Monday, July 31, 2006

   Happy Anniversary, myOtaku!
myOtaku, the world's first anime-themed blogging service, turns three years old today! It's been a pretty amazing few years . . . lots of ups, lots of downs, but plenty memorable through and through. Now, the wonderful Miss Blue Hawk has requested that I write up a sort of personal "myO History" that documents my time with this site, my memories - y'know, everything!

So let's see what I can remember, eh? Alright . . . . .

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I joined on basically that very first day that we could, on August 2nd, 2003. I used to come by the old, old theOtaku.com site because of the articles it had about Evangelion and .hack//SIGN (among other things). When Adam mentioned an upcoming new service, I took his advice to heart: "Register early so you can get the screen name you want." So here I was, SomeGuy of myOtaku.

And then for 18 days I did nothing. At some point I remembered all about this and decided maybe it was time to get in on this fledgling community. Maybe it was when I noticed I had a guestbook signing from "anime girl" (who hasn't been around in a long time). In any case, my first few bloggings, where I didn't really know anyone, were kinda bland. Just mentioning that school was starting up, that Xenosaga was a hard game, or that my avatar wasn't changing immediately. Heh, I also remember that my early avatars used to be Lord of the Rings miniatures - first Pippin, then "Weathertop Aragorn", then "Heroes of the West Aragorn", then "King Aragorn". But yeah, less personal back then. It would be almost a full year later that I would finally adopt my "Live Action GTO" avatars and truly fulfill my purpose here. Or something.

That was around when I started up these funny little things to which I refer in my intro: "Street Philosophy" and "Canadiana". For those of you who never saw those, "Street Philosophy" was basically where I thought about some strange, inconsequential-to-life subject like the semantics of "chicken burger", people who don't hold light guns at the arcade shooters like real guns, and the like. "Canadiana" was where I just talked about what it was to be Canadian, what to know if you are a Canadian . . . stuff like that.

In these early days, my friends list wasn't nearly as expansive as it is now. There was the already mentioned "Anime Girl", "Chie", "majin ssj eric" (who recently posted, actually), "Black Phoenix", "Dying Ever Slowly", "Snow Fox", "Gemmei" . . . . . "Flint Marko" (the maniac Texan whom we love) . . . . . yeah, a whole bunch of weirdos.

In October, it expanded to include many of my most closest friends since. "Dark Phoenix" (alias Shanny, though we didn't know it at the time), "Aurus", "Nightbeck", "Molletta" . . . "Red Tigress" came later on . . . . . and in between there, "DES" returned as "Dead to the World". It was an exciting time.


There was the "DES" incident involving a whole lotta stuff including a poem, a deletion, and a return. It was at about this point I really started to become the "SG" that I would later become, as I basically talked the girl out of doing some slightly dumb things . . . . but yeah, even without MSN, DES became my "Kiddo" with whom I e-mailed often for the next many months.

I should finish off the DES bits before I go on. There was that whole yaoi-DES-Nitz thing. Basically, DES was putting yaoi pics on her myO page, Nitz was getting especially aggressive about her doing that . . . . . it got to the point that I contacted the webmasters to do something about it - which they did expediently. It was then that I determined that this might be a pretty nifty place to be, hands down.


So now and then I had boring spots to talk about with everyone. I told "The Legend of The Girl". Basically, my romantic history with my first girlfriend. The gist of it was that we dated, she broke up with me, and I chased her forever afterwards. It was kinda fun. After the history was over, I started telling the current version, "The Saga of The Girl", which was news on that whole romantic front which I eventually gave up quietly near the end of last year (if not sooner).


Then came "Cream Filling & Nougat" . . . . ho-lee crap. If ever there was a more specific myOtaku related tale to tell, it was this one. Borne from the comments of myOers, written by a myOer for myOers . . . . . it - a action-comedy about candy-themed police officers - went on to become a very important part of my own personal bit of myO. In fact, I still need to write a new one which I've had in the works all year . . . . .

The other bit I've become somewhat famous for are the poems. Well, I wouldn't exactly call them poems . . . I can rhyme alright, is all. Now and then I'd get a little Chaucerian and do posts in rhyming couplets and stuff - all in good fun. Especially around Christmas times, which has since become a tradition around my page.

