Hey guys! With a little less than an hour to spare, here is today’s blog challenge. As you can see, I couldn’t just post ONE picture. That would be super biased. So here’s a shit ton of photos that are my personal favorites. See if you can find yourself! 😉
Doing this activity made me realize that I don’t have pictures with some of my friends. 😦 So I’d like to give a shout out to my Interactive Events family, my down as fck coworkers, and to my new Boogiezone dance family! 😀
-Alice
Photo from sarahayasaka.tumblr.com
Hey guys! Happy FRIDAY! Do the money dance if you got paid today!Â
Now that I’m posting on a daily basis for the time being, I feel so much closer to you guys. Well, almost. I just ask that you leave me some love in the comments, please! I want to get to know you too, ya know! It’s like going on a date and only one person talks the WHOLE time and never shuts up. Like how annoying is that bitch? Don’t make me be that person! 😦
Anyways, in case you didn’t know, last week I got another tattoo. It’s on my left leg near my ankle and it’s the Sailor Venus symbol. You know, when she transforms. (VENUS SUTAHH POWAA MAKE UP!) I made a vlog about it on my Youtube channel so if you haven’t seen it, go check it out!Â
I then realized that I never fully addressed why I got this or what it means to me, which is kinda important, right? I mean, this symbol will be on my leg FOREVER so it’s gotta mean something special.
All the sailor senshi’s powers are inspired from Roman mythology. So yes, it’s not just a coincidence that she’s Sailor Venus, the soldier of Love and Beauty, and that there’s Venus, the Roman goddess of Love and Beauty. I’ve always loved the concept of love and beauty. Love is unconditional and everyone has the ability to do it. With beauty, everyone is beautiful whether you realize it or not. I addressed this in yesterday’s post, but just because you may not fit what society’s concept of “beauty” is, doesn’t mean you’re not beautiful. There’s all kinds of beauty, whether it’s physical or conceptual. You can have a beautiful personality, a beautiful voice, a beautiful faith, etc. Both love and beauty is intangible and that’s what’s amazing about it. You can buy all the cosmetics in the world, but at the end of the day, it’s how you view yourself. That’s what makes you beautiful.
*Give yourself bonus points if you sang that last line. Where are all my One Direction fans at?*
In addition, I also just love Sailor Venus (Minako) as a character. She can be a spaz, but she has a strong sense of justice. She’s confident, out-spoken, and she cares deeply for her friends. Fun fact: she’s such a popular character that Naoko Takeuchi (creator of the Sailor Moon series) gave her her own manga series!Â
I got this tattoo because I love what she stands for. It’s a reminder to myself that no matter how bad I feel about my body sometimes, I am beautiful no matter what anyone says. I have the power to change my negative views about my body into positive ones. It’s also a reminder to channel my inner Sailor Venus when times get tough.Â
As for why I got it on my leg… um, there’s no particular reason for that. I originally wanted it on the inside of my arm, but I ultimately decided it would look nicer on my leg.Â
So yeah, that’s it! This is why I’m a motherfcking sailor scout. Yeea.Â
Question of the Day: Who’s your favorite sailor senshi? 🙂
-Alice
Hey guys! Happy Throwback Thursday!
So here we are on Day 2 of the 30 Day Blogging Challenge: the meaning behind my blog name. Well, brace yourself because this explanation… is actually pretty simple and I wish I had a cool story to go along with it, but this is all I got. Sorry to crush your dreams so early in the day. 😦
“Alice Vega” is a name I came up with earlier this year because I wanted an alias or a stage name to go by. My initial thought was if I ever became a New York Times best seller or a famous vlogger, this is the name I want to go by. I know… how ambitious, right? But after I decided that, I changed all my social media platforms to match this name. So if you haven’t noticed, my Twitter is xoxoalicevega, my tumblr is also xoxoalicevega.tumblr.com, my instagram is xoxo_alicevega, and of course you know what this blog is called.
