Real Name:Kristen Miller Age: 28 Current Town: Auburn, Alabama Hometown: LaGrange, Georgia Occupation: Doctoral student in English/Rhetoric & Composition; College Instructor (Composition, Literature) |
I got started playing Guitar Hero/Rock Band on Guitar Hero I at a friend's house in fall of 2006. I was horrible at it and flailed my way through Fat Lip on easy, but enjoyed myself anyway. I purchased a PS2 and GHII with my birthday money about a month later, reasoning that the game could be a good reward system when grading a tall stack of student papers ("grade three papers and I get to play a song..."), but I promptly devoted all of my holiday vacations and much of my free time after to working my way up to expert. I switched my focus from Guitar Hero to Rock Band after Christmas 2007, when I used my Christmas money to buy the only PS2 RB Bundle I could find in the entire city of Auburn (and much of the surrounding areas). I originally got it just to have some more songs to play on guitar and a better game for entertaining other people, but started enjoying the drums more than guitar. I didn't think I'd ever even use vocals unless it became the grenade to be jumped upon when four people were wanting to play at the same time -- I've had a long-standing fear of singing in public that is so bad that I'm self-conscious when singing with no one else around to hear me. However, after getting stuck about halfway through hard drums, I picked up vocals out of desperation and discovered I actually wasn't bad at it, and now RB vocals is my primary focus. I even sing in front of other people sometimes now. Heeding the siren call of DLC, I bought a PS3 at the end of May 2008, and have quickly joined the proud ranks of the DLC whores. I have consequently stopped collecting DVDs, which my roommate appreciates because we are pretty much out of shelf space. I didn't focus much on solo vocal career with Rock Band I since I didn't even start vocals till April of 2008; I didn't care enough to try to compete with people who had a six months' head start on me, so I hit 10.5 mil and then stopped working on the on-disk songs (and that whole calibration glitch fiasco was the final straw in getting me to stop working on them); however, I do plan to put in more work on solo with Rock Band 2, when I'll be starting the same time as everyone else. My main focus, however, will still be doing vocals for Interrobang.
My meager Guitar Hero accomplishments:
Guitar Hero I | Guitar Hero II | Guitar Hero 80's | Guitar Hero III | |
Overall Summary | Beat all the songs on expert. | Beat everything but Hangar 18 and Free Bird on the main setlist. | Beat everything but Electric Eye and Play With Me on expert. | Beat everything but Raining Blood and Lou on the main setlist. |
Best song(s) by PS2 Rank | Fat Lip | X-Stream, Surrender, Elephant Bones, and Mr. Fix It | Turning Japanese and I Wanna Rock | Sabotage, Mauvis Garcon, Cherub Rock |
Best songs by stars: | I Love Rock and Roll, Fat Lip | Surrender and Heart-Shaped Box | We Got the Beat and 18 and Life | Closer, Sabotage, Paranoid |
Expert FCs | None | None | None | Closer and Radio Song |
Favorite Song(s) | Ace of Spades, Iron Man | Who Was In My Room Last Night, Killing in the Name | What I Like About You, 18 & Life | Cliffs of Dover, Cherub Rock |
My Rock Band Accomplishments
Final RB1 Stats:
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I ended up ranked #1 for DLC on PS3 vocals, but that's more for my playing all the songs than being particularly outstanding at any of them.
RB2 Progress:
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Rock Band 2 (Guitar, Drums, Bass, Vocals, PS3) Interrobang! | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Martial Arts
Style:: American Karate/Mixed Martial Arts
Started:: October 1992
Earned Black Belt: March 1997
Favorite Tournaments:U.S. Open (Orlando, Florida) and Southern Open (Columbus, Georgia)
Tournament Events: Creative/Musical Weapons, Traditional Forms, Team Forms, Team Demonstration
Weapons:bo staff & nunchaku mainly, sometimes sword and kamas for demonstrations
Major Tournaments I've Competed In: Diamond Nationals (Minnesota), Pan American Internationals (Miami), Ocean State Grand Nationals (Rhode Island), Bluegrass Nationals (Kentucky), U.S. Open (Orlando), Battle of Atlanta (Atlanta)
My Bo Staff Form (at a demo) | My Student Brandon (1st Place '08 Battle of Atlanta) | Team Demo Montage, 2005
Billiards
Organization: American Poolplayers Association (Montgomery/Auburn, Alabama)
Started Playing: January 2004
Major Tournaments: 2004 APA National Championships - 9-Ball Teams - 17th Place out of 256 teams; 2007 APA National Jack & Jill Scotch Doubles Championships - 17th Place out of 256 Teams
Local Tournaments: 9-Ball Team won 2004 Auburn City Cup to go qualify for National Championships; played in lots of single, partner, and 3-person-team tournaments, have won a good bit of money doing this, but not as much as I've spent on entering the tourneys.
