Love And Fandom – Please Join In

Once upon a time, there was a little fandom. Let’s call her “Army”. Army was a faithful little fandom. She was a temperamental little thing – she loved being silly – but she was also curious and inquisitive, and she liked being creative. baby-fandomNot yet a teen, she had grown up through tough times. A true Millennial, she was a product of the digital era, being born on a BBC message board from hundreds of adoring mothers who had come together to extol the craft and art of her father, an actor on the verge of becoming famous. But the sheltered home was broken while Army was still in her infancy, and the little fandom was made homeless when the evil landlord evicted her from her home on the messaging platform.

notebookUndeterred, Army soldiered on. She found new playgrounds on Wordpress blogs and Blogspot, discussion boards and social media, even e-mails and phone calls, carefully tended by her many mothers. Her father had had to make himself scarce, pursuing work and art, but keeping a fond eye on her from afar. Every once in a while he would send Army a loving letter, keeping her up-to-date on his whereabouts, and subtly helping raise her with well-meant tips and suggestions. Over time, however, his letters became more scarce, because he was so busy working. But whenever his work was shown, or he appeared at an event, his little Army would try to be there, to see him, applaud him, to wish him well, hoping he would recognize her and love her back.

shout-outEven when he almost vanished from the face of the Earth to work on the other side of the globe, little Army was his happy faithful fandom. She was content with even the smallest scrap of news – a wave or a wink, a little reference to her in an interview, a message at Christmas time. It simply did not matter that he was not around every day – because she was able to entertain herself. Army wrote fiction, she made videos, she edited pictures and gifs, she loved being creative, and she talked with herself. Even though she loved nothing better than looking at her lovely daddy in the many beautiful pictures and exciting films and shows he appeared in, or better still seeing him face-to-face at a public event, she was never bored when he was gone. She simply created the fun herself.

screen-shot-2017-02-07-at-19-56-06His career advanced, and while Army grew bigger, too, eventually entering her teenage years, her daddy had less and less time for her. Many challenging roles on stage and screen demanded his attention. He moved to a new place, and when he wasn’t inhabiting a role with all of his being, he was busy narrating books or promoting one of his past films. Although Army was busy and self-contained, having fun in her own little world, daddy felt he should be in touch more, and he got himself a Twitter account. And Army was happy – he tweeted often, sometimes enclosing a selfie of himself, and he entertained his little Army with witty tweets, promoted worthy causes or redirected the spotlight in his modest manner on his esteemed colleagues. So much did he tweet, that Army got all distracted. No longer did she feel the need to entertain herself with writing, crafting, photoshopping and creating – he had become a virtual presence in her life, and she eagerly absorbed every scrap like a sponge soaks up water. – They could have lived happily ever after, but when he went on an extended break from his multi-social media communication, Army suddenly felt keenly sad. “With him gone, has all the fun gone, too?”, she wondered… 

-*💝*-

Forgive me for this tangent that took a big longer than I had planned. Really got into the storyline there.  But here’s the deal. We used to write and make and exchange ideas all the time, and we created our own little virtual events when there was a lull. For Valentine’s and Christmas and birthdays and premieres and what have you. Wouldn’t it be fun if we did it again? I was thinking that now is the perfect time – it’s one week until Valentine’s Day, and whether you are a Hallmark apologist or not, it’s as good a reason to make a little concerted effort to create some fandom fun, as any. Just remember how much fun we had in 2014 with our RAworld Secret Valentine? It’s a bit late to organise something on that scale, but I was wondering whether bloggers, tweeps etc. would like to join in and commit to creating a Valentine’s post next week? It doesn’t have to celebrate the fandom, it can easily just be a love letter to our shared favourite actor. Or anything else that spreads a bit of love to your readers, followers and friends. I know that Zee is currently working on a Valentine’s drabble involving Sir Guy and Gen. And I was thinking of doing a little Valentine’s surprise, too, cos the oncoming spring which actually started in Ireland a week ago got my creative juices flowing.

