ABC Award

Judge (Nick Kwan) of Moar Powah! nominated me for this award two weeks ago (read his ABC list here). I decided to participate... and then I realized how hard it actually is to write 26 things about myself using letters of the alphabet. I mean, I like writing about myself. I blab about myself all the time, but this was still difficult. Thus, the long delay in posting.

Anyway, here are the rules. I'm actually going to follow the "nominate" rule this time, even though I'm normally too shy to do that kind of thing. I spent a lot of time on this, so I can't let the chain end!

1. Download the award logo and add it to your acceptance post.

2. Nominate a few fellow bloggers and share the award.

3. Since the award is ABC, take each letter of the alphabet and use it to tell something about yourself.

Annalyn's Alphabet

A is for Anime-Planet. I talk about this website a lot, partially because it introduced me to the online anime community, and partially because it's useful. It might not have the most comprehensive collection of anime information, but it's still the site I go to the most, whether it's to get anime recommendations, make recommendations, or simply keep track of what I'm watching.

B is for blogosphere. I love that word. And twitterverse, and aniblog, and fangirl, and otakudom, and all the words that fans have adopted and merged to describe things in their world. I'm in a class about the English language right now, and we've discussed the development of language and the way words are changed and added over time. When the professor asks for examples of compound words, I want to say, "fangirl! fanservice! fanart!" When he asks about vogue affixes, I answer, "-dom is popular! Otakutom, geekdom, fandom..." He asks how the word "complex" has changed over time, and I immediately think about brother and sister complexes. I love the vocabulary I see used, so it's hard not to talk about it in class... I'm pretty sure everyone in that class would count me as an anime geek. Oh, and that's another thing - not everyone sees "geek" as a compliment! 

C is for Creative Writing. Part of the way through last semester, I finally switched my major to English: Creative Writing. I'd been messing around with undeclared, Business: Information Systems, and Math Education. I even thought I might enjoy history and perhaps a political science major. I finally came to my senses and realized that what I love to do could actually be a part of my studies and my future career. I have two English classes this semester, and I'm enjoying them. 

This is my first time taking out my pastels in a long time. I enjoy
this. Especially when, like now, I'm procrastinating on homework.

D is for Dango. I have never had a Japanese dango, but after watching Clannad and Clannad After Story, I sing about them every day. So far, I have the first five lines of "Dango Daikazoku" memorized. By the time I finished writing this post, I only had two and a half lines left to memorize. Of course, I'm learning the shortened ED version, so that it seems less overwhelming. Yes, I know this isn't impressive. But I don't speak Japanese, I'm not an auditory learner, and I don't make a habit of memorizing songs, even in English. The only other songs I have purposefully set out to memorize since middle school choir will come up under H. Also, I really like to draw members of the Dango Daikazoku. 

E is for Elements of Style. This is one of my favorite handbooks on grammar. I haven't carried it around or referenced it as much lately. That probably isn't a good thing. Now that I'm an English major, I should be relying on it and similar resources more than ever.

F is for fan. This is what I call myself: an anime fan. "Otaku" seems to imply a little more obsession than I have, and I feel it would be presumptuous of me to take the title on. Similarly, I'm not sure I qualify as a "geek," even though I identify with "geek" culture. People from real life don't typically peg me as a geek or even an anime fan. Apparently, I'm good at blending in (maybe it's because I like makeup, and I'm too much of a tightwad to spend money on clothes with anime-related prints). Then, of course, they get me talking, and then I'm pretty sure they think I'm obsessed (they clearly haven't met any true otaku, or any of the people online who awe me with their knowledge).

G is for Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet. This wasn't a top favorite anime of mine, but I did write one post on it over the summer. Another post idea has been floating through my mind ever since I first watched it. I can't shake the picture of all those Hideauze babies, and I know I'll eventually have to write a post related to it, even if it leads me down a controversial path.

H is for Horrible Histories. I discovered this BBC show via YouTube, and I can't tell you how many hours I've spent looking up the shorts and music videos clipped from this show. Thanks to Horrible Histories, I now know all the monarchs of England since William the Conqueror (which is sad, considering I couldn't list all the presidents of my own country, especially not in order). I've also memorized George IV's song, and most of Richard III's (hey, I had to sing something under my breath while I washed tables at work). When our history class covers a topic mentioned in one of the Horrible Histories songs, I post the video on Facebook.

I is for Imagination. I like to imagine characters of mine in the everyday scenes around me. I know Lila would be sitting quietly to the side, perhaps chatting with those around her, while her brother stood nearby, wishing he was somewhere else. Also, coming up with something for all 26 letters of this alphabet is taking imagination. 