I was really inspired by Beyonce when I made the name. First of all, she’s a goddess and I freakin’ worship her. Second of all, I really like how she gave her alter ego a name, Sacha Fierce. In interviews, she explains that Beyonce is more reserved and introverted compared to Sacha. Sacha is more outgoing, sassy, and confident. I just really loved that dynamic and I wanted to do it too. Even though there’s honestly not that big of a difference between Allison and Alice (I mean come on, they both twerk regardless), I want Allison to be the professional face that graduated from a 4-year institution and I want Alice to be the girl who just lives life on the edge and is just straight up electric at what she does.
It’s actually really fun to have an alter ego! You should try it. Then let’s have our alter egos meet and have an alter ego party. I’ll bring the alcohol! I mean, Alice will. Allison frowns upon that behavior.
Nah, who am I kidding. Allison will also bring alcohol to the party.
In honor of Throwback Thursday, here’s a video of me dancing in high school with my song team. Aw yeah, jailbait Ally.
Ew, no. Stop it. It was funny in my head.
Fun fact: I choreographed the first piece, the one to Ciara’s “Like a Boy.”
Show me your Throwback Thursday pics or videos! 🙂 See ya tomorrow.
-Alice
Hey guys! Happy Wednesday… again!
See how special you are? I’m doing not one, but TWO blog posts today. Yep, shit just got real up in here.
I decided I would partake in a 30 Day Blogging Challenge. Honestly, I really suck at these. Remember when everyone had a Myspace? I always did those 30 Day Challenges in the little bulletin board things. Remember those?! I never, ever finished a challenge. Way back when I had a Livejournal, I never finished a 30 Day Challenge then either. I think I got to like, Day 7, and then… I don’t know. I have a short attention span so I probably went to go eat and I just never came back to it. Anyways, here is present Ally in the year 2013. I’m going to finish a challenge. That’s it, end of story. Challenge accepted. Failure is NOT an option this time!
So here are the challenges: (I got this off of Suzi‘s blog.)
Day 01- A recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself
Day 02- The meaning behind your Blog name
Day 03- A picture of you and your friends
Day 04- A habit that you wish you didn’t have
Day 05- A picture of somewhere you’ve been to
Day 06- Favorite super hero and why
Day 07- A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you
Day 08- Short term goals for this month and why
Day 09- Something you’re proud of in the past few days
Day 10- Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad
Day 11- Another picture of you and your friends
Day 12- How you found out about Blogger and why you made one
Day 13- A letter to someone who has hurt you recently
Day 14- A picture of you and your family
Day 15- Put your iPod on shuffle: First 10 songs that play
Day 16- Another picture of yourself
Day 17- Someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why
Day 18- Plans/dreams/goals you have
Day 19- Nicknames you have; why do you have them
Day 20- Someone you see yourself marrying/being with in the future
Day 21- A picture of something that makes you happy
Day 22- What makes you different from everyone else
Day 23- Something you crave for a lot
Day 24- A letter to your parents
Day 25- What I would find in your bag
Day 26- What you think about your friends
Day 27- Why are you doing this 30 day challenge
Day 28- A picture of you last year and now, how have you changed since then?
Day 29- In this past month, what have you learned
Day 30- Your favorite song.
So Day 1’s challenge is to post a recent picture and list 15 facts about yourself.
Aw, yeah. A picture of me eating. Doesn’t get anymore accurate than this.
Now I’m extremely hungry and craving korean barbeque. Damnit, life!
15 Facts about Ally
My second question of the week is – have you ever done a 30 day challenge? Whether it was blogging, a squat challenge, an ab challenge, a song challenge, etc. Let me know in the comments! 🙂
-Alice
Hello beautiful! Happy Wednesday!
So I’ve been dying to write more posts to contribute to my series of blog posts titled “Ally’s Awesome Advice.” Now I’m no expert at life and I am pretty young, but I do consider myself to have some common sense and determination to live life like a badass person. (Shout out to the new Nigahiga video!) Therefore, I believe I have the street cred to back up what I say.
