Day 2 | In your own space, talk about your fannish origin story.

I'm in my 30s, so of course my fannish origin story starts with Sailor Moon and Pokemon ;D I somehow ended up watching a bunch of Sailor Moon when I was a little kid (like, 4 or 5 years old little), I guess because my mom found it while channel-surfing and figured her small child would like it?

By the time I was given free reign to explore the internet, fandom was already established online and starting to move out of user-groups. I spent hours on Anime Web Turnpike, absolutely enthralled by all the fansites and forums and what have you. I was very lucky to have high speed internet at home starting in the late 90s, and I took full advantage of it XD

I loved everyone's little corners of the internet, seeing what people did differently with their spaces, and I knew that someday, I wanted to be part of it.

Lucky for me, my dad is a computer programmer and engineer, and I grew up surrounded by tech. He was very insistent that I learn how to make websites, because he could tell that the internet was the future...and what better way to practice HTML than with a Sailor Moon fansite? My first websites are long gone, both online and any offline versions, because 10 year olds aren't necessarily known for their dedications to backing up their files.

But I can't talk about my fannish history without bringing up probably my biggest support as a tiny weeb. My cousin, shaenongarrity, was absolutely formative to my love of anime. During her college breaks, she took me to see Miyazaki films in theaters, something practically unheard of in 90s, and it opened my eyes to anime as something beyond the after-school block of programming on Kids' WB. So what if I couldn't really grasp what was going on in Princess Mononoke? It was still the coolest thing I'd ever seen on the big screen.

She also worked for VIZ in the 00s and would send me whole boxes of manga, making me the coolest kid in town~ I had a subscription to Smile magazine thanks to her, which introduced me to Peach Girl, which I absolutely latched onto. I was so inspired; my diary was basically nothing but Peach Girl fanfiction for a couple years there XD I still wasn't publishing any of it, but it's still so important to me, if nothing else.

And sooooooo, all of these various pieces - as well as some others that I'm sure I'm forgetting - led to me finally publishing my first fanfic. I'd lurked for years, but wanting to post my own fic got me out of my shell, so to speak, and I've been a part of fandom spaces ever since :D

I'm still picking away at my journal layout, but I figured I'd share something else creative I accomplished lately!

I finished decorating my notebooks for this semester, so I can finally show them all off properly!! They were a labor of love (and procrastination) and I'm really proud of how they came out!!!!! They each have their own unique look but also are clearly mine- I can see my style in all of them :D Images are quite large so they're under the cut~

( decorated notebooks here! )

Now I get to have super cute stuff for school that is fandom-y without being just...here are a few stickers on something. I'm very pleased!!!!!! I can definitely share where I got all the stickers/washi tape/etc if that's like, a thing people are interested in? Most of it is from aliexpress or a Japanese stationary store back in Pittsburgh (because yes, I've been hoarding stickers since about 2004), but obviously most of the fandom ones are from specific artists.

Still hoping for a classmate to comment on them, but at least they got a bit of traction over on tumblr XD

So, I've spent the past week or so on a Pokemon deep dive, specifically into scrapped Pokemon designs and prototype versions of the games. Mostly this means Liz and Pat have to hear about everything I've learned in great detail, but it did finally inspire me to play a romhack I've had installed on my 3DS for uhhhh almost a year now XD

Pokemon Super Gold 97!! It's a romhack that aims to recreate what Gold may have been like if it had actually released in 1997, as planned. I briefly played a different take on this concept but switched to this one, mainly because the creators also made an incredibly detailed guide in the style of the official Pokemon guidebooks. It's super useful and makes it feel like I really am playing a legit Pokemon game *w*

Anyway, I finally figured out how to take screenshots with my modded 3DS (because apparently I could do this all along but didn't think of it until ohhhhh this morning) AND NOW EVERYONE MUST SEE THEM!!!!!

First up, my current team:

I just beat the first gym (in Pagota City, since even the map is completely different) and I've managed to pick up quite a few fun Pokemon from the surrounding areas.


Current star of my team, my baby, my Dark-type kitty!!! She only has a 5% appearance rate and I accidentally knocked out the first one I ran into, because apparently Dark was originally weak to Normal ;w; A single Scratch knocked her out and I nearly burst into tears I was so distraught. I did eventually find another and carefully brought her home ♥


I picked the scrapped fire starter, partially because I usually pick Cyndaquil and partially because I wanted my rival to pick the other scrapped starter. He finally learned a Fire-type move, so that's been helpful :D


I don't think I've ever carried a Farfetch'd around before, besides when I had to get my Galarian one to evolve in Shield. However, Farfetch'd is easily the strongest bird option in the early routes and I'm looking forward to seeing his scrapped evolution!!


Now, don't get me wrong, I love Hoppip in its current iteration as well, but this??? This adorable kitty plant????? LOVE that for him!! Unfortunately, Hoppip's early moves are Not Great (looking at you, Splash), so it's taking a bit of training to get him battle ready.


Last but not least, the newest addition to the team: OG Spinarak!!! I cannot wait for him to evolve into Ariados, because I love the OG Ariados design so fucking much and I'm distraught that they changed it, ngl. I also don't usually carry a Poison-type around, so I'm gonna hold onto him at least until I can catch an Eeevee and experience poisonous Umbreon OwO

Anyway!! I've been up to other things as well, but everything has been delayed by this current hyperfixation (as if Pokemon isn't always occupying at least a decent chunk of my obsessions, lmao). I've got a new layout in the works, but.........Pokemon XD

Something I've been meaning to do for awhile: type up a list of all the pairings I support/read in various fandoms. Yeah yeah, I'm such a nerd. And let me tell you, I have been in a lot of fandoms OVER THE YEARS so this is going to be interesting, to say the least.

Fandoms are in alphabetical order. Pairings are in whatever order I think of them in. Some all are explained just because lolz, I do these things. I underlined those that I read/write a lot.

( this is the epitome of my love of fandom :D )

I THINK THAT THIS TOOK OVER AN HOUR. WHAT THE HELL. I OBVIOUSLY HAVE NO LIFE. I encourage all of you to do the same; it's fun!!!

Also I obviously have too many fandoms. TOOOOO MANYYYY. I'm pretty sure I forgot some that I've been in, too...I've had to go back a couple times to add more...

Okay yeah, three am. I feel like I'm a freshman in high school, not college >_> This is what I did back then...anyway! I haven't changed the layout on here for, what, a year or so now? Actually, more...since the last "change" was just a newer version of the banner.

HOUSE AND WILSON ARE AMAZING. I was a happy spazz cat over the newest episode...I've been squeeing all evening ^^;;

ANYWAY ENJOY THE LAYOUT I AM TIRED AND IT IS FINALLY DONE. Matching user info and icon coming tomorrow, I suppose. And I should probably get a House-themed mood theme, but installing those things are a bitch D:

edit: something that I need to share with you all because it is too adorable for words~