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The fruits of my creative labour involve the fabric that I have had printed. I’ve had great fun making a few bits and pieces, and I intend to do something about them on Valentine’s Day. In the meantime, I have had experimented with some left-over print-outs and some itsy-bitsy wooden frames. Spot anything in the picture above? Closer look:

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Wow, that nose looks pointy. Sorry RA, must have been your pre-op silhouette. So anyway, just to say then, that I’ll mark Valentine’s Day with a little give-away, and I would love it if other bloggers/tweeps/fans would spread some love, too. If it helps, I’ll offer a prize to be raffled among all bloggers/tweeps who commit to a Valentine’s post. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

-*💝*-

Great news on RA’s next project, btw. A European-based film, I suppose, directed by Julie Delpy (loved her in Before Sunrise etc.) and with German actor Daniel Brühl playing Armitage’s “successor” – as in “the new boyfriend of his ex-wife”. Interesting. (Not nay-saying, but here’s hoping that he won’t have to play the “bad” first husband…) For some reason, I always think of Daniel Brühl as decidedly younger than me, whereas I think of Armitage as my age. But well, I am sure the make-up artists can work their magic. Making Brühl look older, of course. *coughs*  I am eager to hear more about that project, as well as O8 (release dates? details on RA’s role?). And then there is Sleepwalker which opened to a couple of very encouraging reviews last weekend. I am a bit surprised that there haven’t been any reviews trickling down yet. Hopefully the film has attracted interest by distributors, though. I’d like to see it, not least because it sounds as if RA’s role in Sleepwalker may be considerably larger than his duties in O8. – Oh, and lastly, courtesy of @tannni3 on Twitter I have just seen that Pilgrimage will be at the European Film Market event running concurrently with Berlinale 2017. That indicates that the film is finally out of the editing suite and ready to go. Fingers crossed it gets picked up. It’s another one I really, really want to see.

-*💝*-

Lastly, a quick word re. technical issues. It has come to my attention that e-mail notifications for my blog posts were not sent out last weekend – or arrived a day late. Weird! I haven’t changed any settings, but I have noticed that WordPress has been tweaking the platform over the last while. And every time they do, something inevitably gets f*cked up. Grah! So if you are subscribing here via e-mail, please check your settings whether you are still following me, and adjust if necessary. I hope the notifications will get back to normal, soon.

 

99 thoughts on “Love And Fandom – Please Join In

  1. I discovered I’d unsubscribed to your blog – which is quite possible, I am quite capable of hitting the wrong button, but maybe it wasn’t me.

    I’d be quite happy to offer drabbles/ficlets for Lucas, Guy, or Thorin if anyone would like one. There’s a post over on my LJ: http://thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com/191975.html Please anyone, feel free to leave a request there.

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    • See, that’s exactly what I feared. I am so glad you checked your notifications/subscriptions – it’s a mystery to me why the subscriptions were changed. Glad you are ‘back’ 🙂
      And I am feeling really bad about not realising that you are blogging, too – albeit on a different platform. Checking Livejournal as we speak! Thanks for pointing that out!

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  2. it’s done, and I’m looking for a beta. Short, under 1000 words, 2 pages…. easy peasy stuff. Seeing how the mod for RAF has gone awol since just before Christmas, you’ll have to look for me in my other spots – my wordpress, Ao3, ffnet… Effn… Dreamer, I’m considering trying Watty again. See if they fixed their formatting problem that drove me nuts.

    Liked by 1 person

    • No need to ask – I am putting my hand up anytime you are looking for a beta. Even if that means I am spoiling my Valentine’s fun. Mind you, I am just getting it a week early.

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      • Well if I can get my laptop to work, I’ll send it sometime tonight. I’m having to reset it to factory settings – and my fanfiction folders is on one of my 7 externals. I’m working on Spawn’s OLD laptop at the moment and it’s slower than me. Meh!

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          • Yeah, I wasn’t able to get online. Chrome would freeze, Firefox and IE would sit and spin. Spawn wasn’t having problems, so I ran a check and I get a … you might want to refresh your computer.

            I did that last weekend, so I did a factory reset. So not fun. It takes a few days to get everything set back up right.