J is for Jesus. He's too important in my life not to be mentioned. He's the best man a girl could ask to have in her life, and as one with the Father, he's the only God worthy of the title. Even though I often disobey and ignore him, he's faithful, and our relationship continues to grow. Even now, He's watching me type this, and I like to think He's smiling.

Season 2, episode 6: Kuroko does something awsome (again)

K is for Kuroko's Basketball, one of my favorite currently airing anime. I get pretty excited during Seirin High's games.

L is for Long. This post is taking me a very, very long time to finish.

M is for Math Education. When I started college a year and a half ago, I was a math ed major. I was absolutely positive I wanted to teach math. Then I decided I didn't want to teach after all, which meant I didn't have any use for more math classes. I switched to a double major - math (because I wasn't ready to let go) and Business: Information Systems. I soon realized that, while I honestly enjoyed my economics class, buisiness wasn't for me.

N is for Naruto. Yeah, I know that was too easy. If you're new to this blog, I'll fill you in: Naruto is what got me started on anime fandom back in the summer of 2009. I still follow Naruto Shippuden, finding what joy I can in the fillers and fangirling over the main plot. However, I have not seen any of the movies, and I've only read the first volume of the manga. The movies and the manga are harder to legally get my hands on, especially since I don't want to spend the money on it. One of these days, I'll probably watch some of the movies. 

O is for okay, or O.K. I like to spell the word "okay" out when I'm writing. I feel like OK interrupts the flow of things. It's like a bright, blinking orange sign in the middle of a peaceful garden tea. But it's not wrong. In fact, since OK stands for oll korrect, it's perfectly proper to slam those two initials in the middle of an otherwise lovely paragraph. So I can't get all fussy about that when I edit, unless someone tries to use both "OK" and "okay" in the same work. I might consider "OK" to be an eyesore, but it's a matter of taste - just like zebra stripes or lawn gnomes. 

P is for Princess. Sometimes, I pretend I am a princess. I tell myself stories of adventure and romance as I lay in bed at night. I'm not a princess as often anymore. At least, I'm not one in my stories. Outside of my stories, I'm a princess and I know it. Not just the type that sits in the tower (although I have a story for that, believe me), but any type of princess I want to be.

Q is for Queen, which naturally comes after princess. Actually, I feel a little silly for not noticing this lovely fact before. Sure, it's a coincidence that Princess starts with "P" an Queen starts with "Q," but I still find this interesting.

Ground beef, pees, carrots, spinach, beef ramen, and one egg.
Delicious.

R is for Ramen. This semester, I moved out of the dorms and dropped my meal plan. Now, I have Top Ramen multiple times a week. Before you get concerned or judge-y about my eating habits, know that I love ramen nights. In anime, I noticed characters often add ingredients to their instant ramen, especially eggs. I'd seen a friend add an egg to her ramen once, but I'd never tried it. So I decided to Google the topic, and I found this article. This article opened my horizons. I don't refer to it much. Instead, I experiment on my own. Now, as I told Tumblr, I am a ramen evangelizer, seeking to tell the world the good news of instant ramen's potential.

S is for Sports anime. This might be my favorite genre, which is not something I ever expected to be true. Action, fantasy, and adventure have always drawn me, no matter what medium of storytelling is used. But sports? That's unique to anime, although my enjoyment of Kuroko's Basketball and others has made me more open minded to the topic in other fiction, and perhaps even real life. 

T is for Tumblr. It's been a couple weeks since I got one, and I still can't decide whether that was a good idea. I will say this, though: when I get several likes or a reblog, I see why people get so addicted. 

U is for United States of America. That's where I live. To be more specific, I'm on the mainland, so not Hawaii. That's about as specific as I'll get on my blog or Twitter, even though any stalkers can probably narrow it down to at least a time zone based on what I've said around the web. 

V is for Verbose. I'm a bit verbose a times... okay, a lot of the time. What can I say? I like words, and, like I mentioned at the beginning, I like to talk about myself (probably more than I should). Still, believe it or not, I value conciseness. When I'm very serious about my writing, I make liberal use of my delete key (after I've saved the more verbose version, of course, just in case I cut too much).

W is for Wattpad. I posted a few stories on Wattpad.com. Then I told my followers that I'd write a sequel to one of the novels. I finished that novel a year ago. All I have for a sequel is a chapter and a lot of prewriting. I feel somewhat sorry about that. 

X is for X TV. Apparently, that's the only anime I've watched that begins with X (I checked my Anime-Planet list since I was desperate to get this done). Well, I started xxxHolic, but I must have gotten bored, because I dropped it. That was back when I had less patience.  I remember liking X, and I remember that there was action. But I watched it some time before I got an Anime-Planet account, so I don't even have a star rating to look back on.

Y is for Yes. Yes, I am stretching to find words for all these letters.