First off, I just wanna start off by saying that we need to stop comparing ourselves to others. I’ll be the first to admit I am very guilty of this. It’s hard to not compare yourself to your peers! I mean, how many times at school has your friends asked you what you got on an essay or what grade you got on that midterm? Honestly, that’s no one’s business but your own so don’t ever feel obligated to share that shit with them – even if they are your good friend. And as a dancer, it is almost impossible to not compare yourself to other dancers. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in class or at a workshop and I just awkwardly stare at the really, really talented motherfcker in the front of the routine. It like gets to the point where I’m probably making them feel uncomfortable with my staring, but I just can’t help it. If you’re a ridiculously good dancer, people are gonna stare. End of story.
And just to connect to my fellow geeks out there, I KNOW this shit happens in the cosplay world for sure. You know that awkward moment when you’re walking around at a con cosplaying as your favorite character and then you see another person also cosplaying as the same character and you start to realize they did a phenomenal job and yours is just shit in comparison. C’mon. We’ve all had those days. In the cosplay world, it’s even more intimidating because people are asking for pictures. So if you’re not getting your picture taken, but the other person has flocks of photographers going to them, it just fcks with your self esteem. I know the feels, bro.
You ARE special and unique. Wanna know why? Because you are the ONLY ‘you’ in this entire world. I know there’s a Jenna Marbles video out there that discusses this concept in great detail, but I wanted to reiterate that point and remind you that you are an amazing person and you should never let anyone make you feel less than that. So if you’re dating a douchebag or a sketchy ass girl, make the choice today to MAKE A CHANGE. Life’s too short to dwell on the losers. We could all DIE tomorrow and you’d die knowing you were dating an asshole that’s not right for you. So stop it! If the person you’re with doesn’t make you feel like you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to him/her, then you need to reevaluate why you’re dating this person.
My third point I’d like to make is to stop calling yourself fat. You’re not fat. Trust, you’re just not. Society has built this concept of what beauty is and if you don’t fit that image, you’re automatically ugly. I’m sorry, but who the fck are you to tell me I’m fat? That’s what you should be telling all those trashy magazines you’re reading. As a person aspiring to be in PR, advertisements are meant to make you feel like you’re a worthless piece of shit and you need to buy this specific product in order to feel like you’re of value in this world. DON’T PLAY INTO THOSE MIND TRICKS. You are smarter and better than that. If you want to be healthier, then MAKE THAT CHANGE! Challenge yourself to eat more vegetables and cook at home rather than eat out. Challenge yourself to workout. Oh and with working out, you don’t need a gym membership to work out. There’s plenty of home workouts you can do without spending money on a gym pass. For starters, check out the youtube channel “Blogilates.” Cassey Ho is a super talented and energetic individual who has tons of awesome workouts that you can do FOR FREE. The internet has everything, you know.
That’s not to say that working out at home is better than working out at a gym. A gym is a great place to workout with friends and meet new people. I’m just offering an alternative.
So let’s recap, shall we? Don’t compare yourself to others because you’re the only beautiful YOU in this entire world. If you’re in a dead end relationship, save yourself and that person the trouble and move on. And lastly, body image is a mental exercise in itself. Be happy with the body you were born with. Accept yourself!
I hope this helped you realize that you are indeed an awesome fcking person and no one should ever tell you otherwise. I understand it’s a process to learn to love yourself and accept every fiber of your being as your own, but we’re all learning. Even your role models and celebrities are fighting a battle of their own. We’re all people – we have the same organs, the same hearts, we have hands, feet, eyes, etc. What makes us different is our ability to think. Use that sexy brain of yours to THINK differently! Don’t let those advertisements fck with your brain. THINK about them and realize they’re trying to make you feel like shit. Don’t let them. You’re better than that.
Make the choice to be happy today. Fck feeling sad! Being sad sucks.
To end on a fun note, my question of the week is, what are some things you’re awesome at? Get that positivity going!
And to further end on a funNER note… TMI fact of the week: I may or may not be addicted to twerking. I’ll just leave it at that…
If you’re going to Comic Con this weekend, HAVE FUN! 🙂 I wish I can be there. Take pictures and let me know if you run into Wong Fu or Angry Asian Man!
-Alice
I told you I was in the process of starting to vlog, right?! Well here’s my first attempt at it. I apologize for the rough cuts and bad audio. I’ll get better at this shit, I promise!
