Obligatory Introduction Post
At least I didn't use song lyrics as the title.
I saw somewhere on social media that Substack is the new version of LiveJournal for millennials. That succinct argument was enough to spur my interest in creating a Substack, as not a week goes by that I do not lament the demise of LiveJournal. (Actually, my LiveJournal account still exists and may be about 25 years old at this point, making it old enough to rent a car.) Those were the days of peak social media, when you didn’t need to use your real name or incessantly post pictures or videos of everything you do in a given day. That was the era of short posts consisting only of lyrics you found deeply meaningful while puberty was in full swing and long essay posts about why two characters from your favorite franchise really belong together romantically.
Ever since I was young, I can remember being an all-consuming fan of things. Whether it was a movie, book, or historical event, if it struck a special chord in me, I became obsessed and needed to know everything about it. I had binders and dossiers on my research I kept all of my found knowledge in like sacred texts. Yes, it was weird, but I loved it.
When a friend recommended LiveJournal around the year 2000, I took a break from crafting my Angelia Jolie fanpage hosted by AngelFire to check out this social site. LiveJournal is where I blossomed. There, I found fan groups full of people like me who just loved fandom. We could exchange copious amounts of fanfiction, share our fanmixes (soundtracks of our favorite pairing), and just bask in our favorite fandoms. This was my first exposure to highly crafted fan art and how you could make everything personalized. I spent copious hours creating perfect themes for my LiveJournal to show my current fandom favorites. That included banner images, user icons (and later GIFS), and “mood icons” where I had to find the perfect character reaction to match what I was feeling at any given moment.
Back then, there wasn’t the same level of toxicity or shaming that exists today. You just put a warning on your stuff if you thought it might “squick” someone out, and everyone went on about their days. Basic rules consisted of stating that the characters weren’t yours, don’t kink-shame, and don’t be a troll. Rules that we should really think about reviving. (I’m not saying it was perfect, but the places I frequented were much better than the social hellscape that exists today.)
Though social media shifted away from my beloved site, I still maintained my fangirl status. I’m still just as obsessed with certain things as I was back then. Yet, so much of how I interact with fandom has changed, both due to the shift in internet culture and that I now have children of my own.
Life and Times of an Aging Fangirl will be my new take on LiveJournal, with my obsessive fandom side leading the way. However, in the dumpster fire of 2025, the world and myself is a much different place than it was in 2000, which means this LJ 2.0 will (hopefully) be a little more insightful and well crafted since I have a BA in History, years of experience as a writer/journalist, and a parent to two kids rather than a teenager posting any random thoughts that popped into her brain. I will fangirl out over movies, TV shows, crafting, history, music, conventions, books, and how some of those things intersect with being a parent. I’m just trying to have a little fun in a time where we all feel like that dog sitting in a burning room, falsely assuring ourselves that it is all fine.