Decided to update my profile since 1) I hadn't majorly changed it since starting the account; 2) I started the account mostly to watch stories, but lo and behold, I'm now actually writing some junk, what the hell; and 3) why not?

How to introduce myself...interview style? Essay style? What do people want to know? Do people even look at these things?

Simple interview format it shall be!

Name: Shannon, though most people call me Spam. I've gotten Spammy too. I'm not picky, and I don't mind what people throw at me.

Interweb persona: SpammishRice. Pretty much everywhere: here, DeviantArt, Gmail, Yahoo (though that account might have died by now), IMDB, Runboard, LiveJournal, XBOX Live, Playstation Home, etc. I like consistency. I'll tell you though, I was pissed off when I tried to start an EBay account recently and found -gasp!- my lovely screenname had been taken!

Age: 27

Location: Northern California

Hobbies: Doodling, general artsy stuff and the improving of such, some fanfic writing

Likes: traditional Shirley Temples (do not approach me with a half-assed Sprite-based concoction. DO NOT.); some anime/manga, including but not limited to Naruto, Bleach, Get Backers, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Cowboy Bebop, and Samurai Champloo; the Harry Potter series; some video games like Oblivion and Mass Effect; Metalocalypse; Tosh.0; Robot Chicken; MythBusters; MXC; Jane Austen; The Monkees; cooking; math; reviews (both giving and receiving)

Dislikes: Voicemail; most teenagers; people who brag about a perceived mental illness; nitpicky people who defeat the whole purpose of fast food restaurants; people who bring irrelevant arguments to inappropriate forums (I will not debate politics or religion on websites devoted to creativity); the bias against fanart; writers flaunting a blatant disregard for basic spelling and grammar; pairing wars and pairing zealots; pretzels

Ships (I'm a rabid pairing whore):
from Naruto - Hinata and just about anyone, but my favorites are Shikamaru and Sasuke. And frequently all three together. Also, ChouTema, NaruIno, AnkoShika, ShikaSasu, and whatever crack you can come up with. Not at all into SasuSaku -- actually it's the only ship I absolutely cannot stand. ShikaShiho too. Bleh.

from Bleach - I'll take 'em all, but I'm most intrigued with Byakuya/Rukia, both familial and romantic. I like the idea of Byakuya honoring his wife of five years by taking in and supporting her sister for the last fifty years.

from Get Backers - Ban/Kazuki. Yeah, that's about it.

from Haruhi Suzumiya - Itsuki/Kyon, Kyon/Yuki, Kyon/Yuki/Itsuki. Haruhi's abrasive and offensive personality and Mikuru's general weepiness make them hard to like.

from Cowboy Bebop - Spike/Ed. Don't judge me.

from Harry Potter - Harry/Ginny, Ron/Hermione. And Draco/Ginny, Draco/Hermione!

Regarding reviews: I used to review more often, but life gets busy. I still review, but they've been getting fewer and farther between. I know, I suck. But I most certainly do read still! I just end up reviewing maybe every 5 chapters, instead of every chapter. On the other end, I always read all reviews I receive, both here and on DeviantArt, and I try to respond to any and all that warrant a response. Basically anything that forms a full sentence. I've got nothing against the one or two-word reviews, I'm just not sure how I'm supposed to reply to "Cool" or "Update soon!"

Random notes pertaining more to the actual writing:

- I think FF.net should have potential authors pass a simple grammar and spelling quiz before posting work. Obviously, dictionaries and other reference materials would be allowed, because a good writer uses them. This would certainly clear out some of the half-assed, half-intelligible crap I've seen recently.

- Seeing an author tell readers that they won't update unless they get a certain number of reviews makes me happy to completely ignore their request, and subsequent chapter postings.

- Authors who include author's notes IN THE MIDDLE OF A STORY concern me. Do they normally interrupt themselves when speaking or thinking? Plus, do they realize how annoying and rude it is to interrupt?

- If you can't spell "lemon", don't write them, for all our sakes.

...If you actually read this whole damn thing, I applaud you and stuff!