Randomness

Peopling is Hard

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing? I’m still stuck in a procrastination rut. I start projects, it goes well for a few days, then I just hit a wall. I try to work through it for a couple of days, but after staring at the same pages for a while, I get disgusted with it and take a few days off. It’s an endless cycle. I need to break it, but I can’t figure out how. So, I decided to try being social instead. Change up the routine. Maybe getting out of my comfort zone would help get the writing muscles going again. That was the hope, anyway. It’s not going too well.

It’s me!

I randomly joined some Facebook groups a week or so ago, mostly for pretty pictures of bats and cephalopods. Apparently, I also decided to join a couple of groups for people who are pansexual and their supporters (happy Pride!), which I never do because… well, people. One of the current fads in one of those groups are those stupid friendship application posts where newbies basically introduce themselves. I don’t do that stuff. I am horrible at peopling. Everyone knows this. I make no secret of it. But I did the thing despite my aversion to socializing.

All of the comments on the post were super sweet and accepting. Yes, I even included pictures. And, instead of being self-deprecating like I usually am, I tried very hard to just say thank you to the handful of folks who said I was pretty or whatever. It was weird. And I admit that I met a couple of people who are cool and I’ve enjoyed our conversations and will definitely keep talking to them. But I’ll be damned if I didn’t get like twenty DMs from douchenozzles (you know the ones, those who expect cyber sex or whatever it’s called nowadays without even attempting to hide it behind getting to know you) who ended up blocked. It totally reminded me of the Yahoo chat days, and not in the good way. Sifting through the asshats to find the interesting people is just not my thing anymore. I’m too lazy for all that. And way too comfortable with being alone (or talking to my current peoples) to make that effort.

Or I can be alone by myself. Either way works.

It doesn’t help that I have a lot of social anxiety. I can’t even make doctor appointments over the phone without freaking out unless I practice the conversation in my head fifty times. Goddess forbid they go off script. And even if it goes perfectly, I still feel like I screwed something up with the interaction. I’m not as bad with text based exchanges, because I can see and edit what I’m saying. Especially when it comes to professional correspondence. That, I have no problem with. As long as I can write it out, I’m okay. I really only have issues with socializing like a normal human being. I know people who I only knew by screen names for the first ten years of our friendship. That’s how horrible at peopling I am. I didn’t even think to ask for names until we’d run into each on Facebook or something. Peopling is hard.

Maybe.

But that’s enough about my lack of humaning skills. I probably should’ve thought of a better topic instead of rambling about nothing. But there you have it. As always, feel free to leave your comments or questions or whatever here or on my social media pages!

For My Little Sis

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this beautiful June day? It’s actually kind of overcast as I’m writing this, but whatever. I’m sure that’s beautiful to someone. I have zero writing or publishing news. I’m a big slacker, I know. So, I wasn’t sure what I was going to blog about until I remembered what today (June 8th, because that’s when I’m writing this) is: Jen’s birthday! I know I’ve talked about her a little bit on here since she’s the one always drawing pictures for me to use as avatars, but I don’t think I’ve ever fully explained who she is to me. Today, I will properly introduce you.

I remembered yesterday too, but still.

I met Jen when we were 18 or 19 in a Yahoo chatroom. Oh goddesses. Was it really that long ago? Have we really known each other over 15 years? We’re getting old. But I digress. Honestly, I don’t even remember which one of us initiated contact or why, but that one random moment led to years of fun and friendship and sisterhood. We spent long nights (into early mornings) talking and RPing and complaining about the douchenozzles who kept telling us we weren’t doing it right if we didn’t adhere to their arbitrary and ridiculously detailed rules of that particular RP. She knows the main dude I’m talking about. It got to the point where we’d deliberately break his rules just to see how long it would take him to rage quit and sign off. Those were some good times.

The Yahoo chat years were great and sometimes weird and even downright sucky occasionally, but so much came after. She went to art school and got married and had kids. She’s constantly done artistic things over the years, like stained glass or making dolls or drawing. I’m always so proud of Jen. And, of course, there were not so good times. Stress, people disappearing without a word (because that’s a hazard of having Internet friends who live in different states or countries), family deaths. All the crappy stuff life throws at you. But we’ve made it through it all so far.

A picture she drew of us.

