2025 Snowflake Challenge Day 10

Challenge #10

In your own space, talk about one of your fandom firsts.

So, I am re-wording this as 'In your own space, talk about one of your fannish firsts.'

I have stated before that I did not understand the concept of fandom in the sense of a group of people who are interested in one phenomenon (piece of media or literature) and make and share transformative works about that phenomenon until I was 36. My interest in fandom then began as a celebrity crush on Benedict Cumberbatch based on his performance in the BBC Sherlock TV series but Cumberbatch was not my first celebrity crush.

My first celebrity crush was about 25 years earlier, maybe around the age of 9 or 10 or 11, and it was a boy named Alasdair Gillis who performed in a kids' sketch show called "You Can't Do that on Television." Originally created in Canada, it was picked up by Nickelodeon in the early days of cable TV. It was full of gross kid humor. There was a diner, and a nasty cook named Bart served up hamburger with boogers in them. And if one of the performers said 'I don't know' green slime would come down on them suddenly.

I wrote my first fan letter to him and received an autographed glossy photo in return. And that was that until Cumberbatch many, many years later. I can't remember liking any celebrity between the two.

News & Views: instant frostbite edition

1. It's cold! It's 9 degrees F (-12 Celsius). I paid bills yesterday and my electricity bill is so high! I turned down the thermostat but of course now I am freezing. Apartments are drafty and you can't do anything about it. We got 4 inches of snow on Sunday and another half an inch yesterday. Yesterday was a holiday (MLK Jr Day) but school was cancelled today because the temperatures dropped so, that everything was very icy, and even though they cleared everything yesterday, it re-froze last night. I threw the boys outside for 30 minutes today before lunch and they told me not to go out because most of the world is very icy and they know I am afraid of ice. To be fair, I tend to slip a lot when I have to walk on it (more than normal people--maybe it's the way I walk?) and I have had a couple bad falls where I cracked my head. I am debating whether to even do my shopping run tomorrow because I'm just too scared.

2. I can't imagine that I am going to feel anything but anxious for the next 4 years.

3. I forced Minor to go down the hill with me to the liquor store on Saturday and bought 2 mini-bottles of 100 proof vodka and mixed one of my essential oils (sweet orange) into a 1-ounce spray bottle. The boys say it smells like orange juice, but it makes me happy. That was project #1. Project #2 was changing ink in the new printer. It was the first time I'd done it. It was easy but the illustrations were not exactly helpful. Project #3, this week's project, is hemming two pairs of pants. I have never hemmed pants before, and I don't own a sewing machine, so we'll see.

4. I have a sore in my left arm pit which, of course, I think is a fatal ticking-time-bomb tumor.

5. I hate being scared of life. Puzzle therapy is helping. So is listening to Classic Ghost Stories podcast. I love the guy who does it. His name is Tony Walker and he reads a story, then talks about the author and the story and then sometimes he just natters on about his life and I find him very funny. He's the only creator I am tempted to support financially (like Patreon or similar) because I just like him so much.

https://www.youtube.com/@ClassicGhost

6. The price of groceries is going up significantly and I feel like I should be more of a frugal mindset. Youtube algorithm has started throwing me videos like 'Feed your Family on X $ a week/month' but they do not have Picky Minisculus.

7. Putting the phone in the kitchen before bed is now The Habit. New habit to try: not eating in front of any screen (including phone). Hmmm. A tougher nut to crack for me, except at dinner.

I am doing exercise, I am meditating, I am doing yoga, I am doing housework and collaging and ficcing and reading but...sigh. It is difficult to get calm or remain calm. Everything is probably not going to be okay, in fact.