Online residency

That's how I regard my existence in the realm of fanhood and hanging out in online communities. Being in the fan world is not just about admiring a person for his or her body of work, there's also the insufferable need to find like people who feel the same about it, thus joining forums, attending online meetings, fan chats and being eager about fan meet ups. We need someone to share our mirth and pain, if there's any. This is why online communities are made, and chances are, lifelong friendships are tucked in it. After all, it aint called a community for nothing.

I go through my everyday with new bits of information on Alanis Morissette and Stana Katic from people halfway across the world. I get to see photos and a sneak peak to the life they live that is beyond records and episodes can tell. I am privileged to know first hand the goings on, the backstories that the rest of the world will only know about if they look close enough.

All these may be meaningless to anyone outside the fan world. But like other people like me, fandom is a huge window of opportunity to learn and discover other worlds. It hones interests in whatever activities, history, craftsmanship among other things the people you follow are into, therefore broadening your information range.

My love for alanis' work for example is an early influence to taking up guitar playing, her lyrics taught me to open up and write as I feel. The process of music creation and the functions of everyone involved in coming up with an album is not very common knowledge, most of the people I know thinks producers are just people financing a project, well it's not. Thru alanis, I also discovered sensible artists and musicians that i'll never hear or hear about on mainstream radio. At one point, I even studied the map to know how far canada is from los angeles and that new york is a long road trip ottawa.

Stana Katic on the other hand lead to my exposure to slavic countries, being that she is of serbo croatian heritage. And because she digs egyptology, archaelogy and astrophysics, i've also looked into it. I would probably not know about falconry if not for her.

Following the work of a musician gives insight into the profession. Following an actor shows insight into the work, preparations, hours at work, make up and pre prod routines.

My laptop becomes a vortex to a world where strangers share a common ground, an almost perfect world where everyone agrees with each other.my online communities keep me sane, however crazy that may seem.

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