Introduction!

Since I’ve been adding lots of people who post in English, I think it’s fair I write an introduction of myself in English too. Even my Brazilian friends don’t know a lot about me, so it’s time to be doing this. Although my English is not perfect at all =]… but I need to practice, so LET’S DO IT!

I'm afraid it turned to be such a long post... I got carried away... gomen, minna ;____;

I’m a Brazilian average girl who turned 21 almost a month ago… and my addict ness to Japanese things started when I was just 8 years old. When they showed Saint Seiya in TV here in my country. It was a greeeeat fever, everybody watched it, all the kids were insane about it… me included ^^. Even though girls weren’t supposed to watch such a violent anime… below you can see Saori Kido, or Athena Godess as we all know her ^^ (I know it's an extremely old anime/manga series... but it was my first! XD~)

When Saint Seiya was finished, we got to watch several other anime series… and my favorite one became quickly BISHOUJO SENSHI SAILOR MOON. It’ll probably be forever one of my most loved series… I thought it would be the best forever… but… it has already been surpassed XD~

I started liking Sailor Moon when I was in the third grade at school, and I had a friend who also liked it =]… great times that don’t come back, eh… *seems like old people talking*

I finished watching Sailor Moon in 2002, I guess. It took a long time for all the series to be dubbed and to be shown on TV here in Brazil. But at least we got to watch it all!

So let’s say something. My teenage years were completely devoted to anime and manga. I have DOZENS of VHS tapes (yep, they are still used by someone) full of dubbed anime I recorded from TV. Yep, because I still don’t have bandwidth to get everything from the internet. AND I have more than 1000 tankobons from different mangá series in my wardrobe… almost don’t have space to the clothes anymore XD~

And I watched all my friends from school who liked Backstreet Boys, N’Sync, Five and other boy bands when they were world famous and I thought, POOR GIRLS, they should watch anime, that’s WAY better. And now, look at me… it’s been almost an year I’m following Arashi’s steps… and I don’t think I’ll ever stop. I didn’t think I could be so fanatic about something… I didn’t think I would almost STOP to read manga in order to watch videos and concerts of a boyband… XD~

Currently I’ve finished school and I’m studying Architecture and Urbanism at college (3rd year now). DON’T YOU DARE choose to study Architecture. I love it, but it’s so damn complex… must be one of the most complicated occupation that exists. It demands TIME. And DEVOTION. And PASSION. And I think I’m managing to do it… despite the fact I’m always tired and I always have things to do >_<…

As it’s mainly a Vox about Arashi and fangirlism, let’s talk about how I managed to know them.

JUN BAIT POWER. YAY~.

As a normal anime and manga fan, at a certain part of my life, I got to know Hana Yori Dango. And it was last year! GOD, WHY IT TOOK ME SO LONG? DOUSHITE? ;_____; I got interested by the synopsis and I started downloading the manga, which is EXTREMELY GREAT (if you haven’t read it, GO AND DO IT!). It's currently my favourite series. When I finished reading it, tears going down my face, I realized: I NEED TO SEE MORE!

I couldn’t find the anime anywhere… and I have dial-up connection at home, so I can’t download anything bigger than 150MB… and at that time, I didn’t have any friends who could download things to me. So what did I do? I started getting .rm encodes of the Hana Yori Dango drama, starring no less than our beloved MATSUJUN playing the annoying and spoiled brat Doumyoji Tsukasa. I started leaving the computer on and connected in order to download the episodes… each took at least six hours… damn slow connection of mine …

How I loved Doumyoji in the manga… and how I instantly got to love him in the drama! *_____*

I had never watched a j-drama before! My Japanese addict ness was limited to the 2D plane that time XD~ Too bad I thought Jun was a bit strange in the beginning… you know, that perm and everything… I liked Oguri best *____*… but you know… just like it happened in the mangá… DOUMYOJI ROCKS!!! XD~

And so I started watching other dramas... Gokusen... Kimi wa Petto... all of them with my (recently-)beloved Jun.

Not to mention WISH. I downloaded the single as soon as I started to watch the drama. And after I finished watching it… JUST NINE EPISODES ;_____;… I realized something: I’M LISTENING THREE SONGS REPEATEDLY!!! I couldn’t stop… it was WISH, ICHIOKU NO HOSHI AND FUTARI NO KINENBI over and over again! I just HAD to find something else about this so-damn-talked boy band named ARASHI XD~

I started downloading the albums and singles… and as the time passed, I found out I had totally stopped watching anime… and I had bought over 15 mangas and haven’t read them yet… by the way, they are still there… waiting to be read… XD~

And even though I thought to myself, BAH, their songs are great, but I won’t become one of those fangirls, I COULDN’T HELP IT. As soon as I started watching videos I was totally “KAWAII~” *drools*, and I started watching and downloading more and more, and soon I had a BIG list of dramas and concerts and things I NEEDED to watch but couldn’t download at home… ;_________;

SO. Two girls here in Brazil made a blog one year or so ago, which is called ARACHIQUE (which comes from Arashic~Arachic~Arasick / “CHIQUE” is Brazilian Portuguese for the English “CHIC, ELEGANT”). These two girls are Priwaku (here from São Paulo, the same city as me! *o*~) and Sahra, also known as Makinosan_br (she’s from Rio de Janeiro). This blog, in addition to orkut, made me meet several Arashi fans! I’ve already meet some of them in person, and those were GREAT times! We talk almost everyday via MSN and it’s great I got to know such nice people that like the same things I do!

