My friend is a crossplayer. He’s a guy, and he identifies as male, but he dresses as female anime characters for conventions. I’m a woman.

We’re at Gencon together. My friend and I separate for a bit because we want to go see different panels. One girl warns me that a creep has been harassing women near where my friend is seeing his pannel. I make note of it, and text him a warning. He texts back that ‘I know’ and ‘We should probably leave now’

I head back to the car to meet him. I’m a little upset that we’re cutting this day short, tickets are expensive, so I demand that he explain what happened.

“Well” he said “This guy started catcalling me. I didn’t realize he was talking to me because he kept saying girl this and girl that. He got in my face and demanded I pay attention to him, then waved a fifty dollar bill under my nose and said he’d pay me fifty dollars if I showed him my pussy”

“So… what did you do, flash him your dick?” I asked.

“No.” My friend said “I punched him, grabbed the fifty dollars, and ran away.”

We then returned to the hotel, and we got my friend into men’s clothing and washed off his makeup, so he’d be unrecognizable, then returned to GenCon. Security was heightened when we got back, but we weren’t sure if that was because of presence the creeper, or if that was because my friend punched the creeper.

My middle school has tests every half term, and at the end of which will announce everyone’s positions depending on how well they did in their grades.

The top 10 students, in particular, have their names put up on the big notice board, in order to ‘inspire and motivate the rest to reach their high standards’.

I’m looking at the paper with the top 10 for the last midterm exam before our finals, and chuckle.

[#1] is a massive otaku who has full body pillows with anime girls on them. I don’t normally begrudge people’s hobbies, but this borders on an unhealthy obsession.

[#2] is an underaged drinker and always shows up hungover on Monday mornings.

[#3] is gay in the bad way that homophobic people like. He’s very depraved and loves sexually harassing the boys—particularly [#4]— in the locker rooms. He is also rumoured to cheat on his exams.

[#4] is cheating on [#7] with [#10]. It’s like the worst kept secret in school. He’s also sworn a blood feud on [#3], and nearly got them both expelled when they got into a fight.

[#5] is super lazy and often fakes illness to skips school when bored.

[#6] is an actually decent student, with no quirks or bad habits, and is probably the only person on this list whom people actually aspire to be like.

[#7] has gotten into violent fights before, knives included, which makes it rather impressive that [#4] dares cheat on her.

[#8] has been caught watching porn in the middle of class.

[#9] is a pedophile. Yes, he shamelessly admits he likes 10-year-old girls. Side note: He got held back for a few years, so he’s about 17 at this point.

[#10] is promiscuous and is known to be sleeping with [#4] and half a dozen other people.

And these are the type of people that the school wants us to ‘reach the high standards of’.

Considering that the only reason why the teachers let them get away with so much shit is because of their good grades in the first place? It’s not a very good example, [#6] aside.

A fun study published by Class 2 a while back tried to chart ‘weirdness’ with grades on a graph, and the line was surprisingly convincing.

My best friend, her fiance, and I go on a roadtrip to [City] for an event where we can meet celebrity actors from various animes and other media. While there, we get in touch with [Male Friend], who lives there. We make plans to meet up and go to a restaurant in the downtown area for dinner. It is important to note that we have been eating out frequently due to being out of town, and the past two times we did so, [Fiance] has forgotten his credit card and has had to go back and get it.

We have a blast and make great rapport with our waitress. Near the end of the meal, we’re talking about [Event] when our waitress drops by.

Waitress: You know, I was once the voice actor for [Character] from [Extremely Popular Old Anime Franchise].

After checking her name online, we found a photo confirming that sure enough, she was indeed the voice actor for that character! Excited, we talk to her for awhile about [Anime] and [Event] for a bit, tip her well, and head on out back to the car, which is parked in a lot about a five-minute walk from the restaurant. I’m the only one that had any leftovers. It’s not much, just a small serving of pasta, in a small container that I am holding.

As we go to the car, a man accosts us and gets in our face, asking if we could spare some food, since he has cancer and has been taking medications — even showing us some patches on his arm – but doesn’t have anything for food. However, the only person he looks at or speaks to is [Male Friend], despite me being the only one that is holding food, and keeps moving uncomfortably close to him.

I intended to eat the pasta for breakfast the next day to save money, and this was the first time something like this had happened to me, so I was speechless and reluctant to give it up. We’re wondering how to get away safely when we hear yelling from a woman on the street.

Woman: Hey! Did one of you forget your credit card?! This lady is trying to chase you down!

She points back and we see [Waitress] huffing and panting behind her, yelling for us. [Best Friend] and I immediately look at [Fiance].

Fiance: …Oops.

Me: [Fiance], this is the third time!

He and [Best Friend] run off back towards [Waitress]. After a few seconds, I bolt after them, and [Male Friend] quickly follows me. After teasing [Fiance] some more, apologizing to [Waitress], and wishing her a good night, we start going back to the car again.

Fiance: How did you get away from that guy?

Me: I followed you, and [Male Friend] followed after me.

Best Friend: That was really weird. He just kept asking [Male Friend] to give him food and talking about having cancer!

Male Friend: Yeah, I don’t know why he was talking to only me. [My Name] was the one that had food — did he expect me to just agree for her?

When we reached the parking lot, the man had left, but we weren’t sure if he was still in the area, and left.

And that is the story about how my group of friends were chased down by a celebrity voice actor.

(When I was in my mid-20’s I was riding the bus, and a kid who looked like he was in his late teens was sitting next to me. After a while I notice he’s throwing odd looks my way.)

Kid: “Um…what’s ‘Alchemist’?”

(I’m carrying a black messenger bag that has the title of an anime on it, along with a stylized circular symbol. Keep in mind anime has a large presence in my state, and this was at the height of its popularity.)

Me: “Oh, [anime title]? It’s an anime.”

Kid: *blank look*

Me: “An animated show from Japan? The main character is an Alchemist.”

Kid: “…Alche…mist?”

Me: “Yeah, Alchemy? It’s kind of a pseudo-science that people used to practice. Like John Dee? He worked for Queen Elizabeth the 1st.”

Kid: “…”

Me: “It’s in ‘Frankenstein’, too?”

Kid: “…”

Me: “…And ‘Harry Potter’?”

Kid: “…”

Me: *giving up* “So, yeah.”

Kid: “…So, it’s not your religion?”

Me: “Um…no.”

Kid: “…Are you Christian?”

Me: “No.”

(The kid mulls that over for a blessed minute of silence.)

Kid: “So…how do you tell the difference between right and wrong?”

Me: “…I use what my mother taught me?”

(That earned another blank look, but thankfully I got off at the next stop.)

I was a volunteer for an anime con, and one of the duties that I volunteered for was door duty for [animated adult content] theater. Aside from making sure that guests had badges or a wristband (of the day), I also had to check IDs to make sure they were over eighteen.

A guy who was clearly in his forties came up.

Me: “Can I see your ID, please, sir?”

Guy: “Oh, please. I clearly look old enough.”

Me: “I knew high schoolers who looked like they were in their twenties. ID, please.”

He showed me his ID, went in, and came out ten minutes later. I guess it wasn’t his type of showing.