User:Reichu

Reichu
Name	Reichu
Real Name	Rachel K. Clark
Date of birth	8/10/1982
Homeland	NJ, USA
Role	Forum Admin, Sysop
Lot in life	Lost Soul
Favorite Episode	Episode 19
Favorite Character	Yui-sama
Favorite Relationship	Yui/Gendo
Favorite Angel	Sachiel/Zeruel tie
Favorite Evangelion	Yui-sama

NGE & Me

I've managed to maintain an interest in Neon Genesis Evangelion since I first saw it in Summer 2000. I probably wouldn't be able to do it if not for (A) personal quirks of no particular significance, and (B) an almost unbroken participation in the online fan community, starting in... 2002-abouts.

In the beginning, I drew naked Evas -- back in the days when I could still draw -- and posted them onto my homepage -- back when I actually maintained one. My first forum experience was at Animeboards, but that didn't really go anywhere. I really started to carve out a niche for myself (a niche beyond drawing naked Evas, anyway) when I arrived at AnimeNation's once-glorious Eva subforum in Summer 2003. And, for a time, it was good.

Somehow or another, my reputation began to precede me, as if I'd became a "household name" in certain very niche-y quarters. In some ways this is kind of cool, considering how empty and depraved my real life is (<_<), but it has its downsides, like those people who really don't like me for some reason, and those people who think I somehow know everything about Evangelion or believe everything I say without question, and stuff.

I've served as the Irresponsible Captain of the now long floating-in-limbo Commentary Project, which many might consider my greatest undelivered fan achievement. I used to run (well... sort of) the old Eva Commentary site with technical help from Mr. Tines, and it was basically "my" site despite the community-based nature of the community itself. With the shift to EvaGeeks, I abandoned any pretense of ownership or being some kind of supreme ruler so that the site could be community-run instead. (There was this lingering joke about me being the "Grand Mistress", but I think flagrant overuse by V killed it. For the best, really.)

I was a hotshot admin at EvaMonkey Forums since its early days, although I was probably more restrained back then, when Eva Monkey's presence was more prominent. I continue to terrify the populace at the boards' current incarnation, the EvaGeeks Forums. Not everybody seems to like me -- due to my occasional outbursts of administrative harshness, the easily-misinterpreted ways that my eccentricity shows itself, the perception that I'm an obnoxious know-it-all fanwanker, or whatever else -- but... I guess you can't please everybody.

Even if I only get things done on a geologic time scale, I do still manage to contribute to the fandom here and there. Contribute what, exactly? You know... like... stuff, and things.

IRL

The details of my meatsack-incarnation are largely inconsequen...tial. I am female (even though there are no girls on the Internets YES THERE ARE, GET OVER IT). I am tall and weigh approximately one metric tonne. I am a generic quarter-German "Caucasian" mutt. Amazingly, I cohabitate (some would say "live in sin") with a male hominid with whom I am not related. Our tiny apartment is shared with a sexually frustrated mitred conure.

Some quick factoids for the curious:

• I "used to be" an artist, but my artist's mojo is currently MIA. I suspect the accumulated mental trauma of being trained for art as a profession broke me.
• In place of drawing, most of my creative impulses are satisfied via writing instead. Like at least half of the extant human race, I hope to one day publish at least one novel.
• I was utterly enamored with dinosaurs and other paleo for most of the 90's. I drifted away in time for 2000; I'm not sure how much it had to do with paleo-artists' persistent advice, "Expand your horizons, young grasshopper." I was on the "feathered dinosaur" bandwagon many years before feathered fossils started popping out of the ground like weeds. Also, don't believe anyone who tells you that dinosaurs are extinct.
• I'm a bit of a biology nerd in general. Evolutionary biology (which integrates various biological subdisciplines to a high degree) is probably my "biggest" area. For various reasons, my current program of study in school is environmental biology. My overall stance on this environmental stuff is rather "green", though I try not to hold onto any overwhelming delusions (like the idea that tying yourself to a tree will accomplish anything).
• I maintain casual interests in psychology, sociology, religion, linguistics, and "practical" philosophy. Yeah. That's the kind of stuff I read about for fun (in addition to whatever appeals to my bio-nerdery).
• I know enough Japanese to translate some Eva crap. Try making me hold even the simplest of conversations with somebody in Japanese, though, and watch me make a total ass of myself. I was never motivated enough to learn everything from the ground up, including the purely "practical" side of things. Which is kind of stupid, since learning all that "boring" stuff would only be a boon to me.

If you want to know more -- due to being, say, a potential employer -- revealing tidbits about my person are scattered throughout my ludicrous number of forum posts.

On "Reichu"

My moniker seems to have a bad habit of being associated with Rei. In fact, "Reichu" predates my interest in Evangelion... at least, I think it does. But what matters most is that I don't really care for Rei, and "Reichu" has nothing to do with her. Long story short, it's a fusion of my real name, which goes into Japanese syllables as "Reicheru", and "Raichu" (the Pokemon). Accordingly, it is pronounced "Ray-choo".

I get a bit "upset" (i.e., peeved and inconvenienced) when I try to make a random account somewhere and discover that "Reichu" is taken. I mean... seriously. There can only be one! I suspect that the majority of these impostors are just people who can't spell "Raichu", which is... yeah.