As I sit in the Intensive Care Unit while my mother is laying, unconscious (but sedated) and on a ventilator, I’m reading “The Fangirl Life,” a book that I found out about only after I bought this domain and immediately followed the author on Twitter and waited for the book to be released.
It was released on Tuesday and I received my copy today.
While reading the first two chapters, I got to thinking about my fangirling life. I mean, it’s appropriate, right? That’s the name of this site and almost the name of Kathleen Smith’s book.
The first thing I ever remember fangirling about was possibly Care Bears or Michael J. Fox on “Family Ties.” I loved Michael J. Fox. He was my man before Joey McIntyre walked into my life with “Angel” and “Popsicle” on their very first album.
New Kids on the Block was my very first huge fangirling drug of choice. I had the dolls. I had the t-shirts. In fact, I’m pretty sure all of my shirts were NKOTB shirts at some point in third or fourth grade. I had posters on the wall, along with my Corey Haim and Patrick Swayze posters, and they were my very first concert.
I was in the nosebleeds for their “Summer Magic Tour” in Tallahassee, Fla., but Joey McIntyre saw me. He fell in love with me. Or at least that’s what I thought.
I was a kid, yo.
After that came my undying love of country music and Garth Brooks. I had always loved country music, but Garth solidified it for me. I thought I was going to be the next Reba McEntire. In high school, I got a perm to try and be like Reba. I wore this stupid white shirt with fringes to look like Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn in “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” I got a guitar and learned to play it a little. And then came Rhett Akins, my hometown singer and father of Thomas Rhett. He inspired so much in my life – from who I am today to the courage to leave South Georgia like he did.
Should we even mention the obsession with “Friends” that has lasted for more than 20 years now? I’m the female version of Chandler Bing and I had the Rachel haircut in 10th grade. I had posters. I had a watch. I still have the t-shirts.
From “Friends” and Rhett Akins came two words – Backstreet Boys.
It’s funny because Rhett played at my Grad Nite in 1998 at Walt Disney World and I thought it was fate. That is until I walked over to see the Backstreet Boys and Nick Carter asked me if he was sexual. I was like…. well, duh.
The next week I made a freshman girl in my PE class give me a poster of him and I put it up inside my closet until I was ready to come out of the closet as a Backstreet Boys fan.
Since then, I haven’t had that many big obsessions, not like the one I have with the Backstreet Boys. Sure, I like the Jonas Brothers and One Direction, but no one else comes close to BSB.
No pun intended.