Your Life Then And Now

[Dritz]

I'm just curious what everyone's life turned out to be over the past 15-18 years.

I was 14ish when I found DBZGTLegacy.com. I was super obsessed with DBZ back then. It was fairly unhealthy. Anyway, finally I stumbled across the RPG on the forums and I really wanted to be apart of that but it was so * complicated that I couldn't even figure out how to apply correctly, despite me trying probably 3-5 times. Anyway, I finally made it to other boards and I remember that the only two things I wanted in the whole wide world was 1. to be a mod and 2. for GohanIdz to be nice to me. Neither ever happened.

Anyway, after the boards exploded I grew up. I started college and hooked up with this girl that I worked with and knocked her up like an idiot. I tried to do the right thing (according to my dad) and marry her even though I really didn't know her. I dropped out of college and our marriage lasted for three tumultuous years, but I did get a beautiful daughter out of the ordeal. Then I met a new lady, got married, and have had two new children in the past seven years (both boys). I've had a slew of jobs across just about every sector that there is except food, strangely. My last job, I was making $100k a year at a chemical plant but I was taking an excessive amount of OTC pain medication to get through my day. Eventually I was let go, which frankly probably saved my liver. I'm currently doing customer service at a cell phone company making $11/hr and trying to work my way up. It's a huge decrease in pay but I can pay the bills and I'm generally in good health so it's okay.

My life isn't glamorous and I'm not rich and I never got my dream job, but I have a great marriage and three fantastic kids, so I feel like I"m doing pretty good.

[The009]

My story is not so fun, I don't remember my age then but since then I got injured and have become disabled about it from me lol

[FF...]

Wish I had a powerful story of epic transformation to share. But the truth is, I was a crazy handsome * then, and I'm a crazy handsome * now. I lost some hair. I grew a beard. Things even out, i guess.

[SuperV]

I think I was about 13/14 when I joined forums, it was around Freshman year of high school. I was super anti-social, and had personal issues as well. Legacy wasn't the first forum I joined, but it was the first anime-related one. It was also where I first got interested in sigs and graphics, which led me to finding DBZ-Fan (which at the time hosted TONS of DBZ pictures), and where I ultimately found my online 'home'. I remember confusing members with the two boards, and telling myself I needed to pick one and make it my focus. Kiri was also influential in my life-long appreciation of JRock. I eventually did join the "New" legacy forum from when we split from the site, but I went by "Mach" or "Machiavellism" (another nod to JRock and Dir en Grey).

In the decade-plus since then, life has gone every way possible. Around the time I found this revived forum, I was in Dresden, Germany doing a practicum in Teaching English as a Foreign Language. I got the certificate and my Bachelors in Music, and taught ESL at a college for almost 4 years. I met people from all over the globe, and really expanded my world-view. I also got married in 2016, and now have our first child on the way in April.

My story's not glamorous or exciting either, but Forums were a huge part of my adolescence. I made amazing friends who went on to do amazing things, and really allowed me to find a place where I felt I was accepted and fit-in. Thanks to everyone.

[Kiriska]

@SuperV, have you had a chance to see Dir en grey live? Their music has evolved away from my general preferences, but I still go see them every time I'm able because they're great. I managed to catch Shinya's drumstick at the most recent show (in 2015, I guess, lol). Teen me's dream come true~.

Everyone grew up and got different interests, but I feel like I've just been here the whole time lol. Legacy wasn't my first DBZ forum or my first RPG, but it was the board I was the most active on for a long time, for whatever reason. Some time ago, I was reminded that I was also quite active on a YYH forum I completely forgot about? I was active in a lot of online spaces in that time. Lots of art and writing and fanwork communities. This hasn't really changed.

Went to college, did art, started doing Artist Alleys at anime conventions. Ten years later, I'm still doing that. :V Never got a "real job" or pursued many of the traditional "growing up" milestones (I am never gonna be married with children lol).

[SuperV]

I haven't seen Diru yet. I almost went in 2005? when they first played in New York, but the tickets sold out in pre-sale. Since Withering to Death, they've moved away from my tastes too, and the short clip I saw from In Weal or Woe Kyo sounded awful. I really liked Arche though, and the live videos I've seen sound like Kyo's really back in his element. I'd definitely go see them now, if they ever tour close enough to me again.