Z is for Zip. That's the name of my first truly "special stuffie," a black and white cat my grandma gave me when I was six. Before Zip, I didn't play favorites; my newest stuffed animal always got to sleep with me. I think I felt like being attached to a special stuffie was a requirement for a kid. Eventually, I really did get attached to Zip, although she had to make room for BB two years later. BB became my top favorite and accompanied me when I got my baby K9 teeth pulled out. Both stuffed animals came with me to college. I don't need them, of course. But they help make this place home, and they're good for cuddles.

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So, the last time I did something like this, I was too shy to nominate anyone else. But you know what? I spent a ton of time finishing this post. So I'm going to nominate people. If none of them want to do this, that's fine.

Okay. Let's see who I can come up with who hasn't already done this (or whom I've seen nominated by someone else). If I don't nominate someone who wants to do this, I'm sorry. Your name either slipped my mind, or I was too shy. Pick the option that offends you least. Both come from my quirks and have nothing to do with what you've done. So speak up if I should have nominated you!

Cajun Samurai at The Cajun Samurai
Frank at A Series of Miracles
Zeroe4 at Beneath the Tangles
R86 at Beneath the Tangles
Japes at Beneath the Tangles (Hm... I'm starting to see a pattern here...) or Japesland
Everyone else at Beneath the Tangles (I like you, but I realized that I'd have to inform all of you that you were nominated, and that's... kind of overwhelming for me, especially since some of you apparently don't have Twitter, which is my safe place... oh, and Charles has already been nominated by other people).
Rob at Christian Anime Review
Tommy Phillips at Anime Bowl

If you wish I hadn't nominated you, well it's your own fault for being a nice person and commenting or talking to me on Twitter... just kidding. You don't have to do this if you don't want to, or if you're too busy. Though, if you're less verbose than I am, this probably won't take you as long as it did me.

Liebster Awards/Questions from Another Blogger

Rules:
1. Link back to the blogger who nominated you
2. Answer the 11 questions given to you by the blogger who nominated you.
3. Nominate 11 other bloggers I'm too shy.
4. Go to the blogs you nominated and notify them of your nomination.
5. Give your nominees 11 questions to answer.

Silvachielf of The Geek Clinic nominated me for this well over a week ago. I can't believe it's already been that long... but Christmas break has been busier than planned, and rule #3 made me hesitate until I crossed it out. Sometimes, being shy means I become a rebel and break the rules. This is one of the times.

11 Questions from Silvachief

1. If you were no longer able to blog about what you do now, what would you blog about?

I'd blog about books and movies, I suspect. I'd post poems and bits of stories. I'd probably write a lot more about my faith (yeah, I know I already write about that, but I'd probably have a different target audience, so what I include would be slightly different). Oh, and I'd love to write to Christians about how we live out our faith online.

2. What is your favorite quote from an anime/visual novel/other?

Um... that's hard. I looked through a list of quotes I have on my desktop, and none of them stuck out to me. There are probably some buried in my blog posts that I'm forgetting. The only quote that really comes to mind isn't from an anime or anything like that, but from a show from the 80's: The A-Team.

"No means the same thing in over three quarters of the civilized world. For the life of me, I can't figure out why you have such a terrible time getting a grip on it."
- Minor character, whose name I didn't catch. The A-Team, Season 2, Ep 10

3. If you could gather everyone on your blogroll in one place, where would it be and why?

An anime convention. I've never been to one before, and several people on my blogroll would be able to show me the ropes. Plus, there would be plenty to do, so it would be easy to avoid awkward standing around and such. Our shared interests would probably help us skip the scary pleasantries and go straight to talking about the fun stuff. But still, a group of people... and if I'm the one doing the gathering... I don't do that. I don't initiate get-togethers very often. When other people initiate it, it's less stressful to me. So, really, I'd be happy with gathering anywhere, so long as it was safe and I wasn't responsible for it.

4. A 2-way dimensional rift has opened outside your house. Which fictional universe would you want it to connect to? 

Middle-Earth. Specifically, to the Shire in peaceful days long before or after Frodo had the Ring. It seems like a lovely place to relax.

Now, if I were to pick an anime universe, it would have to be Naruto's. Why? It's the first place on my mind, of course. Also, I could get all sorts of juicy insider pieces to share on my blog. Maybe even write a book about it.

Wait a second... it's a 2-way dimensional rift. Meaning people from Naruto's side could come over here. Nuh-uh. What if someone from the crazy Uchiha clan decided to cross? Or someone of Orochimaru's ilk? Even Granny Tsunade could be a catastrophic guest if she had too much to drink. I do not want to be responsible for that.

So, actually, I'd prefer it if the rift opened to Kuroko's universe, or maybe a universe that included all the sports anime I've watched. I think I'd actually keep an eye on professional sports in such a world. And, since it's not fantasy or sci-fi, I wouldn't have to worry about some evil villain (or drunk Hokage) messing things up here.

