Asian Addicts Anonymous Turns 4!
Can you believe it? When I started AAA four years ago, who would have thought it would come this far and that I would still be actively updating on a regular basis and watching Asian dramas and movies like crazy? Oh…and I’m still reading manga and watching anime, too (not to the extent of my earlier, years, but still…)! Who would have thought that this little blog would survive name changes (Asian Addicts Annonymous, Asian Music Addicts Anonymous, Asian Addicts Anonymous), domain changes (asianaddictsannon.wordpress.com, asianaddictsanonymous.wordpress.com, asianaddictsanonymous.com), and more several times over? Who would have thought that in four years this little site would surpass a number of views I really never thought would be possible for me (to date, spanning across the domains, AAA has been viewed 1,754,491 times)?
I am very grateful to all the people who stop by to visit, whether they comment or not, it really does mean a lot to me. I remember when I started this site 4 years ago without a clue and being utterly depressed at the rather miserable stats, lack of commenting and wondering if I was really doing something anybody cared about. And then I discovered my first dramaland friends Jicks, Zooey, Chukuma, Ender’s Girrrl, and zsa86 and I had enough confidence and courage to go on and brave the waters of dramaland blogging where I have met new and incredible friends, so I’m glad I stuck around.
I didn’t do anything special when AAA hit 1 million views nor did I do anything special for any of my blogversaries to date. I’m waiting to do anything big until 2015 when AAA should be 5. Do you think I’ll make that milestone? I hope so. There is something magical about that number (even if I actually have a rather big dislike of odd numbers…a random and strange fact you probably don’t care to know about and which I cannot really explain). Someone once told me that I only like 5 because it corresponds with my birth month…but it could also have something to do with it also being my jie’s favorite number. But, that being said, I did do a social media post promising a present to those who could guess what special day today is. Special shout out to the Twitter winner @missienelly who answered first correctly, and with the right number of years! And another special shoutout to the Facebook winner kfangurl for making blogversary her first guess (even if she got the years wrong).
photo – Cadbury Cake by Don Ramsey…mmm cake
In the course of four years and rather uncertain beginnings, I have really changed…. um, as a blogger, I mean, not necessarily as a person, although I’m sure I’ve changed as one, too. In the beginning (wow suddenly that passage from Genesis flashed through my head), I was just writing impressions and reviews of Japanese dramas, and then I started watching currently airing Korean dramas and…well what the heck happened? I started blogging initial plot overviews and impressions and that turned into writing recaps…most of which never saw completion. Oh, 2010. What a year. And I will apologize once again for NOT completing probably more than half or so of the dramas I first started. I also used to regularly blog about music videos and album releases of favorite artists and bands…but that fell by the wayside over time and I didn’t do as much with music anymore. Hence, why I started doing the monthly music posts last year. Music has been, and most likely always will be, very important to me…even if I can’t play an instrument (unless doing “Mary Had a Little Lamb” on the keyboard counts…with one hand, I never could manage two) and I also can’t carry a tune in a bucket…although I did discover the joy of karaoke in college and tortured people with my poor singing skills. Well…I only tortured good friends, don’t expect me to go karaoke in a public venue, not gonna happen…except for that one time, at college when I let by two best buddies Chani-chan (you’ve seen her contribute some to this blog) and Sassy drag me up to sing “If You Wanna Be My Lover” by the Spice Girls with them. I have that CD… kind of makes me field old.
Ah, totally off topic, do you know what either milestone AAA will hit next year besides the big 5 year blogversary? Okay, it’s not a AAA milestone, but my own. Next year, 4 months after this site turns 5, I’ll be turning 30. Although…they say 16, 18, and 21 are milestones, too (at least in the US)… and you know what I felt when I hit those 3 ages? Not a darn thing. What’s so special about them? They changed driving laws so I didn’t get my license at 16 (in fact I didn’t get it until I turned 19). 18…I am a horrible US citizen and didn’t register to vote…well…I also didn’t have a valid US ID either at that age thanks to not having a driver’s license and all that jazz. 21? My grandparents believed in giving alcohol to us children in small doses while growing up and…I hate the taste. Beer, yuck. Rum, gag me. Vodka…I can tolerate quite well. But still…nothing amazing about 21 either. So I highly doubt turning 30 will be earth shattering in any way. Having AAA turn 5 on the other hand, is HUGE to me, lol. Priorities.
