Day 1 of Pool time

[cornerofmadness]

It rained and I'm kinda sick anyhow (enough that both me and mom who also felt like I did) so we didn't go to Lucky Uncle's mass for the first anniversary of his passing. At least my brother's cats aren't too freaked out that I exist in their space.

My brother has all kinds of fun streamers. Saw the first episode of Vox Machina S3, meh. And ended up doing what I don't like to do: binge watched. In this case it was Lower Decks. I really wanted to love this. I don't. I mean it's fun but hell after 9 episodes I can barely remember anyone's names so it's not really working its way in.




Challenge #7

The Ferris Wheel
Journaling: Life in fandom goes through ups and downs. Reminisce about the "wild ride" of your time in fandom or in other online communities.
Creative: Create an image or a photo with the theme "let's go for a ride".


Most of my flist knows I got into fandoms back in 1977 after seeing Star Wars when I was ten (I think that might even be in my sticky post) So let me talk about the last 6 years.

Prodigal Son aired in 2019 and oddly enough I didn't like the first episode much. I thought it was too over the top. By Episode 3 however I was on it. I wrote my first fanfic for it (an AU for comment_fic prompt and I don't normally go for Aus that radically change canon) only a handful of stories existed then.

Before I knew it, I was live tweeting the show. The actors were freaking talking to me (Lou Diamond Phillips still occasionally does) on Twitter. I had never been in a fandom from the ground floor. For the first time in my life I was a BNF. I mean I've been prolific before and well known but this was new.

And then 2021 happened. I had an accident, nearly lost my leg, had to learn to walk again and the fandom rallied around me. They sent things to my hospital room, had the actors send me well wishes etc etc. But that peak turned into rollercoaster down slope at 90 mph when the show was canceled on a freaking cliffhanger. We ran one hell of a campaign on twitter to save it like we did with Lucifer only this time it failed.

I still write in the fandom occasionally but the hey day is gone.

From their I eased into The Owl House thanks to Evil Little Dog, fell in love but that show ended up canceled almost as soon as I found it. My stories were well received but I was never really into the fandom proper.

From there I stumbled into Hazbin Hotel only a month after it aired (also one I didn't like until about episode 4 when boom I'm in love) but this is a fandom with years of prior notes and fans and a pilot that came out like 5 years before the actual show. And this is literally the most toxic fandom I've ever personally been involved in. (and if I'm honest it's only tangential me being part of the fandom) So that's a bit of a low.

It's not as easy as it used to be back in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer days (which could be pretty toxic too) when LJ and DW had multiple communities where you could hang out with people who only wrote your pairings or were for characters you liked etc. Now mostly you put it out there on the story sites and hang out on tumblr or twitter (yes still from what I can tell) and Bluesky or Mastodon

I wish I could crack the code for getting story attention in this fandom but I do have a small following and that is a high.


and hey I have a little pic too It's the carousel at Kennywood Park, one of my favorite things there.

Comments

[spikedluv]

Sorry you're not feeling well, but happy you're not freaking out the cats. *g*

[cornerofmadness]

thanks. Feeling better now but man is it raining

[kitarella_imagines]

ooh Star Wars! I'm a BIG fan. But when I say that, I only mean the original trilogy and MAYBE the prequels and sequels. None of the spin offs. So maybe not such a big fan! lol.

Amazing to hear of everyone rallying round you in 2021! I hope your leg is okay now.

I think fandoms have changed. Now it's more 'consume and move on.' Instead of 'interact and make a community.' Nearly everyone seems to have few comments now days. I don't care anymore though, I write mostly for myself and get a big surprise if someone comments 😅

I hope you feel better soon, being ill is horrid.

[cornerofmadness]

Yeah a fan of the original trilogy and lukewarm on everything else. in regards of star wars

My leg will never be perfect but I get around pretty good. Some things are harder than I would like

You're not wrong about fandom. Even as far back as twenty years ago I noticed the fast exit anime fans in particular have, bouncing from one anime to another.

And same, I do write for myself. I participate in comment_bingo to try and leave love on other works (because I know how much I miss it) but sometimes it's hard not to be baffled when you see a story where they don't even have the character's names spelled right getting dozens of kudos. Ah well, what can you do?

[kitarella_imagines]

Oh that's great! We are *true* Star Wars fans then 😊 I just feel like all the spinoffs and things are going too far, they look exhausting and complicated, and I can't keep up. The only one that interests me is Andor, because someone said it's like Blake's 7 but better. Hopefully I can watch it some day.

