What QAF Means to Me

[gaeln9796]

So I sort of nicked this idea up fromxie_xie_xiewho posted something similar about how QAF made a difference to her, how it changed her world. I’ve been meaning to post something along those lines anyway and she’s inspired me to do so.

I came to QAF between S3 and S4. A friend suggested I pick up the first couple of seasons of The Sopranos from Blockbuster and on my way to the S’s I noticed the out-facing DVD cover for QAF S1, honestly I’d never heard of it but the picture of those three guys -Brian, Michael, Justin - along with the name intrigued me.

My husband and I got caught up on the Sopranos and I watched S1 of QAF. Then I got him to watch it and since he enjoyed it, Emmett’s his special favorite, I decided to get S2 but not at Blockbusters, only S1 from them. For that I had to get Netflix and for that I had to get online which I wasn’t…yeah, that’s right, not even email…so…so late to the game but finally playing anyway.

I get online, I get Netflix, we get caught up in time for S4. I also started chatting on Showtime’s QAF board which was fun for a while, I met some terrific people especially, for some reason, older gay men but then it got weird because of the proMikey camp vs. the proJustin camp and those women from the L Word got involved and it started to get really strange so about mid-S4 I signed-off. Now what to do? what to do?

By now I was buying stuff off eBay, reading only my obsession stories by Danny and loving them but still feeling a little lost. Bit by bit I started finding others, rhinnonhero, alantie, plumsuede, and many more really good writers but it took almost to the end of that year, just last year before I found LiveJournal, I’m not sure why. And even then I didn’t really start using it in any meaningful way until last summer.

I’d seen this request on bjfic.net for high school AU. I like high school AU so I decided to write one. It took me a year and half and was the first thing I posted on lj, sometime in the late summer, early fall. I’d also written a Post 513 story, the writing of the two over-lapped and it took me a year to write which I posted not too long after, a couple of months ago. Now I’ve done the giftxchnge and one challenge, belong to several communities and comment, if not regularly, then often enough.

I’ve gone from never having heard of QAF to writing, four stories and, hopefully, counting, in less then two years. I’ve gone from being computer illiterate to being able to design an lj page, with the help ofjittrbugg, and I even did a little HTML for the giftxchnge story with the help ofshadownycwho is a wonderful beta besides all the great communities she‘s involved in. I’ve also joined the HRC, amFAR, GLAAD etc. I’ve read books I wouldn’t have otherwise and even recommended a couple to my book club.

And I’m not even going to go into the art thing, playing with and manipulating QAF photos, turning them into little pieces of abstract art. (see below)

But, obviously, the best part is all of the people who all do what they do so well, and for free, because of a need to share this passion we all have for Brian and Justin and QAF.

This is it for me, the only fandom I know I’ll be a part of and I can’t even tell you how glad I am for it.




i know a number of people didn't have a good year, I know the world is a mess but, honestly, I did good.

Oh and did I mention this is the first time I've uploaded pic to lj, it just keeps getting better and better

Comments

[lastglances.livejournal.com]

i love reading how people have discovered queer as folk. your story is great. i'm not sure what else to say but thank you for sharing it with all of us.

[harka.livejournal.com]

Gaeln, you are one amazing lady! Now, I feel as being a cry-baby. Ha-ha!

I would like to tell something like that about myself. Unfortunately, I had ideas, actually a lot of them, but something in its realization went wrong. Pff! Maybe this year will me mine, what do you think? People like you rise my spirit up!

BTW, which programme do you use for your art? PhotoShop?

[gaeln.livejournal.com]

Actually I don't use photoshop, in fact my goal this year, well, one of my goals, is to learn photoshop better. I use ACDSee which I think is supposed to be for archiving photos and make screen savers. The version I have has a ton of editing tools which I have learned to control, with some degree of success, over the past year. Unfortunately I lost some of the best stuff I had done when my old laptap died, mother board, hard drive whatthehell? all at once and I hadn't backed up in a couple of months. I cried for a week. Now I've resigned myself to the idea that as technology gets better, maybe someday I can get my stuff off the drive, it's still there, it's just getting to it, hopefully. My husband just shakes his head at me sadly, thinks I'm dilussional...whatever.

I am sure this year will be yours and your words are so sweet. If you have ideas that you can't quite work out, we're all here to help out, bounce them off of us and then see what happens.

[harka.livejournal.com]

ACDSee is unknown programme for me. I think Leah (Darksylvia) uses Photoshop for her icons. I have a CD, but I haven't yet installed on my comp.

Why don't you save your creations on CD? Every time you make some very well done pieces just put them on RW. Or, there is another option - you can upload them at (on?) Photobucket.com, directly on the net, or some other LJ's client. They are free, and this way you are always prepared to post them in your LJ if/when you want, or somewhere else.

[gaeln.livejournal.com]

ACDSee is like a baby version of photoshop and had I had PS on my computer when I started all this, I would have learned it and been better off. Most all of the banner and icon people use PS, I'm pretty sure.

I do back-up, to a memory stick, I just had't in a couple of months, a couple of very productive months.

I'm doing the lj gallery thing, uploading some of my pieces there and linking it to my home page. I don't have much there yet but I'm working on it but thanks for the advice. I only realized the gallery thing yesterday so we're thinking alike.

Reply part 2

[harka.livejournal.com]

Where are my manners?!!??

If you have ideas that you can't quite work out, we're all here to help out, bounce them off of us and then see what happens.

Gaeln, thank you for this!

Re: Reply part 2

[gaeln.livejournal.com]

not a problem.