Thread: Ah What the Hell

I just screwed up my ankle and had to take three days off of work, so I might as well poke around a bit and see what's happened with the place.

Since there are about four people who remember me... I guess an intro is in order.

I'm a 26, female, and live in a small town in Shikoku Japan (in Kagawa-ken, on an island about 1 hour from Takamatsu and 40 minutes from Okayama). I have a bachelor's degree in Japanese Studies with a minor in Japanese language and went to Tokyo University of Foreign Studies for an extra year of uni (in spite of only needing one credit to graduate) in 2004. In 2006 I joined the JET Programme and am currently teaching my second year of Junior High school through that program. I also teach some English classes for UNESCO on the side. I am reasonably fluent in Japanese (meaning I can hold a conversation in Japanese about just about anything at a normal pace without a dictionary or losing hold of the topic at hand) and am more or less literate in Japanese (meaning I can read about 1,000 kanji and still have to look up the rest).

I've translated for a handful of online fangroups (DokiDoki, Nakama, Storm in Heaven, Kotonoha, Obsession, Aku-Tenshi, Sakura Crisis, Doujin-World, etc.) I've also fan-translated the game Shadow Hearts: From the New World over one extremely boring summer. I write FAQs every now and then on Gamefaqs when I'm not being mean to sexist xenophobes on the Regional-Japan Board (my handle there is tsurara_mai).

Long long ago I was a big Visual Kei groupie and had a site devoted to La'Cryma Christi... I also took a few groups of fans over to Osaka in the early 00s to see concerts. I consider myself a "recovering Visual Kei fangirl"... but my best friend is still a gothic lolita.

I also used to hang out on Anime News Network (loooong ago), Animesuki (Suzumiya Haruhi boards mainly), and this board from 2002ish-2004ish. I used to be a mod, reviewer and the biggest jerk to fanart theives you could possibly imagine. I've been "Miss AO", I've been accused of being a giant **** (and often was), I've slept on a pullout couch with Trunks, have a few ex-AOers on my facebook and actually used to get a paycheck from this site once upon a time (not that I deserved it). I released my first scanlation on this site... and it stunk, a lot :P I also met my first translation-world contact (Kalendel) here before meeting her through Storm in Heaven a year or two later. I edited every post I made here 30 or 40 times before settling on something and was always verbose as hell (I haven't changed).

I actually don't watch anime anymore... I haven't got the time. I am however a Hagaren fan (and figure collector), enjoy the hell out of Inukami! (guilty pleasure) and like making fun of the Gundam franchise.

I'm a huge manga reader and read about 5 books every week. My favorite authors are Furuya Usamaru (fringe, indie, guro, psychological), Nihei Tsutomu (sci-fi, seinen), Moto Hagio (shoujo), and Oka Hiroya (seinen).

My first anime was Unico. My first manga was Tokyo Babylon.

JLPT level is 2 kyu.
I game (Wii, DS, PS2) ... a lot.
I am a big Megami Tensei and Shadow Hearts fan.
I collect doujinshi.
My favorite movie is Pan's Labyrinth.
My favorite color is blue.
My favorite subject is English.
Japanese is difficult for me.
I studied Spanish for 6 years and have forgotten all of it.
I used to work in a butcher shop as a meat wrapper and know way too much about dead cows as a result.
I am bisexual.
I want to go to Italy.
I get terrible gas from tomato sauce.
I hate fish.
I have never been anywhere but the USA and Japan.
My favorite food is inari-zushi.
I miss proper pizza.
Japan's awesomeness has been exaggerated quite a bit.
I miss Ashi, Tych, Ewdi, conceptexistance, and ShadowLance most.
I love cats (and have three).
I love snakes (and have none).
I have worked at a maid cafe.
I collect capsule toys and have a catgirl figure collection (+ 1 catboy).
I am "kakure-otaku" in Japan and try to keep my geekish tendencies hidden from aquaintances and students for fear of smackdowns or judgement (it doesn't work, everyone knows anyway).
I translate a ton of gay porn, but have almost no interest in it at all.

Watching now: DVDs of English-language movies
Reading now: HEN (Oku Hiroya), Happiness (Furuya Usamaru), Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (in Japanese)
I follow: BERSERK, Yakitate Japan, Hagaren, Inukami!, GANTZ
I'm playing: Mario Party 8, Biohazard 4 Wii Edition
I secretly want: a PS3
What I make fun of relentlessly: PS3

If this isn't the longest introduction ever posted, I will have failed in my mission >_<;

kudos.