Yes I think it's more about popularity now: if people have a lot of followers and fans, whatever they write is popular. I actively do not want lots of followers, I like a small group of friends who I actually know. If some of them like my fics, so be it.

I always leave comments on fics I like, even though I often get no reply, or a reply that seems confused as to why I commented. I think people don't know how to have conversations anymore, which is one reason I like Dreamwidth- we can have conversations here! 😊

I used to hope for comments and kudos on my own fics but I think I've just lost interest in getting them now. A friend said 'AO3 is a library where I store my fics, and I allow the internets to peek at it.' I think that's a good attitude to have.

Hope you stay well 😊

[cornerofmadness]

Andor's like Blake 7? I know a few people to whom that would appeal.

I think more than followers what I miss is how I used to make most of my fandom friends, through comments on art and stories and that really doesn't happen much any more.

[kitarella_imagines]

Yes I read this post and it got me thinking.

Why Andor is Better Than Blake's 7
https://oracne.dreamwidth.org/1994498.html

Hopefully one day I'll watch Andor but I think at the moment it is on a channel I can't get.

Totally agree with your last paragraph. I used to have a group of fandom friends, we'd comment on each other's stories, have nice chats etc. All that seemed to end with the pandemic, everyone was trying to deal with that and drifted away. The pandemic screwed up the whole world.

[cornerofmadness]

cool, thanks for the link

Yeah I dont' get Disney+ so I get to see nothing

The pandemic sure did.

[kitarella_imagines]

Oh it's on Disney isn't it, no I don't get that either. We pay for Netflix but not the other zillion streaming channels that cost money.

I think we are still dealing with the aftereffects of the pandemic, especially children. My daughter was doing her end of school exams, I don't know how she got through it, studying alone at home for months on end.

[cornerofmadness]

Yeah it is. I just got internet recently that is barely able to stream so I have nothing but man to get every streamer I'd want it would be more than I'm paying for Direct

The pandemic has had a terrible impact on incoming college students. They got spoiled doing everything online learning nothing because most of them just googled answers and when they have to demonstrate it off line they're lost. I'm glad your daughter made it thru her exams

[kitarella_imagines]

I know what you mean about the expense of all that 😔

I think the pandemic affected their socialising skills too. In Britain, so probably everywhere, young kids are struggling to cope with normal school days and socialising with others, because they started out being isolated at home. I think it will take a while for us to get over the pandemic, even though we think we've moved on. But humans have always had pandemics, we get through them.

[cornerofmadness]

Yes my grandmother lost her siblings in the flu pandemic (the tail end of it)

And definitely the socializing has been affected. I do worry about them.

[kitarella_imagines]

Oh gosh, that is awful about your grandmothers siblings!

It’s horrific to think of what our ancestors went through isn’t it…I always wondered why my grandad on my dad’s side didn’t have any relatives. My grandad and dad both died young so I only found out recently that grandad and his 2 brothers fought in the Somme in WWI. Only my grandad came back from there, the others are buried out in the Somme cemeteries. That sends shivers down my spine.

Yes, people are bad enough at socialising due to social media, the internet etc. The pandemic has made us worse. I'm pretty hopeless at socialising, younger people are even worse.

[cornerofmadness]

It is. I also have the paperwork from WWII where they had to be registered because while the Italians weren't rounded up like the Japanese they were forbidden to leave their towns. My grandmother kept that paperwork.

Aw to your grandfather's siblings (all of my grandfather's came back)

This is true

[kitarella_imagines]

That is horrendous to think about. And more frightening to think we are headed back that way with people being rounded up, forbidden to leave towns etc.

Thanks, WWI just seems to have hit my dad’s dad’s side of the family. My mum’s parents’ sides were okay, my dad’s mum’s side was okay. Not everyone can escape wars though, can they 😕 I never knew my dad’s dad, he died long before I was born, but apparently he had Parkinson’s Disease. I suspect it was more like shell shock and nerve gas effects, but of course they covered all that up back then didn’t they. I suspect unless he'd had a named condition like Parkinsons, he would have been accused of cowardice or 'low moral fibre' or other such nonsense.🙄

[cornerofmadness]

exactly (as I point out to some of my maga relatives. Dudes in your life time WE were the unwanted immigrants)

nerve gas probably could cause Parkinson's (we know some chemicals can)

I don't know about my family in WWI, they were all still in Italy and they never shared those stories sadly

[kitarella_imagines]

Oh MAGA is like an infection isn’t it, from what I've seen of it. They seem determined to hate everyone who isn’t exactly like them.