During this first year I inexplicably got really popular around this site, and actually rose to #5 in the rankings somehow. Heh, it was even to the point that SUPPOSEDLY it was kinda scary to chat with me on MSN, being that I was "THE SomeGuy" . . . . . well, luckily that whole aspect of me has long since gone away, I'm sure.

I did end up making some amazing friends, though . . . near, far, over the water . . . . it was good times.


Then myOtaku 2.0 came along in 2004. We got PMs and all sorts of other goodies. For me, though, most importantly, they added Article Submissions. I was already a declared English Major by this point, and I had much more faith in my words than my drawings . . . I was really excited. Aside from being a sort of grounded voice for friends, I could now REALLY contribute some real anime-themed stuff for the website! My expertise ended up being more on anime in the broad view, which is still something I feel I can really contribute the most. I had some cool ideas that I never implemented, and I have more still to come.


Let's see, what to say next . . . . . heh, I guess we can't dodge it . . . we gotta talk about the Shanny bits.

After we started doing MSN chats with everyone (and had internet mud wrestling matches), Shanny and I started to become really close friends. Indeed, it's safe to say that today we are the best of them. Over that summer of 2004 I sent her a big package of Pocky, books, movies, and . . . a dancing moose (or beaver?). We both just really enjoyed each other's company.

Then I wrecked it all with that phone call. I got her into some trouble with her husband, and we had to get a little more detached. Many, many horrible things had to happen afterwards . . . but in the end, we're all still alive and moving forward, still the best of friends.


Right around that time I had to be convinced to meet new friends, like "Color Me Evil", "Enin", and "Shadowlight". I was getting really bad with returning guestbook signings and the such. Well, I gotta say I'm glad that people pestered me to keep in touch with these people, 'cause they're now all up there with my favourites. This trend of mine, not acknowledging new people continues to this very day . . .


The world started getting a lot smaller by this point. We were all chatting regularly, knew about each other's lives more and more, began mailing letters and packages to each other . . . heh, Christmas time started getting a whole lot more expensive . . .

Skype shrunk the world a little more, as suddenly we now had voice capabilities with each other for little money!

The summer of 2005 would mark another milestone for me, as it was the first time I ever met a fellow myOer in person! While visiting family in Edmonton, I snuck away for an afternoon with Color Me Evil, a day I still think back to fondly. February of the next year, Enin came to Vancouver and I got to spend a few hours with him as well . . . that was when I headbutted him.

Then March came. The month Molletta, Molly, became a Mrs. It was a little after she became a mommy (though the boy was put up for adoption and is growing up fine). But yeah, I flew down to Kansas to be there for the wedding! I got to meet her, Duorocks17, and "Lady Lea". It was just the tip of the iceberg, and I can't wait to continue the trend.


I'm skipping over so much history right now it's almost shameful. I think all I can really do is put it into point-form.

-The founding of THAT, the "Sadist Stalkers and Tortures of Elves, Bounty Hunters and Bounty Heads". I still hold a record as THAT'S official storyteller and the only - THE ONLY - member who was registered without his own say in the matter.

-MilkyCat and her drawings. She sparked the ire of some idiots here and there. It got big. Really big. Finally it eased up with some admin ultimatums for the better. Of this, what I feel I gained the most was MilkyCat's friendship (kind of a strong respect thing even though we don't really comment on each other much), I started being friends with the Gail/Panda, that wonderful woman, and . . . all my favourite people didn't get banned or deleted.

-Molly and Flint's e-marriage, which preceded Molly's later REAL marriage. In any case, I sung at both, officially and non.

-The Breakfast Club, which Red and some other weirdos started up. I became "Bagel" after that.

-The quiz fad. When people stopped blogging and just posted 5-8 online quiz results in a post instead. That died quickly, much to the chagrin of no one.

-My Stupid, Impossible "Guess that Anime Theme" Game. The thing where I would say "dahna chka-chka dahna chka-chka..." and you would correctly answer, "'Hey Jimmy' from Peacemaker Kurogane!". I haven't done this in a while, except to express posts more succinctly, such as when I finished FFVII or got geared up for Superman Returns. In any case, Shanny tended to win more of these than anyone else - though Flint won the first and Red Tigress won the FLCL one.