8-Ball Skill Level: 4 (range is 2 to 7, with 2 being beginner players and 7 being amazing players)
Session Champions in 8-Ball: Fall 2004, Summer 2006, Spring 2007, Fall 2007
9-Ball Skill Level: 4 (range is 1 to 9, similar to 8-Ball)
Awards: MVP Award for "Top Gun" - Summer 2007
Misc: APA uses a handicap system that assigns people skill levels based on past performance, and your skill level determines how many games/how many balls you need to win. I'm weird in that I can play people ranked below me and look like I have no idea what I'm doing and lose horribly, but play 6, 7, 8, and 9's and beat them badly. I think I just pay more attention and have a better handle on strategy when I'm playing a really good player, but they all really hate when they have to play against me. :)
Church & Religious Beliefs
Church: New Community Church in LaGrange, Georgia, a non-denominational, multicultural, contemporary Christian church. I believe we are the first fully integrated church in our area, and have been since the church started in 1992 (original location was the old theater in downtown LaGrange).
Started Attending: August 1993
Became a Christian Spring 1996
Ministries Involved In: Promiseland (Children's Ministry), 1996-present, small group teacher, kids' music leader; Drama Ministry, off and on since I started attending, primarily writer and director, occasionally an actor
Interests: Christian apologetics, history of the New Testament, history of the transmission of the Bible into English, intelligent design vs creationism, intelligent design vs evolution
Scuba Diving
History: When I was in 5th grade I got totally obsessed with sharks. I still haven't really outgrown it, to be honest. I always wanted to learn to scuba dive, but it was always something I put off because of time or money. My stepmom got into it in like 1996 or something, but she and I weren't very close when she first started with it, so I didn't have any inclination to join her. In summer of 07, some mutual friends of hers and mine were talked into trying it, and consequently tried to talk me into joining them as they took the certification class, but the class made without me, and I still didn't think I had time. Then when I was in Orlando for a karate tournament later that month, the karate kids and I went to Typhoon Lagoon (Disney water park), and one thing you could do there was their "Intro to Scuba Experience" where you got an air tank and regulator and could swim at the surface of an artificial reef with sharks, rays, and tropical fish in it. As soon as we got back to our hotel that night, I called my stepmom to ask how to sign up for Scuba certification with our friends.
Certified: August 2007
Dives Done So Far (Pathetically Few) Certification dives in Panama City, FL (Aug 07); Molasses Reef in Key Largo, FL (Nov 07); The Seas aquarium at Epcot Center (July 08)
Upcoming Trips: Someplace that has warm water in April -- my stepmom is planning a trip, but she's the most cold-natured person I know, maybe even moreso than my sister. Sounded like she was hoping for Bonaire. Also hoping to dive at the Georgia Aquarium sometime this winter. It's just frickin expensive.
Favorite Things So Far: Diving in the aquarium at Epcot was the coolest thing ever. I got to be on the other side of the glass from my karate student who came with me (that's the pic he took to the right). Everything about that dive was just great.
Number of Shark Sightings: Two -- nurse sharks at the bottom in one of my Panama City dives, and the sand tiger sharks in the Epcot aquarium (one of whom I got within about 5 feet of -- it was awesome!)
Political Views
I used to be a Republican, but I consider myself more a Libertarian now. Generally I agree with Republicans on economic matters (in theory, at least -- in practice I don't see them voting much differently than Democrats), but I disagree on a lot of social issues. I am a Christian, but I don't think the government should be making laws specific to a certain religion. My thoughts are, if it's not hurting anyone else or infringing on anyone else's rights, the government should stay the heck out of it. I've been noticing an increasing anarchist leaning in myself the last few years, and the dystopian theme I used for a lit class I taught this past summer definitely didn't help suppress that. I'm worried that I'm living in the prologue of a real-life version of We at the moment.
Since it's what's most commonly associated with libertarianism, I say that I do favor legalization of marijuana, but as a person who has never used it and still wouldn't even if it was legal. I don't drink, either, even though I can do that legally. I just think that if alcohol is legal, pot should be, too, if for no other reason than for the sake of consistency. (One of my favorite moments as a teacher ever was when one of my very-open-about-smoking-pot students asked me quietly during a conference if I "Still smoke the chief every now and then." I was like, "Do what?" (I didn't even know the expression.) He said, "Do you still smoke pot?" I told him "still" didn't apply since I never had, and asked him if he assumed it just because I'd said in class that I was in favor of legalization. He was like, "Yeah, well, that, plus you said you go to concerts and stuff. And you like zombie movies." The most entertaining part of this story to me is that when I told the story to my mother, her response was, "Yeah, I can see why people would think you smoke pot." Awesome.)
Randomness
Personal Website
Facebook
Myspace
YouTube Channel
In the southeast (Georgia/Alabama) and interested in getting a Boston Terrier puppy as awesome as mine? My mom and stepdad are selling some now. Here's more info: Boston Terrier Puppies for Sale!
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