Yes the more I think about it, my grandad being in the Somme must have done him horrendous damage physically, mentally, emotionally, so something that appeared to be Parkinson’s disease could easily develop. I think he died in his 50s.

I only found out about the WWI stuff through my own DNA test. I found the relatives of my dad through DNA records and noticed some died in 1914-1918 in the Somme. So it wasn’t hard to work out what happened, I researched and found their service records, their death records etc. Pretty grim.

Maybe your family didn’t want to talk about their experiences. I think many want to forget and move on 😞

[cornerofmadness]

infection is a great term for it.

Sorry to hear that (my paternal grandfather also died at 50) that mustard gas was horrible stuff.

I didn't find anything that exciting in my DNA test (and now I need to get my info off that company since it collapsed)

Oh most likely. It was odd, the WII vets liked to talk to me but Viet Nam never did (I was a VA doctor for a couple of years)

[kitarella_imagines]

Thanks, it's a shame I never met that grandad, he was probably pretty interesting. The other one died when I was 8. Did you meet your grandfathers or did they die before you were born too?

That was probably the only 'exciting' thing I found in my DNA, I've got pretty boring ancestry 😅

That is odd, wonder why the WWII and Vietnam vets were different. Well done being a doctor, vital work 👍

[cornerofmadness]

My mother's dad died when I was 10 so I remember him and my great grandmother who died a year later. Dad's mom hung in there until 89, mom's mom lived to 100 (as have several of my aunts and uncles, most made it to 90. My parents' siblings are all gone however)

My DNA is basically hey you're mostly Italian and a little Croatian and a little Neanderthal. Not that shocking really.

I think it's the reason for the was. WWII was stopping a monster and they were heroes. Viet Nam was someplace the general populace believed we shouldn't have been and they were baby killers when they came home (that is the hard part for a lot of them, at least as they told me)

[kitarella_imagines]

Oh that’s nice, you got to know them for a while. My mum’s mum lived to 97, but my dad’s mum died soon after my dad when I was 13, so I only have the vaguest memories of both of them.

Italian and Croatian sounds really exotic to me! Like nearly all native Brits, I'm 90% English and 10% Scandinavian. Yawn.

That makes a lot of sense about WWII and Vietnam.

[cornerofmadness]

aw that's too bad.

Ha and that's something I have ZERO of in my DNA, my ancestors avoided the UK hard apparently. I think I am the only one who's even ever been there

Yes at least here in America. It occurs to me I have literally no idea how British soldiers were treated during the Viet Nam era.

[kitarella_imagines]

In recent years it has been a very good idea to avoid the UK, it's getting a little better now, hopefully.

I've no idea about British soldiers in the 1960s either, sorry 😋

[cornerofmadness]

Yeah last time I was there we were doing comparisons over whose politicans was worse and man the bar was low for both.

[kitarella_imagines]

That sounds about right. The PM we've got now is a bit better but I fear that he's just a more intelligent type of extremist 😣

[cornerofmadness]

which sadly might be the more dangerous type

[kitarella_imagines]

Definitely 🫤One good thing is though- members of his party are very willing to argue with him about his ideas for new laws. They have already defeated some of his proposals.

[sarajayechan]

That sounds like quite a ride. Sorry to hear about the accident, though, that sounds horrible!

[cornerofmadness]

thanks (yeah it was not a good year)

[suzume]

I love that carousel photo!

I suppose Lower Decks isn't for everyone. :,(

Oh, but if you hang in there for Season 2, stick around at least to episode 3: "We'll Always Have Tom Paris." (I bought that same plate)

[cornerofmadness]

thanks

I tried to get to S2 E3 but the streamer choked on it. I'll have to try again later.

[suzume]

Oh no. Well, there's always another time!

[cornerofmadness]

tried out Arcane as well. Wasn't thrilled. Might watch more, might not

Moon Knight so far is very weird

[suzume]

I'm mainly on Paramount+ for Star Trek and Ghosts. Hmm, you might like "Ghosts" also.

[cornerofmadness]

the british knock off where she can see ghosts and she's trying to restore a family property as a hotel? My parents like that one. i watch it occasionally

[suzume]

I think the British version is on there too, but I can't help but prefer the American one (probably as an American myself!).

[cornerofmadness]

I think the American cast had a bit more chemistry

[suzume]

That sounds about right.