Friends - Part I

I was originally going to make my next post about Lolita fashion, but I decided to introduce you all to a few of my favorite people. My friends are definitely one of a kind!

Kim Joon and "Buddy" at Furry Weekend Atlanta 2010

Kim Joon- My Furry Boyfriend

Kim Joon is my second generation Korean boyfriend that doesn’t speak Korean very well (even though he will argue otherwise). I met Kim Joon after a football game when six people had to squeeze into a very tiny car to get home. He lied to me and told me that his name was Jonathan. He also had a British accent. I knew from that day forward that I was going to have some problems with this kid. The following week, I found out that he had almost all the same classes as me. There was no getting away from him. This kid liked to follow me around EVERYWHERE. He always wore the same type of clothing, an oversized t-shirt, baggy jeans, and his huge Bose headphones around his neck at all times. I thought that he was a boring person, and that he had nothing interesting beyond his sheltered, arrogant rich kid attitude. But I was wrong! After gaining his trust and showing him that I am a very tolerant person, he showed me his poetry. I was VERY surprised. His poetry led me to believe one thing…that he was a Furry.

Back in high school, I had the pleasure of meeting two Furries. I had no idea what the Furry Fandom was about other than liking fur, but I didn’t mind it. I knew that some people have qualms about the Furry fandom, but I didn’t know or understand it at the time. When I confronted Kim Joon about being a Furry, he was extremely surprised that I knew about them, but also that I was fine with it. I decided that it was time to do some research about the fandom. I’ll post my results at a later time. Kim Joon never had any other interaction with other Furries before (except on the internet) so he wasn’t so familiar with all of the terminology and concepts. He also was very much in denial about his Furriness and tried to distance himself from it as much as possible. Heck, he tried to distance himself from EVERYTHING.  Learning about the fandom proved to be a great learning experience for both of us. He was finally comfortable with telling people that he was a Furry and fully embraced this aspect of his life. After wresting with my feelings for him and him wresting with his feelings for me, we finally gave in and started dating. It’s been 6 months now so we will see where this takes us!

Greg (left) and Faust (right)

Greg and Faust- My awesome transgender roommates

Greg and Faust are probably some of the most interesting and mysterious people that I have ever met. They are complete opposites yet so similar. Faust is just crazy, loud, and is easily excitable…but all in the good way. Greg is quiet and a bit shy at times. They both come from a small town in South Georgia and were friends during high school. They are both extremely artistic and enjoy drawing and painting. Greg is quite handy with a camera and seems to speak through her photographs and less with words. She loves observing people and nature and capturing their “essence” with her camera. Faust seems to be finding a new outlet in music. Faust has introduced me to something that I have never seen with so much intensity before…”bandom” or “band fandom.” They both also belong to the Yaoi fandom. I want to learn more about these concepts in greater detail at some point in time. We still use female pronouns occasionally when talking about them…but we also use “he” and even “it” (which they both encourage us to use).

I met Faust because of the Freshman Learning Community that I signed up for at my university. It was supposed to be a 50 minute long class that met once a week to help us adjust to college life and make friends. What it turned out to be was a waste of time and a waste of a credit. I met a few new friends like Faust and Kim Joon but that was about the only benefit. Faust introduced me to Greg one afternoon after Kim Joon and I went on a “not-a-date” date (which he ended up paying $60 for because he is an idiot). Greg was quietly sitting next to Faust making what she calls “hoots” which are adorable plush owls (she loves owls and any other type of bird) and eating candy corn. After meeting them, I’ve never seen gender in the same light. I had so many questions for them and they put up with each and every one of them. For this I am grateful. I want to do some more gender exploration with this blog and they have agreed to help! 

Random Picture Time!

Kim Joon with my brother's hat

Greg and Faust enjoying their first taste of SunO

Sorry that this is such a quick post! My next post will probably be about Lolita and what it is all about! <3 Thank you for reading <3

An Introduction!

Hello everyone!

My name is Kyla and this is my first "real" blog! As you might have read in the "About Me section", I am a college student just trying to get by in life and make something of myself. I’m studying Cultural Anthropology and minoring in Spanish at a university in Atlanta, Georgia (strange things happen in the city of Atlanta . . . especially when you go to school there!). I also happen to be a Lolita! That’s Lolita as in the Japanese fashion, which doesn’t have any connection to the novel by Vladimir Nabokov! I’ll explain more about it in another post.  I created this blog to document my very boring college life but to also motivate me to write a bit more, to explore the city more and meet the people that surround me every day. I decided to make this on a whim that I had a few nights ago so hopefully success graces my blog!

I have several topics that I want to cover in this blog (hopefully, more will come as I write). One of these topics will focus on myself as a Lolita and just how much Lolita fashion has influenced much of my life in this past year. Its changed the way I see the world and also made me explore some of the misconceptions about the fashion. I'll also do a few product reviews occasionally and will try to cover some things that beginner Lolitas might want/need to know.

I’ve always enjoyed learning about how other people live life, but now I want to go further than that. I want to experience a day in a members life or at least see how they are impacted by each of the subcultures that they belong to. So another thing that my blog will be going over is about different subcultures and youth subcultures that I find interesting. Most of these subcultures will appear “geeky or “nerdy” but not all of them will be. I'd love to take suggestions from my readers about which subcultures they would like to learn about. There is always the nifty Google site to learn about the Furry fandom or Lolita fashion, but if you want a good unbiased answer (or unbiased as possible) then why use the Internet when you could go to an actual Furry or Lolita? There are so many misconceptions and stereotypes about people that need to be broken down and I'm willing to put forth the effort just to do that.

I hope that you will stick with me as I write this blog. If you have any suggestions about what you would like to see or what I could do to improve this blog please feel free to let me know! I’m so excited to start this blog and to see where you all take me!

<3 Thanks for reading! <3