Do you have an anime tattoo? Take a picture and send it to me! 🙂
-Alice
Photo by Anime Expo®
Hey guys! Happy Wednesday!
So I know I haven’t put out a post in about 2 weeks now. Sorry! BUT! The reason being is because I’ve been super busy working for the best anime convention in the country… Anime Expo!
So let’s be real for a sec. This isn’t gonna be some critique like most blogs do. I’m not going to rate my experience or anything. For one, I personally work for the SPJA so I wouldn’t be voicing out those kinds of opinions on here. (My soapbox only has so much limit.) I know I normally rant about other geeky topics, but for this post, I’d like to give you more of a personal inside look at what I do.
So this was my first year as manager and boy was I in for a treat. I was an assistant manager last year and there is a definite difference between the two jobs. For one, I never truly understood the operational aspect to Maid Cafe until now. But hey, you gotta fck up a couple times until you learn, right? I honestly was already anticipating some mistakes on my behalf just because I was kinda going into this blindly, but by Day 2 of the convention, I really felt like I got the hang of things.
Now I’m obviously not gonna release any top secret information here. (Um, duh?) But I will take a moment to gloat about my staff. You see, I have a pretty big department compared to others and that’s because my department puts on a show and we’re the performers. I need a large staff in order to make every guest feel special and appreciated. Not only do my Maids/Hosts dance on stage, they interact and play games with the guests. I know in theory it seems like an easy job, but it actually takes more work than you think. We practice months and months in advanced to be performance ready by con. I would know; I was there coordinating all the rehearsals for BOTH maids and hosts. My staff works hard and it paid off. We sold out 8 out of 9 shows. Booyah.
Ew, I can’t believe I just said “booyah.” That’s so 2004.Â
See? Aren’t we just a bunch of cutie patooties?
To wrap up this corny-ness, I just wanna say that without this group of hardworking people, we wouldn’t have been able to produce such an amazing experience for our guests. These ladies and gents work extremely hard and I wish I can give them something super duper awesome as my token of appreciation. Ah, the life of a college student. I hope booze will suffice? Just kidding. But seriously.
So what’s it like to be a maid or a host? Well, for starters, it’s a lot of work. I can’t even begin to explain how many rehearsals we had and how LONG the rehearsals were. We pretty much work 7-8 hour shifts each day of con and our ultimate goal is to put on a great show and keep our guests happy. Something new that my maids and hosts did this year was add “punishments.” You see, we have an interaction period where we play games with our guests, such as jenga, apples to apples, pop-up pirate, etc. If you lost, you had to do a punishment of the Maid or Host’s choosing. Don’t worry, it’s not anything bad. Most of the time, it had to do with yelling “I love Justin Bieber!” or dancing to Gangnam Style on our stage. Because everyone was doing it, punishments were… well… fun. I know, weird, right? I remember when I was just a maid back in 2011 and 2012, I don’t know if I had the guts to do any sorts of punishments. But surprisingly, guests really had fun with it. Soo… yay! Brownie points for Ally and her staff!
My department is such a silly, fun group of people. Like most departments, we have a ton of random inside jokes and because we’ve been working together for months prior to con, we already had a tight bond by the time AX rolled around. That’s honestly one of the best things about working for AX. It’s not everyday that you get to immerse yourself with so many amazing people in this nerdy community of ours. Not only did my awesome staff make my experience awesome, but my fellow managers from other departments are also just amazing people in general. I can’t help but feel nostalgic and so very grateful for what Anime Expo has done for me. I’ve been attending AX since 2002 and I never even imagined I’d be working for it, let alone managing a department. This is definitely not the end for me and I will be back! *insert Terminator voice here*
And so I lied… the corny-ness continues. I just really really really love where my life is right now and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I have to admit, I’ve been in a huge funk in the last couple months and I’ve been very confused and slightly depressed, but thank god for this past weekend and thank god I’m now surrounded by people who believe in me and want to see me do well. (Have I made you cry yet? Ew, stop that.)
