Two Years of Admiration, A Year of Growth
The Beginning
I used to one of the people who thought that Bishoujo Senshi SailorMoon was a series that only sissies watch. I didn't understand why my cousins Nao and Bow, and some of my friends in university were fussing over something as juvenile as a cartoon with heroines wearing school-uniform-like outfits. In fact, I found the suits utterly ridiculous and unbecoming.

But then, something came over me and I decided to give the Bishoujo Senshi anime a try. The Senshi that first caught my attention was the beautiful long-haired girl with lovely eyes and legs that seemed to go on forever. By then, my classmates were already using codenames that were based on the Sailor Senshi. I wanted to be SailorMars, but somebody had beaten me to it. Then, sour-graping, I told them, I'd be SailorJupiter instead, telling them that I didn't like SailorMars'shoes--very unpractical to use in battle ^_^. But somebody had beaten me to SailorJupiter. So I decided to do some research. I figured there must be more Senshi besides the five that were being shown on Philippine television. There were cards showing different other Senshi so I decided to begin my research from there.

Cousin Naomi decided to buy a Bishoujo Senshi SailorMoon S movie. That was when I got a glimpse of how the unknown Senshi acted. I particularly found them very pretty and very sophisticated. But it wasn't until two months later (in around August of 1996), after I got back from a trip to Hong Kong, that I began to relate to SailorUranus (I was spending the last two months comparing how SailorMercury's hairstlye resembled mine ^^;).

I thought SailorUranus would be my Senshi. We had the same hair; the single loop earring on the left ear; the same love for track-and-field; the same love for racing--well, she does that professionally in the manga, while I do that with crude taxi drivers ^^;; The only difference I could see was that I was way too short, way too noisy, and waaay too clutzy. Plus the fact that I am not half as pretty as Haruka is.

The First Web Page
It took me a few months before I decided to make a web page. But SailorUranus wasn't on my mind then. I had been on the internet for quite some time, though I didn't have my own internet account, so I figured why not meet people through a web page. So on May of 1997, I created the Kitchen Raiders' Fridge, then located where Dark Echo Grounds stands now. I created The Kitchen Raiders Vault around a month later.*

When my cousin Naomi decided to do a separate Shrine for SailorMars, her favorite Senshi, I was inspired to make a page for SailorUranus. I have been admiring her for a year, wasn't I? I figured I would do better making a site about something that interested me most. At least the site would have more purpose and more solid a meaning. I even semi-dedicated it to a person who now wants to forget that I ever existed ^^;;

A Deluge of Positive Energy
When I first opened the Racetrack, I got a lot of positive feedback, mostly about how my site was different because it wasn't the usual statty stuff. People seemed to like my Heads and Tails: The Two Faces of Haruka section, which discussed the feminine and masculine sides of Haruka. That was when I genuinely began to feel good about myself and about my web work. For me, it meant that people were really reading through my work and not just passing by to drop horribly huge banners on my gbook. Even the not-so-positive feedback seemed welcome because they gave me insights on how my site could improve. That's what evaluations are for, right?

I didn't create the site for awards or popularity. In fact, I never applied for awards unless someone requested that I apply for his or her award. I was doing this for fun, right? Truly, there is nothing more heartwarming than personal e-mails and guest book messages that tell you that people like your site and they point out exactly why and what sections they enjoyed, and what they think needed more work. There was even one person who wrote me a very long e-mail of around 4-5 paragraphs, greeting me a happy first year anniversary. I saved that e-mail, but unfortunately, my computer was reformatted and that mail was lost along with other important mails I had flagged.**


This was the original look of an original article titled The Knight In Haruka. The article was taken down and converted into text form. It was replaced by The Animus: Sir Haruka?? which was a longer article.

Not Always A Bed of Roses
Of course it wasn't always that positive and good for me. Some people would go visit my page and just flame my guest book because they were homophobic and were annoyed with the character who was the subject of this Shrine. There were also those people who just flame for the sake of flaming. These people who had nothing to do with their lives don't even know that I get a fever when faced with real heavy flames because I couldn't deal with them in person and I get all this negative energy stacked up inside me. They're not even aware of the damage they're causing.

There were also those who can't be creative enough in their webpages that they have to copy off my work. But they don't usually last so I just keep quiet because I know that there will always be people who care enough to defend me, like my cousins, my friends, and supporters.

And of course, there were those annoying standards that some people set for other web authors, like those standards that say that the last name should be placed first, or that Haruka's name should be spelled this way and that etcetera etcetera. Sometimes I think some people should think about the culture they may be stepping on. Never mind the spelling, as Haruka's name can only be spelled correctly in its true kanji form. I'm talking about other standards like the placement of last names. In the Philippines Haruka's name is Haruka Ten'ou instead of Ten'ou Haruka. What does it matter where the name is placed? It's still the same character, isn't it? It's not like I made a Shrine for Uranus but had given her ChibiMoon's description, is it?

Diplomacy and Humility from Someone "Different"
But there are also those who can be very diplomatic when talked to, like Project SAD. The first time I went to their page they had this quite nasty tone, but I don't quite remember what it was they were being too defensive about. And then I wrote them a diplomatic mail. I was surprised at the friendliness of the founder's response. I remember that I wrote him/her something about how the DiC version is quite offensive to the Asian culture because they were changing stuff that are sometimes very sacred to us. I mean, what was it about the Asian culture that offended them so much that they had to make heavy alterations to the original story? And Project SAD's founder told me that he/she appreciated my insight on the matter and that they never realized before that what DiC did weighed heavily against the Asian pride. He/She also told me that we were working toward the same goal, keeping peace and brotherhood/sisterhood in the BSSM cyber community.

To tell the truth, this person was one of the most pleasant and humble people I've ever talked to. And besides that, he does have a point. People who know about the original series shouldn't be bashing those who have only been exposed to the DiC version, the same way that people shouldn't be imposing their standards on other web site authors.

The Conclusion?
This experience was only one of the most memorable I've had during the first year of being a web site author. But there are plenty others that helped me grow. And I do believe that I have matured a lot in that year. All this makes me happy and content being in this community, no matter how "chaotic" it may seem now. I just hope everybody still remembers the purpose they have created their BSSM pages, and I just hope everybody still remembers how fun it is to be on the cyber community. Having said all this, I'm proud to say I'm still looking forward to more fruitful years ahead. Funny how the series that I had initially thought sissy at first, was the one that helped me understand myself and others better ^_^

* The Fridge and the Vault were later merged and renamed the Kraiders Otaku Fridge

** If anyone of you knows this person or if you are this person, if you could kindly resend this e-mail so that I could file it for remembrance, I would be truly grateful.


Both The Knight in Haruka and The Lady in Haruka were subsections of Heads and Tails: The Two Faces of Haruka. The Lady in Haruka was replaced by The Anima: Lady Haruka. The basic difference is that the latter is longer and more in-depth, perhaps due to the fact that the author is a year older, too ^_-
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