I live in a very remote place, though not the remotest I've lived. It lies between the boundaries of habitability and survival. It's not a terrible place - but for a person like me, who wants to have warm summers filled with rain, and occasionally fade back into the swamp... Well, perhaps it's not the most wonderful place, either. There are no jobs, and no easy way out. Besides my small garden, which often has trouble surviving the winter, and the books that the local library supplies, local friends are hard to come by - but through my plants and a good mystery, I entertain myself while I grind away the hours waiting for yet another letter informing me in bold-face type that I am not needed - now if I had a bachelors on hand, an accounting degree, perhaps, then there'd be some use for me.
A time not too far back, I discovered Touhou - to be more precise, a friend was like 'awright play this game or I won't be your friend anymore. I am sending it in the mail, and if you don't like it you are a fool.' That was literally the conversation. A week of sleepless nights later, and I'm addicted to the gameplay and characters, but not really a true fan of Gensokyo. For one thing, I still play on easy mode, eheheh~ :derp: Not that there is really anything wrong with that, is there?
Later, I discover the PC-98 games, that there are in fact games beyond EoSD, and become more entranced by Touhou every waking minute. I make new friends, one of whom turns me on to Umineko on the premise "You read a lot of mysteries, you'll like it." The two end up affecting my writing style, my thoughts, and just about everything more profoundly than my first Busman's Holiday. Which is really profound. Like, eight orders of magnitude profound.
I've met some of my best friends through Touhou. It's reassured me in my confidence, and although I don't have too many goals in life, one is to try to find a way to express my gratitude to the community that helps make it so vibrant. The music, the art (I'm dead serious here - the colors, the costumes, everything), the story... It reminds me of that feeling of exploration and wonder that I felt hiking up streams and exploring hills when I was young. Well, that's enough from me. Thanks, Touhou, and thank you, ZUN. To everyone - thank you.
Well, that was pretty embarrassing. Here's a less-texty version! Touhou is like milk - it does a body good.
