Fangirl!

I am, I have discovered, a total fangirl.

Okay, I've always been a fan. I get carried away with the stuff I like. Hang out at conventions, read and write fanfic, tape and watch the things I'm interested in obsessively, join mailing groups and LJ communities that talk about what I like, and basically act like a geek.

This has never bothered me. I am, when it comes right down to it, very comfortable with who and what I am. What I find amusing is that I'm drifting around in fandoms that have become popular enough to annoy people. The other day I was reading a journal (not sure where mind you, just surfing around) and I ran across an entry that basically said that they wanted to have the head of Harry Potter on a stick because they didn't like the books and were massively tired of everyone who was endless talking and posting about it. This was followed by many "Me Too" posts until someone said that LOTR was the bane of their existence and that they wanted to have Gandalf's head on a stick to set next to Harry's. More "Me Too" posts until someone said they wanted to replace "LOTR" and "Harry Potter" with "Wolverine" and they would be happy. It was generally decided that, because of their popularity, these fandoms were devoid of any value and were merely repositories for brainless, tasteless sheep.

At which point I realized that I annoy a great many people just by existing. I love LOTR, HP and Wolverine. The fact that they are popular doesn't change the fact that I love them. Yes, those fandoms are full of newbes and plebes, and people who are more interested the actors than the characters, but so what? Those fandoms are also ripe with wonderful themes, motifs, characterizations and dramatic possibilities.

Granted there are times when I feel the urge to proclaim that I've been a fan of LOTR almost longer than Orlando Bloom has been alive... and times when I wish people understood that there is a difference between the actor and the characters... and times when I want to point out that writing and reading porn that stars the actors' bodies is not the same as being a fan of the story or even the characters...

But somehow that feels like I'm defending or justifing my liking of the fandom, and that gives the complaints a weight that they don't deserve.

The people who were complaining about HP, LotR and Wolverine weren't doing it based on the merits -- or lack there of -- of each book/movie/comic/fandom. They just were whining that others were enjoying something they didn't like. And while I understand the irritation of having a lot of people like something that you couldn't care less about, the elitism that is inherent in choosing your likes and dislikes based only on how many others like them bothers me. It's just as stupid to dislike something because "everyone else likes it" as it is to like something because "everyone else does". In either case, you letting others dictate what you do.

And if you're so arrogant to believe that simply because you don't like something, it shouldn't exist-- well, there's very little chance that you will ever be happy.

And I will, usually, be glad to be the one that irritates you.

Yo JennJenn!

PIRATES!

Elephant ears.

PIRATES!

Other fair food.

PIRATES! (cheap!)

We have a new Thai food place in Wausau...

PIRATES!

Cheap popcorn and soda!

PIRATES!

Myr.

PIRATES!

A easy drive and fun, fun, fun...

It's summertime.... it must be the fair....

The county fair started yesterday and we managed to get there today to walk around and have a ride or two.

The fair is small but free; it's sponsored by the local 4-H board. We are a small, rural county. We don't have the best farming land in the state, but we're still a farming community; although lately we've changed from being all dairy farms to more diverse -- even exotic -- farms. The livestock exhibits are my favorites -- always have been. Checking out the cattle, swine, goats, sheep, horses, sheep, poultry... It's a nice stroll and it's fun to talk to my mom while doing it. Both her and my dad grew up on dairy farms and it's always interesting to listen to them talk about it; there is so much about life on a farm fifty or so years ago. There were two little goslings in a cage with their mother; if you've never been around goslings, they make quiet little peeping sounds. My mom sis that it made her homesick because they always used to raise geese -- 40 or 75 of them. They would then dress them out in the fall and sell them. That would be their Christmas money. They also raised chickens, turkey ducks and plain ol' ducks. She also told about the white pigeon that was her pet. It would sit on her shoulder and stalk cats in the barn. Until the morning she came in and there was nothing but white feathers left. She had a sheep named Timmy, too.

The rides at the fair are average and there is the obligatory games and carnival-type booths. The food is great. Burgers and fries and all that. Plus elephant ears and funnel cakes, cheesecake on a stick, monkey tails and more of the type of food that I'm sure the Surgeon General would ban if he/she could. Sunday you can buy a pass for $11 that will let you have unlimited rides from 1 - 4. We will buy a pass for Myr and Wil -- maybe. Wil's stomach hasn't handled the rides well the past couple of years. We're hoping not eating before riding and a good dose of Benadryl or the like will let him ride with her. Other times rides are $2.25 - $3.00 each. A little pricey if your going to do a lot of riding, so it's worth braving the lines in order to save some cash.

Wil is working late tonight and tomorrow, and we're not the sit at the fair and have a drink or two type people anyhow. But I'm thinking that Sat. night we may just head over and do that. Of course, since Wil has to get up early (4 - 5 am early) I don't see us hanging out there too late -- you can tell that we're just the "party-hearty" types.

Still, it a wonderful thing to spend a couple of hours at the fair, remembering that the world that I live in most of my life is all about small things: walking with my family and looking at animals, taking time to play a couple of games and watch my daughter take a ride an a carnival ride, eating a elephant ear and looking at all the 4-H projects that are being judged.

My life may be small but it is a damn fine life nonetheless.

iTunes!

I love iTunes. I love being able to buy just the one song I like.

My two last purchases was Angel by Sarah McLachlan and Stuff That Works by Guy Clark. They didn't have Runaway by Del Shannon or I would have gotten that, too.