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            • There is nothing more frustrating than slow internet. Drives me absolutely crazy when that happens. And factory reset – oh no! I hate that – mostly because I can never remember my passwords…

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              • I have several ids out there. HA! Actually, I’ve figured out how to bypass the whole – make up a new account, so mine isn’t password protected. But yeah, I’m still trying to find my drivers and programs. I so hate this and my CD burner STILL isn’t working. I looked up the error and apparently it’s a common problem in the registry and I’ll have to call their customer service some evening I have a few hours and let them fix it via remote.This is the 4th time I’ve done a factory reset with this laptop since September. Color me unimpressed with Windows 8

                (I have Windows 10 at work. Hate it more.)

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  3. Has it really been 3 years since our last Valentine’s Day fandom effort? It was great fun and I’m happy to join in with this one too. 🙂

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    • I know, I couldn’t believe it, either, when I looked at the old blog. 2014. *shakes head*. (And whoa, I have just realised that this February is the fifth anniversary of discovering RA.)
      Glad to have you on-board for the V-Day love. On tumblr? I have to make sure I’ll catch it all!

      Liked by 1 person

      • Yep, Tumblr……if I can jump start my creativity. It’s been somewhat AWOL these past few months. I have a feeling 2017 is going to provide us with lots of RA material to work with. 🙂

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        • Agree. On both points. Slight lack of creativity and impetus here, too. But with a number of new (and old) projects on the horizon, 2017 suddenly seems more attractive than before…

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    • Good to know the notifications seem to be back on track.
      And I fully understand about Valentine’s. Not my favourite event, either. (I’m just opportunist 😉 )

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  4. Ooohhh, a creative challenge…I love it! Please count me in.

    P.S: Richard is finally on a roll, and I’m glad his hard work continues to pay off with a higher profile. Slow and steady wins the race.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Fabulous – good to know we have you on board, too, Violet.
      Slow and steady indeed. And even if they are not always main characters, he *is* getting interesting opportunities. I hope he is happy with them, too.

      Liked by 2 people

  5. Sounds like a great plan. I will try to come up with a non romantic, silly and inappropriate ode. Or not. Time is not on my side. Maybe I will submit my valentine in March or April.

    Liked by 2 people

  6. I usually try to do something for Valentine’s Day–and not always the traditional route. Ha! Good for you in encouraging others to share collectively on that date. We did have fun with the various large fandom events over the years. Cheers!

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    • We did, didn’t we? It doesn’t always have to be a big coordinated event, but I am longing back to a little initiative where there is a collective effort. Just because it’s something to look forward to. Glad to have you on board.

      Liked by 1 person

      • You are too sweet Zeesmuse ♥️
        Do plan on making you more; have not found the image I want for The Shepard either, nor had time to look much, such is my life in comics. Have to learn how to work faster somehow❄

        Liked by 1 person

    • Ha, I am doing this for selfish reasons – I am bored. I want to read more Armitage. So I am throwing out the challenge in order to satisfy my own needs 😉
      And yay if you come up with anything! Doesn’t have to be long or huge – and maybe it will serve as a little relaxation exercise that will take you away from work!

      Liked by 1 person

  7. I like the idea! I wish I had an amazing plan for a Valentine’s post but I’ve been struggling with my bloggerly motivation for, well, seems like forever at this point. But I’ll promise to at least sit and stare at my screen and possibly some inspiration will arrive… =)

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    • Anything to get you back into blogging. But hey, here’s the thing: Armitage seems set to reprise his role as Daniel Miller. Well, or he’s going to Berlin. Maybe we’ll get some new material, soon…

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  8. What a sweet post, Guylty, love your idea, we’ll have our celebRAtion with or without him! I don’t know how, but I’ll try to participate. I still hope he will surprise us somehow, like he did with the love poems! Btw, can’t tell you how much I love your background!

