Thread:Blaziken rjcf/@comment-24374551-20140103221737/@comment-34326521-20140103230013

My issue was postponed for a while, so here's my advice (by means of a story):

I've liked Pokémon for as long as I can remember. Most of my memories of my childhood are a bit fuzzy at best, except for a select few. One of those is the first time I touched a Pokémon game. It belonged to a good friend of mine, whose name I won't reveal for obvious reasons. It was Pokémon Red. I remember going into a Pokémon Center, talking to the nurse, and choosing "Cancel", since it was the only word I understood of it all, until another friend of mine explained what "Heal" meant. I wasn't as good at English as I am now, obviously. My taste for Pokémon stayed with me until now. I was mocked for my "childish" (as they called it) tastes (Pokémon being only a small fraction of them), yet respected thanks to other aspects of my personality. It went on for a while, until they accepted it as being a part of who I am. It also helped that I found my best friend, whom I will call "Max" for reasons you don't need to know. Max liked Pokémon as much as I did, and, as far as I know, still does. We shared many of the same "childish" tastes, such as Pokémon, Mario, Mega Man (original, Battle Network, and Star Force), Sonic... the list goes on. People knew what we liked, but they didn't mock either of us. At least two things are possible. Either they didn't mock us because we both liked the same things, or because neither of us gave a damn that our tastes were different from most other people in our age group.

The point is, find a (true) friend; one who shares your tastes, and don't mind if you are mocked for what you like. If you can't do the latter, I recommend keeping your tastes a secret until you find a friend who shares them.