About me:

I usually describe myself as a standard nerd. I'm a sucker for TV shows, manga and anime, computer games, RPG, etc. Also I have a general tendency to nostalgia. E.g. I'm still into Diablo I, HOMM 3, Dungeon Keeper, etc. while I hardly made it to Act3 in Diablo III :p

Although I'm a nerd, I'm female ;) 1989 (Figure out the age yourself. It changes every year and knowing myself I'll suck at updating..)

I'm a student in the field of translations within the languages German, English and Spanish, I only started learning Spanish rather recently though. I got into Japanese about a year ago as a hobby. And yes, manga and anime did have a considerable influence on that choice, however there's way more to it for me.

Some self-ad at this point: If you'd ever like one of your fics translated, don't hesitate to ask me. Languages are the love of my life, so I actually like what I'm doing ;) Plus I'm always grateful for an opportunity to practise.

Also, because it goes well with the last point: If you ever find spelling or other mistakes in my fics, I'd really appreciate it if you advised me about them. I consider correct spelling and grammar a part of respect for the language as well as respect for the audience of a text, so these things really do matter to me. Thanks in advance!

Why languages?

Languages are not solely a way of communication. If it were only for that, in our day and age knowing some English would be sufficient as a lingua franca.

It's so much more than that.

Sapir-Whorf said that language is not a medium to express our thoughts, but that it is in fact what allows us to form thoughts in the first place.

Language is a manifestation of how we perceive our environment. It's a medium that determines how we perceive our environment.

Did you know e.g.

.. that there is an Australian tribe that doesn't have words for left or right, but instead expresses direction solely through the cardinal directions? E.g. they would say that the fork is north from the plate instead of left or right, in front of or behind. And in fact those people have an interal compass to an extent that none of us have.

So yea.. The reason that I want to learn other languages and that I want to learn more than just the basics of communication when I do is the fact, that truly grasping another language is also always a way of broadening one's horizon and getting an insight on a completely different cultural mindset that the own mother tongue wouldn't even be able to offer.

About my fic-writing:

I actually don't consider myself a writer. The only reason I created an account in the first place was, that I wanted to be a part of this community that I actually found more than intriguing. People here seem to actually care about the writing and even offer actual constructive critisim instead of just hating and flaming, no matter how weird and/or specific some of the topics are. It's rare finding a spot like this on the internet, so I sincerely salute to that!

Why don't I consider myself a writer? Honestly, I haven't been writing stuff since I was like 13 years old. Happiness Punch was actually my absolutely first attempt of writing ANYTHING since back then. Also writing doesn't come naturally to me at all. I've seen fics around here that were absolutely magnificently written and the authors apologised for possible spelling mistakes, because they hadn't had the time to re-read even once before uploading! To me that would simply never be possible. Creating a text that I'm somewhat satisfied with involves a lot of hard work for me. I am always thoroughly thinking through and changing lines and even single words all the time and even with that there's still parts that I never seem to get quite right...

If you are a fan of my writing anyways, then consider me a fan of your person ;)

Oh yea... I've only started Happiness Punch, because I didn't want to try and weasel my way into the community without actually contributing. However, there will be more fics which is all thanks to you guys! (Besides the fact, that it really is quite a good way of practising my language skills, too :p) Your feedback and support for HP has been beyond my wildest dreams, so you actually got me motivated to maybe get into this hobby afterall. HUGE thanks to all of you for that!

For a while I suppose my writing will be reduced to One Piece fics. It's not that I don't know or like other series, but I tend to really obsess with whatever it is that I'm presently watching and One Piece is (so to speak) simply my latest obsession.

About "Spoilt for choice"

Unfortunatly this story got deleted. I simply overlooked the fact, that interactive stories are not allowed on this website... I'm rather upset about that myself, first because that story was a lot of fun to write and secondly because I think it's a pretty odd rule. I may consider writing the fic anyway and uploading it somewhere else. Either way, do you guys think there'll be a possible chance, that they allow the genre someday? If you got information on the topic, I'd be grateful if you told me.