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    • Ah, lovely. Glad to hear that, Glady. You can easily participate by simply posting something on Twitter. There are no rules as to contents, or format, or length/size. Anything goes.
      Maybe I should think of a hashtag or something… And I should offer to collate a link list so that all the participants can be found.
      The background looks familiar, eh? 😉 It’s a little bit busy, but it’s fresh and is my own design, so I thought I’d display it there.
      PS: Spent all day sewing today…

      Like

  9. Pingback: Guylty’s doing a Richard Armitage Valentine’s Day thing | Me + Richard Armitage

  10. So here’s a new WP wrinkle — in drafting my last post, at the very last second I deleted a sentence from the post. It doesn’t show up in the post, but does appear in the push email. I swear.

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    • Grah, cloud technology! WP has been messing around with the code for months now. It’s caused some real problems for me in work – our website is based on WP, and we recently started two-factor authentification. The last week or two, WP shuts down unexpectedly while I am editing – a real bummer because text is lost.
      I complained to WP on Twitter today, pointing out that their new Reader view which automatically shows the first 4 images of a post as a small thumbnail gallery is a default that not everyone wants. I preferred the previous default which only showed the “featured image”. I have a sneaking suspicion that these little mishaps are designed to force people into changing from a free blog to a paid subscription in order to get proper service.

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    • Wow, and yet another WP Reader change. All of a sudden there is a search bar above the listed blog posts. I wonder what kind of snafu *that* change is going to wreak now…

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      • I’ve had issues with photos picked for the reader. They are different for iPhone reader than for computer reader. iPhone reader picks up deleted images unless you detach them from the post. And featured image only seems to work for iPhone reader. Argh.
        And in another note, I’m only seeing your posts in reader, not through my email anymore.

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        • The photo issue with regard to iPhone I had not noticed – but you are absolutely right; I just checked. What’s worse, the actual photo view is really stupid as the photo as are displayed as a narrow strip above the title. Utterly stupid!
          It appears that the e-mail notifications were affected by a recent WordPress upgrade. Quite a few people mentioned to me that they didn’t receive a notification by e-mail for the last round-up, for instance. I checked from my side, and I noticed that a lot of people who I would’ve thought are subscribed to the blog, were not in the follower list. You may need to sign up for e-mail notifications again, and/or follow the blog again.
          I hate upgrades!

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  11. I’m not a huge V-day fan but I do love this thought. I wiil let it simmer in my head for a bit and see what I can come up with… Hope I can come up with something! Time will tell. 🙂

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    • hehe, I tried my hand at a little bit of interior styling there… I believe that the table is actually a wash stand, custom-made for the spot where it now stands, which is what is now our sitting room. The room used to be the master bedroom of the house, and the marble-topped console fits *exactly* in the space between the two large windows. The fact that it is topped with marble, indicates to me that it must have been used as a wash stand. However, when we moved in, the table was not in this room, but hidden away in the window-less laundry room in the basement… I resurrected it ☺️.

      Liked by 1 person

        • hehe. Let’s see what other words I can come up with in relation to “things found in the basement of my house”. There is “grammphone”, but that’s kind of expectable. What about “tusk of a naar-whale”? Or “German bayonet from WWI”? (This place is a veritable museum…) 😂 😳

          Liked by 1 person

          • Wow, that sounds like a treasure hunt 🙂 Indeed, a narwhal tusk does belong in a museum! My own basement disappointingly contains “computer equipment circa 1995,” “hubby’s bicycle parts,” “old cans of paint” and “feline toilet facilities.”

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            • 😂 Love your list of basement contents, particularly the first and the last. Sounds pretty normal to me.
              And I actually acknowledge with some embarrassment and guilty conscience that a piece of (marine) ivory should indeed not be held in private. There really are some moral questions over owning such an item… However, we are innocent. The tusk was already in the house when we moved in. Some ancestor must have acquired it somehow. It’s not on display, though, but sitting somewhere in a trunk. Together with that bayonet.

              Liked by 1 person

  12. I wish I had read this 2 days ago when it hit my mail, but was distracted with other things + I am ill again, which is immensely frustrating. Maybe I could make something, but I am running out on days and, on top of that, V-day is just ordinary day in my life aka nothing important. Well, we will see.
    Good luck and lots of inspiration for others! ;).

