How cute a story this is depends on your outlook

I'm divorced, father of two boys. In the last year or so we have all gotten interested in anime (see previous journals). My niece gave me her copy of "La Blue Girl" to watch.

Well, I would use "La Blue Girl" to torment the kids. "When you're old enough" I would say, "you can view tentacle porn. Not before."

Looks like I have to drasticaly re-define "old enough". (*sigh*) The other day I got an email from my oldest son, who's in college:

"Dear Dad. Saw 'La Blue Girl' the other day. Thought of you."

(*sniff*) The kid's thinking of the old man while he's watchin' porn. That's so sweet...

Yeah, we all need to be in therapy.

I am disgusted with myself.

Here I am, 47 years old. I have grey fricking hair, for Gods sake. And I'm going to become a Fanboy. I'm going to see Fred Gallager at Otakon.

Maybe my ex-wives are right: maybe I should grow up. I don't expect it to happen any time soon, though.

Let me tell you how it happened

Anime has always been on my personal radar screen, but very much off to the side. I got started on Speed Racer, Kimba, and Astro Boy (I have just finished watching Metropolis. What an interesting change-of-pace). Little did I know that I was only dabbling with "gateway anime".

Then I saw Akira. Holy. Fricking. God.

But I still wasn't hooked. I could still walk away. I could still lie to myself and say that I was only a casual watcher, a "social anime" consumer.

That was before I watched Ghost in the Shell. Then I knew I was hooked.

"Hello, i'm John". Hello, John! "I...I watch ultra violent Japanese cartoons. I'm an Anime addict..."

But that was only the "gateway drug" to the weird and wonderful world of online manga I soon discovered the strange and sweetly seductive world of Megatokyo.

more later

It's unclear if any "/." readers even have children. Topic never comes up. I expect this to change as "/."'s readership "greys". Bwahahahaha.

The point? Do I want my children to be "geek like me?" My eldest just got accepted into the University of Maryland's Engineering School. Ohmigod. He's gonna go the wrong way! Still hope for my youngest