-Flava's Tournament, where we would vote popularity-wise on characters in a tourney situation. He quit his halfway through, sadly, and left us with nothing but pushy, spammy imitators.

-The "Color Me Evil" issues between the myO person and a new webmaster of a personal page. It got messy. I tried to keep it as clean as I could, being that I was friends with both . . . . . to this day there's still some bitterness, which is a shame . . . but we're not gonna go there today. And neither shall anyone else. Savvy?

-My first photo of myself on myOtaku was of half my face to show off my "exam beard". Needless to say, it impressed no one, being that I am incapable of truly growing amazing facial hair.


-The Great Bittorrent revolution, where I was no longer a glaring minority in a sea of people who got their anime from Adult Swim. I like to think that I may have helped this along for myOtaku . . . or I'm just pompous like that.

-The addition of member titles "Otakuite", "Senior Otaku" and "Otaku Legend". This became even more interesting when the writers of theO, feeling that they were getting left out of something fun, stirred the nest a bit. 100 more people got new titles, and for a time things looked good for all members all over again.


Anything I've missed? There was a lot that happened around here in the past three years, after all. Do fill me in on any bits I may have missed now.


Today, this website now has 55,000 odd members. We're massive. We have podcasts, t-shirts, a fairly cheap and very well-thought how-to guide. We have members all over the world. We have sections for artwork, wallpapers, quizzes, cosplay . . . we're massive.

Now, at this very moment, on the point of this anniversary, it seems we may be losing the Articles section of the website in exchange for something a little less conspicuous connected to myOtaku rather than theOtaku. It might work, it might not. At the moment, theO and myO's writers are not terribly excited about this, being that we're once again feeling a whole weight of disfavour our way. Hopefully a better plan may arise soon before it's too late. I am certainly hoping beyond hope that this is so.

On the other hand, the fanart section seems to be getting a major push. For the thousands of artists on this site, this should be a great thing.


In any case, there is always tomorrow. Heh . . . I have often said to a certain friend that if she ever left the site, or had her site deleted for one reason or another, I would delete my site as well. My reasoning is that the things I have gotten from this community - many new friends all over the world, some internet fame - shall stay with me well enough for now. I'd still have all my favourite people on MSN and whatnot, and I'd be fine with that for the most part. Luckily, however, this has not been the case and I'm quite glad for that.


So for everyone whom I have and have not mentioned, I shall say this:

Doh je!
Xie xie!
Dank ye!
Merci!
Danke!
Komapsumnida!
Gratiam habeo!
Obrigado!
Gracias!
Jag tackar!
Salamat!

To be a little more in theme to the site:
Hontou arigato gozaimasu, minna-san!

For the rest . . . . . it's been a wonderful three years. Thank you all for making it so great, and I wish you all an even better time ahead. Cheers!


[EDIT:] rustym! How could I dare forget that brilliant little Alabaman artist/drafter! He, much like many others, is no longer at this site anymore. But while he was there, he was an excellent artist with a very distinct style - something truly remarkable in the world of fanart. He wrote some pretty funny and memorable stories, especially those involving the medieval warrior Jimbo and his mule Pepe; he even illustrated them. He was a definite friend and I miss having him around - though you can find him at dA with the same screen name, for the record. In any case, I hope he's doing well, that his car isn't broken, and that he's still enjoying life as fully as he ever did. Cheers, buddy.

And you too, Sahkiryce, even though I know where to find you. Every time you ducked away from us, you freaked out the whole community. Whether you're here at this site or not, you're a part of its history nonetheless. So keep your chin up, cutie, things can only get better here on in.

Sana-san, who originally came to myO as "Sana-chan" but left to reimagine herself and who she wanted to be at this site. Many, many memories of you as well, some not as good as others, but all wonderful nevertheless. I also hope you're doing well.

Nikki, hello poppet! Again, you left and returned as "One Day". You were a charter member of THAT, and thus I shall give you props for history as well.


The things that come to mind after a night's sleep, I tell ya . . .
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