hello - こんにちわ。私はリサです。

[Nanao]

<pokes head through the door> hi CAA, i'm Risa. i'm kind of new here, actually i've kind of been lurking in the back for a while. <looks around nervously> sooo, a little bit about me.

i love books, reading them and collecting them. one of my goals is to read a million. i've been involved in karate for almost 10 years now, as well as aikido. recently i've become interested in geocaching. it's like a treasure hunt where people hide caches and you find them with a GPS. loads of fun. i also like writing, drawing, shodo and scaring my nee-san.

i like anime (astonishing, i know). some of my favourites are bleach, mushi shi, spiral, claymore, death note, serial experiments lain, hellsing, FMA and too many others.

personally, i'm short, mousy, not terribly interesting and rarely without at least one book. umm... that's about it really. feel free to ask questions!

よろしくお願いします <bows>

[goldenspines]

Hello and a very warm welcome to you, Risa. I hope you enjoy it here. ^__^

[shooraijin]

ようこそ！

[Okami]

Greetings from the Neighborhood Wolf! o.o/)))

Glad to see a fellow booklover - got any favorites? Personal classics?

[Lilac#18]

[color="Plum"]Hi, risa.[/color]

[Nanao]

hmm. my favourite books of all time are the lord of the rings. i know it sounds kind of shallow. i love Salvatore's books, particularly the Dark Elf Trilogy. also, Agatha Christie's mysteries and GK Chesterton's Father Brown books. Mere Christianity by CS Lewis is another favourite. i think i could list on for hours though

[TopazRaven]

Welcome to CAA Risa! Hope you like it here. I'm a big fan of books to! Though I'm lame and most of my collection consist of books meant for children and teenagers. .

[Nate]

Hmm...R.A. Salvatore. I remember buying the Dark Elf Trilogy book a long while back but never got far in it. It wasn't terrible, but overall I found Salvatore's writing style to be greatly inferior to Ed Greenwood, who stands as my favorite Forgotten Realms author (which makes sense considering he kind of created the Realms).

Anyway a million books is a pretty lofty goal. Even if you read one book a day it'd take 2737 years to accomplish it...but don't let me try and stop you I guess? x.x

[TopazRaven]

Lol, you really love bursting people's bubble don't you Nate? xD

[Nate]

No I don't. ._.

[KougaHane]

hmm. my favourite books of all time are the lord of the rings. i know it sounds kind of shallow. i love Salvatore's books, particularly the Dark Elf Trilogy. also, Agatha Christie's mysteries and GK Chesterton's Father Brown books. Mere Christianity by CS Lewis is another favourite. i think i could list on for hours though

O_O Tolkien is awesome, as is Lewis.

I really want to learn Aikido, is there a way you can learn without shelling out for lessons? XD I'm cheap I know.

I'm also a potato.

[Tsukuyomi]

Hiyas and welcome to CAA ^^ Glad you came out of lurker mode! Let us know if you need anything ^^

[Rusty Claymore]

Hi~nya!! Your self description reminded me of Yumiko Readman, a character from one of my favorite Animes! Hope you officially enjoy it here!! n.n/)

[rocklobster]

Welcome to CAA!
BTW, Who's that in your avatar? Looks familiar.

[ShiroiHikari]

:hug: Welcome to CAA!
BTW, Who's that in your avatar? Looks familiar.

Looks like the kid from Howl's Moving Castle.

Also welcome to the boards, risa~

[Nanao]

thanks for the welcome everyone!

Nate ~ i know it's a huge goal, but i'd rather set the bar high than low. yes the math is against me but hey, maybe there will be good reading material in heaven and i can catch up. either that or i'll go haunt the library of congress

i have a book by Ed Greenwood, The Dragons Doom, but i haven't got round to reading it yet. have you read it and is it any good?

KougaHane ~ i actually found a club at the local community college that was pretty cheap all things considered. it's $150 for the whole term, which really isn't bad given what a commercial dojo charges.

yes, the picture is Markl from Howl's Moving Castle. i probably need to come up with a better avatar, but having the space empty was just making me sad. now i just need to come up with a signature.

[Nate]

Unfortunately I haven't read that particular book. But like I said, the books I have read by Ed Greenwood were very good, so I'd assume that one is good as well.

[MxCake]

welcome i was actually just watching something about gps when they where talking about gecaching 5 minutes ago thats spooky XD anyways haha and whats the style of karate your in?

[rocklobster]

oh, the avvie is great! I love Miyazaki and that kid was one of my favorite characters.

[Nanao]

i study an okinawan style called goju-ryu. it's an older style, originally brought to okinawa from china. it's a mix of white crane, singing crane and tiger kung fu. one of these days i hope to be good at it, but as it is my face and the floor have become good friends

Nate ~ i'll have to move that to the top of my reading list then

[Furen]

Hey, welcome! I hope you enjoy the community here at CAA. Feel free to ask anything!

[Tamachan319]

Welcome! So with all this reading (which is amazing ), what are some of your favorite books?

