Katawa Shoujo Forums

I've started reading again and have become much more comfortable with my emotions because of KS.

I've been playing music, being a black/dark knight (meaning, I don't white knight people) and enjoying jazz music before Katawa Shoujo made it popular. So no, I have not done anything new because of this game.

Granted, maybe I have become a bit nicer to people, but I've already been nice. I just keep it real and keep it at 100% from time to time.

probably more interest in Visual novels, as well as freeware games that are fairly well known (like Yume Nikki).

I finally signed up for the spanish and programming classes that I'd been putting off for a while, and stopped bullshitting around my therapist.

Gandara wrote: If my schedule works out, I'll be taking a class on sign language when I re-enter college, entirely due to KS.

That's pretty damn neat!

I've actually picked up a book in the last week and started reading. Katawa Shoujo actually introduced me to visual novels. Though I haven't branched off yet, I definitely plan to. I've also developed a slight interest in anime/manga, so we'll see where that goes.

To see the disabled in a new light, and also to read more deeply into a person's emotions and feelz.

writing.

Lots of writing.

Started running thanks to KS

Applied for university partly because of KS

Planning to go live on my own within a year because of KS

Drinking different types of tea, and having a waifu

Braille!

I'll be learning Braille and sign language. Thanks to KS
I'll be sure these skills will come in handy when I sending applications for a job as Science-teacher.

Also: enjoying Jazz-music more than before KS, I even went to a Jazz-club with my dad

I wrote a note of apology to an ex-girlfriend from a long time ago.

We had dated for several years in high school and college, but when I was studying abroad for a semester, she hooked up with someone else and then dumped me without telling me why. Then she led me on for a while with halfhearted promises of "reconciliation", while I became increasingly jealous and suspicious of her (and justifiably so, though she never did admit the truth). It was a rough time: I had been planning to propose as soon as I came back, and I lost the deposit on the ring I bought because of her -- not to mention, you know, a relationship with a person I was into enough to want to marry. I really thought she was "the one", but I apparently didn't mean all that much to her. Plus, you know, I was in a foreign country where I still wasn't all that fluent in the language, and wasn't close enough to anyone around me to share my problems, and wouldn't have known what to say or how to say it anyway. So yeah.

Long story short, the trauma of the experience "broke" me, for lack of a better term, and even though I knew intellectually that I was better off without her, I got emotionally "stuck": I became aggressively jealous, stopping just short of stalker-grade behavior. Finally, months after I should have, I had had enough of the abuse and severed all ties. (Meanwhile, she went on to carry out the plans she and I had made together, only with someone else playing my part. That was just the final insult in a long string of indignities.) I was really disgusted by the whole situation, but the way I reacted to it was also a black mark on my conscience for a long time. But I couldn't bring myself to apologize either, because she had never really apologized for what she did to me; the closest she had ever got was an "I'm sorry you were offended" non-apology a month or two after the breakup.

So anyway... I wrote her an apology, and emailed it to her. And she replied, and apologized for what she did as well, and for hurting me so badly (though she never did mention the sordid details by name -- still, it was more than I'd hoped for). Seems like she's doing well, though she is married to the guy she cheated with. I guess I'm happy that things are working out for her (as she did pull herself up from basically nothing to earn the career that she's got), but I can't say I won't be secretly filled with a fiendish glee if/when she and her partner in unholy matrimony get a divorce. My wife says she'll take me out to dinner to celebrate when that happens.

But the point is, my conscience is clear, and KS is what helped me put my demons to rest. Also, my ex is still a bitch, but at least she was a little more honest about it this time.

KS hasnt been the sole motivator but has been a big one among many. I have been trying to push myself harder recently, I have been too passive/scared in life and I need to change that to take control. This started about 9 months to a year ago and I am well on my way, its always nice to have reminders of why I fight and this was just it. How can I give up when there are people in worse situations that keep going?

And not really from KS but from the board I decided to get back in contact with an old friend(I had pretty much convinced myself not to even though I promised myself I would).

I'd like to say that this game also helped me break away from a previous girl who was holding me back for nearly two years. I grew so attached to this girl because I had that feeling in my gut like "this is the one I've been waiting for", but the problem was it was all for naught. This game made me realize I've been so narrow minded and secluded towards what I was looking for, and even just the fact that I was looking in general. It's taught me and important lesson in life that I think most of us can share:

Don't go looking for the one you love. Let them come to you, and if you're meant for each other, then move on from there. I mean, think about it; Hisao absolutely was not out with a goal of finding a lover, it all just came to him and progressed from there. I think that's really important, because now I feel so much more mature about who I'm looking at and what women I'm interested in getting close to. I don't feel like I love every single girl I come in contact with now, which feels like 1000 tons of pressure has been lifted off my shoulders. All of this has happened at a good time as well, seeing as summer has just began. This will give me lots of time to gather together my thoughts and emotions so that I can embark out on a great final year of high school next year!

I realized that i'd been acting like Emi when it came to letting people close to me in. After finishing her route I realized that even though i'd been dating my girlfriend for two years and living with her for most of those two years i'd never given her any details about my life before going to college. She'd ask about it, but i'd always duck the question or change the subject, and if I had to tell her something I was as vague as possible to avoid giving away details. After two years the only things she knew about my life before meeting her were that I bounced around foster homes and didn't keep in contact with any of the people I met before college. She never knew just how bad things had been, although she knew I was holding back something by the way i'd get angry every time she pushed and didn't back off when I tried to avoid the subject. The way I saw it my past was my load to shoulder, I was dealing with it fine on my own, and there was no point in dragging anyone else into my problems. And I was dealing with it fine, and eventually i'm pretty sure I could work it out on my own. I never realized how that made her feel though, how difficult it was to see your loved one deal with inner turmoil and not being able to do anything about it because they wouldn't let you in.

It wasn't just Katawa Shoujo that lead me to this epiphany, but it certainly had something to do with it. I've since told her everything, all the details, all the stories I never planned to tell anyone, everything. It was hard, probably the hardest thing i've ever done, but i'd do it again if I had to for how much stronger it made our relationship.

Wow, this post makes me sound like a major tool.

SirLadette wrote: Wow, this post makes me sound like a major tool.

Everyone has a their moment where the flood gates open. Everyone has something that has affected what they've become as a person and some people are not willing to come out with the details. I'm actually the opposite of you, as I was affected at a very young age by a parents divorce. The opposite part here is that I have no trouble revealing all of the details that made my parents split, even to people I don't know. I almost wish I just would have never told anyone about it, as it makes me seem like an asshole. Nothing about being honest is "being a tool", being a tool is going out, spray tanning yourself and drinking constantly (at least, in my mind it is ).