. Also, we have very few major superstores, and people here encourage small family owned businesses to grow and develop, which helps a lot of people in our neighborhood stay in buisness.
So now its your turn. Tell us about where you live, what you like, what you don;t like, etc. It's always good to hear about someone else's experiences. :-)
nullnullnull (1463) on 2/15/2006 5:11 AM · Permalink · Report
I am from Chicago IL but I live in Brooklyn NY. I would write more but it is late and I am tired.
nullnullnull (1463) on 2/15/2006 5:00 PM · Permalink · Report
Also you can set your location in your profile now.
Terrence Bosky (5397) on 2/15/2006 9:26 PM · Permalink · Report
I'm Terrence and I saved my witty intro material for my profile. Anyway I live in Lake Worth, FL, (USA, Terra, Sol), which is pretty much West Palm Beach. You may have heard of the grand glamour of Palm Beach, well West Palm is where the help lived.
I'm a Reference Librarian for a branch library in the county system and today I was asked my all-time favorite reference question for the second time. In addition to being a gamer, I'm also a movie buff and a reader. I'm married and, therefore, co-owner of a mammal and a few avians.
-Chris (7757) on 2/19/2006 11:31 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Terrence Bosky wrote--]I'm a Reference Librarian for a branch library in the county system and today I was asked my all-time favorite reference question for the second time.[/Q --end Terrence Bosky wrote--]
Okay: What is your all-time favorite reference question?
Unicorn Lynx (181769) on 2/19/2006 1:14 PM · Permalink · Report
Chris, you are still alive! Greetings from Shanghai, then :)~
-Chris (7757) on 2/19/2006 4:46 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
Heya! Yeah, I'm still around, even if I contribute infrequently (okay: VERY infrequently). Work, work, work. I've moved to a bigger apartment recently, but I'm still in Munich.
It's good to see how MobyGames grows. The changes that you guys rolled out recently are awesome. I LOVE the option to edit descriptions and bios. And of course, I discovered the forum. :-)
What's up with you, Oleg? I read in your blog that you're now a professor in Shanghai? Man, congrats! Do you teach in Chinese or English?
Unicorn Lynx (181769) on 2/21/2006 6:05 AM · Permalink · Report
Yup, I'm a music professor at ECNU, http://www.ecnu.edu.cn/english. I teach classical piano, jazz theory and piano (groups), and pronunciation of Italian, French, German, Russian, etc. words for singers (mostly female ones! I love this job :-))). And of course I teach in Chinese, because no matter how bad my Chinese is, it is still significantly more fluent than my students' English :))
This is definitely the place to be if you like good, cheap food and pretty girls, and I happen to be a fan of both :))
Terrence Bosky (5397) on 2/19/2006 10:17 PM · Permalink · Report
Someone comes up to the desk, looks around and asks, "So you just have fiction and nonfiction?"
Shazbut (163) on 2/19/2006 4:26 PM · Permalink · Report
Hey all. I'm from a small town in southern England. Looking out from my window, I can see the sky is overcast. Overcast and white. I also see a branch from my neighbour's tree with no leaves. It sways in the wind.
This has been the most exciting part of my day. Man, I wonder in what way the branch will sway next.
waits
Wow, I wasn't expecting that.
I'm really having fun here. I'd better go now, but I'll let you know events as and when they take place. Later.
Unicorn Lynx (181769) on 2/21/2006 6:06 AM · Permalink · Report
Hi there Ed, nice to meet you here at the forums :))
Daniel Saner (3503) on 2/21/2006 4:28 PM · Permalink · Report
Hi!
Checking in from Switzerland... Ebikon, a little town near Lucerne, the Swiss City of Light ;) where it's, except for a few weeks per year, always either too cold or too hot (right now the former).
But I guess all in all it's pretty damn cool here. Just check these beautiful pictures of Lucerne ( http://www.luzern.org/home-001-00-en.htm ) and of my hometown ( http://www.ebikon.ch/inhalt/inhalt_detail.asp?navigationID=209&ID=1302 )
Unicorn Lynx (181769) on 2/22/2006 6:02 AM · Permalink · Report
Where from China do you come from? Do you still speak Chinese?
Love your Avatar :-)
Matt Neuteboom (976) on 2/25/2006 6:37 PM · Permalink · Report
By the way, Neuteboom sounds like a Dutch name
It is a Dutch name. My grandfather Jacob Neuteboom came here to America 1950's after he got married to my grandmother. My father was just three at that time. My grandparents can speak fluent Dutch, and my dad can speak some Dutch. I, however, cannot speak any Dutch at all.
Joshua J. Slone (4666) on 2/25/2006 8:12 AM · Permalink · Report
I live in the northern part of Indiana. On a global scale that's not too far off from New Jersey, particularly on latitude, so the weather bit is pretty similar. However, where I live there's lots of farming. My family doesn't farm, but we are completely surrounded by crops. Growing up without much in the way of neighbors was surely a big part of why I got so into computers and video games... so I guess my location gets partial credit for anything I contribute here?
chirinea (47507) on 2/26/2006 3:39 AM · Permalink · Report
Well, a little (more than in the profile) about me:
My name is Guilherme Chirinéa, I live in Bauru, São Paulo state, Brazil. Bauru is a 300.000 inhabitants city that's about 300Km away from São Paulo city.
Bauru is pretty hot the whole year, most of the days over 30ºC. Some days of the winter can be really cold (for our standards), but you wont see snow here. Actually, there's just a few places in Brazil's south in wich you'll see snow, and for a few days during the winter.