Okay, back on topic to this blogversary. Even though it was Korean dramas that set AAA booming (and still the posts that get the most views)…I oddly enough went from lots of kdrama blogging to more jdrama blogging with a few Taiwanese dramas for good measure. Now I only step into the kdrama realm if I decide to cover a drama no one else really is, same with Taiwanese dramas. There is still a lack of jdrama blogging it seems for some odd reason. How sad. I think that Japanese dramas will always hold a very special place in my heart all thanks to HanDan starting it all. Ooo! Want to know something else totally random? It saddens me that whenever people think of the drama version of manga Hana Yori Dango, they only think about the Korean Boys Over Flowers. They make big deals over that drama…it wasn’t bad. I watched it. I own it. HanDan is still better in my book and shall always be, lol. Out of the live action adaptations, it is definitely the most faithful to the manga…if you completely discount the movie where Tsukushi and Tsukasa got married as I don’t think any of that happened in the manga at all. I watched the first episode of the disaster Boys Before Friends or Boys Over Friends…whatever that drama is called…on Viki and you have to love how must, if not all commentators kept using the Korean names. Ah. Sad times. The worst ever HanDan adaptation has to be the US version. Bad acting. Cheesy sets. Nothing really likeable. But…not as entirely horrible as I thought it could have been…why? Because the horribleness of it actually made me laugh and I could enjoy it for the carp it was.
So…what was I doing again…oh, yeah.
So on this day, AAA’s 4th blogversary, I want to say thank you! And I hope you’ll keep joining me in the joys and woes of dramaland and music. I do wonder if I can continue to be the time-space witch that kfangurl thinks I am and keep posting like I do. I hope so. I also want to wish all my fellow drama bloggers out there a very merry unbirthday to you and many more! Don’t know what an “unbirthday” is? LOL. I’ll leave that for you to discover.
Deep bow of respect to you all!
Asian Addicts Anonymous 
Happy Anniversary! Thank you for the time and devotion you put into your blog. We greatly appreciate it. One of the many things I love about your blog is the variety of shows and topics you cover. I’m glad that jdramas hold a special place in your heart because they tend not to be so widely covered. For me it was Rich Man, Poor Woman that helped me find your blog :). I’m so glad it did. Cheers to you!
P.S I was finally able to access your blog on my phone *victory *
Ah, Rich Man, Poor Woman…warm fuzzies recalling that drama. I’m glad it helped you discover AAA! Thanks for all the love and support and I’m happy the redirect error is gone and you can now view AAA on your phone once more! I think this will be my last move, lol. Now to finish fixing all that needs to be and AAA will be in excellent shape 🙂
Happy FOURTH blogoversary!!! 😀 *showers confetti* Hee. NOW I got the number of years right! 😛
Yes, I absolutely do think you bend time and space; how else could you possibly do all you do? And YES, I so agree J-HanDan was the best! I really liked it and I think it’s wayyy better than BOF. And kudos to you for making it through a whole ep of BBF. I only managed about 10 minutes before I couldn’t continue! XD
Thanks lots for the surprise prezzie – here’s a little song for your very, very sunbae-level blogoversary! 😀
LOL. Thank you! Yay for someone who loves the j-HanDan as well! The Korean version was okay when I was in my first throes of passion for it…but…then after breaking up with it for a little while, I realized just how it could not live up to my all-time-fave Japanese version…and then that ENDING. Shakes head.
Thanks for the Birthday song! Nothing like having Ra.D’s smexy voice singing “Happy Birthday to you”! I will get you your prezzie by the end of the day, hopefully, we’ll see how long it takes to yell at my phone company, lol.
