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tangiblewhimsyThis post will not be cross-posted to livejournal and is just for DW and all new friends.
First of all, hello! I'm so glad to meet you all. Some of you I've known for a while, others I don't think I've ever spoken with before, even on LJ. If you followed me on LJ but are only just now introducing yourself then you're all the more welcome and I'm happy that you finally said hello!
Well then, I guess we'll get into some of the nitty gritty?
Name: Aya
Seriously?: Yes.
Birthday: March 25
Age: 24
Gender (anatomical): Female
Gender (identified): Female
AOL Instant Messanger: OhnoHasNoPants
Time zone: GMT -8 hours/US Pacific Standard Time
How did you hear about Arashi/JE?: Long, long, long, long, long, long, long ago, I was a fan of Kinki Kids 'round about their debut (1997). I used to watch clips of their concerts on super blurry quality .rm files which were mostly a haze of pixel chunks because even back then Johnny's concerts were full of
sparkles. Back dancers for the Kinki Kids shows were JRs (as is common) and a few of them caught my eye which led me to watching every episode of Za Shounen Club I could get my hands on. Through this I became familiar with MAIN (Matsumoto, Aiba, Ikuta, & Ninomiya) and Musical Academy (the group Ohno used to be in forever and a half ago), and Sho by association with Nino. Mainly, though, I just enjoyed watching the games and the interviews and silliness that used to be the show (we will not speak of how it has devolved since Back In The Day).
So when Arashi debuted I saw them on SC and a few blogs talked about them and so on. I downloaded their first PV and was... incredibly unimpressed, LOL. But I was also a music snob (my dad was a DJ, I thought the only acceptable music was 'good' music), and I was also aware that sometimes the first single isn't the best way of gauging a group's sound. So I reserved my judgement and waited. Then they put out Typhoon Generation and I immediately dropped Arashi like a hot potato.
Fast forward to 2005. At this point in my life I have been keeping up with various Jpop/Jrock groups, I've done the anime/manga thing (and was still doing it) and as a result I'd read every volume of Hana Yori Dango that had come out. I was discussing with my friend Keiko how HYD was the only shoujo manga I'd ever enjoyed and how I loved the character Domyouji and so on and she told me that a live action had been made. ._. <--my expression. I had my reservations about watching it because Japanese live action dramas had not made their best impressions upon me in the past. Keiko then told me that the guy who plays Domyouji is really hot in yukata/kimono and that was enough incentive for me to at least give it a shot. I had anticipated being disappointed with Domyouji. Everything else about HanaDan seemed like it would be fine in a live action, but the character Domyouji was so outlandish and violent and volatile that I expected him to be watered down for a TV performance. You can imagine my shock, then, when Jun knocked that role right out of the park.
I had enjoyed Sakura Sake earlier in 2005, but I still couldn't make it past WISH and one song in 6 years wasn't about to win me over, no matter how hilarious and adorable Jun was at playing a retarded puppy. My choice was further validated when two years later Love So Sweet was the opening for HanaDan 2 and I seriously considered buying an electric drill to bore the song out of my skull.
Then we hit November/December of 2008. I decide in a period of less than stable mental health to marathon pretty much any and every jdrama I had enjoyed ever. A few new things got added to the list because I actually ran out about a week before new year's. Added to the list were HanaKimi (2007) and Maou (2008). Toma in HanaKimi got me back into Johnny's in general (because I'd been in love with him as a child, no lie) and his performance led me to Maou where Ohno promptly stole the show.
Truth was also wildly different from any other Arashi song and some poking around showed that most of their stuff wasn't Truth or Sakura Sake still, but it certainly wasn't Typhoon Generation anymore. And with that, I was sucked in. On January 19, 2009 I made the first![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tangiblewhimsy journal on livejournal and posted my first ever Real Person fic.
