I call CRAZYPANTS on that one. Crazypants. I was 15 when the show came out. So, I didn't watch it when it first premiered. I was too involved in my boy band phase that lasted for a little while. I didn't have time for that many obsessions! But, once my first year of college hit? I was all ready to begin anew.
Well, that's my story. I started watching the show at the tail end of S3 but wanted to watch the whole thing and get caught up. These were the pre-YouTube and pre-downloading days unless you had a fast DSL line. It was 2003 and I had to do things the old fashioned way! I rented the DVDs at Blockbuster in the summer of 2003. I watched everything over and over again, repeated favorite lines, favorite episodes until I felt like I had the whole Season 1 memorized. On to eBay to buy Season 2 for $50. I lost the first auction and got the second one. I had to wait an agonizing two weeks for it since I took a trip up north. When I got back, I watched all 20 episodes over a few days.
Finally, Season 3 came in the form of ripped copies from TV from a very generous person, and I watched those on my computer to get all caught up!
Then, obsession began.
I wasn't as active in 2003 up until the show ended. I was in college and even though I read all the fic, visited all the websites, commented here in LJ, and spoke up every once in a while, I wasn't as involved as I would've liked to have been.
Still, I made some friends here and I'm happy to say that I have most of them still friended and they've friended me back.
Sometimes, I still get a little fanfic/QaF fan starstruck. I'll never forget the first time I came across ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
paddies icons and all of her talent and skill. I remember when url_girl came on the scene and brought the funny with her doodles and icons (still brings the funny!). I remember freaking out with my Bestie every time that sandstorm63 would post a new clip on her site. I remember I was flying to Vancouver to visit the Bestie and someone sent me the scene from 403 early. I remember reading Crisis by jane2005 and holding my breath the entire time. I remember reading Forever Changes Everything by rhiannonhero over and over and over again because that's how I imagined their future. I remember dying from excitement every time that burnitbackwards posted anything new and shiny.
The whole of LJ was just littered with incredible fic on an almost daily basis from '03 to '05. I didn't know how good I had it. There were definitely a list of authors that I kept returning to because I loved anything that they wrote. My nostalgia list pretty much has everyone on it but the most memorable names were people like bigboobedcanuck, juteux, darksylvia, lennongirl, sparkledark and brosen, xhaleslowly, ragingpixie, severina2001 and twistinside, and others that I know I'm forgetting!
There were INCREDIBLE vidders in fandom! I think we really had some of the best. It was the way that I discovered new tunes, that's for sure. There was Blank Monday's Pillow, Jonatha Brooke's Because I Told You So, Rufus Wainwright's music was used. Choimimi's videos were really something else and had a great use of the music. Aida's never failed to make me cry my eyes out! Defying Gravity will never fail to be one of my faves followed by f1renze's Affirmation. Wendy's vids ... I can never watch musical Buffy the same way ever, ever again.
And then there were the fantastic people that came after the show was done! The brilliant suzvoy, talented ohfreckle, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-syndicated.gif)
arlad, and so many more!
In other words, I can't believe that it's been 10 years since the first episode of the show, that changed my life, aired. I'm so happy to call you guys friends, that we're all still here years later, and you can definitely always count on me to suck you into my web of nostalgia! I've met such wonderful friends through this little show and I am forever grateful to it for that.
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