So to end on a fabulous note, I got this drank in my cup. (Literally… drinking some wine right now. Heyyyy.) And I’m raising my glass to you. So you better have a glass too or something or else this shit’s not cute anymore.Â
There’s a reason I love doing this. There’s a reason I will work super hard to produce an amazing show with little benefits for myself. And I know every otaku and staffer reading this will agree with me – we do it because we love the fandom. I’m going to leave you with this awesome quote that my amazing div head shared with me:
“Fandom is focus. Fandom is obsession. Fandom is insatiable consumption. Fandom is sitting for hours in front of a TV screen a movie screen a computer screen with a comic book a novel on your lap. Fandom is eyestrain and carpal tunnel syndrome and not enough exercise and staying up way, way past your bedtime.
Fandom is people you don’t tell your mother you’re meeting. Fandom is people in the closet, people out and proud, people in costumes, people in T-shirts with slogans only fifty others would understand. Fandom is a loud dinner conversation scaring the waiter and every table nearby.
Fandom is you in Germany and me in the US and him in Australia and her in Japan. Fandom is a sofabed in New York, a roadtrip to Oxnard, a friend behind a face in London. Fandom talks past timezones and accents and backgrounds. Fandom is conversation. Communication. Contact.
Fandom is drama. Fandom is melodrama. Fandom is high school. Fandom is Snacky’s law and Godwin’s law and Murphy’s law. Fandom is smarter than you. Fandom is stupider than you. Fandom is five arguments over and over and over again. Fandom is the first time you’ve ever had them.
Fandom is female. Fandom is male. Fandom lets female play at being male. Fandom bends gender, straight, gay, prude, promiscuous. Fandom is fantasy. Fandom doesn’t care about norms or taboos or boundaries. Fandom cares too much about norms and taboos and boundaries. Fandom is not real life. Fandom is closer than real life. Fandom knows what you’re really like in the bedroom. Fandom is how you would never, could never be in the bedroom.
Fandom is shipping, never shipping, het, slash, gen, none of the above, more than the above. Fandom is love for characters you didn’t create. Fandom is recreating the characters you didn’t create. Fandom is appropriation, subversion, dissention. Fandom is adoration, extrapolation, imitation. Fandom is dissection, criticism, interpretation. Fandom is changing, experimenting, attempting.
Fandom is creating. Fandom is drawing, painting, vidding: nine seasons in four minutes of love. Fandom is words, language, authoring. Fandom is essays, stories, betas, parodies, filks, zines, usenet posts, blog posts, message board posts, emails, chats, petitions, wank, concrit, feedback, recs. Fandom is writing for the first time since you were twelve. Fandom is finally calling yourself a writer.
Fandom is signal and response. Fandom is a stranger moving you to tears, anger, laughter. Fandom is you moving a stranger to speak.
Fandom is distraction. Fandom is endangering your job, your grades, your relationships, your bank account. Fandom gets no work done. Fandom is too much work. Fandom was/is just a phase. Fandom could never be just a phase. Fandom is where you found a friend, a sister, a kindred spirit. Fandom is where you found a talent, a love, a reason.
Fandom is where you found yourself.”
On a separate note, are you planning on attending Comic Con? How about Vid Con or KCON in August? The life of a convention goer doesn’t stop here at AX! The feels continue as long as you keep attending conventions and network. So, hope to see some of you in the near future!
-Alice
Picture from jakexalrons.deviantart.com
Hey guys! Happy TMI Tuesday!
This is off topic, but I realized I greeted you a “TMI Tuesday” last week but I didn’t even divulge anything TMI about me. I know, what a tease, right?! Sorry I deprived you of that, but rest assure, I won’t fail you this week.
But you’re going to have to wait til the end of the post to find out my weird TMI fact. *insert evil laugh here*
And don’t be a bitch and just scroll to the end. Forreall.
Anyways… today I wanted to talk about my obsession with eating. Now I know I’m not the only one who gets excited when there’s a good deal at McDonalds or there’s a new taco at Taco Bell, so I’m asking you nicely to let your inner fat kid run loose for the next couple minutes. That way, my inner fat kid and your inner fat kid can be fat kid BFFs.
