6 Jun 2010

Copy Paste: Tales of a Recovering Hikikomori

First off, even if we’re both Filipinoes, I don’t know who this blogger is nor can I confirm whether he is a Hikikomori or merely an Otaku. 

That said, his post got through Google Alerts so it must be notable someway.
Here’s the condensed version of his posts below.

Table of Contents/Landing Page: 
Individual Links + Excerpts…

Part 1:
http://otakuako.com/about/the-staff/tzia_ns-page/tales-of-a-recovering-hikikomori/tales-of-a-recovering-hikikomori-1/

  • I spent roughly half a year doing nothing but reading manga and watching anime. I hardly left our house
  • I wasn’t contributing to society; I only contributed to the forums at Animesuki. 
  • one part of my recovery is going to the mall…
  • Last month, I had the scary experience of finally buying an article of clothing on my own. I needed to buy a new set of socks as well a new set of underwear. It was hell, since there were just too many choices. 
  • I recalled Madarame of Genshiken. I was in the same position as him. I felt the pain he was going through… And I decided to adopt his method. When I buy manga volumes, I just choose what I want, regardless of the price. So I bought myself a pair of jeans that cost me 800 pesos.  
  • But it was too much. When I tried to look for shoes next, I was overwhelmed by the variety and PRICE of men’s shoes. At that point, I had it, so I finally escaped from the mall.
Part 2:

http://www.otakuako.com/about/the-staff/tzia_ns-page/tales-of-a-recovering-hikikomori/tales-of-a-recovering-hikikomori-2/
  • …yesterday was Free Comic Book Day in the Philippines. 
  • there I was, in the midst of a crossroad of my life. In order to fulfill my otaku-ness, I actually had to go out of my shelled life. So in the spirit of recovering from my hikikomori-ness, and also for the love of these geeky things, I went to Fully Booked. Two of them to boot.
  • it was interesting to see several people like me who came alone. Then I started to pity ourselves… Are we such losers that we can only manage to go out alone? Don’t we have friends who share our interests in these things?  Are we that socially awkward?
  • Then I started to feel awkward due to the volume of people there.
  • …in order to save myself from over-thinking and causing myself more psychological trauma, I quickly took my free copy, bought the stuff I wanted, and left that place. Concentrating on driving helps me from thinking about these stuff.
Part 3:

  • Year 2009 marked a big step towards my recovering from a hikikomori, largely thanks to the few conventions I was able to attend. One might say that conventions aren’t exactly the best way to cure oneself from social withdrawal, given that one surrounds oneself with quite a number of socially awkward people as well. Then those who aren’t socially awkward tend to just be weird for the most part. But hey, baby steps, baby steps.
Part 4:

  • During the recently concluded Ozine Fest 2010, a few interesting things happened to me. I’d like to share them in the hopes of either entertaining you or letting you get a glimpse at how the Hikikomori mind works.
Part 5:

  • Due to certain familial obligations (I have a complicated extended family), I am taking a vacation in Taipei, Taiwan as of this moment. Thus, I am blogging this internationally in a way. But being your regular (recovering) hikikomori, you can pretty much guess that there’s really not much I’m looking forward to do here. And so, research had to be done…
  • I chanced upon this blog article which discussed otaku hot spots in Taipei. And so an idea dawned on me to try experiencing the otaku culture here in Taipei. They say that Taiwan is still heavily influenced by the Japanese culture, so experiencing the local culture of Taiwanese otaku should be interesting, right?
Part 6:

  • Attending the Animax press con the other day gave me a rare opportunity to socialize. Gasp! Socialize? Yes, socialize. It’s about time I start making friends, right? It’s all part of the recovery, so I should do something. Plus I need contacts for this blog, so win-win.
  • But it’s never easy. And that’s where haoson’s role came in. I only need to go along with him and I’m bound to meet new people. He knows a good number of those people there, so with some luck, I’ll get to meet a few. And indeed he introduced me to some. Good ‘ol haoson, I know I can count on him.

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27 Sep 2009

Where to send donations for victims of Typhoon Ondoy? (Off-topic)

I’m not really for asking people to donate because I feel it’s a subtle manner of inducing apathy (give away money, feel good that you don’t need to think of why the problem occurred once it’s no longer over-reported) and that mass donations are often favored only after a disaster has struck rather than before it — but as I’m currently monitoring my plurk account — I was alerted to this site so I felt there’s no harm in spreading it. Source: http://burymeinthisdress.com/blog/2009/09/where-to-send-donations-for-victims-of-typhoon-ondoy/

INTERNATIONAL

1. Send a letter of intent to donate to the PNRC
2. A letter of acceptance from PNRC shall be sent back to the donor
3. Immediately after shipping the goods, please send the (a) original Deed of Donation, (b) copy of packing list and (c) original Airway Bill for air shipments or Bill of Lading for sea shipments to The Philippine National Red Cross–National Headquarters c/o Secretary General Corazon Alma de Leon, Bonifacio Drive, Port Area, Manila 2803, Philippines.


 

FOR THOSE OUTSIDE THE COUNTRY WHO WANT TO DONATE

TXTPower.org has set up a paypal account for donations. Your money will be forwarded to Red Cross.

Kapuso Foundation is also accepting credit card donations. Kapuso Foundation site

Please look at this list and this page too.


Most urgent needs

Food items: Rice, noodles, canned goods, sugar, iodized salt, cooking oil, monggo beans and potable water

Medicines: Paracetamol, antibiotics, analgesic, oral rehydration salts, multivitamins and medications to treat diarrheal diseases

Non-food items: Bath soaps, face towels, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, plastic mats, blankets, mosquito nets, jerry cans, water containers, water purification tablets, plastic sheetings, and Laundry soap


There are more local information where to donate in the page but I think enough Filipinos are already spreading the information so I just narrowed down the international ones.For a preview of how bad the typhoon was, see:

(Don’t worry. I’m unemployed so it’s not like my opinion of donations is keeping millions of cash from being used to help others. Just focus on doing what these threads make you feel of doing and go where your passion leads you to doing.)

 
 

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