People. I hate them, and I love them.
UW campus' Student Organization Fair was tonight, and I feel ready to die from exhaustion. For most of the night, I was the only one at the table, which was sad, :( I like doing it, though. I have two and a half pages of names and email addresses to write to some time tomorrow.
The Fair was a bit different this year, though. Instead of having each student org share a table with another one, and cramming us all into different parts of Memorial Union, this year everything was very spaced out at the Kohl Center, which was nice. It was a lot easier to see the flow of people going by, though. As anime becomes more popular, the stereotype of a "typical" anime fan being a person who is socially awkward and very "geeky" by appearance is becoming less valid. Of course, many people like this exist, and I am glad that Anime Club is a place for them to come and make friends at college, and feel comfortable.
But it still pisses me off that others can be so judgmental about anime as a genre. I understand it's cartoons, but whatever. When you are with a group of friends, and stop walking, look at the table full of comic books and DVD cases, and then look at me, and walk over, and are barely controlling your laughter as you ask me how the Club works while you periodically glance back at your friends with CAN YOU BELIEVE PEOPLE LIKE THIS EXIST faces, and I explain it, are you not being the least bit childish? Do you think that I am not, in fact, fully aware of the fact that you have some weird perception that I have no friends, or don't realize you're laughing at me? Do you think I don't know that your friends just dared you to come over and talk to me? BECAUSE LET ME TELL YOU, I AM AWARE. Hi, I showered this morning, too! And I put on mascara just like you did. I also like going out for drinks with my friends! BUT PLEASE JUDGE ME BECAUSE I LIKE CUTE THINGS AND WELL-WRITTEN STORIES. Bitches. At least one of my Club cohorts consoled me by extrapolating the probability of one of them getting an STD in the next month.
Apparently, there is another anime club that started up this year, too. At first I was very much, "WTF, let's take them DOWN," but then I investigated their booth. An Asian girl was cosplaying adorably as Chii, from Chobits. It seems like their focus is on analyzing the role of anime in culture, and holding contests for people who draw their own stuff. They actually sent a representative over to our table, and we exchanged emails and agreed to advertise for one another for special events, such as said contests. They seem really nice, and hey - if there are ways for more people to enjoy anime, then all the better, right?
This year, it seemed like a lot more international students stopped by the table this year. There were a lot of mixed-gender crowds, in which guys would stop and look on as the girls would totally freak out, shouting, "Waiiiii! NANA! Hachimitsu! Faruba!" Some of them listened when I explained how to sign up to get an explanatory email, while others ignored me entirely, just grabbing volumes of manga and shaking them at their friends with expressions of disbelief.
All in all, it was a good time. I met lots of new people, and hopefully they'll show up this Saturday for Club. A lot of people who weren't freshmen seemed heartened when we explained that we were trying to make the Club more socially-focused, and less like a living room in which people came, watched, and left.
The Fair was a bit different this year, though. Instead of having each student org share a table with another one, and cramming us all into different parts of Memorial Union, this year everything was very spaced out at the Kohl Center, which was nice. It was a lot easier to see the flow of people going by, though. As anime becomes more popular, the stereotype of a "typical" anime fan being a person who is socially awkward and very "geeky" by appearance is becoming less valid. Of course, many people like this exist, and I am glad that Anime Club is a place for them to come and make friends at college, and feel comfortable.
But it still pisses me off that others can be so judgmental about anime as a genre. I understand it's cartoons, but whatever. When you are with a group of friends, and stop walking, look at the table full of comic books and DVD cases, and then look at me, and walk over, and are barely controlling your laughter as you ask me how the Club works while you periodically glance back at your friends with CAN YOU BELIEVE PEOPLE LIKE THIS EXIST faces, and I explain it, are you not being the least bit childish? Do you think that I am not, in fact, fully aware of the fact that you have some weird perception that I have no friends, or don't realize you're laughing at me? Do you think I don't know that your friends just dared you to come over and talk to me? BECAUSE LET ME TELL YOU, I AM AWARE. Hi, I showered this morning, too! And I put on mascara just like you did. I also like going out for drinks with my friends! BUT PLEASE JUDGE ME BECAUSE I LIKE CUTE THINGS AND WELL-WRITTEN STORIES. Bitches. At least one of my Club cohorts consoled me by extrapolating the probability of one of them getting an STD in the next month.
Apparently, there is another anime club that started up this year, too. At first I was very much, "WTF, let's take them DOWN," but then I investigated their booth. An Asian girl was cosplaying adorably as Chii, from Chobits. It seems like their focus is on analyzing the role of anime in culture, and holding contests for people who draw their own stuff. They actually sent a representative over to our table, and we exchanged emails and agreed to advertise for one another for special events, such as said contests. They seem really nice, and hey - if there are ways for more people to enjoy anime, then all the better, right?
This year, it seemed like a lot more international students stopped by the table this year. There were a lot of mixed-gender crowds, in which guys would stop and look on as the girls would totally freak out, shouting, "Waiiiii! NANA! Hachimitsu! Faruba!" Some of them listened when I explained how to sign up to get an explanatory email, while others ignored me entirely, just grabbing volumes of manga and shaking them at their friends with expressions of disbelief.
All in all, it was a good time. I met lots of new people, and hopefully they'll show up this Saturday for Club. A lot of people who weren't freshmen seemed heartened when we explained that we were trying to make the Club more socially-focused, and less like a living room in which people came, watched, and left.