I love all kinds of food. Asian food, Mexican food, American food, Junk food from every country… yeah, I love it all. I tend to usually crave salty foods, so I’m more of a chip person than a cookie person. I don’t know what it is about chips, but I have the ability to eat an entire party bag of chips by myself. It’s actually more disgusting than admirable, and it’s definitely not an attractive site to see. Favorite chips would have to be a 3-way tie between hot cheetos, hot fritos, and potato chips. Yeah, I don’t care if I get all that red stuff on my fingers. Whenever I finish a bag of hot cheetos or hot fritos, I have no shame and just lick/suck the spices off my fingers. But the funny thing is, in public and especially when I’m among many pretty girls, I do the “lady-like” thing and wash my hands because who wants a bunch of pretty, skinny girls to judge you as you suck the red off your fingers? (That’s what she said. Wait, what?) But as I wash my hands, I always die a little on the inside. What a waste of valuable sucking. (Now THAT’S what she said.)
Which brings me to another point. I hate going out to eat with people who eat like a bird. You know what kind of people I’m talking about. These are the people who basically eat 1/5 of their plate at a restaurant and claim they’re so full, while you can still eat another 2 plates PLUS dessert. Best example of this scenario is eating all-you-can-eat Korean barbeque with a group of people. If you ever have the displeasure of going with me to a Korean bbq restaurant, I will order multiple plates of brisket and a shit ton of rice paper. Like, I’m basically ringing the bell every 5 minutes because I’ll be out of one of the two.
So I’m gonna be real. I can eat 2-3 plates of brisket by myself, no lie. Seriously! I’m usually one of the last people eating because I ain’t afraid to get my grub on. AND I still have room to eat the ice cream at the end. The trick is to NOT eat rice and be weary of how many sides you eat. The only things I pretty much eat are the brisket, the rice paper, and the lettuce. Also, drink WATER! No iced tea or soda… that’s gonna get you full for sure. Haven’t you seen competitive eaters? They drink water so that they can wash everything down and have room for more. Duh. That’s like, Fat Kid 101.
I don’t know about you, but I’m the kind of person that likes to have food accompany me with almost anything I do. So if I’m playing video games, I need food. Watching a movie, I need food. Taking a bath, I need food. Just kidding, but seriously, I need food. I don’t know if it’s because I’m actually hungry or if I just need something to help me focus at the task at hand, I just like having a snack there.
I definitely need food if I’m drinking. I think it’s because my brain automatically just pairs alcohol and food together like wine and crackers (I’m just oh so classy). I also think it might be because when I’m buzzed, I just want comfort food to help me through this crazy time. So whenever I’m at a party or kickback and you somehow see me in a buzzed state of mind, I’ll usually be asking for food. Preferably something terrible for you like hot cheetos or some greasy ass tacos.
But as much as I love all this bad stuff, I really am trying to eat a lot healthier since I am getting older. Let me tell you – eating healthy is difficult and just straight up sucks. And I know all you nutritionist-healthy-eating-foodie-fitness-gurus are going to come at me with some bullshit like, “Oh there’s some healthy options that taste just like the actual stuff!” No. No it doesn’t. I don’t care how delicious you say that pizza might be. It’s not the same. Quit playing games with my… stomach. AND heart. (Backstreet Boys throwback!)
After I got off work tonight, I was so hungry that I decided to stop by a McDonalds to get something to eat because I just couldn’t wait til I got home. But since I AM trying to eat a little healthier, I actually opted for the “healthier” options. If there’s anything you should know about me, it’s that one of my favorite foods of ALL time are french fries. McDonalds french fries are THE BEST. It’s like my weakness. It’s like… my kryptonite. Like at restaurants when I have the option between french fries and a salad, it’s like, HELLO… why is that even a question? This is America.
Anyways, at the McDonalds drive-thru, I had an internal battle between my bad side and good side. My bad side was saying, “Fuck it, just get the french fries. You’re at McDonalds, for crying out loud, it doesn’t get any fatter than this.” But my good side was saying, “No! There’s 10 more days until Anime Expo. NO FRENCH FRIES!” I literally had to ask for a minute at the order menu just to rationalize all this shit in my head.