Jen is my little sis. She may not be blood and we haven’t gotten a chance to meet in person yet, but she’s part of my chosen family. I probably shouldn’t make assumptions, but I think I’m part of hers, too. (I better be!) We talk about anything and everything even though we constantly apologize for TMI. But it’s not really TMI because I’ve never really felt like anything was off limits. And I hope she feels the same. So, I’m going to say something I don’t say enough to anyone. I appreciate you, sis. And I love you. And now I’m going to stop because this is beginning to feel sappy. I’m not good at that.

Isn’t that just a glomp?

So, say hi and happy belated birthday to Jen! As always, feel free to leave your comments here or on my social media pages! Or you can go to her artist Instagram page! Later days.

Didn’t Realize It Was So Late

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! It’s pretty late in the day for me to be writing a blog post. My new laptop arrived this afternoon, so I’ve been adjusting settings and signing into things and transferring files and not paying attention to the time. It’s one of the cheaper ASUS ROG STRIX G17s, but it’s supposed to be more powerful than anything I’ve ever had. Also, it’s super rainbow-y and I love it. I bought it from XOTIC PC and will post a proper review after I’ve had some time with it. Anyway, instead of writing a proper blog post, I’m going to keep fiddling with my new toy. I still need to hook it up to the printer and download some things and decide what I’m going to do about Word and that kind of stuff. I’ll be back next week with my monthly book review and probably a brief update on my second Pfizer dose (which I get tomorrow). Toodles!

Stock photo, but you get the idea.

How Not To Write A Blog Post

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How is everyone doing? I’m beyond tired and I have no idea why. I haven’t been sleeping any worse than usual, but even my Tuesday Pepsi isn’t perking me up today (because it’s yesterday as I’m writing this). Other than that and researching new computers, things are pretty normal here. I have nothing to ramble about, so I thought I would give you some advice on how not to write a blog post. Be aware that this is exactly how I write my posts. Don’t be like me.

It’s oddly difficult to find funny “don’t be like me” memes.

1. Don’t wait until the last minute. Procrastination is not your friend! You’ll never get anything done if you put it off until the day before it’s due and you have to induce productivity with large amounts of caffeine. I mean, unless you were the type to put off homework assignments and finish them in a panic stricken burst of energy at three in the morning the day they were due. Then by all means, go ahead and wait. But I do try to get my posts done by 10pm on Tuesdays at the latest, preferably before 8pm.

2. Don’t try to come up with topics on the fly. Keep a running list of potential topics for posts, just in case your chosen topic doesn’t work out. It will make life so much easier. And it will help prevent you from randomly missing a week. I wonder what it’s like to be that organized. I usually just Google potential topics the day I write my post if I don’t have anything in mind already. I don’t think I’ve missed a day for a lack of topics yet. But you should probably try to do better than me.

3. Don’t forget to edit before posting. You’re using your blog to sell your persona to the world. It has to be perfect and insightful and witty and there can’t be any typos. But really, you’re lucky if I do a quick read-through to make sure it makes sense and to catch any blatant errors. I don’t take my blog that seriously. Not like my writing. I’ve learned that I can go through things with a fine-toothed comb and still miss things, so I’m not going to put that much effort into these posts. But it’s good to at least do a quick check.

4. Don’t make the posts too long or too short. This one I actually try to follow. People’s attention spans are crap nowadays, so overly long posts tend to bore. I aim for 500ish words, but each post requires its own space, so if one only makes it to a couple of hundred words and another creeps close to 1,000 words, it’s fine for me. Find your sweet spot. A number that won’t make readers run away. But also let the topic take up the space it needs. You can always break things up into smaller posts if you want.

Basically.

I’m sure I could come up with other stuff, but the truth is that there’s no wrong way to write a blog post. Like everything else in the world, you just have to figure out what works for you. Procrastinate or do it weeks in advance. Plan it out or wing it. Seriously revise it or give it quick once over. Long or short. None of that really matters as long as you’re comfortable with your process. Hell, it’s even fun to play with different styles. Do a post that’s all pictures. Record yourself reading the post. I’ve even seen people hand write their posts and just scan it. Have fun with it.

As always, feel free to share your thoughts or comments or whatever here or on my social media pages!