My city isn't that big, it is a medium city in my state, which is Brazil's richest state. We have many universities here in Bauru, wich makes it a "universitary city". In vacation periods the city gets pretty empty.
I'm graduated in Psychology by São Paulo State University (UNESP), and I'm finishing my master's degree in Science Education at the same University.
I play electric guitar in a hard rock band, and I play bass guitar and sing in a pop/indie/rock band.
It is really cool to see that there's people from all around the world here!
Kartanym (12418) on 3/16/2006 5:26 AM · Permalink · Report
I'm not the only MobyG (I love using that nickname :p) who's from Australia, but I think I'm the only one from Western Australia ... you know, on the west side ...
I may also be the only Irish/Australian here, but I'd be proud to be corrected on that front too :p
monkeyislandgirl (8626) on 3/21/2006 5:51 AM · Permalink · Report
lol i love u ppl's avatars...
I mean where else do u getta see a dirty purple hippo...and Mr T...wearing a Sambaro
Lisa Shock (141) on 4/16/2006 11:53 PM · Permalink · Report
I live in sunny Phoenix, AZ.
Slug Camargo (583) on 4/17/2006 2:14 AM · Permalink · Report
I'm from Uruguay, South America. Pretty cute little country, actually. Sure we have a lot of problems, especially of the economic sort, but then we never have earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis or anything, we don't have volcanoes, our army is incapable of making war to anyone and noone would ever bother to make war with us... actually, every time there's a car crash it comes out in the headlines and all. It's a great place to live.
Or to sub-exist, at least.
That said, this country is a gamer's hell: you just can't buy original games here. There is no gaming market. Actually, there IS a gaming market, but the stores work with pirated copies for as long as I can remember (and I'm talking REALLY long, as in ZX-Spectrum long). I'm talking legal, advertised, tax-paying stores, all carrying pirated games, actually selling you discs with detailed instructions on how to crack the game in order to play, and not offering refunds or anything if you can't get the crack to work or if it, say, turns out to be some sort of HDD-raping malware or something.
Bizarre? You betcha!
And it gets worse: If you wanna play any Starforce 3-protected game, you better torrent it down on your own, as noone bothers to get a game that's so complicated to crack.
And in the console side, the only modern-day console you can get here is the Playstation 2, because it uses DVDs, the only media that can be easily pirated.
Matt Neuteboom (976) on 4/19/2006 2:20 AM · Permalink · Report
:-( That's sad to hear my friend. I don't know how I would live if I had to crack a CD just to play my favorite games.
Slug Camargo (583) on 4/21/2006 12:25 AM · Permalink · Report
The problem there is I don't have a credit card, bank account, or any other way for a US or European dealer to care and deal with me.
I did get in some internet get-rich-quick scheme a few months ago, and got to make some money which I was gonna dedicate entirely to buying original games, but then the whole thing blew up and I don't know when are we getting our money back, if ever.
Well, I still have a bunch of European friends that come to visit every couple of years and I can ask them to bring down some games; that's how I got Blade Runner and Prince of Persia, the only two originals in my collection. It might take a while before I get a proper collection that way, but hey, I can be patient...
Italian Caffe (1) on 4/22/2006 6:07 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
I'm from Constanta, Romania. I live on the coast of Black Sea.
nullnullnull (1463) on 4/22/2006 10:39 PM · Permalink · Report
I was in Montevideo last August. I took a class in Beunos Aires and did a quick day trip to Montevideo. Chatted with some bankers. Interesting place. They talked a lot about the banking crisis that happened a few years back.
Matt Neuteboom (976) on 4/23/2006 2:16 AM · edited · Permalink · Report
Where the heck is Constanta. I've never even heard of the place. What country is it in? O.o
And it makes me sad to hear about your family's loss Von Katze, it is unfortunate that that has to happen. Maybe if you do get a credit card, you'll be able to play originals.
You could also try using PayPal, eBay uses it almost 100% of the time and I believe it comes out of a checking account rather than a credit card. If your parents have a checking account you could try that then pay them the difference when the ammount is taken out. eBay is the only place I am 100% certain it is used, but getting eBay to ship to Uraguay might be hard. I alos don't know what countries PayPal works with.
EDIT: Nevermind, I checked your profile and Constanta's in Romania. Cool.
Italian Caffe (1) on 4/23/2006 1:35 PM · Permalink · Report
Whatever. I've edited the message so that everyone knows where it's Constanta.
Cassie_hearts_MCR on 4/24/2006 3:38 PM · Permalink · Report
As am i. Here people laugh about the same thing for a year. Not kidding. No matter how old it is they still laugh. Idiots. And Vans Warped Tour isnt coming through here this year!!!!! cries
Zovni (10504) on 4/25/2006 3:11 AM · Permalink · Report
I'm from Buenos Aires, Argentina, but I get around a lot. Anyways, Dr. Von K is right about the gaming situation in South America, lots and lots of piracy, tough from what he says they have it a lot worse than us. You can buy original games without a problem here and we are always pretty much up to date with recent releases. That's for pc games anyways, consoles games (anything from Nes to X360) are only available in import shops and nobody I know pays the prices they ask for there....
Italian Caffe (1) on 4/25/2006 8:38 AM · Permalink · Report
What Vans Warped Tour? (Of course, I'm a little bit off-topic, but that's OK...)