At the end, all I ordered was one of their new McWraps. It was the grilled chicken and ranch one, which was actually really good. But no french fries… 😦 It’s ok though. Just for the freakin’ wrap, it was already almost $5. Like, seriously McDonalds? $5 for this wrap? Yeah, that made it a little easier to say no to the french fries.
So what’s your favorite food? Can you cook? Let’s let our inner fat kids converse for a bit.
-Alice
TMI Fact of the Week: Sometimes I just fall asleep after I work out. I DON’T forget to shower… I just shower later.
Hey guys! Happy Thursday!
Do you remember back in the day when being a “geek” or a “nerd” was a bad thing? I mean, remember Screech from Saved By The Bell? Toby Isaacs from Degrassi? Umino from Sailor Moon?! Nerds in mainstream media have always been portrayed as unattractive, unpopular, and uncool. But now I’d like to argue that here in the year 2013, geeks and nerds have become the coolest kids on the block.
For the sake of clarity, I will be using the term “nerd” and “geek” interchangeably because there’s a difference between the two. Check out Burr Settle’s article on this topic by clicking here.
Flashback to 10 years ago. In elementary school, I had an obsession with Hello Kitty and anime. (Still do, lol.) This was the year I started attending anime conventions with all my older friends. I was one of the “smart” kids (which is ironic now because my IQ is totally average.) To put it bluntly, my interests were a lot different than most of my friends my age. Don’t get me wrong, I also loved the mainstream music and pop culture at the time (Spice Girls anyone?) but whenever I would start talking about Dragonball Z or Pokemon in very deep detail, people would look at me funny. And then I’d realize only a handful of the other kids were just as enthusiastic as I was. That’s when I realized… people dubbed us as “geeks.”
The point I’m trying to make is that being a geek was seen as weird and different… and not in a good way. I mean, when I would try to talk to the other kids about anime and video games, I always got mixed reactions. The boys in my class would understand whenever I’d talk about Gundams or DBZ, and the girls would kind of have a general idea if I talked about Sailor Moon. But there was never any moment I can full on geek out with anyone over these things. To avoid being an outcast, I always changed the subject to a topic everyone would know about, just so I can fit in and not be different. Has this ever happened to you? I know I’m not the only one who has experienced this.
It didn’t help that I started cosplaying the year after. Now MOST kids definitely didn’t understand this shit. They couldn’t even comprehend why I loved these Japanese cartoons so much, and now I’m dressing up as the characters and attending conventions? I was always pretty sad that none of my school friends could relate to what I loved.
Now here we are in present time. The reason why I argue that it’s cool to be uncool is because the mainstream media has made the “nerd” or “geek” likable to people. No longer are the days of awkward, isolated social skills, but now we’re put to the forefront and are admired by many. I mean, Big Bang Theory anyone? One of my sorority sisters told me she loved that show and I was beyond shocked when she told me that it was basically about these group of nerdy friends just being nerdy. I kept thinking, “Wtf… Hollywood actually finds this amusing now? Whatever happened to us being so weird and different?!”
And I think that’s just it. Being a nerd or a geek is about being different. It’s about separating yourself from the “norm” and to people nowadays, that’s cool because we all want to stand out somehow. It’s seen as people having so much depth and knowledge about different things and it makes them cool. It’s crazy to think the day has come where my vast knowledge of the first season of Pokemon is actually valuable to people.
I can distinctly remember a time when the manga section of Barnes and Noble was literally just one shelf. Now if you go to a bookstore, the manga section takes up a whole aisle. The proof is in the pudding, you guys. Just look at how Hollywood has infiltrated Comic Con. I remember when I was younger, there wasn’t any big shot Hollywood actors and directors there, and if there were, it wasn’t really emphasized on different news outlets. Now Comic Con has become one of the most anticipated events in the entertainment industry.
I’m not saying any of this is bad. In fact, I welcome the attention! It’s about time cool stuff like anime, manga, video games, and comic books are getting their chance to shine in the spotlight. Look how well all the comic book movies are doing in the box office.
Therefore, I’d like to end on a positive note. This goes out to all the kids who always felt like no one understood their obsession with their favorite anime, comic book, or video game. We’re the shit. Embrace your geeky and nerdy knowledge. Because people wanna be like us now.