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    • Oh no – first of all, hope you get well, soon. This time of year is just horrible with the cold weather and the bugs going around. Do you have to stay in bed or are you at least up?
      And hey, maybe a little project will pass the time for you? If you need a platform to show something off, let me know 🙂

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      • Thank you for the wishes. Fortunately I am up and can do stuff, but my nose is leaking 😛 and I cough out those mutants, again. Had temp for a day, but, fortunately, no more. I am already crafting Saruman themed birthday card for my friend, so I will probably be doing card, if I will make it on time and, more importantly, come up with idea for it! 😀
        p.s. ty for the offer for platform, but I have tumblr, if that counts as valid?

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        • Tumblr totally counts as valid, yes!!! Looking forward to seeing another one of your fabulous creations. And ugh, it’s really time for winter – and any colds and infections – to shift.

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  13. Tststs, Daddy Armitage, der Rabenvater. – Guylty, wie konntest du nur dermaßen reschpektlos sein?! 😀

    Übrigens ist die Nasenspitze *jetzt* eher spitzer als früher bzw. wirkt so, weil sie nicht mehr die Neigung hat, sich – äh – zu neigen. Ist dir das noch nicht aufgefallen? Es gab irgendeine Szene mit maskiertem Dolly (also mit dem Dings halb überm Gesicht), da wirkte das Spitznäschen geradezu unfreiwillig erheiternd auf mich … *in Deckung flücht*

    PS: Ich bin in letzter Zeit viel zu antriebslos und mit leerem Inspirationstank geschlagen, als dass ich irgendeine Teilnahme zusagen könnte. Aber wer weiß, vielleicht springt mich ja doch was an.

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    • Nix Rabenvater – der arme Daddy musste ja arbeiten gehen, um seine kleine Army zu versorgen…
      Mit der Nasenspitze hast du übrigens total Recht. Ist eigentlich sonst auch immer meine Rede. Weiß gar nicht, was da im Kopf bei mir abgelaufen ist. Wahrscheinlich die vage Erinnerung, dass die fotografische Vorlage der Silhouette um die Zeit herum entstanden ist, als die Nase plötzlich korrigiert wurde… Der Schock sitzt immer noch tief *grins*.
      Ist im Moment wirklich nicht die Jahreszeit für kreative Purzelbäume, ich geb’s zu. Ich muss mir hier auch immer einen Arschtritt geben. No worries. Ist ja kein Zwang, sondern ein Angebot, eine Herausforderung, ein Anlass 🙂

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  14. I love the idea. I will try very hard to come up with something. I just don’t have a clue as to what it may be at this point. 💞

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    • Yes – I think that is the best way of doing it. (I was in the process of writing a post on the procedure when I just received visitors…) For those who don’t have a blog or Twitter, IG, FB to link to, I’ll also offer space on my own blog, if needed. I hope to get the post out tomorrow…

      Liked by 1 person

      • I’ll be posting here (mine) ffnet, Ao3, among other places. I’ll post at tumblr, although I have no idea what’s happened t the mod at RAF…. I’ve updated everything since the last time she updated – almost 2 months ago…

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  15. Am finally catching up on emails, especially yours. Wish I had the time to be creative for Valentine’s but it’s Mardi Gras season and I won’t have a free day until Mar. 1. Tonight we threw a party at a nursing home and crowned octogenarians king and queen. I’m pushed trying to post an adventure with Thorin once a week. Wish you were on FB, even silently. I’d love your opinions of my little conversations with the grumpy dwarf.
    Let me know when the tin is in the mail.