General stuff to know about me: I'm not scary. I'm really, really not. I think I might give many people a moment to pause because I can come off as incredibly aggressive, but it's rarely intended. If I'm voicing a point in opposition of yours, it's not because I don't like you or because I disrespect you, it is simply because I disagree. I also tend to have misunderstandings with people and when that happens I try to resolve it by talking. If I'm repeatedly asking you to explain what you mean it isn't because I'm attacking you or trying to force you into an agreement or to change your position, it's because I'm trying to figure out where we're not understanding one another so that we can better communicate. Sometimes it works, but sometimes I think people feel like I'm arguing with them. The only thing I would ask is that you try to work with me through these things rather than just shutting down and shutting me out. One misunderstanding isn't typically worth losing a potential friendship over!
If I don't like you? You'll know it. It's not going to be some ambiguous sort of sniping, I will come right out and let you know. So unless I have done so? Please don't think that I dislike you. And if I do or say something that makes you feel like you've been attacked or put in an uncomfortable position please let me know immediately. I come from a family and an area where conversational language can border on combative and I realize that it's not the same for everyone. I try my best to curtail my zeal, but sometimes it slips through. I rarely if ever intend to put someone on the spot and if you ever feel you would rather we back off of a topic of conversation just say so.
And with that, I feel I have adequately introduced myself. If you have any questions about more specific information or you'd just like to chat, please feel free to leave comments, send PMs or even send me messages on AIM. I'm online practically 24/7 and I always do my best to reply!
First of all, hello! I'm so glad to meet you all. Some of you I've known for a while, others I don't think I've ever spoken with before, even on LJ. If you followed me on LJ but are only just now introducing yourself then you're all the more welcome and I'm happy that you finally said hello!
Well then, I guess we'll get into some of the nitty gritty?
Name: Aya
Seriously?: Yes.
Birthday: March 25
Age: 24
Gender (anatomical): Female
Gender (identified): Female
AOL Instant Messanger: OhnoHasNoPants
Time zone: GMT -8 hours/US Pacific Standard Time
How did you hear about Arashi/JE?: Long, long, long, long, long, long, long ago, I was a fan of Kinki Kids 'round about their debut (1997). I used to watch clips of their concerts on super blurry quality .rm files which were mostly a haze of pixel chunks because even back then Johnny's concerts were full of
sparkles. Back dancers for the Kinki Kids shows were JRs (as is common) and a few of them caught my eye which led me to watching every episode of Za Shounen Club I could get my hands on. Through this I became familiar with MAIN (Matsumoto, Aiba, Ikuta, & Ninomiya) and Musical Academy (the group Ohno used to be in forever and a half ago), and Sho by association with Nino. Mainly, though, I just enjoyed watching the games and the interviews and silliness that used to be the show (we will not speak of how it has devolved since Back In The Day).So when Arashi debuted I saw them on SC and a few blogs talked about them and so on. I downloaded their first PV and was... incredibly unimpressed, LOL. But I was also a music snob (my dad was a DJ, I thought the only acceptable music was 'good' music), and I was also aware that sometimes the first single isn't the best way of gauging a group's sound. So I reserved my judgement and waited. Then they put out Typhoon Generation and I immediately dropped Arashi like a hot potato.
Fast forward to 2005. At this point in my life I have been keeping up with various Jpop/Jrock groups, I've done the anime/manga thing (and was still doing it) and as a result I'd read every volume of Hana Yori Dango that had come out. I was discussing with my friend Keiko how HYD was the only shoujo manga I'd ever enjoyed and how I loved the character Domyouji and so on and she told me that a live action had been made. ._. <--my expression. I had my reservations about watching it because Japanese live action dramas had not made their best impressions upon me in the past. Keiko then told me that the guy who plays Domyouji is really hot in yukata/kimono and that was enough incentive for me to at least give it a shot. I had anticipated being disappointed with Domyouji. Everything else about HanaDan seemed like it would be fine in a live action, but the character Domyouji was so outlandish and violent and volatile that I expected him to be watered down for a TV performance. You can imagine my shock, then, when Jun knocked that role right out of the park.
