Thanks: 
Greetings, denizens of Lea Halalela. I've finally taken the plunge and registered an account after lurking anonymously for a few weeks.
My earliest memories of "The Lion King" are watching the original VHS version of the movie that I received as a gift. I still remember enthusiastically commenting to my parents on various things during the "Circle of Life" sequence, which suggests that I must have seen the movie beforehand. Regrettably, I've no further recollections to prove or disprove this suspicion. TLK earned a special place in my heart regardless, though I passively chose not to express my enjoyment of the movie in any role beyond that of being a viewer.
TLK dropped off my interests radar entirely for over a decade. I did not build up a large collection of related merchandise, I did not wait anxiously for the release of the sequels, and I did not see the IMAX presentation of TLK in 2002. When I heard mention of a Broadway adaptation of the movie, my response was similar to "oh, well, that's nice" and I went on my merry way.
My fondness for TLK was only reawakened about a month or so ago and by the unlikeliest of catalysts. One of the customs in a Spanish language course I had been taking was to periodically watch well-known movies with the language set to Spanish so as to develop our skills in recognizing spoken words. Much to everyone's surprise, including my own, the second-to-last movie the instructor presented was an original VHS copy of TLK from Mexico. As the rising sun pierced the early morning darkness above the Serengeti, I instantly knew a Spanish viewing of TLK wasn't going to suffice.
Later that day, I began my quest for a copy of TLK. Knowing that my own VHS tape had long since been lost or given away, I turned to the power of file-sharing networks. A few short minutes of searching yielded a possible candidate, which trickled its way onto my hard drive bit by bit over the following hour.
The 89 minutes I spent watching 12 frames per second go by in a 160-by-120 pixel window accompanied by low-quality mono sound were life-changing, stirring up old memories, emotions, and interests. I sat speechless as the last of the credits crawled past, wondering how I had let such an awe-inspiring movie slip from my sight years ago. The plot, characters, and messages had me captivated and yearning for more.
Subsequent days were host to my intensified search for TLK-related material. "The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride" found itself on my computer in short order. I took "The Lion King WWW Archive" at lionking.org as my base of operations for reconnaissance. Image galleries, movie scripts, and song lyrics all came under my scrutiny. I read through the first installment of "Chronicles of the Pride Lands" in one sitting. The Archive's listing of fan sites served as a portal to a multitude of discussion forums, Lea Halalela among those listed. A Russian TLK site referred to in one thread provided me with mp3 conversions of every song from the soundtracks, "Rhythm of the Pride Lands," the Broadway performance, and other CD's.
My amazon.com order for "The Lion King Movie Collection" arrived yesterday, so I may now proudly declare myself in possession of authentic copies of all three movies. I will be purchasing all of the TLK music CD's I downloaded mp3 versions of in the near future. Coming September 9th, the touring group for "The Lion King on Broadway" will be stopping near me, so I'll be sure to buy a ticket and see it for myself. If the reviews I've heard from Lea Halalela and other sources are at all accurate, I should be in for one heck of a show.
Lea Halalela has done much to bolster my confidence about overtly enjoying the TLK universe. Knowing that a similar liking is shared by hundreds of other people from just a single forum makes my situation seem that much more acceptable. Furthermore, having seen the wondrous works of art and literature produced by fans across the globe, I am encouraged to make my own contributions to TLK's legacy. Already I have initiated the process of learning how to produce images comparable to those featured on "The Lion King Fan-Art Archive." My first work, a sketch using a screen capture as reference, is completed and pending debut.
Though I did not recognize it upon selecting a username, my choice of "Bahati"--fate, destiny--is coincidentally significant. I never anticipated my interests returning to TLK, but fate has led me on a decade-long "Circle of Life" of my own, bringing me back to the flagship of classical animation and storytelling that is "The Lion King."
It is an honor and a pleasure to finally be a registered member of this community. I look forward to getting to know and interact with every one of you.