Congrats on reaching some major blogging and RL milestones this year! It’s no mean feat, and four years of blogging at the rate that you do, well, you earned a huge pat on the back and more 🙂
Happy blogiversary!!!
Happy Anniversary, AAA!
Thanks for all the Blogversary wishes! It means a lot 🙂
Happy 4th AAA!
You know, I like your thing on probably not caring about birthday mileage for yourself. It’s not like we really do anything special by aging. That’s just a random number gifted to us since birth. The better anniversaries are things that WE have control over.. Like your blog. More worth celebrating, in my opinion at least. 🙂
FELICIDADES NeeNee
im glad that you reach 4 years delivering us whats new in your blog, hoping for more years to celebrate !
im glad that i follow this blog it really help me to improve my english only reading on your post,
Woo hoo, 4 years, congrats! And omg Boys Before Friends is the funniest thing you’ll ever watch, I’m loving it. It’s so bad and they have so little money that they probably won’t even finish making it! I always refer to the characters by their Japanese names because HanDan is the best version and the first I watched so, it’s sad that a lot of people have only ever seen BOF and that’s what they think it is. It does have the cuter cast though, ha ha.
Omg, I am sooo late on this. Congrats. I haven’t been watching many drama b/c all the omph of seasons passed is just not here. But yeah, Japanese HanDan was best. I loved that show. That is how I became a fan of MJ but over the years, my patterns changed from jdrama to Korean and Taiwanese. Tai Skip Beat was my HYD of post High Schhol graduation. It was gradual for me too. I always said I liked jdrama best until 3 years ago I realized that I barely watched them anymore. And don’t feel bad about the milestone thing. Only my 21st day felt important and that was all in my head b/c I certainly didn’t have a celebration 🙂
I actually haven’t been watching very many…and I was supposed to be doing this project to see how many dramas I can actually complete instead of watching part of the way. However, I finally decided to change hosts since my original was just getting way too expensive. So…I’ve been fixing and fixing and uploading and tweaking. Eventually everything will be put back into good order. I also think it’s hard to find motivation for drama watching after some disappointing seasons. I don’t think I have a preference of jdrama vs. kdrama vs. cdrama vs. twdrama. I only watch more Japanese and Korean because those are the easiest to get your hands on with subs.
In HS, so many girls did sweet 16 parties. It was like supposed to be a big deal. I didn’t do one. It’s not like my family could afford anything like that anyways. It used to be you celebrated getting a license at that age. Then they changed licensing laws and I didn’t get mine until I turned 19 (for many reasons)! And then 18 came around. Blah. It actually can be pretty sucky at times to be an adult. Most kids skipped out on school when they hit 18 to go to the nearby casinos. I don’t understand the attraction of gambling. Then 21 hit. Sure, you can legally drink in the US. Woohoo. My family let us have alcohol at an earlier age, so I definitely didn’t care about that aspect of the big 21 (plus I actually don’t really like alcohol). Now…I’ll be 30 in a year. Each and every birthday gets less and less important. Plus…as an adult, it seems you’re lucky if anyone remembers any more…even yourself. 😛
That was the weird part for me. As soon I turned 21, the appeal of drinking went away, not mention abnormal symptoms I started having whenever I did. I think it was big for me because many things changed. Some high school friends went away, some became more present, my family moved, got into college. As for 16, I never understood that. A family friend took me out and I barely remember it. It was not a special day to me at all. Everyone in HS made a big deal about 18 bday, but instead of gambling it was the club. I was already 18 as a junior and the students always lost me on the appeal. I remember a senior saying, with graduation a week from then and his bday a few days before, that he was couldn’t wait to go the club. I was like, “what about getting out of this institution called the public school system?”
It is kinda sad for me to look back because all of my high school friends are gone. All but one is not even in the same town and many went out of state. All my college friends have graduated or dropped out and this just from 2010-2014. My bff, the last man standing, even went back to ny this winter. These 4 years were as great as they were heartbreaking. So many changes in just a short time. This could be drama on paper. So I definitely get what you are saying. Sometimes I feel old in the mang a/anime world 🙂