Well, Bleach Forums is down again so I thought I'd take time out to post in my LJ today. But today's topic is going to be about the awesome people of the IchiRuki FC.

When I first saw Bleach, I had fallen in love with Ichigo and Rukia as a pair. I'll admit that at the time I loved Rukia more than Ichigo, but as Ichigo decided to grow up more, well, I like him more too and think he's finally becoming worthy of Rukia, but I digress. Most of the time I was just a lurker in many of the forums out there. I'll admit to being the kind of person that loves a great romance story (cause yes I'm a romantic at heart and I just love a good action and romance plus comedy flick as much as anyone else). I very seldom get can get into some anime (Naruto for instance) but Bleach just got me hooked. Anyway, I was looking for people who loved the IchiRuki pairing as much as I did. I had never truly been a shiper before and this was my first time actually wanting to support my pairing out in the open. I also wanted to do this because I had no body else to really talk to about Bleach and my pairings.

(I'll be honest right here and now with everyone. I used to be very shy about saying that I love anime and I wouldn't tell a soul that I enjoyed it. People just look at you wierd or stop conversation all together when you do that. I very seldom have time to watch TV so I watch anime on the internet. I'll try to catch a few other shows every now and then but I mostly watch anime. So most people think I'm quite boring. Plus the fact that my best friend is also not interested in the same animes as me anymore. So I was pretty much reclusive.)

All of these factors combined made me yearn to have other people to talk with about my favorite pairing. So I was in a forum one day reading about the arguments of who Ichigo was going to end up with when I stumbled upon Ileenka's journal. At first, I passed it up but then I thought, what the hay let's see what it's about. I was so very happy that I found that journal. I was like "There are people out there who love this pairing just as much as me and they're not embarrassed to say that they love Bleach an anime." That gave me courage to stop lurking around and get an LJ so that I can start to slowly make my way over to the other side. (yesh, that just sounds wierd O.O) Then I started looking more at the comments left, because it took me a couple of days just to get through your journal Ileenka, and came across Syn's journal. I thought I'd check her out cause she seemed to comment a lot and made some pretty good points.

So I lurked a while in your journal Syn. I was still a little afraid to post because I had nothing valid to state. I never get the manga on time and normally find everything out by reading the forums. Well, I was looking at Syn's journal and found a link to the Bleach Forums and clicked. There I found the IchiRuki FC. I'm sooo happy I did.

Okay, I lurked there for a while too to see what the members were like. I have been in some FC's where the members actually fight amongst themselves and I didn't want to join an FC like that. I was so very happy to see some intelligent, mature, and great people there so I put aside some of my shyness and joined. Most of the time I don't make any sense in the FC but that's okay because I know everyone in there is not going to shot me down and stomp on me. They may correct me (which sometimes I need) but that's okay. Everyone in there contributes their own piece of the pie and when the pie is finished, I have to admit, it's damn good because eveyone comes to one conclusion no matter what or how they interrpret. IchiRuki is going to happen.

I'm the kind of person that once my mind is made up on a pairing, I stick with it. I'm very passionate about IchiRuki, even though it seems like I'm not. While in the FC, I've come across many great people with great debating skills: Nell, Debbiechan, to name a few.

So in short, I'm slowly coming out of my shell about loving anime because I was able to find other people my own age and older who love anime. I'm 21 and most people think by this time you should be watching Soap Operas. I hate those. This also encouraged me to not be afraid to walk into Books-A-Million, take out a volume of my favorite manga, and not stress out about what the cute guy at the counter is going to think of me and my manga when I go to check out.

So truthfully, if not for the FC and all the wonderful people in it, I would still be stuck in my shell and not be able to tell people, "Yes I watch anime and I love it." Now that I tell people that, some of them are more comfortable in admitting that they watch anime too. It's a slow progress but I'm getting better.

Thank you: Ileenka, Sandy, Syn, Debbie, Sinta, Nell, StarWing, Marionette, everyone that I couldn't think of for inspiring me to not only love my pairing more but to also embrace my love of anime and slowly not give a damn what other people think.