If the apocalypse comes, beep me.

I was only a year older than Buffy's character and began watching the night the very first episode aired. I *still* remember that feeling of disbelieving glee I felt watching that introductory scene, where the "helpless" blonde grew fangs and killed a boy in the school. I was an obsessively dedicated fan from then on.

In many ways I grew up with Buffy. I swore with British slang, found out that not all monsters have green skin, and learned that sometimes it *is* better when death is final. I became a better writer through writing Buffy fanfiction. I learned what it was like to make characters that other people cared about, and how odd it was to have an existence in other people's minds so outside of who you consider yourself to be (thank you Douglas Adams). I gave my first interview as a writer to a real newspaper.

I learned Joss as well, and while that view may be distorted through my own lens as a fan (how could it not be?), I knew who was going to live and die through Serenity, and that Dollhouse was a fragile dream that maybe would have lived better as a comic book.

As a media scholar (seriously, I do it for a living, sort of), I am deeply impressed by the fact that Joss has been able to give us so many wonderful fans given the current production situation for film and television, and I hope that the executives continue to support him. I may not love everything he creates but I watch it- to celebrate the flaws and draw all the strength you can from his explorations of the human condition, green horns and all.