I had enjoyed Sakura Sake earlier in 2005, but I still couldn't make it past WISH and one song in 6 years wasn't about to win me over, no matter how hilarious and adorable Jun was at playing a retarded puppy. My choice was further validated when two years later Love So Sweet was the opening for HanaDan 2 and I seriously considered buying an electric drill to bore the song out of my skull.
Then we hit November/December of 2008. I decide in a period of less than stable mental health to marathon pretty much any and every jdrama I had enjoyed ever. A few new things got added to the list because I actually ran out about a week before new year's. Added to the list were HanaKimi (2007) and Maou (2008). Toma in HanaKimi got me back into Johnny's in general (because I'd been in love with him as a child, no lie) and his performance led me to Maou where Ohno promptly stole the show.
Truth was also wildly different from any other Arashi song and some poking around showed that most of their stuff wasn't Truth or Sakura Sake still, but it certainly wasn't Typhoon Generation anymore. And with that, I was sucked in. On January 19, 2009 I made the first
tangiblewhimsy journal on livejournal and posted my first ever Real Person fic.General stuff to know about me: I'm not scary. I'm really, really not. I think I might give many people a moment to pause because I can come off as incredibly aggressive, but it's rarely intended. If I'm voicing a point in opposition of yours, it's not because I don't like you or because I disrespect you, it is simply because I disagree. I also tend to have misunderstandings with people and when that happens I try to resolve it by talking. If I'm repeatedly asking you to explain what you mean it isn't because I'm attacking you or trying to force you into an agreement or to change your position, it's because I'm trying to figure out where we're not understanding one another so that we can better communicate. Sometimes it works, but sometimes I think people feel like I'm arguing with them. The only thing I would ask is that you try to work with me through these things rather than just shutting down and shutting me out. One misunderstanding isn't typically worth losing a potential friendship over!
If I don't like you? You'll know it. It's not going to be some ambiguous sort of sniping, I will come right out and let you know. So unless I have done so? Please don't think that I dislike you. And if I do or say something that makes you feel like you've been attacked or put in an uncomfortable position please let me know immediately. I come from a family and an area where conversational language can border on combative and I realize that it's not the same for everyone. I try my best to curtail my zeal, but sometimes it slips through. I rarely if ever intend to put someone on the spot and if you ever feel you would rather we back off of a topic of conversation just say so.
And with that, I feel I have adequately introduced myself. If you have any questions about more specific information or you'd just like to chat, please feel free to leave comments, send PMs or even send me messages on AIM. I'm online practically 24/7 and I always do my best to reply!
no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 02:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 02:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 04:47 am (UTC)My history with Arashi/JE is almost as long and winding as yours! And very similar, btw.
Out of curiosity, are you working, still in school, living the life of an heiress, etc.?
no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 05:05 am (UTC)Ah, really? That's great to hear! Most people I know, if they've been around a long time, got into Arashi and fandom around the same time period, in 2006. I knew about Johnny's and Jpop and so on but I had no idea there was actually an online community/fandom for any particular group until late 2008/early 2009. It's so complicated being but old and new to everything that's going on! But it also explains why I have an undying love affair with Jrs-era fic. XD
And I am an intergalactic rock star. :|
Okay, in all seriousness I'm currently a college student though in the past few years I was working to go back to school. I'm currently getting a general studies degree at a local community college and then I'm going to transfer to a 4 year university to complete a BS in Sociology with a focus in human sexual behavior.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 05:43 am (UTC)I've known (vaguely) about JE since I was in high school, so that's like 2002-ish? So not as early as you, but still a while. It took me a roundabout way to get to my current Arashi obsession, but yeah, 2008 was when I discovered fandom on LJ. It went downhill from there.
That sounds so fascinating! If you don't mind me asking, what made you want to go into that specific field?
no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 06:37 am (UTC)And jeez, I don't really know where to begin. Um.
