As I mentioned, I am a ten-year veteran of the convention scene, mostly here in the Southeast. Of course, Anime Weekend Atlanta 9 was not my first foray into nerdism. If I may go back a ways, I believe my first anime was a 3-episode OVA that was squashed down into a 1-hour kids' movie called Serendipity the Pink Dragon. Fast-forward to middle school, I saw Sailor Moon's last run on Cartoon Network and began collecting the VHS's after they cut it (we were about to meet Sailor Venus!). A year or so down the road, I happened across Rurouni Kenshin.
Here, with a red-haired, sword-carrying, scar-faced weirdo, I began assisting a person who is very, very special to me on her own journey into open nerdism. My best friend/sister Katie is the biggest nerd I know, besides my mom. She's the closest thing to a real-life Hermione Granger you will ever meet in your life. Ballerina as a youngling, rode and showed horses when we were in grade school, swam competitively for nine (or was it ten?) years and STILL graduated with honors. Katie, I love you with all my heart, but hearing you kvetch about an occasional "B" gave me migraines! But seriously, terrific grades and a bit neurotic about getting them. I am so intensely proud of her, for more reasons than one.
When we were sophomores in high school, Katie had some family tragedies. Since I haven't Skyped with her tonight, I don't know how comfortable she is with me detailing them here. To be on the safe side, let it suffice to say that her father became very ill. While her mom was busy a lot of the time with her dad in the hospital, Katie was over at the house a lot. I had been collecting the Rurouni Kenshin DVD's one at a time - this was when the DVD's were still coming out! We would have Kenshin marathons that went on until my mom came down and yelled at us to go to bed.
During all this, I don't even rightly remember how, but I had discovered the reading of fan fiction. I've got a vague recollection of writing something in the Pokemon universe while in the sixth grade, but I barely count that - it went nowhere. Either way, I read a lot of Sailor Moon, Rurouni Kenshin, Fushigi Yuugi (wound up hating the series of that) and Gundam Wing fics. Somewhere along the line, I fell in love... with Captain Souzou Sagara of Rurouni Kenshin. With all the enthusiasm and pure love of a sixteen-year-old girl, touched by his Enjolras-like story, I launched off into my writing. It dominated my life. I wrote in class, wrote at home... I'd spend HOURS glued to the computer, just clickety-clacking away on the keyboard.
Katie was having a truly rotten time of it all and that's the truth. While her dad was sick, I shared my fan fiction with her. While we watched Kenshin, we talked about stuff we wished would happen in the series... and talking turned into writing. I actually still have all the truly god-awful stories we cobbled together in the middle of the night. If you want to see them, please HESITATE to ask! I'm sure Katie could tell the story much differently than I could, but I'm just telling you how I remember. Not to take credit where credit's not due, but I would dearly like to think that I helped the special-est person in my life through the absolute shittiest time in hers.
Well, that's as much of the story as I can put in print! I'm sure I'll be on Skype with Katie tonight after I see Les Mis for the fifth time in theaters. I'll run this article by her and see if maybe she'll grace us with her version of the story in the comments! To view Katie's own nerd blog, please visit http://kcrabb88.wordpress.com/!!
Back to my old alter-ego for tonight, Serenity-chan, over and out!
Here, with a red-haired, sword-carrying, scar-faced weirdo, I began assisting a person who is very, very special to me on her own journey into open nerdism. My best friend/sister Katie is the biggest nerd I know, besides my mom. She's the closest thing to a real-life Hermione Granger you will ever meet in your life. Ballerina as a youngling, rode and showed horses when we were in grade school, swam competitively for nine (or was it ten?) years and STILL graduated with honors. Katie, I love you with all my heart, but hearing you kvetch about an occasional "B" gave me migraines! But seriously, terrific grades and a bit neurotic about getting them. I am so intensely proud of her, for more reasons than one.
When we were sophomores in high school, Katie had some family tragedies. Since I haven't Skyped with her tonight, I don't know how comfortable she is with me detailing them here. To be on the safe side, let it suffice to say that her father became very ill. While her mom was busy a lot of the time with her dad in the hospital, Katie was over at the house a lot. I had been collecting the Rurouni Kenshin DVD's one at a time - this was when the DVD's were still coming out! We would have Kenshin marathons that went on until my mom came down and yelled at us to go to bed.
During all this, I don't even rightly remember how, but I had discovered the reading of fan fiction. I've got a vague recollection of writing something in the Pokemon universe while in the sixth grade, but I barely count that - it went nowhere. Either way, I read a lot of Sailor Moon, Rurouni Kenshin, Fushigi Yuugi (wound up hating the series of that) and Gundam Wing fics. Somewhere along the line, I fell in love... with Captain Souzou Sagara of Rurouni Kenshin. With all the enthusiasm and pure love of a sixteen-year-old girl, touched by his Enjolras-like story, I launched off into my writing. It dominated my life. I wrote in class, wrote at home... I'd spend HOURS glued to the computer, just clickety-clacking away on the keyboard.
Katie was having a truly rotten time of it all and that's the truth. While her dad was sick, I shared my fan fiction with her. While we watched Kenshin, we talked about stuff we wished would happen in the series... and talking turned into writing. I actually still have all the truly god-awful stories we cobbled together in the middle of the night. If you want to see them, please HESITATE to ask! I'm sure Katie could tell the story much differently than I could, but I'm just telling you how I remember. Not to take credit where credit's not due, but I would dearly like to think that I helped the special-est person in my life through the absolute shittiest time in hers.
Well, that's as much of the story as I can put in print! I'm sure I'll be on Skype with Katie tonight after I see Les Mis for the fifth time in theaters. I'll run this article by her and see if maybe she'll grace us with her version of the story in the comments! To view Katie's own nerd blog, please visit http://kcrabb88.wordpress.com/!!
Back to my old alter-ego for tonight, Serenity-chan, over and out!
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