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    • Sounds as if you are very busy. And with very important things.
      Mardi Gras – of course, I had forgotten that we are gearing up for carnival season, too. (Not a thing in Ireland, really, even though it is staunchly Catholic…)
      Just remind me again of the FB page’s name. Then I can silently follow 🙂

      Like

  16. Pingback: 2017 Armitage Weekly Round-up #6 | Guylty Pleasure

  17. Schöne Idee zum Valentinstag und bringt ihn auf das zurück was er eigentlich sein sollte, den Menschen die man liebt einfach zu sagen dass man sie liebt, mit einem kleinen Geschenk, was auch immer, vielleicht besorge ich meinen Jungs noch was ❤
    Bei uns wird Valentinstag immer so kommerzialisiert, da geht der Grundgedanke total unter….
    Wenn ich so in mich gehe kann ich mich an keinen 14. Februar erinnern wo ich tatsächlich was bekommen hätte 😦 irgendwie kennzeichnend für die letzten Jahre meiner Ehe….

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    • Genau – wenn wir uns schon dem Valentinstag anschließen, dann mal ohne kommerzieller Geldverschwendung, sondern einfach nur mit Message.
      Mein Mann hat Valentinstag auch noch nie zum Anlass genommen, mir etwas zu schenken. Macht nichts, mir bedeutet der Tag auch nicht wirklich etwas. Aber ich habe schon ein paar Mal von meinen Valentinsgeschenke bekommen, und das war schon schön….

      Like

  18. Whoa, I almost missed this beautiful gem of a post! That would have really been a pity! *shakes fist at real life*
    I really enjoyed your story about Army, it’s very cute! And it feels very relatable 🙂 I wish I also had a face-to-face-experience, but that’s still on my “things I definitely want to do” list … *giggling*
    And I definitely like the idea of fandom exchanges (though I’m afraid I was too busy and unmotivated lately to join sinnamin’s last Valentine’s exchange, so shame on my). But I always like the connection with other fans, and I’m so happy to give little gifts to others – and receiving them is lovely as well, of course! 🙂

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    • Nah, don’t shake your fist at real life. Shake it at WordPress. They have somehow upset things, and apparently the e-mail notifications are all shot. It’s quite possible that you need to re-follow or set up notifications again, as some of my readers were mysteriously unfollowed. 😡
      The face-to-face experience – who knows, maybe we will get some premieres this year, and you will be able to attend? With NZ out of the way, you can travel in Europe, maybe?
      Yes, it’s nice to feel connected to other fans, and what is better to establish connections, than a little gift here and there? I am sure new opportunities will come up in the future.

      Like

  19. Pingback: Celebrate Love #CelebRAteLove | Guylty Pleasure

  20. Pingback: Won’t you be my Valentine, Richard? | The Book of Esther

  21. Pingback: I’m enjoying the “silence,” personally | Me + Richard Armitage

  22. I really loved the deco and am slowly catching up on thigs, it was more celebrating by doing this year ; it was a time of being grateful for having friends which are more like family and who huddle together and lend a hand when needed. We’ll certainly be going out to celebrate friendship with some spicy meal or/(more likely and) some gallons of ice-cream. Friends are a blessing and a joy in life 🙂 xx

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  23. I got into the Army for a while , maybe a year . I did Twitter , but I don’t do it anymore . It’s better to be a fan on my own , easier too . I feel so much more contended if I don’t have people biting my head off if I am speaking my mind and not saying what they want to hear , but what I think . Also I think there is less Drama in my life that way . No butt hurt people . I don’t have to apologise to anyone of pretending to be all smilie . I am happy being on my own and being just me for RA . Though he knows nothing about it . 😹😹

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hi Bunnysgirl – that’s definitely the advantage of fangirling solo: no drama. And I am really sorry to hear that you had some bad experiences on Twitter, i.e. being chastened by fellow fans for expressing an opinion. I totally think we should all fangirl whichever way we individually prefer. If it is best for your mental balance to fangirl on your own, then that’s the way to go. If it is best to fangirl in a group, find some like-minded people and fangirl with them. Both valid approaches. Hope you have found your favourite fangirl mode now, and thanks for commenting!

      Liked by 1 person

    • I learned a long time ago that organized fandom is a dangerous, dangerous, evil thing. I”m a pretty blunt, upfront person and sadly, the Army has been blamed for some of my more infamous shenanigans.

      However, I have made the best friends through Richard’s fellow well-wishers and I would trade any of them for anything.

      Liked by 2 people

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