I'm Not Afraid to Keep On Living

Okay, so I was randomly surfing various journals, looking for reaction posts to Sherlock 2x02 (aka Hounds of Baskerville) as I impatiently wait for the newest episode to finish downloading, when I stumbled upon an entry all about how someone met their first fannish friend from RL (instead of through the internet) and I was like: Ohhhhh, I have a story like that! And got all prepared to share it, here, when it occurred to me that most of my RL friends at least peripherally participate in fandom (except one who just kind of nods and smiles when I talk about it and then asks about bondage and BDSM because she thinks it's hilarious that I read that shit and am basically asexual).

But I still want to share the story of how I met V, and I can't remember her LJ name and I have no clue how to code it on DW, so I shall just call her V and she knows who she is.

At the time I worked for Red Cross and there was a wildfire (okay, the running joke here is this: 'when was there *not* a wildfire?' because for four years I had literally dozens of them crop up) and three kids came in to volunteer. Now, we had literally hundreds of people show up to volunteer and one of the groups that I was leading (the geeky/numbers one) needed people but most people don't want to do geeky/numbers things so there was a definite shortfall.

One of my favorite volunteers, Patricia, got up in front of basically everyone there and asks for any geeks or nerds to come forward and volunteer with the group. And three people did. V and her friend, and some guy that I don't remember. I started working with the group, training them, supervising them, and OMG, it turned out that V and her friend were hilarious and my age and I was like: Ohhhhhhhhhhh, volunteers that are actually as nerdy as me! I had a *blast* during that wildfire, which is a weird thing to say, but alas, 'tis true.

Then the wildfire ended and V continued to volunteer with Red Cross, but the other two didn't (I think? maybe?). Anyways, she started coming in a lot and we totally started hanging out and I kept thinking, the ENTIRE time, "she'd be a perfect fannish friend except I have no clue if she likes fandom or slash or ANYTHING and this is deeply, deeply distressing". And there isn't really a good way to ask somebody if they thought Harry and Draco were getting it on, you know? I actually don't remember what fandoms I was in at the time, so um, yeah. *shrug* Probably Doctor Who, because we're always talking about Doctor Who...

Anyways, finally one day I ask if she'd seen Supernatural and what she thought of it, because I was debating watching it. And she was like: "um, why would you watch it unless you like the gay incest" but the thing was? She shouted the words "Gay Incest" and I was at work and that isn't something you normally hear in a Red Cross office.

Eventually we get alone and start squeeing about slash and fandom and gay incest and everything and anything, and it was amazing. To this day V is like, V, one of my closest friends (even if we hardly ever see each other and almost never talk, because I'm a bitch who doesn't talk to my friends all that often. Okay, more like I'm antisocial and too much social interaction is not good for me). She's the entire reason I saw Sherlock Holmes 2 and Thor and countless other movies that I really don't want to list, because it's kind of embarrassing. If I could figure out a way to make her move to my town, I would, because she's kind of funny and amazing like that. But she's happy and like, has a boyfriend and a life somewhere else, so I can't blackmail her into it.

V, you need to work on being more accessible to my forms of blackmail! I command you! Or just let me crash at your place during Presidents Weekend because I will need to escape by then, for sure.

Anyways, yes, RL fannish friends = AMAZING.

And I totally need to work on my friendship skills or something, because it just occurred to me how often I actually talk to my friends.