What's it mean to be Otaku to you?

What's it mean to be Otaku to you? I know there is that whole old way of thing Otaku is the Japanese word for stay at home, no friend, but for all of us it has grow in meaning to so much more where we all can say we are proud to be Otaku. To me Otaku is reading manga or watching a anime I enjoy late in to the morning. Reading manga every night on all the series I keep up with( I read web sites). Bing reading a new manga I just found till the sun is up, night after night till I'm caught up. Traveling 60 miles to go to a new anime movie that is limited released after a long day of work or early Saturday morning. Waking up early to go to a con on a Saturday morning. To drive 3 hours for a 12 hour, nonstop day and leaving the con at 3am after a amazing time. Arguing with friends over what going to happen next in a manga we read. Some how massing a small collection of manga, anime, and anime/manga theme things. Drawing fan art nightly. Sums up what being Otaku means to me. So what does being Otaku mean to you?

Otaku = fanatic. You can live, breathe and eat anime but function in the world. yeah you may have different taste than other people publicly but so what? People hide shit all the time. People who openly admit that they're otaku are either attention seekers or true fanatics of the animation world, both american and asian. I would like to think i fall in the latter. I love anima/mangu and still go to school, work, chill with friends that don't like it and live a fairly happy life. I have no issues staying home on a weekend and binge watching One Piece or House of Cards. I listen to both Jay-Z and M-Flo. I will be watching the new powerpuff girls and whatever new anime is out in April. I'll go see Deadpool in the movies as well as I'll go see Dragon Ball Z. It's about balance and openness. If you lie to yourself about what you want for any reason you'll only be miserable.