This is an updated version of a post I did in 2013. Obviously, this is a ripoff of Robert Fulghum’s All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten.

I have learned so many things about fandoms especially the past year and as someone who has an innate interest in social behavior, it has been both a fascinating and frustrating time for me. But it also gave me something to write about because if there are method actors, I am a method writer. It helps if you know what you are writing about.

These are the things I learned and some may turn out to be a contradiction of Mr Fulghum’s original text, but they are lessons learned nonetheless.

Share everything. Sharing is caring but be mindful of the unspoken rules. Share if you must, but not publicly because some rules, like copyright, are greater than others. Also, being generous goes a long way. Extend a helping hand to a fellow fan when you can, that’s part of paying it forward.

Play fair. We are all fans, no one is a special siopao snowflake among us. Just because some devote more time and money to their idols do not give anyone the right to act superior. In the end…oppa does not know you.

Don’t hit people. Always remember that it’s just another day in fandom world. What may be important to you today will no longer be important years from now, or if you’re lucky and you move on faster than the rest, tomorrow. Never take things personally and harass people outside their fandom lives just because they don’t share your POV.

Put things back where you found them. You “found” your idols in the entertainment world, leave them there and do not bring them into your personal lives nor force yourself into their personal lives.

Clean up your own mess. Be responsible for what you throw out there, including the lies and delusions that you spread, and keep in mind that there are actually people who are naive to believe anything that they read on the Internet. Take responsibility.

Don’t take things that aren’t yours. They include photos, videos and content. Credit, credit, credit. Don’t pass other people’s product of hard work as your own. In the end, who are you fooling? 

Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. Ppeonppeonhan neoui han madi
Utgineun neoui han madi (I’m sorry I’m sorry).

Wash your hands before you eat. But don’t wash your hands off  your own mess (see above).

Flush. Fandoms are full of people with different personalities. It requires a lot of tolerance and acceptance, and chemistry too. But don’t hesitate to flush out those who do not make your fangirl experience a positive, fun, rewarding one.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Music, films, dramas, variety shows of our idols are good for us. Fangirling does not have to be complicated. It should be fun and stress-free. Whatever makes you happy.

Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. Live a life outside your fandoms. There’s more to life than stalking oppa online. Read a book. Talk to someone without glancing at your phone every now and then. Laugh. Appreciate the sky. Enjoy the rain. Look around you. There is a world outside fandoms.

Take a nap every afternoon. Go to bed early!

When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. Fangirling is fun when you have friends to fangirl, laugh and gossip with. A squad that would help out whether it’s finding the links to a video or understanding a foreign language, or just knowing that in the fandom world, there is a place you belong to.

Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that. Never say never.

Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup – they all die. So do we. But never say forever.

And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned – the biggest word of all – LOOK. But also listen.

Wishing everyone a fun fanfgirling life in 2016!

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