One Shot Down

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing? Things are pretty much the same here. I’ve started crocheting again. I swear I will eventually finish this shawl and take pictures to prove it. I’m just annoyingly slow even when I work on it regularly. But it will get done. Writing is still fighting me, which is why I decided to crochet instead. At least I’m doing something. Reading and submissions are still happening regularly, so at least there’s that. Anyway, I mentioned last week that I was getting my first shot. I did! Dad takes our 92-year-old neighbor to get her second shot today and we’re scheduled for ours in a couple of weeks. So, I thought I’d ramble about vaccines today, since I have nothing else to talk about.

I wasn’t actually planning on getting vaccinated yet. The vaccines weren’t tested on people with any of the Muscular Dystrophies, so I admit that I was concerned about the lack of everything regarding people with disabilities. I don’t know if people with disabilities are prone to worse reactions. Don’t know the effects down the line. We know nothing. At least people without disabilities had some information about how it affects them in the short term. I had nothing to go on and zero desire to be a guinea pig. But at the same time, I wasn’t adamantly against it. I mostly just didn’t want to have to go to Fair Park (Dallas drivers and roads are horrible) to get something I didn’t really want in the first place. So, when I was able to get Dad scheduled close to home, I looked for one for myself.

Sadly, our Walgreens didn’t have any (our pharmacist probably would’ve brought it out to the van so I wouldn’t have had to risk being around people, because he’s cool like that), so we had to go to CVS. Dad’s was right down the street and mine was a few miles up the road. In case you missed it in my last post, if you’re trying to schedule an appointment via the CVS website, all I can tell you is to ignore their lists of availabilities and actually go through the process of trying to schedule an appointment, then try at least three or four nearby zip codes/cities (for some reason our closest pharmacy only showed up when I searched for Forney, a neighboring city, instead of our own zip code and the pharmacy I’m scheduled at only showed up under our zip code when it’s actually in Sunnyvale). Do this multiple times a day. And be prepared to be told that you can’t make the first appointment without making the second one too, which is sometimes available and sometimes not. That’s the most annoying part of the process, so far.

On the day of the appointment, CVS sent a text message with a link to check in. This was mostly annoying because they want you there early, but you can’t check in until 15 minutes before your appointment at the earliest. At that point, I already had my mask on, so I couldn’t see my phone in my lap to do it myself, which meant Dad had to check me in and he has a strangely hard time operating my phone for some reason. Otherwise, the whole thing was over within half an hour. Dude took my temperature and chatted with us until the guy came to get me for the shot, then we had to wait for 15 minutes to make sure I didn’t immediately die. Everyone was nice and friendly. People wore masks, including the customers that I noticed. They covered their noses and everything. I was actually a little impressed.

As I mentioned on my personal Facebook, I wore one of my Cthulhu shirts, my Yggdrasil bracelet, and my sparkly rainbow Cons. If an elder god, the world tree, and spiffy happy vibes couldn’t protect me against a bad reaction, I figure nothing could. It must’ve worked because my only reaction was the one I get with every shot: soreness around the injection point. But seriously, I just wanted an excuse to wear the bracelet and shoes. The shirt was just next in line. I’m aware the second shot is usually the one to cause problems. We’ll see how that one goes.

Anyway, all this post is really meant for is to help give people an idea of what to expect from CVS if they’re trying to get an appointment there. If you’re having doubts about the shots, you’re not alone. For all we know, they could be mass sterilizing us (I kid… kind of), but if it helps us not die from Covid, I guess that’s okay. I’m not going to judge anyone for not getting it until there’s more evidence as to its effectiveness and how long it actually lasts. But I will definitely judge you for not wearing masks. That is all.

As always, feel free to share your thoughts or comments here or on my social media pages!

Questions for My Readers

~ shawnaborman ~ 4 Comments

Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing? I’m okay, just a bit sad still. Lady (the doggo) died on Friday. She’d been sick for a couple of weeks. We found out she had congestive heart failure, but with meds, she seemed to be getting better for a week or so, then she got worse again and we couldn’t really do anything. We had an appointment with the vet that afternoon (originally it was to check her progress, but we had decided she would probably need to be put down), but she didn’t make it. So, yeah. I haven’t exactly been brimming with motivation since then (not that I had any before then either). I don’t even feel like writing a long blog post today, so I thought I would just ask for y’alls opinion regarding social media platforms.

R.I.P. to the happiest and lovingest doggo ever.