I guess it has a lot to do with the fact that I am bothered by ignorance and fascinated by discovery. I've always been big into reading and learning, and the human animal is especially interesting to me. I've always been bothered that studies on sexual behavior have been stymied by moral hang-ups, especially because I believe that science and progress should never be dictated by a cultural superiority complex. The scientific community is only now coming to a point with global culture where the empirical study of human sexual relations isn't squashed across the board, and to me that is incredibly exciting.
There are still several moral-based standards applied in sexual psychology that bother me, specifically the list of practices categorized as "sexually deviant behavior". The problem is that broad spectrum studies have only ever been done in the US and are only done every 20-30 years. No one has ever done a truly cross-cultural study, and the fact that sexology is actually being established as a legitimate field of research fills me with nerdy glee.
I figured that if I was going to go into debt for college, I might as well do it going into something I care about. While most people wouldn't consider surveying masturbation habits of people over 35 cutting-edge scientific research, I like to think that what I plan to do with my life is going to be exciting.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 07:06 am (UTC)What kind of credentials/education would you need to go into sexology? I'm assuming a combination of a lot of sciences like sociology, biology, physiology and psychology? It sounds like it'd be a very complex field of study.
I say, if you're gonna spend a lot of time, effort and money studying something, then you should study what you want. And it'd be fun to watch people squirm when you tell them what you do for a living.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 07:18 am (UTC)And that is a good question. The problem with it becoming a field of study is that it is still a developing field. There is only one school that offers a graduate degree in sexology on the planet at the moment, and it's in Montreal, although the first school in the world to open a sexology department is in Australia and they're launching their masters program in the subject Fall of 2012. The program in Australia has a list of undergrad degrees it will accept as precursors, and on the list was sociology.
Really, it's going to require a lot of different things. I've so far done the 100 and 200 series anthropology courses ranging from physical/biological anthropology to cultural, psychology and human sexual behavior are a given, anatomy & physiology is on the list, reproductive biology and endocrinology, your basic sociology and gender studies courses, even criminology courses and abnormal psychology when/if you get into paraphilias and rape.
Honestly, I'm building my own curriculum because I know what I need. The Sociology program at a local university was just a good base. If I can manage it by the time I graduate, I might apply for a sort of build-your-own-degree deal and call it 'sexology'. The problem I have with doing that is that build/name your own degree type degrees usually aren't taken very seriously and I think I'd have a better chance of, you know, getting hired at in-betweener jobs if my degree said Sociology rather than Sexology. Even though I have no qualms with it, I'm not stupid enough to think it wouldn't hurt me on a resume when applying to a non-scientific field.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 05:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 05:13 am (UTC)I've just been around forever. ._.
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Date: 2011-12-27 05:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 05:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 06:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 06:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 07:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 10:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 12:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 10:03 pm (UTC)I enjoyed some of KT's music, but I couldn't care less about them as a group. I thought Arashi were amusing to watch, but their early music made my ears bleed. Now I can't stand KT's music AND they're boring, and now I enjoy Arashi's music AND they're still hilarious. I feel it evens out. :3
no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 08:06 pm (UTC)My own hook in song was Cry For You, though Troublemaker was a close second.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 10:05 pm (UTC)Cry for You... I have a funny love/hate relationship with that song. The first 23 seconds are amazing because Nino sound damn sexy, but then it rapidly goes downhill from there, LOL! At least in my opinion.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-28 04:39 am (UTC)XD Yeah, I'm not sure what about Cry for You got into my head but it was the first song I tried to find on youtube after hearing it so that I could listen to it again.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 09:37 pm (UTC)If you're interested and want to make it a sticky post, here's a how-to. You might already know about the DW sticky posts, but I'd figure that I'd mention it, since I keep on coming across journals that are forward dating their top posts instead of making 'em sticky. :)
no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 10:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 10:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 10:15 pm (UTC)cough.
Anywho, in the event that it becomes necessary I'll probably come back and sticky the entry, but for now it's already at the top of the page and I don't plan on making any updates within the next few days. ♥
Also, I'm curious, did you make your way over here from the friending meme?
no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 10:19 pm (UTC)...(checks profile pages)...
