Work is boring….NOT!
So I’m at work, studying for my MCSD certification, and decided to blog some more.
After reading my post again and the comments on it, I realized that it came off as slightly negative. So let me clear that up. I love working on the show. I love doing the show and I love the community we have. I prefer not to delegate things unless I know that others can do it better, hence Chigo runs IRC, and Rangi runs the calendar, Weltall runs our store, etc..
So let me discuss the other people who help us out but maybe haven’t been around the whole time.
Rukia. The awesome girlfriend-san. She made her appearance after we had been doing the show for a while, mainly because she didn’t like me spending an evening a week ignoring her in favor of the show :-). She did some shows on and off for a few months. The last three months she’s been in Manoa, Hawaii, and is returning next week. That will be nice. We’ll see after she gets settled back in Colorado if she wants to come back on the show.
Rangiku. She started out as a moderator on the forum, and then when we addressed her directly on the show telling her she needed to go to Bostonian things like the Brattle Anime Fest, seminars at Harvard and MIT, etc., she surprised us with actually doing it! So she left some audio reviews of things, and started to get more involved with the show. Before we knew it, we couldn’t imagine it without her. She is usually on IRC and forums, and helps us out by representing the AP love on the east coast. She records things for us, and has been asked to help plan MIT’s Cool Japan this coming year. Because of her, the Brattle Anime Fest has asked AP to help plan their programming. She’s an invaluable member of the team.
Treize. Chigo and I met Treize at Kunicon in 2005. She won the best of show in the cosplay for her amazing Treize costume. Batou met her at NDK where she had a kickass Miliardo Peacecraft costume. So we invited her on the show to discuss some cosplay stuff. That worked out well, so we invited her around more often. Since then she has become part of the crew, and we love having her on the show, even though she doesn’t talk much unless she actually has a review.
Kaitar. I got an email from a local fan over the summer, and we arranged to do a sushi dinner with Batou, Chigo and I, and her and a friend. We all met up, and because of her depth of knowledge of Anime and outgoing personality, we invited her to be a guest on the show. She worked out well, so we gave her a standing invitation. After about a month or so, all of a sudden Chitar was born, and the rest is history.
Kerochan. Moderating the forums is a thankless job. Mods very rarely get any recognition for their work, so we try to appreciate those individuals who accept our offers. We were starting to get overworked, because of my job, Batou’s job and Chigo’s schoolwork. So we looked around, and found Kero. He acted mature and intelligent in the forums, and well, his handle is Kero, who’s voice actress is my absolute favorite Seiyuu, Aya Hisakawa. Aya has done a million roles, over the past 10-15 years. My favorite is Shitow Haruka from RahXephon. Her voice work is one of the big reasons RahXephon is my favorite show. Anyways, back to Kero. He accepted our offer, and thus far has proven a valuable asset to the forums.
Faithgirl1. Faithgirl1 was an exception to our standard mode of moderator recruiting. In her case we were actually doing well for moderation, but she stepped up and was already almost acting in that capacity, so I just made it official. She is very eager and willing to help, and is a genuinely kind person. Funny story. Faith has been around for a while now, and in the Subscribers forum last week, she made a reference to her real life involving her church. When she did that the lightbulb FINALLY went off. Faithgirl1 = Faith + girl = girl who has faith. The whole christian thing completely went over my head forever. How funny is that? Not that I care, I take Mal’s approach to god. (Book “do you mind if I say grace?”. Mal “Only if you do it aloud”) 
I have no problem with whatever religion/faith people have, I just don’t really subscribe to any of them.
Showbiz Dog. While Max has been around the entire life of the show, he doesn’t get too much notice. So I’ll tell you about Max. He is an 11 year old mini Schnauzer. He is about 20 lbs. and his coloring is Salt and Pepper. I adopted him from a no-kill rescue service. His previous owner was an old woman who had to move into a home, but couldn’t keep her dog. He was her “precious” as it was, and so part of the adoption was that in exchange for them paying vet and adoption fees, I would allow visitation once every week or two. I asked where to sign. Apparently they had issues finding someone to agree to that. The womans kids (who are 30-40 years older than me) described people saying things like “if it’s my dog that it’ll be my dog, I don’t want to share”. I just don’t understand that sort of reasoning. Dogs have so much love to give, who would be that jealous? So they paid the adoption fees and pay all the vet bills, and a couple times a month, the kids bring their mom down and they take Max to the dog park for an hour or so. Everybody’s happy. I’ve only had Max about 14 months, but I love him dearly. He’s and old man, but he acts like a puppy. He has an amazing amount of energy, and he lives for treats and walks. He bounces all over the house, and provides much amusement as he runs across the hardwood floor and leaps onto a pillow, which then slides out from underneath him, and he eats shit. But he gets some love from the show. Three fans so far have sent him gifts, which are much appreciated.
So I guess that’s about it. It’s going to get busy for me in the next couple weeks, as Rukia comes home, my mom comes into town for xmas, and one of my best friends comes in for xmas from Washington State. But you can look to a xmas day show, maybe some Crispin for Christmas? Of course, the subscribers have already had the interview for a week. So go and subscribe!
I am concerned about money, mainly because it’s been an expensive 6 months. Hotels for NDK, trip to HI, Wii, plus the money I put into AP, so if AP were to start pulling its weight it would be great for us. But whatever, it’s not like we’re going to stop doing this anytime soon, but we can definitely provide incentives for support
cool! when i grow up i wanna be like faithgirl and rangiku ;o;
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- coll1nam11