[Phantom_Sorano]

こうぐうリサさん.

[Kaori]

ようこそ！日本語を話しますか。

リサ is a nicely chosen name; I like the way that it can be Western while sounding Japanese, or vice versa (like Naomi).

also, Agatha Christie's mysteries and GK Chesterton's Father Brown books. Mere Christianity by CS Lewis is another favourite.

Chesterton and Lewis are both great authors. Have you read any of Chesterton’s other books? I’ve read a few of his, but not the Father Brown books.

i study an okinawan style called goju-ryu. it's an older style, originally brought to okinawa from china. it's a mix of white crane, singing crane and tiger kung fu.

Okinawa has a lot of cool martial arts—which is interesting considering that the Okinawan people are generally so peace-loving. That one is new to me, though . . . and it sounds amazing!

[Nanao]

Welcome! So with all this reading (which is amazing ), what are some of your favorite books?

thanks! hmm... besides LOTR and the others, i really enjoyed Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott, the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud, Confessions by St. Augustine, the Brother Cadfael books by Ellis Peters. i also enjoyed The Dragon Lance Chronicles by Weiss and Hickman, and Redwall by Brain Jacques.

よ]
ありがと。はい、ちょっと。私は日本語を勉強します。

Chesterton and Lewis are both great authors. Have you read any of Chesterton’s other books? I’ve read a few of his, but not the Father Brown books.

sadly i've only read the Father Brown books. i would love to read more of his work though. Chesterton is an excellent writer. do you have any particular favourites?

Okinawa has a lot of cool martial arts—which is interesting considering that the Okinawan people are generally so peace-loving. That one is new to me, though . . . and it sounds amazing!

it is amazing do you study any martial arts?

[Kaori]

Confessions by St. Augustine

Nice choice. That's a favorite of mine, too.

あ]
It's always nice to be able to practice Japanese with someone. Mind if I use plain form? I feel like desu/masu form is just a little bit too formal for this kind of setting. (I hope you don't mind, because I went ahead and used 普通けい in this post.)

どこで勉強している？学校で？自分で？

お国はどちら？<-- I'm curious about where you can learn goju-ryu other than in Okinawa . . . unless you are in Okinawa?

sadly i've only read the Father Brown books. i would love to read more of his work though. Chesterton is an excellent writer. do you have any particular favourites?

I've read a grand total of three of his books: The Man Who Was Thursday, The Ball and the Cross, and The Everlasting Man. I think all of those are awesome--but my particular recommendation would be The Ball and the Cross, which is much more straightforward than The Man Who Was Thursday (another terrific fiction piece). Or if you're really into history, read The Everlasting Man.

You'll find there are a handful of us here on the boards who are Chesterton fans (and even more who are Lewis fans), so you're in good company. ^^

it is amazing do you study any martial arts?

いいえ、ぜんぜん。　None whatsoever.

[Nanao]

It's always nice to be able to practice Japanese with someone. Mind if I use plain form? I feel like desu/masu form is just a little bit too formal for this kind of setting. (I hope you don't mind, because I went ahead and used 普]

ひとりで勉強する。(and with tutors). yay! i'm always happy to find people to practice with. i should warn you up front though that i've only been studying a short time, so i will make mistakes. please correct me when i do. and hopefully the mistakes will be forgivable ones :S

お]are[/I] in Okinawa?

yes, i study here in this country, although the best place is Okinawa. there are two main schools of goju, both of which are Okinawan led. there's only one non Okinawan that has made it to 7th degree blackbelt (or so i've been told). they do have schools all over the world, but instructors are required to continually be in training. schools are also required to send dojo heads to Okinawa to receive training periodically, or attend training when the Okinawan instructors are abroad. if you're in Japan, there are some Jundokan schools there but i'm not sure where.

so cool to see another Augustine fan! i've never met anyone outside of school who has read his books. and i'll check out the books by Chesterton you suggested as well.

[ABlipinTime]

allow me to interject a "Welcome" here.
glad to have you

[ScalpelFactory]

Welcome Risa!! ^_^ I hope you have a great time here!

I like your new Claymore icon, by the way. I really enjoyed the manga, and I'd love to watch the anime sometime.

[Kaori]

yes, i study here in this country,

Um, which country? US?

That’s interesting about how instructors have to go back to Okinawa for training.

i should warn you up front though that i've only been studying a short time, so i will make mistakes. please correct me when i do. and hopefully the mistakes will be forgivable ones :S

Sure, and of course mistakes are forgivable. I’ve been living in Japan for over three years, and I make mistakes. Earlier, when you said
[quote]あ]
. . . there’s nothing wrong with the grammar of your last sentence, but you don't actually have to say 私は; it’s clear from the context that you’re talking about yourself. 日本語を勉強します or 日本語を勉強している is fine. And Japanese people usually avoid personal pronouns like 私　and あなた if in fact they can be reasonably avoided—but you’ve probably heard that before.