As you probably know, I post once a day, six days a week on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Between that and maintaining a website with up-to-date publications and being at least a little active on GoodReads, I can’t really think of anything else a writer needs. So, my main question for you is, as a reader (or a writer), what social media platforms do you feel are most important? Do I have a decent selection or should I include something like Pinterest or TikTok or any others you can think of? And lastly, if you prefer other platforms (or even if you have suggestions for my current pages), what kind of content would you like to see from me?

I’ll be back next week with our regularly scheduled book review. Until then, feel free to share your answers and thoughts here or on my social media pages!

What Should I Read Next?

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How is everyone doing today? I hope your plans for St. Paddy’s day include sitting around and reading or something equally fun/relaxing/socially distanced. I’ve been slowly rereading the Harry Potter series. After I finished book five a couple of days ago, I had this weird urge to binge read the last two books. I haven’t had this desire towards books in a long time, so I’m giving into it despite the other 20+ unread books judging me from my Kindle app (not to mention the hundreds of books in the other room that I haven’t read yet). It’ll take me a while to finish these two (a month and a half or two), but I want some help deciding what to read afterward. So, I’m going to list all of my currently downloaded ebooks and whatever hardcopies I can think of that I’m interested in right now, and let you all tell me what I should read next.

1. The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones. You can go to it’s GoodReads page for the description if you don’t know anything about it.

2. Death in a Budapest Butterfly by Julia Buckley. You can go to it’s GoodReads page for the description if you don’t know anything about it.

3. Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi. You can go to it’s GoodReads page for the description if you don’t know anything about it.

4. A Crafter Hooks a Killer by Holly Quinn. You can go to it’s GoodReads page for the description if you don’t know anything about it.

5. Geisha, A Life by Mineko Iwasaki. You can go to it’s GoodReads page for the description if you don’t know anything about it.

6. Fantastic Creatures: A Fellowship of Fantasy Anthology by multiple authors. You can go to it’s GoodReads page for the description if you don’t know anything about it.

7. Death in Neverland by Isadora Brown. You can go to it’s GoodReads page for the description if you don’t know anything about it.

8. Arterial Bloom edited by Mercedes M. Yardley. You can go to it’s GoodReads page for the description if you don’t know anything about it.

9. Killer Cruise by A.R. Winters. You can go to it’s GoodReads page for the description if you don’t know anything about it.

10. Belinda Blake and the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing by Heather Day Gilbert. You can go to it’s GoodReads page for the description if you don’t know anything about it.

11. Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman and Colleen Doran. You can go to it’s GoodReads page for the description if you don’t know anything about it.

12. The Best of the Best Horror of the Year: 10 Years of Essential Short Horror Fiction edited by Ellen Datlow. You can go to it’s GoodReads page for the description if you don’t know anything about it.

13. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. You can go to it’s GoodReads page for the description if you don’t know anything about it.

14. Dead Man in a Ditch by Luke Arnold. You can go to it’s GoodReads page for the description if you don’t know anything about it.

15. Storm the Earth by Rebecca Kim Wells. You can go to it’s GoodReads page for the description if you don’t know anything about it.

16. Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse. You can go to it’s GoodReads page for the description if you don’t know anything about it.

17. Winterwood by Shea Ernshaw. You can go to it’s GoodReads page for the description if you don’t know anything about it.

18. Bound for Murder by Victoria Gilbert. You can go to it’s GoodReads page for the description if you don’t know anything about it. I also have the next book in this series if you think I should read it too.

19. Watch Her by Edwin Hill. You can go to it’s GoodReads page for the description if you don’t know anything about it.

20. Swift for the Sun by Karen Bovenmyer. You can go to it’s GoodReads page for the description if you don’t know anything about it.

21. The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix. You can go to it’s GoodReads page for the description if you don’t know anything about it.

22. The Cruel Prince by Holly Black. You can go to it’s GoodReads page for the description if you don’t know anything about it.

23. Fatal Fried Rice by Vivien Chien. You can go to it’s GoodReads page for the description if you don’t know anything about it.

24. The Dollmaker of Krakow by R.M. Romero. You can go to it’s GoodReads page for the description if you don’t know anything about it.

25. Dark Power by Danielle Rose. You can go to it’s GoodReads page for the description if you don’t know anything about it. Technically I don’t have this one yet, but it’s pre-ordered and will be out before I finish Harry Potter.

So, what should I read after I finish HP6 and 7? I certainly have my preferences, but nothing strong enough for me to make up my mind. Leave your votes here or on my social media pages. Also, feel free to recommend books you think I might like (I’m not too picky about trying new things), but I should probably get through some of the books I already have.

