myself

"Allow myself to introduce...myself." -- Austin Powers

My name is Amanda, but if you do know me it's most likely under the alias "Wapiko". I've also gone by the names "Sana" and "Onpu" (reflecting my love for Kodomo no Omocha and Ojamajo Doremi, respectfully), but those didn't last long before I settled on "Wapiko" in 2001. I chose this alias for me after seeing an illustration mangaka Takeuchi Naoko did in the infamous Sailormoon Infinity Artbook. I had never seen Kingyo Chuuihou, but I thought the way Naoko drew Wapiko was gorgeous.

I've been designing websites since 2000, when I was 12 or 13. I've also kept a blog since then. It began in Notepad (ys rly o_o), went to Diaryland, then Pitas, and then I was hosted at Digitally Dreaming by Lesley. After there I finally succumbed to Livejournal and have been there pretty much ever since (spending a little less than a year exclusively at Greatest Journal). I also have an account at DreamWidth that I use as an alternative.

As for my design skills, they didn't start even becoming on par with others' until probably late 2005 or early 2006. Even now I know I could be better, but I'm satisfied with most of my work.

My main hobby is watching Japanese dramas - tons of them. During vacations and when I'm not busy with schoolwork, chances are I'm watching dramas! I keep a list of all the ones I've seen along with my comments on them and an overall rating. My absolute favorites (up to now) are LIAR GAME, Majo no Jouken, Hana Yori Dango, and Hotaru no Hikari. I try to keep up with each drama season, picking out ones that sound interesting and/or feature my favorite idols.

I also enjoy playing video games (mostly RPG), but I've come to find I'm nowhere near the level of geek I thought I was. I love reading and, while I love watching movies based on books, I stick firm to a tshirt I have that says movies have been ruining books since 1920. *laugh*

I'm a student of the University of Iowa majoring in Japanese. After graduating I plan to utilize my skills doing translation work for companies, be it in America or Japan. I'm currently in fourth-year Japanese,but I'm nowhere near a fluency level I'd like to be. However, I have gotten to give presentations on subjects I love, such as Nakata Yasutaka, and I even got to write a paper about gravure idols that neared 30 pages. (If you'd like to chat with me sometime on the subject, please do!)

I enjoy politics and political satire, especially The Colbert Report and The Daily Show. I like visiting CNN's website and watching the channel, but I don't enjoy watching local or national news too much. I prefer cartoons or sitcoms. I'm also a HUGE Disney fan. I hate what the Disney Channel has become though.

I used to be a big animephile. It was embarrassing, and it's a wonder nobody slapped me. Nowadays I don't like anime as much as I used to, but I still watch the occasional show. I do read lots of scanslated (and some raw) manga - lately I love Chi's Sweet Home!

Enough of my narcissistic rambling! For a better, slightly more focused biography, visit my fanlisting collective, which also contains numerous links to the subjects I love.