Introducing......

Hello, I'm Zac and I live with my Grandfather, 300 miles away from the rest of my family, 45 miles away from the nearest Gamestop, and 1 mile away from the nearest small town. There aren't any tragic or obtuse reasons why I'm all the way out in Kansas, while the rest of my family's over on the opposite side of Iowa, only that said Grandpa was recovering from back surgery and I didn't have a job, so we decided to take that opportunity to get me out into the world (finally), and start working on my Grandpa's farm for the summer, and now, as it seems, the forseeable future. It's not a "farm" in the traditional sense, more of a big yard that he keeps his far-from-typical pets in. My Grandpa raises Whitetail Deer (primarily), along chickens, the occasional dog, and a cat that's been in the family since I was a kid. In the past, he's raised rabbits, longhorn cattle, and Moas (a type of Emu or Ostrich), plus a half-dozen other things I don't know about, alongside the legend that at one time he had a giant snapping turtle living in his swampy, disused swimming pool. I say this mostly to prove that, while my Grandfather may be as country and old-fashioned as they come, we are in fact related by nature of being in love with the out of the ordinary. Which is interesting, because my Grandpa has little-to-no appreciation for any of the things I'm interested in (he accidentally sat through all of The Dark Knight with me one time, all he had to say afterwards was "huh.") but we still get along, more or less. He hasn't kicked me out yet, after almost a year of being here. But that means I spend most of my off-time in my room or down in the basement, whenever I'm not awkwardly trying to appreciate the ball game that grandpa's watching, just so's that I don't completely alienate him.

Needless to say, I'm a Fan, as it is called these days. A BIG Fan (though not as fannish as some). I love Firefly, I love Doctor Who, I love Lord of the Rings (books and movies equally, though for different reasons), I love Star Wars, I love Avatar: The Last Airbender, I love Strong Bad, I love Assassins Creed, I love Portal, I love Halo, I love Loading Ready Run, I love Extra Credits, I love Magic the Gathering, I love Skyrim, I love Batman, I love Good Movies, I love Bad Movies, I love Gaming, I love to pick apart these ideas and stories and experiences to figure out why I love them (and sometimes hate them), I love watching and listening to intelligent people talk about the things I love, I love watching people fall in love with the things I love. I'm starting this blog because there's just so much love of these things that I wan't to share, and sometimes it takes more to say them than Facebook or Twitter has room to say. This blog is my storage unit for all of the feelings, opinions and love that I have for the nerdy things I love, in the hopes that others might also find insight, and also that the friends and family members that I occasional vent these feelings and opinions onto will instead be able to apreciate what I have to say on their own terms.

I'm a Fan from my Grandpa's Basement; it's not easy, and sometimes it's detrimental to the reason I'm with him, but part of me growing (the unofficial reason I'm with him) is learning how to be a fan while also having to get stuff done, especially the stuff I don't want to do. This place is where I can put the Fan in me, so that I can still be me, but also be the help my Grandpa needs.