(And who can copy and translate Arashi stuff to me mwahahaha~)

My friends at college don’t understand why I like “five Japanese guys who look like girls”. Dad thinks I lost my mind and I should be the way I was before. Brother likes Arashi and he is currently watching lots of things with me, singing the songs and THAT’S GREAT! Mother likes Arashi a little bit, she laughs a lot at the PVs, and she’s very fond of Nino XD~ I’m really happy I get to experience something like this! It makes me healthier, really.

Arashi has already helped me to pass through difficult times, and their songs and performances always cheer me up, no matter what. I JUST LOVE THE FACT THAT THEY EXIST!

That’s it for now. Hope someone read it up to the end, despite my bad English XD~

Random facts about me:

* I’m eating meatballs right now.

* I AM NOT FROM A JAPANESE FAMILY (I’m saying this because not only one, but SEVERAL new people I meet think I have “Japanese eyes”). I’m a healthy mixture of German, Portuguese, Italian, Austrian, and Brazilian Indian (probably from where I get my eyes from). AND YES, I’m being serious now.

* NO, I don’t speak Japanese at all.  I’m starting to learn by myself, but recently I haven’t got any time. I only speak Portuguese, English and a bit of Spanish (although I HATE Spanish because it’s so difficult…).

* I wear glasses, because I’m almost blind without them. I’m myopic (4.75 each eye O_O) and I have astigmatism too (0.5 each eye, I think).

* I’ve already cut my hair REALLY short. And by short, I mean LIKE NINO’S. But my hair isn’t 100% straight. It’s a little curled. I wish I had Japanese hair TT^TT.

* I like reading, writing and drawing. Most of all, I like writing things people will never read. That’s why I still have my personal diary up to today.

* I like organizing things and tiding my room. BUT! I haven’t got any time to do it recently.

* I like to Photoshop things and to make banners, avatars, signatures and wallpapers. Too bad I don’t have time to do that now either…

* I’ve recently started to work! Which means I leave at 6h50 in the morning, go to work, then to college, and come back home at 20h00. Which means I REALLY don’t have time to do anything.

* I don’t like to go to nightclubs. I prefer meetings at my friends’ homes or restaurants. But I’d rather stay home most of the days XD~

* I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, and I’m happy that way, thank you.

* I like to eat sweets. Ice cream, cookies and cakes are the best things in the world. And I don’t like salads. Yep, I’m a non-healthy person. And I’m also happy that way.

* I like to sleep. A LOT. But after getting to know Arashi, I don’t mind sacrificing my nights in order to watch and read more about them.

* I don’t have any of Arashi CDs yet. BUT! I’ll buy them as soon as I receive my first paycheck, which is due next month *o*~

* My ichiban is Ohno. Riida daaaaaaisuki *______*. I love the way he dances and the way he transforms himself to another person sometimes... like he's dancing and now he's acting and suddenly he's doing baka stuff and then he's almost asleep. But I'm not jealous, if you like Ohno too I won't scold you, because that's perfectly comprehensible. Our dears from Arashi are public domains and should be enjoyed by everyone XD.

* Second is Aiba, then Nino, Sho and Jun. Strange that I got to know Arashi because of Jun, and now he is my least liked. But I love all of them and they all have their moments ~~/o/.

* I like Yamapi. SO WHAT? Although he’s nothing compared to my dears from Arashi. The guy is so damn funny, too bad he can’t sing and he dances in a strange way. I also like TegoMass. A LOT.

* I always wanted to do cosplay. BUT I don’t have any money to that. But despite the fact I’m a bit old now, I’m determined to cosplay one (or more XD) of Arashi’s costumes for next year events.

* Music? Arashi… NewS… and other bands from JE; anime songs, soundtracks, most of Japanese music. But I also like Michael Jackson, Beyoncé, The Black Eyed Peas, The Backstreet Boys, Justin Timberlake, Madonna and Britney Spears. Note that LIKING THE SONGS doesn’t imply I automatically like THE PEOPLE THAT SING THEM. Except for Arashi *o*~.

* I’m a big Harry Potter fan, and I CRIED MY EYES OUT when I finished reading the 7th book. I also like Meg Cabot work, especially The Mediator series (I stopped reading The Princess Diaries because I don’t think it’s going to end very soon and I was getting annoyed by the storyline )…

* I love musicals, “trash” and old movies. Like Grease, Footloose, Saturday Night Fever… XD~ I also like the Rocky (Stallone) and The Terminator (Scharzenegger) series, not to mention the immortal Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) and Star Wars (Darth Vader RULES. I mean, A LOT). I’m also fond of teenage movies with Lindsay Lohan and Hillary Duff.

* Life goal? Humn. To be a great architect that will help people to achieve their dreams, I suppose XD~. It will be great if I help to build things that will make people happier. And of course, one of my personal goals is to travel the whole world and go to Japan at least once so that I can enjoy an Arashi’s concert! *o*~

* Yes, I AM NERD. AND A FREAK. And I’m proud of it. Because if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be myself. =]