a) You're welcome! I think you have a
lot of talent for digital painting, and you've clearly put a lot of time and effort into working with the techniques you use. I don't know whether you've heard of it, but there's a UK magazine called
Imagine FX, which is a very useful resource for people like yourself interested in digital painting; there's also an accompanying forum, which i think would be very receptive to someone with your skill.
As for studying animation at uni, i think the industry could really do with someone like yourself. You clearly have fine taste in animation (i read your journal entry talking about
Howl's Moving Castle), which combined with your talent for static art, may possibly be a very interesting combination. Do you have an 'ideal company' that you'd like to work with (e.g. Pixar)?
b) Me too! I'm a huge fan of fighting games (i'm a staff member of a DA fighting games group called
Digital Dojo), and
Street Fighter IV in particular. I'm fairly familiar with the whole cast myself, but the main characters i play are Sagat, Balrog, and Blanka.