Things I Should Be Doing

~ shawnaborman ~ 2 Comments

Howdy, howdy! It’s a blah day. Quite gloomy. And I have nothing to ramble or rant about. I’ve avoided the news for the most part, but I’ve already seen reports of anti-maskers threatening to call ICE at a Mexican restaurant that requires masks. It doesn’t matter that the mandate wasn’t even officially lifted until 10th. This is just how people behave. I, for one, think Biden chose the perfect word: Neanderthals. But I don’t want to be angry, so back to the subject at hand. What should I blog about? No idea. If there’s something you want me to ramble about next week, drop me a line. This week, I’m just going to make a quick list of the things I should be doing right now, then I’m going to do some of those things.

1. Writing. I haven’t written much besides blog posts and a couple of beginnings (nowhere near full stories) this year. I’m just lazy. I have no excuses. Everyone seems to be struggling with something or other right now, so it’s not really fair for me to blame the pandemic or the seasons changing or depression or anything. I’m just clinging to my laziness. I need to suck it up and write.

2. Recording myself reading a story out loud. My story “Poisoned Honey and Pickled Pigs’ Feet” is coming out in the May issue of Love Letters to Poe. On top of the magazine, they also have a podcast of the authors reading their work. I’ve been assured my phone should be fine for recording (it sounds better than my computer in the tests I did), but I hate my voice and dread having to listen to the recording for errors. I’ve been practicing and just have to bite the bullet and do the recording in the next day or two when I can find a quiet moment (it’s due the 18th). But yeah. Go subscribe to the newsletter and podcast so you can read/hear my story when it comes out!

3. Reading. I need to read at least one chapter a day in the book I’m going to review this month to be done on time, plus I got the ebook of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix from the library, so I have to read three chapters of that a day in order to finish before I have to return it. Yes, I can make Dad pull out my old hardcopy of HP5 if I don’t finish on time, but we’ve already established that I’m lazy. It doesn’t sound like a lot of reading, but it is when you read super slow. I miss the days when I was able to read a 1,000+ page book in a week. Getting old sucks.

I’m sure there are other things I should be doing, like writing letters and answering texts. I’ll do that stuff later. For now, I’m going to practice my story one more time, then read for a while. As always, feel free to share your thoughts or suggestions for blog post topics here or on my social media pages!

Abbott is an Idiot: A Rant

~ shawnaborman ~ 2 Comments

Hello, hello! It’s Tuesday (March 2nd) as I’m writing this and I have to say that governor Abbott is a fucking idiot who has no idea what he’s doing or he just doesn’t care what he’s doing as long as he’s doing it for the highest bidder. Personally, I think it’s both of those things, but what do I know? Sane people wouldn’t reelect corrupt imbeciles over and over again. Oh, wait. My bad. They do it all the time. Anyway, in case you haven’t figured it out, I’m feeling a little ranty at the moment. I try not to blog when I’m in this mood because there are enough angry people on the Interwebz, but I don’t currently have anything else to talk about. So, feel free to come back next week when I’m in a better mood. Or read on. Your choice.

Me reading the executive order.

In case you haven’t been following things down here in Texas, after the atrocity that was Snowvidpocalypse a couple of weeks ago and the horrible handling of that by everyone involved, governor Abbott has hit a new low. Just because we’ve been in a slight downward trend of new Covid cases (which I believe has at least stalled if it hasn’t already turned upward again), he issued an executive order lifting all of the restrictions on businesses and getting rid of the mask mandate. If you don’t believe me, you can read about it for yourself here. There’s a link to the actual order at the bottom of that page. But anyway… His reasoning? Covid numbers have dropped, the vaccine rollout is going so well, and so many Texans have been adhering to the protocols for social distancing/mask wearing/etc. And that’s just a few of the ridiculous things he says. I don’t know what the guy’s been smoking, but he should probably share it with the rest of us.

Sure, let’s say the numbers are dropping. I’m too lazy to look it up, so I’ll ignore the fact that the US has surpassed half a million deaths due to Covid and I’ll take his word for it. But the vaccine rollout going well? That’s a joke. There were 29 million people in Texas as of 2019. Apparently there have been 5.7 million shots administered in Texas. Each vaccine requires two shots (at least until J&J’s vaccine comes out). We’re no where close to vaccinating everyone. I haven’t even tried to get the vaccine myself yet, but judging by the fact that I can’t even get my 92-year-old neighbor an appointment, I don’t have high hopes for me and Dad. Is Texas doing better than some other places? Yes, but it’s not doing well enough to brag about it. And it certainly isn’t doing well enough to tell people that the worst is behind us and that we can all burn our masks (I’m being dramatic, but you know that’s exactly what a lot of people are thinking now).

