1: Not bad. I've got a lot of free time nowadays, and I'm thinking of opening requests again.
2: I took two years in high school, but I've pretty much taught myself since then. A lot of it was through translation, which many have said is not the way to go. I kinda agree with them too, but I'm stubborn and hard headed. :-P
3: It's not excruciating or anything like that since like English, a lot of the same words are used over and over again. Now I also am not good at reading kanji without Furigana, which is more of a memorization issue. It's why I can't really read Seinen manga much to my chagrin. In the case of Gintama, it's more frustrating that Sorachi uses weird metaphors, pop culture humor, obscure readings for words and of course has a shitton of text that is frustrating...more so than the actual kanji he uses. The kanji is the easy part. It's figuring out what the hell he's trying to say that's the hard part.
---------- Post added at 11:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:34 AM ----------
Yup. So I'm opening translation requests again. Why you ask? Let this status report answer your question.
Gintama is...still Gintama. I really feel like it could end this year or next year, and then I'll be free. I mean, a slot will be open. I really intend on finishing this no matter what. Even if it's difficulty makes me want to choke a bitch, er..gorilla.
Anagle Mole will be on vacation for three weeks. Once again pinoymanga hasn't been getting me raws, so I assume I'll be waiting for my Shounen Sunday issue with Space 26 in it to translate that, and then I'll be waiting for it to resume. It's usually not very difficult to do, so I don't think I'll be dropping it or anything, and plus I want to finish a Fukuchi series for once.
Helz0ne has said to me that they'll be scantlating Bullet Armors soon, but since then hasn't given me any indication of when soon is. I've stopped translating it for right now until they let me know what's going on with it, though I will probably resume soon regardless of what they say. The series is really, really, really easy to translate, and Volume 3 and 4 barely have any text in them at all. So I believe I'll be keeping this one going for the foreseeable future.
I have bad news regarding Boku to majo no jikan. I've been told that my raw source has decided to retire, and therefore I may have to stop my translations of the series. I still have about 4 or 5 chapters to go, in which I hope that another raw provider will become available. If not, I'll have to drop it as it's not high priority enough for me to buy tanks for. The series yo-yo's in difficulty, sometimes being very difficult, and sometimes very easy. If I am unable to find a raw source, then sadly it'll join the large and still growing list of series I've dropped.
I haven't forgotten about Tales of failure works, I've just lost my raws for it since the last time I had to reformat my computer. If anyone knows where to get those again, I'll continue it. I really want to finish it considering I enjoyed the little bit I worked on, but until I get raws I can't. The series is fairly easy to do, so I would like to continue it till the end, if someone is willing to scantlate it. My motivation to work on something goes up when it's actively being scanned, unless it happens to be Bullet Armors.
So now opening requests....
First what I kinda wanted to do myself.
-Finish Hajimete no aku. The series just(?) ended, and considering I'm not too far behind since the last chapter I did (131), I'm considering finishing what I started. Now I know someone is scantlating this already, but since it seems to be on the slow side, I thought I could kick start it with fast translations? The series is generally pretty easy for me to do, so I could pull it off, but I dunno. If people prefer the new translator's style over mine, then I won't bother.
-I wanted to pick up Blood Lad, but I see the scantlation group just released another chapter. I've still got my eye on it though since it doesn't seem too difficult to do (judging from the raws I have and have read.), and I really like the Gorillaz-esque color art. I know I've said I won't do licensed series, but the first volume comes out at the end of the friggin' year. Now the thing is I can't find raws for chapters 25-30. Like Aku it's a fan preference thing, cause you guys and gals know how I work.
-Traumeister is still on my radar, and I recently found some places with public raws of it. I own the actual tanks, and there are a lot of instances with no text in the series so it wouldn't be hard for me. The main issue with it before was the unavailability of raws, and now that seems to be a non issue. If someone can promise regular scantlations, I'll do it.
-I'm also interested in doing Pokemon ReBurst, but I'd have to use my Shounen Sunday mags to do it, and there's a mighty gap between the last scantlated chapter and the issues I have. It's a moderate difficulty series, but I can do it. The issue is the huge gap that would occur. If people don't care then I can start work on it ASAP.
-Last but not least is another Atsushi Nakayama work Nejimaki kagyuu. I have all four tanks available for the series, but there's one huge hurdle here. It's a seinen manga, which means no furigana, which means it's actually HARDER for me to do than Gintama. I'm willing to give this a stab though, cause I love Nakayama's artwork, but it would be a slow, slow translation process since I'd have to like, look up every other word. I also can't provide raws since I have no scanner. Despite this I would need a guarantee that it would be scantlated and will have a Japanese proofreader to look it over before I'd even try to do this, since I'll need all the motivation I can get.
Now if none of the above interest my readers, I'll open requests, BUT THEY MUST ADHERE TO THE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES. IF THEY DO NOT I WILL NOT ONLY DECLINE THE REQUEST, BUT PUBLICLY HUMILIATE THE REQUESTER.
*Ahem.*
-Please direct ALL requests to this thread, and not PM. I cannot emphasize this enough. I really tend to forget to read PMs, so putting the requests there is a futile effort.
-Shounen are preferred, but I will look at Seinen in terms of difficulty and wordiness.
-I prefer not to translate stuff from Shounen Jump, since those usually get picked up eventually, and I like to work on things no one else does or will do.
-If it has nudity, it does not, and will not have BDR as a translator.
-If it is grotesque, it does not, and will not have BDR as a translator.
-If it is a harem, it does not, and will not have BDR as a translator.
-If it is mainly romance themed with nothing else, it does not, and will not have BDR as a translator.
-If it is boys or girls love, it does not, and will not have BDR as a translator.
-If it is licensed for English release, it does not, and will not have BDR as a translator. (Though certain parameters may negate this.)
-If someone else is releasing it on a regular basis, it does not, and will not have BDR as a translator. (Regular basis being within the last month or two.)
-Finished stuff is fine, but I would rather it not be like...40 volumes long, though I'll at least read through it.
If I haven't covered something, please ask HERE IN MY THREAD for me to clarify and I'll be more than glad to. PMs will be both accidentally and purposely ignored.
Thank you for reading.
I'll try my best on seinen manga, but keep in mind I can't read them too well and they'll take me longer to translate since I'll have to look up basically every other word. A few of these do look interesting though. Minmia Hime especially. This is second time someone's recommended Zodiac game as well. I guess I should seriously consider it now huh. 
Better luck next time~!