I DID fly out and see X-Japan at MSG in 2016. It was a good show, but certainly not the same energy as the hide days. It was amazing to see Yoshiki play Swan Lake again, as it was always a staple in his piano solos.

I never got a 'grown up' job either. The one time I tried, I hated it (it was also 3rd shift). I'm still working at a smaller local music store, teaching lessons and practicing with no real 'performance goals' in sight.

[Kaji]

Geez, I first found dbzgtlegacy.com way back in 2000 when I was finishing junior high. I joined because of the RPG which was run by a guy named Seexy at the time. Being such a creative juggernaut at 15 I named my character Aaron (would you believe that is also MY name? I know, right?!). Anyway I got to be super active on the boards and eventually took over the RPG, NPCing my character and joining the few, the ugly... the mods, and Idz took the RPG off my hands (I was NOT ready for that kind of responsiblity). I spent highschool with you folks and have pretty strong connections with a few still. After I went off to university I had less time for the boards, but I did meet my wife in the process, and started to seriously get into tabletop RPGs and writing fiction, so it wasn't all bad. After 15+ years, a Sociology Masters Degree and a few moves around Canada I work in global finance on the East Coast. The pay is good, and I use my spare time to scrawl out the sporadic drippings of my brain onto paper in a (vain?) hope that one day I'll see my name in print.

And I wouldn't change a thing.

PS - I still love 2 dance just like FF

[j-ren]

I stumbled across the legacy forums back in 2001 when I was 12. I was a closet anime fan and so this was a place where I could get my fix. I remember Chibi Bliss making her own forums with Alpha, 18 and me (I think Baka was there, too). Flash forward to present day and I'm still into anime and video games. I married my high school sweetheart and now we're just living that DINK life.

[Baka]

Man, I can't remember how old I was...14 I guess if it was 2000.
Anyway got older, became a IT corporate drone, got married, got some motorcycles, rode around, got fat, got skinny, got fat, etc.


You guys still here?

[Amanroth]

@The009 what happened that caused you to be disabled? I feel like we would have chatted about this at some point but it would have been liek (holy *) 8 YEARS AGO.

It's weird to think that it's literally been since 2012 since THIS version of the forum began... Time flies.

For me, the last 20 years have had ups and downs. I graduated high school in 2005 and got a labor job. Skipped college for many a year, I think I went in for business administration (marketing major) in 2009. I only have a 2 year marketing diploma. I played in a few bands before that, and using my experiences putting our own shows together (coupled with my marketing knowledge) I set up a company with a couple friends in the local music scene.

We were in the biz for about 7 or 8 years, we started booking local acts... mostly metal at the time. We started getting a name for ourselves, moving up into bigger venues, bigger areas, and getting bigger bands. All the while I secretly wished I still was playing, but I never did seriously pick it up again.

My mom died of lung cancer in 2015. It was pretty sudden, she fought a very uphill battle for just around a year... I have so many regrets, wishing I was more of a family man. I spent my teen years in angst on this forum and I spent my adult years just trying to carve out that social life. It never really hit me until she was gone that there was no more time to nurture that relationship. We got along great, but I just never came to see my family unless it was a holiday or a funeral.

I spent a good year after she died just working my * off. I was executor for her estate, so I was very busy. I kept doing my labor job, and I kept doing the shows... Everything started to seem like it was just a distraction from feeling my feelings, and everything started to make me more grumpy. I was starting to not want to do the shows.

In 2016, one week shy of one year later, my dad died of cardiac arrest in his sleep. The autopsy and nearby evidence revealed that he had been smoking crack within a few hours of his death and that this and his already poor heart condition were likely the two main contributions to it. I was so angry at him. As estranged as we were from each other due to his schizophrenia and behavior towards my mom, I still loved him and we still got along.

Basically when he died I lost it. I gave up on things and goals and fun. I made my entire life about dealing with their stuff. I bought their farm. I've been there for 4 years now and I'm STILL cleaning up all my parent's crap... speaking of, does anyone wanna buy an old school bus? Like * >_<.

I've made the last few years about enjoying my life and my inheritence, and trying to forgive myself for all the * i put myself through all the time. Mental health is no joke, and I've definitely forced myself to wallow for some time. I'm back out there now though, trying to make new friends, trying to connect with old ones, trying to re-establish connections from my youth and discover who I am now.

No kids, no marriage... maybe that's why my story is so fraught with drama