Feels like a good place for a dramatic sigh.

Also, I want to know where Abbott has been going in Texas that makes him think so many people are adhering to social distancing and wearing masks properly and all that jazz. I haven’t left the house much in a year, but videos and pictures and the rare occasion I watched people from parking lots while waiting for curbside deliveries have proven that to be a lie. Most people try, but they don’t seem to realize masks go over the nose. And lately, fewer people are even trying it seems. Of course, Abbott strongly suggests keeping masks and social distancing and all that, but without repercussions, most people aren’t going to do anything that slightly inconveniences them. I feel bad for the stores who keep mask policies, because a ton more asshats are going to throw fits when they run into those kinds of places. If Abbott really encourages masks, why is he ending the mandate? Who are these expert medical people he’s supposedly listening to that say everything is fine? I don’t get it. Show me proof that this crap is a good idea?

Basically

I think I’ll stop ranting and go eat. If you made it this far, you must really like me. As always, feel free to leave your thoughts and comments here or on my social media pages.

Top 5 Anime Sorted By Favorite Characters

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing now that we’ve entered the second month of the year? I’m doing okay. In one of those hurry up and wait situations, so that’s always fun. But otherwise, things are normal here. Except, I somehow ended up with books to review every week this month after today. I don’t know how it happened, but it makes my blogging life so much easier. Don’t worry. I’d never be able to keep up with a book a week, so that’s not going to happen. I’ll be reverting back to having no clue what to ramble about come March. But today, I’m taking a topic idea from my friend Jenae. She wanted me to list some of my favorite anime/manga by hottest character. I’m just going to call them favorite characters though, because many are under age and if people realize that, I don’t need them thinking I’m creepy. So, here are my top 5 anime (in no particular order) by favorite characters.

1. Angel Sanctuary (Kira Sakuya, Lucifer, Rosiel). So, it’s hard to pick just one character, especially when you love angsty and/or psycho males. This series is chockfull of them. And I know it’s more of a manga, but they did release a three episode OVA, so it counts as anime too. What with the corrupt angels, incestuous love story, and cross-dressing demons, it’s definitely not for everyone, but I love it. It’s one of my favorite end-of-the-world stories.

2. Yuri on Ice (Victor, Yurio). This anime is adorable and fluffy and I’d give it all the cuddles if it were a plushie. Victor is a flaky idiot who seems to do things on a whim. Yurio’s random violent outbursts are hilarious. Plus the animation is lovely. Who doesn’t want to watch something about the lives of figure skaters? It’s just a super fun show with lots of lovable characters. Judge me all you want.

3. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Ed, Winry, Hawkeye). Don’t get me wrong, either version of FMA is great and worth watching. I just prefer Brotherhood because it follows the manga and I feel like that’s a better story line. But I adore both the original and the remake. Ed’s hilarious and Winry and Hawkeye are a couple of my favorite female characters in general. If you haven’t watched either version, pick one and watch it! Then watch the other one.

4. Sailor Moon (Saturn, Prince Demande). Unless you’re new to stalking me, this one should be no surprise. It was my introduction to anime, so it will always be a favorite. Saturn is my girl because she’s sickly, but can destroy worlds. And Prince Demande was one of my first favorite psychopaths. Actually, this shows explains a lot about my weirdness. It’s the best.

5. Attack on Titan (Levi, Mikasa). I struggled choosing between this one and a few others, but decided I should include something that’s still on. It’s a bit confusing and I will probably rewatch it all once this season is over just to put together anything I miss/don’t understand. But it’s gory fun and we all know how much I like that. As far as the characters go, I think we’ve established that I have a type. We’ll see if this one stays on the list when it’s over, but I’m enjoying it for now. Also, I’m watching the dub with Dad, so no spoilers from anyone watching the sub or reading the manga.

There you have it. Some of my favorite anime sorted by favorite characters. You can blame Jen for this post. What are some of your favorite anime and which characters do you love? As always, feel free to share your thoughts or comments here or on my social media pages!