My Harry Potter special interest began around 2006 or 2007 when I picked up the first book (for the second time) on a old recommendation from a friend, Matthew, from first grade. I was in third grade at the time, and I fell deeply in love with the series. At the time, I had very few critical thinking skills, outside the ability to recognize symbolism and foreshadowing, so I wasn't aware of any of the signs of JK Rowling's racism or transphobia, having been raised rather ignorant of those things. There was something about the fact that a nobody, abused by his guardians, was actually someone special with powers beyond their comprehension that stuck with me as a child, wishing to be similar to Harry.
Nowadays, I engage in fan-made content purely for nostalgia value, as I, of course, see the harm JK Rowling is causing with her outdated and transphobic beliefs. I would never recommend a person start the series now, as I think the harm of supporting JK Rowling is greater than the importance of the story, but that doesn't mean I will completely desist from my affinity for this series, nor the nostalgia value this series has had on my life as my first real special interest.
My Les Miserables interest and hyperfixation began when I was in 10th grade, 2013, only a year after the movie musical came out. That was my first introduction to the musical, thanks to my friend Franklin, who often compared himself to Marius. I fell in love with Gavroche on that first watch, and have since grown to include Grantaire and Javert in my favorite character list.
After falling in love with the movie and looking more into the musical, I found that the singing in the movie was mediocre at best for the main roles and that Broadway and West End did the musical so much better. My current favorite version of Les Mis is likely the 25th anniversary concert (minus Nick Jonas, I think he could have been replaced for someone better). I also saw a bootleg of one of the Dallas Theater versions of Les Mis, set in the modern era. It was chilling and poignent and if I can ever find it again, I would watch it a thousand more times.
As I have grown older, my favorite characters have evolved. Of course I am still in love with Gavroche, but as my voice has changed, I can no longer sing his part. I've turned my eyesto the parts of Grantaire and Javert. Grantaire is one of the student revolutionaries. A cynic and an artist, he loves playing devil's advocate and "loves and venerates" Enjolras, the leader of Les Amis de l'ABC. Javert, on the other hand, is a stickler for the law, no matter what. He has a very strict moral code that following the law is just and morally correct. This likely because of being born in a jail. His soliloquy talks about how the stars are watching over him, watching him make the correct decisions. One of my favorite parts of his story is that his last act, showing how Valjean has shaken his world, is to abandon the law and commit suicide, which was illegal in France then.
I started watching anime in 2012, courtesy of my then boyfriend, Ethan. He showed me "Sword Art Online" first, and other anime fans have told me that "explains why you like trash anime". Although it may be trash, it's treasure to me, especially sports anime.
I found Yowamushi Pedal in early March of 2013, searching for anime airing that season to watch. I fell in love with the silly dork main character, and then fell even harder for the second year supporting cast. In fact, I have often felt most connected to the "mediocre" second years, who often get forgotten because they are neither graduating (which is equivalent to death in sports anime) or the new, fresh faces that the first years are.
Other anime that I've enjoyed include Kuroko no Basuke, Run Like The Wind (Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteru), Naruto, and Hunter x Hunter.
I fell in love with Overwatch in late 2022 when my friends introduced me to it. It was my very first FPS, and my aim was atrocious at first. I started playing Lucio, but I understood the game so litte that I constantly forgot about my abilities and would only heal boost. As my friends moved on to other games, I began playing solo more and more freqently, eventually falling in love with Hanzo's lore. I worked hard to play him, but even today, I'm terrible. That's what I get for this being my first real game. I joined a fan server for Overwatch and there I met a person who would later become my beloved partner. To this day, I love reading as much Overwatch lore as I can, and still play nearly daily.
Who I main depends on the role I'm playing and how I'm feeling that day. For support, I like to play Kiriko, Ana, and Moira, dabbling in a little Juno, Illari, and Mercy. For DPS, of course, Hanzo, but in addition, I've been playing more Soldier, Sojourn, and Echo. I'm not very good at tank, but I'm trying to get better. I'm best at D.Va, Orisa, and Zarya, but I've been learning Ramattra these days.
I like a variety of music, mostly pop punk, rock, and metal. I don't really have many favorite bands, and I'm willing to listen to mostly anything. My theme song is From Now On We Are Enemies by Fall Out Boy. Bands I like include Fall Out Boy, Set It Off, Marianas Trench, Simple Plan, Skillet, and Owl City.
I consider myself disabled on both a mental and physical level. As for physical disabilities, I have chronic pain in my lower back and extremities. I currently use arm crutches to get around, especially when I will be standing or walking for more than 5 minutes. My diagnosis is complicated, but the easiest way of summing it up is "Hypermobile Disorder Spectrum", a hypermobile condition that does not fit the criteria for Ehler's Danlos, but is significantly imparing.
My mental disabilities include autism and ADHD, both of which effect my mental development. I have struggled with social interactions my whole life, as well as understanding nuance and subtle social cues in day to day life.
My basic philosophy is this: "you should care about other human beings". Depending on how I'm feeling at the time, I may use words like "leftist", "socialist", or "communist" to describe this theory, but at its core, this is what I believe is the most important thing.
I would desribe myself as anti-capitalist, as I see capitalism as furthing the idea that there are second class, or undesireable, citizens. These citizens are usually those who are most disadvantaged by society, and often cannot work in the ways that capitalism demands and defines work. Capitalism has determined what is "productive" and what is "unhelpful", and I fully believe these are arbitrary, or at the very least, misguided. Everyone has something they can bring to society, everyone can do work in their own ways, whether it be manual labor, home labor, labor of the mind, or labor of the arts, etc. The capitalist definition of "work" does not include all these forms of work, and says that the labor of the mind and arts, among others, are not as important, or even considered work at all. In fact, many people believe that labor in the home is not a valid form of work that should be compensated fairly. I disagree with this on principle, as, harkening back to my basic philosophy, that is not caring for other people.
Userboxes, buttons, and blinkies made by TeaHaus Art with the help of Blinkies Cafe and Fluffmoth on FlightRising.
Umbrella, Umbie for short, is our emotional support animal, not to be confused with a service animal. (Service animals perform a specific task for their person, and ESAs are merely emotional support and do not perform any specific tasks. They should not be treated the same way.) She celebrates her birthday on March 5, 2019 and was born in Florida. She currently lives in the bathroom of our apartment, as she is afraid of her step brothers.
Jack and Jasper are my step sons by partnership, brought into my life by my wonderful partner. They are from Iowa and are also black cats.
My name is Bernard Eliot (not my full or legal name), but I go by Bernie. I also am known by the body's name, Sonny. Recently, I have been trying out the name Bernard on the internet and found I've quite liked it. I'm 26 and would describe my style as "pyjama punk", or punk, but in my pyjamas. I believe that All Cats Are Beautiful. I'm Jewish, although I mostly only celebrate the High Holidays, Passover, and Chanukah. I'm Chinese by birth, south eastern Chinese and Taiwanese by genetics. I would like to connect more with both my Jewish and Chinese heritage, but often find it hard with all the other intersectionalities I hold.