-Alice
If you know me, then it shouldn’t be a surprise that I’m a huge fangirl of everything awesome. I have different fandoms and I love them all equally. Sometimes I’ll have a phase where I’ll be obsessed with one fandom for a couple of months or years, and then I’ll switch it up. I guess I do it just to keep things interesting and spice it up a bit.
So you’re probably wondering: what the hell is a fangirl and what is a fandom? Well first of all, if you’re on the internet and don’t know the answer to at least one of the questions, then shame on you. But it’s ok – once you’re done reading this post, you might find out that you, too, have an inner fangirl/fanboy just waiting to come out.
Fangirl – noun
1. A rabid breed of human female who is obsessed with either a fictional character or an actor. Similar to the breed of fanboy. Fangirls congregate at anime conventions and livejournal. Have been known to glomp, grope, and tackle when encountering said obsessions.
-Credit: Urban Dictionary
First of all, that definition is a little outdated. I mean, who still uses Livejournal? (I haven’t signed onto mine in almost 6 years now.) If you used Livejournal, you were most likely writing fanfiction (like I was). Livejournal, in my opinion, was used for people in different fandoms to connect and share their love for the fandom. I’m not sure if people still use it though… It’s kinda like a Xanga now. Like, who uses Xanga anymore? That’s like using a midi file for your website in 2013.
And you know you’re a fangirl/fanboy if you’ve ever used the word “glomp” in a sentence. Remember those good ol’ times when you saw that word on t-shirts at almost any convention?! Ahh… those were the days.
But now “glomp” is so 2003.
In case you don’t know what “glomp” means, glomp is basically a tackle hug. Only anime fans would know what this means because most anime always has a character glomping another character. You know how some people act out what they see on TV? Yeah, kinda applies here. If you still don’t really understand what glomping is, here’s an image I found on google on how to do it right.
Scary, right? Especially if you’re the victim.
I always found it weird that not many of my friends really understood why I had so many obsessions and why I was so infatuated with the fandoms. I mean, if you find something you really love, like a sport, a book, a movie, etc., don’t you want to find out everything about it? For example, if you love basketball, don’t you want to watch ESPN and watch every highlight of everyday? Buy the games, wear the jerseys, tweet about it, tweet to your favorite player!? If you’ve done this, you can consider yourself a fangirl/fanboy. Because this is what fangirling is at the very core.
But I’d like to point out that there are different levels of fangirling. You have your extreme fangirls who sleep, breathe, eat their fandoms, and you have your mildly obsessed fangirls who don’t mind watching the series or movie over and over in the privacy of their own home but wouldn’t be caught DEAD at an event with other geeks in the fandom.
As you can see, there’s a spectrum and depending on how proud you are of your fandom, you may land differently on the spectrum than your friends.
As for me, I consider myself pretty extreme. I’m pretty vocal about what I love and I have no shame in telling people so. I go to anime conventions, I’ve cosplayed, I used to write fanfiction, I still READ fanfiction (both anime and Hunger Games), I’ve been to plenty of midnight premieres, I have a freakin’ Hunger Games tattoo, one of my sorority paddles is a Pikachu, and I follow all my idols on Twitter and tweet to them. And sometimes they tweet back! 😀
OH and I can probably quote some of my favorite Youtubers. Because I’ve watched their videos THAT much.
You can call me creepy all you want, but if you’ve already met me, I bet you didn’t know half these things that I do. I’m just good at integrating myself with society so that I don’t look like that awkward kid in the corner with no social skills. It’s definitely something I’ve had to perfect over the years. When I was a kid, I used to sing all the songs in my Rurouni Kenshin: Best Collection CD out loud to all my friends during recess.
Yeah, as if I wasn’t teased enough for being the asian kid.
So now that you know the art of fangirling, you may unleash your inner fangirl/fanboy out to the world. Let that fangirl converse with me sometime. Trust me, you’re not weird and you’re definitely not alone.
Hope everyone has had a great weekend! Happy Father’s Day to all the dads and moms out there!
-Alice
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