[Hakulyte]

First off could you introduce yourself? let everyone know your first name, age, and the city/state/country that you live in?
I'm Emmanuel, some French Canadian guy studying in computer science from Granby/Canada/Quebec. I'm 23, turning 24 in two months. I'm on my way to graduate and hopefully get somewhere.

What does a typical day for you consist of?
Playing video games, seeing friends, work, school, checking FFR etc. It's a fairly simple life.

Video games aside, do you have any hobbies? play any instruments?
I play chess at a decent level, won some school tournament. I played soccer for 4 years, swimming, etc. I don't play instruments but there's 3 pianos in my home and my dad has been playing for a long time by ear. I always liked music, but I feel like I would be too lazy to invest time into an instrument without a reason like playing with friends. It may be something I reconsider in the future.

How long have you been playing FFR/stepmania, and how often do you play in a week?
I played stepmania about 2 years before making this account on FFR so, it's been technically almost 9 years. I play between 5 and 75 hours a week depending on free time/semesters/work etc.

Could you let everyone know what settings you use for FFR/stepmania? (engine, keys, speed mod, up/downscroll ect.)
I'm playing using a standalone @ Flash Player 9 on Windows 7. I'm currently playing any spread setup with 2 keys apart @ ERUI, FGKL, ZXBN. I only play upscroll, I can't read downscroll at all and would probably fail out songs I can AAA with it. I'm using 1.0x, 1.25x, 1.5x and 1.75x. I also use 2.0x, 2.25x and 2.5x to warm up.

As for Stepmania, it's either C750~C800 Distant, Dark or C600~C650 Overhead or C325~C375 Sudden. I'm not sure if it's a computer or keyboard or player issue, but I seriously have nothing interesting to show on stepmania because MA has always been impossible.

Do you have any warmup routines, or have any silly/odd way of warming up before you play?
Yes, using slower speedmods like 1.5x and lower (even with screencut) is a bad idea if you don't warm up with faster speedmods first. So, at first I try to move up the speedmod as much as possible so I can only barely read. Once I adjusted to it, I go back to 1.5x screencut. I hide the standalone behind windows' desktop bar up to about 50% of the screen (this should be right around where the PA counter starts) and play. I only focus where pattern starts and at framers to stay on the early perfect frame and I read what I see and apply whatever I learned so far. Since the arrows scroll slower, there's less stress issues and it's easier to avoid getting tense on dense patterns. It's like the best of both worlds for me, but if you got really good reflexes there's no real reasons to bother.

What are some of your notable FFR/SM achievements you have accomplished that you are most proud of?
Overall Rank 1 at some point. (I could mention that I still unofficially have it but no one cares..)
Single Digit Average rank at one point.
Holy Orders 2-0-0-0 and Skeletor 1-0-1-0 are probably my most interesting runs.

Do you have any personal FFR/SM goals you have set for yourself?
I'm planning to quit take a break at either 1000 public AAAs or 1 FGO AAA and do something like stepping files or starting a tournament.

As for stepmania, I could probably try to get better at solo.