Well, I got into anime quite a bit ago (thank 
god...it really helped me establish an identity. 
Why I needed to is a long story, but it has to do 
with two words: abusive friendship. Fun fun fun -
.-;;). But before that, I used to REALLY be into 
sticker collecting...the fuzzy ones wer my 
favorite! I have little books filled with 
stickers that I still go back and look at ^^ Then 
there was figures, of anything really, you could 
call them more "nick-nacks"...I would 
scour "antique" stores that were actually jnk, 
and would look through flea markets, just for 
happy little pointless things to distract myself 
from reality. My most treasured is a beautiful 
little white bunny thatmy mother bought me in 
London as a keepsake, to help me always remember 
my time there (we would be moving away soon). It 
always makes me think of getting on the subway 
and heading to St. John's Wood, with the sticker 
shop where I would spend my allowance of three 
pounds almost immediately, the little library 
where I looked fervently for information on the 
kinkajou, and the Europa Foods where we would by 
our groveries, and I would get a warm little loaf 
of french bread and eat it out on the corner 
while waiting for my mom to pay the cashier. The 
antique shop was just on the corner, and I would 
always gaze longingly at that little bunny ^^

Then, I picked up my first Star Wars book. And 
that obsession began...I collected and read all 
of the books, while concurrently reading the 
Darkover series (a tory which still fues fairy 
tales for me to this day). I became so obsessed 
with these otheruniverse, I even bought the 
StarWars Empire entrance exam booklet full of 
random SW trivia ^^;;

Then, I disovered anime. After finding that, I wa 
able to establish a firm identity (I really 
didn't know who I was at that point), and 
realized that I had always loved animation...I 
would always sneak downstairs to watch cartoons, 
because they intrigued me, even though I was "too 
old" to...I used to be ashamed of it, but no 
longer! Anyway, I started collecting anime tapes, 
moving on to artbooks, and eventually learning 
Japanese so I could buy and read manga. I 
collected wierd things that I doubted many people 
would have, not concentrating on things that were 
everywhere. For example, I have a Hakuryuu/Jiipu 
plush doll from Saiyuki, yet I refuse to collect 
the freakish amount of shitajiki for it. Then 
there my Goemon fully posable doll, or my Kaoru 
(from Eva) mug...I love wierd things. I 
especially like collecting wierd Kaoru things. My 
latest find is pictured at the bottom...lego 
Kaoru! HEEEE!

Also, I like to collect wierd/cool jackets 
(wheee!), hats, and am still into collecting 
manga and artbooks, but not so much ^^ Japanese 
candy wrappers are also a favorite :)

-Misha