5. What is the story behind your avatar name?

A while back, I was playing with names for a story idea (one of many story ideas that flopped after the first scene). I liked "Annalyn" for one of my characters. It sounded pretty, it fit the mood, "Anna" means grace, and "Lyn" means beautiful. I thought I was being somewhat original, too, by combining the two names. By the time I thought to Google "Annalyn" to see how popular the name was, I was already stuck with it on multiple platforms. First, it was my name on the game Realm of Empires, and I held onto it after that. I sometimes wish that I had a less realistic username, because people might assume my real name is Annalyn, and it's not. But this is part of who I am now, and I won't replace it.

6. Do you have any phobias, fictional or otherwise?

I hate making phone calls, especially to people I don't know well, especially if I'm asking for something. I often map out exactly what I'll say if they answer, and what I'll say if it goes to voice mail. I don't break down in tears before calling anymore - actually, I think I only did that once. But it can still be traumatic if the circumstances aren't right.

7. If you could conquer any one country, which one would it be?

Sealand! It's small, and I would not be responsible for many subjects. I'd probably ignore the handful of citizens, unless they wanted to help me convert the place to an introvert's haven. Alternatively, I'd conquer some oppressed country that I believed I could truly help. I'd enjoy kicking a tyrant out.

8. Which super power would you like to have?

I'd like to fly. Then I wouldn't have to drive to school when I start commuting. I dislike driving almost as much as I dislike calling people. I think I could get over my discomfort with heights if it meant I didn't have to drive. Of course, I'd really need to fly at a decent speed for it to be worthwhile. Otherwise, I'd like to turn invisible.

9. If you could be any other fictional race, which would you be?

I'd be a hobbit. No, an elf of Rivendell, with access to books and history and pleasant waterfalls.

This is Ridgy. He's 3/4 Bichon Frise, 1/4 Yorkie, 100%
spoiled prince.

10. Which 3 animals would you most like as pets?

A dog. I have one already (my family has three total).

A cat (if someone else took care of the litter box).

A ninja dog. Those don't count as pets.

Nyanko-sensei Actually, I think he's above being called a pet, too.

A tame polar bear. Of course, I'd need a proper place and food for him. But ignoring all the practical details, I think a polar bear would be really nice to snuggle with. Plus, I'd never have to worry about crooks. Polar bear would protect me.

11. You find yourself in the waiting room at The Geek Clinic. Why are you there?

I've clearly gone nuts. The Geek Clinic is a blog. If there is a secret waiting room that I don't know about, it is virtual. So either I'm crazy, or I'm stuck in the internet. Help! Get me out!

--

Well, that was fun. Some of these questions got my imagination going. Thanks for the nomination, Silvachief!

Moving on now...

Questions for YOU

There might be a few blogs that I'd link to here, but the ones I'm not too shy to nominate either (a) have lots of followers already, (b) have already done this at least once, (c) haven't been updated in a while, (d) would look lonely here because I wouldn't come up with more than one or two links, or (e) multiple of the above. So, I'm going to list questions below, and if you want to answer them on your blog, I hereby nominate you! Just make sure you let us know in a comment, so the other readers and I can see your answers. I'll then edit this post to link to your blog. Or you can answer some of the questions in the comments below. Or in Facebook comments. Or anywhere.

1. What's one thing you've learned from blogging? Maybe it's something you learned about yourself, or anime, or blogging, or humanity. I'd love to hear!

2. If you've seen (or read) Attack on Titan, which branch of the army would you be in: Survey corps, Garrison, or Military Police? Why? If you haven't seen Attack on Titan, what rock were you living under this summer? Or do you just avoid violent shows?

3. What anime/manga/etc. character would you like to have as a roommate?

4. Do you promote your blog across multiple social media platforms? Which ones do you prefer? (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Google+....)

5. Is there an anime that you always find yourself recommending to your friends? A title that you practically command people to try?

6. Anime-Planet, My Anime List, neither, or both?

7. Are there any terms used by otaku that you still aren't sure you understand well enough to use? Can you easily incorporate words like "yandere" into conversation?

8. What do you like most about your current blogging platform?

9. What do you not like? Do you every wish you'd chosen a different platform?

10. If you're on Twitter, how do you feel about the appearance of pictures in the home feed? Do you miss the days when you had to click on a Tweet in order to see the picture? If you're not on Twitter, why not?

11. All the anime you are currently watching (or will watch during the next season) are in danger of suddenly ending. There will be no episodes after the one you just watched, and even that will soon be wiped from the internet. You have the power to save one show, and only one. Which do you choose?

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Consider yourself nominated for the Liebster Awards. Or, if you don't want to answer all the questions, you can answer one or two in the comments. I'm really curious to read some answers!