...probably going on
no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 10:27 pm (UTC)Well, hello! A pleasure to meet you, even if we appear to have no common fandoms. LOL Once, long, long ago, I was in the Harry Potter fandom, but I was (and still am) a Sirius/Remus shipper. Actually, this year I went and translated
no subject
Date: 2012-01-02 10:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-02 11:07 pm (UTC)If you're at all interested in downloading the ebook, it's hosted at my media downloads community:
I'm still going through each chapter and fixing things like accidental line breaks, but it is more than readable as it is. :3
no subject
Date: 2012-01-02 11:08 pm (UTC)Is it alright if I rant here...?
Date: 2012-02-02 07:40 am (UTC)Wow, it's amazing, really.
I'm not that much of a follower, but Arashi caught my attention two years ago. In the beginning, their interactions and their care for each other made me all, wth, but through the times I spent watching interact made me even more interested in their whole group dynamics.
Anyway, I just wanted to say, that I've read most of your fics and I am incredibly happy to be able to have read them. It's rather interesting the way that you portray each every one of them.
I was wondering, if you did not mind if I added you. This is pretty much me just trying to understand Dreamwidth, considering that I have an LJ account (chibipinkpetals) and just post my fics there, but for this journal...i would like to be working to progress on my fics, if any progression can be made.
I hope that you don't mind. Oh right, Dalinee directed me to yours adn Erin's contribution for Yama. It's all rather interesting and I really hope that I would be able to read it all properly. :D
Re: Is it alright if I rant here...?
Date: 2012-02-03 07:25 am (UTC)And yeah, I've known about Johnny's for a long time, but I didn't really know about fandom of any sort until 2009. I was frankly shocked to find out that people did things like write fic about various groups. But I don't tend to stay scandalized for long. The way I see it, if the Japanese sell doujinshi slashing Arashi, and Arashi even slash each other on national TV? I'm doing nothing wrong.
I don't mind at all if you add me! I'm always happy to meet new people. I'm glad to hear that you've enjoyed my works and that you enjoy the BC universe.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-08 01:51 am (UTC)LOVING the Art School AU, I should add. NUDE MODEL AIBA! WINNING!
(Also, I just had to join DW to add this comment because the LJ openid wasn't working so... ♥ I liked your fic that much!)
no subject
Date: 2012-08-08 03:28 am (UTC)Feel free to check this journal out. I think the easiest way you'll find things is if you go through my Master Fiction Post. It also contains links for artwork, some of which are drawings from MatsuJun's sketchbook in the Promenade series. So please, take a look and enjoy!
And awww, I appreciate that you went through the effort! I'm sorry that LJ was being dumb, but at least now you can leave me comments whenever/wherever you'd like! ♥
no subject
Date: 2012-08-08 05:54 pm (UTC)(And PS since your intro mentions you like music - I have a community dedicated to serious analysis of Arashi's music over here: http://listening-storm.livejournal.com/)
no subject
Date: 2012-08-08 08:14 pm (UTC)Actually, I like that definition. I'm going to use that somewhere.
After reading the first entry at the top of the page for your comm it makes me think I have to listen to Beautiful World all over again. I haven't heard it since April because I used to keep the CD in my car stereo, but then... my car died. The entire album makes for some pretty fabulous driving music, though, and there were a few times when drivers were only very narrowly saved from being murdered by me because Arashi's music soothed my road rage.
Arashi: like prozac, but doesn't require a prescription.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-08 09:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-26 06:14 am (UTC)Hope you do not mind me adding you.
:D
no subject
Date: 2013-07-26 06:42 am (UTC)I don't mind being added at all! I see you also joined my daily drabble comm that I... haven't even announced exists yet. XD;; While I'm currently putting daily drabbles here in the primary journal, starting August 1st they're all going to go into that community. So you're ahead of the curve!