Wow. So cool. I'm not looking to win or anything, just figured I'd share a two small stories on how animation, and comic books, influenced my life.
I was about five years old and quite a handful for my parents. My attention didn't sit long on anything and I was very hyper active. My sister would watch cartoons in the mornings and I never paid attention, always trying to annoy her(still do!)
My godfather, a very smart man, knew I wouldn't sit still for long, figured out a way to make me sit and be quiet, and it only cost him 75 cents. While he and my godmother were babysitting me, he needed to go to 711 for some things and my aunt practically forced him to take me with him. I was a terror in stores, but he took me anyway. While he was getting milk, etc. I was being held tightly by the hand and I stopped trying to pull away. He looked down and saw me staring at the comic books next to the magazines.
He told me to pick one out and I did. We went back home and I was quiet. I sat at their dining room table, trying my best to read the words, and asking for help when I couldn't read them. The art was spectacular and my little mind was overwhelmed. I read that comic three times that day. After that, I was hooked. Whenever my uncle went to the store, I begged to go with him. He would get me one comic each time, and later on, my dad would do the same thing. It kept me docile and quiet, and probably helped my family keep their sanity.
My dad was cleaning out my grandmothers basement one day and found an old box of my uncle's comics. Of course, this box was given directly to me and I started to read old Donald Duck, Mickey and Friends, and some super-hero stuff. They quickly became my favorite comics(the Donald Duck ones, in particular), and after a while, I finally started watching old VHS tapes of Donald Duck, the Three Caballeros, Mickey Mouse, and Fantasia. I was probably around 8 at the time, and once again, these cartoons probably saved my family from the nut house.
I'd like to think that because of animation and those old comic books, I was shaped into a better child. I learned understanding, morality, and expanded my vocabulary.
The other way animation influenced my life, and this is probably more impactful, was when I had a huge love affair with anime. I started watching it around when I was 10 years old or so, and after a few years understood what it was. I joined a tape trading group at the age of 15, where people would send around tapes of anime that were fan-sub-titled or not even subtitled. It led me to finding a group of friends that appreciated it as well. We formed an animation club in high school, and in college, I started attending anime conventions around the U.S.
Flash-forward to me in my mid-twenties, still deeply in love with anime and appreciating alot of american animation as well, and I meet this woman online. She's beautiful, smart, funny, compassionate, and she shares alot of my same interests. After months of talking on the phone, sending each other e-mail(texting wasn't really a thing yet), we decided to meet. That first night was strange, we met at a Barnes and Nobles, walked around and talked for a few hours. We talked about music, books, movies, etc., but one thing we kept coming back to was animation. We loved the same shows, suggested a bunch to the other, and generally loved that the other person knew what we were talking about.
That woman and I are married now, and still watch a ton of animation together. It is one of the many things we share together.
So, there's my sappy story. It didn't influence a career, or drive me to something more creative, but animation was a key factor in me finding the woman of my dreams.
