day 15: (not) a fanfic

Today Ames Bell went down to St. George to compete in the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship whatever as part of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. He'll be gone till Sunday. It's kind of a big deal for him. We had to print out 40 headshots and resumes so that he can also take this big cattle call audition for lots of companies and troupes who might want to hire him. Who wouldn't want to hire him?Of course, this trip means we'll be separated for the first time in almost a year. Like for real-- I have seen this man every day for almost a year. This is also kind of a big deal. I miss him already. Slop slop sob sob okay now I'll act like a grown up.

Also, I went to the doctor today re: the ankle I sprained during Urinetown rehearsals. Luckily, we have found out it truly was just a sprain, not a break or a fracture like I worried it might be, three weeks after it happened. I'm being sent to physical therapy and can look forward to some prescription anti-inflammatory. Of course the next step will be to figure out what's misaligned in my back (probably related to babying my foot for the better part of a month), but that's another story and will likely involve a chiropractor.

But this post is supposed to be about a fanfic. Fanfic? I don't think so. I'm not into fanfic, though I will admit:
1. I used to be (for certain books/movies)
2. My senior paper for my English degree at BYU had to do with fanfic.

Only in the broadest sense. I was researching Sherlock Holmes and how Holmesian culture has inspired pop culture today. (It's widespread, I tell you, but you can read the paper if you're actually interested in knowing more.) Essentially, Holmes fanatics were among the first to find ways of publishing their fan fiction, even while Sir A.C.D. was still alive. Of course, today people publish their various works online and in fanfic journals, and Holmes fans continue to write in the spirit of its creator. In fact, I'm sure there's a recent resurgence in Holmes fan fiction since the new movie was released. Fanfic communities are fascinating for sure. Can get a little weird, but fascinating.

That said, I don't have a fanfic to post or recommend. So. I hope my thoughts about fan fiction communities, however brief, was enlightening.

What I really want to discuss today (again, in brief) is the benefit-- nay, the necessity-- of dating people your own age. It really bugs me when people date other people who are not even really within their same age range. You know when you fill out surveys or you register your iPod or whatever, and you have to tell them how old you are, and it's like, 18-25, 26-32, 33-39-- or whatever. If you are one age and the person of interest is another age that cannot be considered within a reasonable age range, you should not be dating them.

I mean, I'm all about occasionally goofing around, particularly when you know you're goofing around. But when you start to develop any kind of real feelings, a real attachment, get out while you still can. I don't care who you are-- no 18-year old is on the same emotional/spiritual/grammatical level as a 35-year old. That's the bottom line.

And if you find you are exclusively attracted to people who are 10+ years younger than you, it might be time to find a new social circle.

Although I'll hand it to you-- an inappropriate relationship probably makes for great fanfiction. Someone go take An Education as inspiration and set your story at Hogwarts or on a pirate ship or Pemberly. They'd probably publish it at fanfiction.net if you felt so inclined.