big fan

There's this Facebook application that allows you to declare yourself a fan of something. Man, I am glad that this didn't exist when I was in high school, when I was at my apex of geekdom and would have declared myself a fan of The X-Files, Star Trek TNG, Monty Python, Kids in the Hall, Flannery O'Connor, The United Nations, Otto Preminger, and--well, the list goes on. I also had appalling music taste and would have declared my passionate love for Dave Matthews Band. Yup.

Nowadays, I'm not much of a fan of anything anymore. I cannot imagine reading fan fic nowadays. There's no way I'm going to spend time on message boards and reading about the characters and their actors, although there was a time when I had both a Start Trek TNG pop up book and a daily planner and a door sign that said "Where No One Has Gone Before..." (that was a little too close to home for my late bloomer self). I don't have that much more of a life now than I did before, especially this week that TD is gone for a conference. And it wasnot just the time suckage factor or being a fan that was an issue (or the money in buying a collector's edition anything), but just the sheer energy expended to be a fan is really draining. And then there are the people who are like you. Do you want to be like them?

So, I'm not really a fan of anything anymore. I like some things a lot, but I cannot imagine going to a convention (well, except Comic Con), or spending any more time than I might watching that movie or TV show. Fandom isn't something you age out of--you either are or aren't. I have a personality that is easily infatuated, but rarely obsessive. I liked X Files a lot, but only from 1994-1997. Then I dropped it like that class in the sociology department. I suppose that I in theory have the personality to become obsessive and fanatic, but eh, I'm too lazy, and there's too much else in life. Nowadays I am too busy with work, balancing friends and a relationship, and doing all those householdy things that take up so much more time than I thought when I was 16 and reading fan fic (but not writing it). Also, if I'm going to spend money nowadays, it's usually on some premium cocoa powder, books, or a dress. Not an X Files keychain. Although I once had one. I never really had the fanatic personality, so all of this sort of petered out and now I'm just a casual consumer.

How about you? Are you a fan of anything? Do you have the fan personality?