Yawnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn...and Still So Verra Happy!

[elrhiarhodan]

Chicago...

Your airports suck much moosecock. You are a midwestern city on a lake. You get lots of snow. Why, oh why did you have to close all but one runway for a little rain? Why did you have three hour delays for no reason?

Particularly when it means I don't get home until 1:30 am, and then have to get up at 6 am to get ready for work. Tired is the word of the day.

Anywho...

The White Collar Big Chicago Meetup is over (and i iz sad, much sad). rabidchild67 did a wonderful write up on Day Three, so I am not going to redux her recap...but I have to say this - hearing your own words and speaking your own stories is a very powerful thing. I see much podficcing in the future. While other fandoms may consider podficcing your own work to be highly self-wankful, I would like to propose that since the WC fandom is extremely wankless, that authors should read their own works and publish them to the comms.

hoosierbitch, rabidchild67 and afiawri and I read our own works on Monday morning...and it was a truly incredible experience. I am in possession of the audio files of the readings we did on Sunday and Monday, and hopefully all them will be in short order.

A few thinky thoughts about fandom:

I don't know if the White Collar fandom is typical of fandoms in general (it's my first, and probably my only), but I do know that it is populated by people who are breathtakingly wonderful. Kind and generous and funny and exceptionally talented. And that shouldn't exist just in the vacuum of the internet. Meet up with your fellow fans whenever possible - even if it's just for lunch or a cuppa something.

RL and IL can co-exist.

Anyway - gotta scoot. Need to do something (like consume mass quantities of caffine so I can stay awake for TONIGHT'S PREMIER (makes flaily hands).

And I went to check the news today, and for once, the banner ads on the NYT homepage didn't annoy the fuck out of me:

Comments

Five Things

[usakeh.livejournal.com]

1. I am sorry for your travel difficulties.

2. However, I am super glad that you're still happy and had a lot of fun.

3. If you want to both avoid those annoying advertisements and get a more global perspective on the news, go to: http://global.nytimes.com/. The advertisements are much smaller and thus less irksome there. Plus, again, global perspective.

4. WE MUST MEET. When are you free to come and visit? Do let me know!

5. I'm sorry for the list form, but my OCD was really acting up; this is the only way that I could comment at all.

Also!

[usakeh.livejournal.com]

I don't know if the White Collar fandom is typical of fandoms in general

This one I can answer without going into list form. In my experience, a lot of it depends on the size of the fandom. Past a certain threshold, the larger it is, the more lunacy you see. People get into big fights over bashing certain characters, or certain pairings. It gets insane. If you want to see an example of this, check out the Torchwood fandom. Back when I was writing, I wrote some Torchwood stuff, but I never really got into the fandom because it was so fucked up there.

For instance: one of my ex-girlfriends, who is still in the Torchwood fandom, recently got tons of people picking on her because she made a post defending an often bashed character. It is ugly there, truly. The White Collar fandom, on the other hand, is the perfect size, I think. We have lots of talented writers, but it's not past the point where things get all insane.

Also, I think we happen to have gotten lucky in the sense that the talented writers, like yourself, are all fantastic, generous, humble individuals. Sometimes this happens in a fandom; sometimes it doesn't. Some writers, especially ones who have been praised by fans for a long time, do occasionally get kind of haughty and rude. Thankfully, there isn't any of that around here! I too feel blessed for having met so many extraordinary people like yourself in this fandom. We should consider ourselves very fortunate; not every fandom is so lucky!

ETA: I probably mentioned this to you before, but I suppose it doesn't hurt to beg you, once more, to participate in the helpbrazil2011 auction. I'm the community co-moderator. I would appreciate your presence so very, very much. If you're busy, I understand. Just give me some sort of answer and I shan't mention it again. I do hope that you're able to join us, however. I know that people would pay a lot for your wonderful work!

Re: Also!

[elrhiarhodan]

I've been warned about the Torchwood fandom...and I've stayed away from it for just that reason. I'm also not compelled to write anything there...so I don't feel the need to get involved anyway.

I am just a White Collar girl.

Re: Five Things

[elrhiarhodan]

Yes - we definitely have to have a meetup. Maybe when it STOPS SNOWING (we got another 6 inches last night).

I didn't know that about the NYTs - will check it out.

[queenaeron.livejournal.com]

I've been a part of several different fandoms: Star Trek, Babylon 5, Buffy, Lois & Clark and science fiction in general. It just depends on the people you end up interacting with. In all the fandoms you get the crazies, who are so into the show that they either love or nitpick every little detail. But for the most part, you sort of find the people who are like you. My very best friends in the whole world I met through a science fiction fanclub. I made the move to Columbus to be closer to friend and we were both really into Lois & Clark. I traveled to Metropolis and tried to cop a feel of Superboy's @ss with friends from L&C and even went to a L&C con in Los Angeles.

I used to do a lot of chatting on IRC but that seems to not be the big thing anymore, like it was in the late 90's 2000s.

Mostly, I read blogs about my favorite shows and read some fanfic. Actually this is one of the few blogs I actually comment on. Mostly because elrhiarhodan's work is so good that I feel like I actually have to comment on it. :-)

So, I'm glad you had a great time. Been there, done that. I actually miss the interaction with people like in the "good old days" ;-) Anyone in the central Ohio area, let me know, maybe we can get together and have our own little fest!

[elrhiarhodan]

I've been involved with on-line communitites since the mid-1980s - BBSs, GEnie, AOL, you name it, but this is the first time I've been involved in a fandom.

You are right - there are definitely crazies out there, or at least people who aren't nice, and with whom I should have as little interaction as possible.

You should come to NY for the spring meetup - we're going to try to do this around the time of the Paley Fest if WC is on the schedule (and it should be, since they are doing the LA fest).

(and thank you so very much for your kind words - I appreciate your participation very much).

[sonia6349.livejournal.com]

This:

"Chicago...

Your airports suck much moosecock.'

made me bark like a seal and attracted the attention of my supervisor.

*glares at you with her beady, little eyes*

[elrhiarhodan]

Tell your co-workers that THEY can suck moosecock...if they've got nothing better to do than to bother your LJ surfing time.

[crism79.livejournal.com]

Airports... Let me just say that I work in a travel agency, and airports... aaarrrrggghhhh!

The podfics sounds like a great idea :))

I've been through other fandoms (some more involved than others) and I agree with has been said, I think that the size of fandom also counts. But the people who belong to it too. I quite love the WC fanfom and I have more friends in WC right now than from any other fandom :)))

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you - I hate airports.

I think the WC fandom is the perfect size - not too small that it dies out when the show is off for the season - and not so big that it descends into wank and factions.

[crism79.livejournal.com]

I don't get the whole faction thing... and I hope WC fandom keeps being a faction/wank free place :))))