When I found this, I knew I had to have it on *NSYNC Palace. Muchas gracias to Casey at SpazzinBoutNsync for this gem. If you want to use it on your site, you'll have to drop her a line and ask her first. It's awesome, so...read on!
*Stage One*
Who are those guys?
One lazy afternoon, you’re sitting at home in your livingroom flipping through the channels on the TV when you come across this show that has a singing group on it. You have never seen these guys before but you’re pretty sure that that’s JC and Justin from MMC. (If you’re like me, then this show you’re watching was their Disney concert special) You start having some extreme flashbacks of your childhood and those NKOTB days...kinda scary. You start to chuckle at their dance moves, reminding you once again of the pop scene of the late ‘80s. BUT for some STRANGE reason you CAN’T switch the station. Your eyes are glued to the screen taking the whole concert in. Maybe it’s because you recognize JC...you know, the one you had a heavy crush on when you were nine? You don’t know it yet, but by watching this one concert that you just happened to see the last half of, you have been bitten by the *NSYNC bug and there’s no turning back for you now.
*Stage Two*
Denial
A couple days after you saw them on TV the first time, you’re again flipping through the TV stations and surprise! The same show’s on again! You tell yourself not to watch it because you know deep down what you’re getting yourself into. You’ve already been through it all once in your life with the NKOTB and look what it did to you --it got you craving those "boybands" and now you’re addicted. You don’t want to believe it, but you know it’s true. Except this time around you actually like the music these guys sing and *shock* they CAN actually sing GOOD! Once, you’ve realized that you DO like them, you don’t want anyone to know. Some of your friends can’t believe you liked those ‘80s pop groups of way back when and they still tease you about it. So, you know that NO ONE can know about your new found love...you still can’t believe it yourself.
*Stage Three*
Doing Research
After seeing the concert special about 3 times now, you decide that you need to learn more about these guys. You get on the internet and go to "http://www.nsync.com"...you don’t learn much of anything because that’s when the site was crappy and they never updated squat. So, you go to one of the 1,452,783 *NSYNC fansites on the net and surprisingly you learn just about everything that you wanted to know! --they’re from Orlando, ages, birthdays, full names, fave foods & colors and all that other stuff that’s not really that important, but you learned it anyway. You see some GREAT pictures and find out that JC looks MUCH better now than he ever did on MMC --that old JC crush comes rushing back and dammit! You can’t stop it! You also download a couple songs & wavs and you decide to go out and buy their album. Once you got the album and you’ve listened to it about 9 times that night, you love it! A couple of the songs get on your nerves, but you figure that they’ll grow on you and you’ll like them soon enough. But for some reason you can’t get "Giddy Up" out of your head...
*Stage Four*
Magazines
One day you’re walking through your local Wal-Mart looking to buy the toilet paper that your Mom sent you after, when the magazine rack suddenly catches your eye. Momentarily forgetting the toilet paper, you stroll on over to the rack and see that *NSYNC is on the cover of several magazines. Teeny-bopper mags to be exact. You glance all around you to make sure no one you know is looking your way and then you pick up the latest issue of BOP! The magazine has some hot "must-have" pics and you think to youurself 'Mom doesn’t really need that toilet paper does she? Napkins will suffice for the job instead.' So, you pick out a couple mags and dart to the shortest check-out line in the store. You don’t want anyone to see you buying a magazine targeted for 12-year olds do you?! As you’re walking out the doors, you laugh to yourself and shake your head in disbelief that you just bought a couple teeny-bopper mags. Mom can just get her own darn toilet paper.
*Stage Five*
The Recording Begins
A couple weeks later, you’re flipping through the TV channels again...boy, you watch a lot of TV! and the *NSYNC Disney concert is on AGAIN --what is this, like the 21st time it’s been on?! Anyway, you get the sudden urge to record it. Now this is a big step because if you record it, that means that you’ll watch it again...and over and over and over and over... You decide to go against your better judgement and record it anyway. So, you pop in a blank tape and hit ‘record’. The next day you want to watch it again, and then the day after that, and the day after that...well, you get the idea. *NSYNC starts appearing on other shows too and you start recording them as well. Before you know it, you have like 3 tapes filled with nothing but *NSYNC appearances. You even watch the insignificant 1-minute interviews with them over and over again. You just can’t get enough of these guys and can’t help yourself.
*Stage Six (part one)*
Concert Tickets
OH MY GOSH! You just found out that *NSYNC is having a concert in your town! What are you gonna do?! You’ve blown all your money on those irresistable teeny-bopper mags and now you have no money for concert tickets! So, you decide to go beg your parents and friends for the money. The only problem is, is that you still haven’t told anyone about your growing *NSYNC obsession...you’ve hinted at it, but no one’s caught on yet. So, you tell them that you just love the guys’ music and you’d love it hear it live. It takes some major pleading and kissing-up, but you get the money! Allright! On the day to buy the tickets, you con one of your friends to getting up at 5 in the morning to go with you to ticketmaster. When you get there, you find out that you’re the first one in line! go you! But to your dismay, they do a ticket lottery and you go from first in line to twentieth...ooh, sucks to be you at this point! But you have extreme determination to get those tickets and you’ll do whatever it takes. You luckily were able to get tickets to the show, even though they were nose-bleeds...but who cares?! You’re going to see *NSYNC live! You’ll be in the same building with them -wow!
*Stage Six (part two)*
Concert Time
So, now it’s the day you’ve been waiting for...the day of the *NSYNC concert. You had to sit through an agonizing day at school where your brain was completely just concentrating on *NSYNC. Your math scores were definitely affected and you got yelled at by your teacher several times to 'wake up! and stop acting like an idiot!' So, once the school day that never seemed to end was over, you jumped in the car and were on your way to see the guys of your dreams. The whole way there you aren’t acting like yourself...you’re acting like the little teeny-bopper that those magazines were made for. The two friends that you dragged along to the show don’t even really know who *NSYNC is, and don’t understand what all the fuss is about. Once you reach the venue and you’re in your seats, you start silently kicking yourself for leaving your camera in the car...how were you supposed to know that *NSYNC allowed cameras at the show?! But you soon got over it because you remembered that you were handed a concert photo coupon as you walked in the door, and if all else fails, you could just buy some pictures. Once the opening acts were done, you started getting really fidgety and excited -You couldn’t sit still, and by this time your friends felt like slapping the crap outta you. With your baby blue glowstick in your left hand and your binoculars in your right hand, you are ready for the show! The lights go out and your screaming your head off already for no reason! At your first glimpse of the guys, your hands fly up into the air and unfortunately so do your binoculars...they land a couple rows behind you in the aisle. Thank god they didn’t hit anybody...But honestly you could care less because *NSYNC, yes I said *NSYNC is down on the stage right beneath you. Even though you had nosebleed seats, they were still really good and you are so thankful that you got yourself outta bed at 5am to go buy those tickets! But unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and after the concert you are just plain deaf but are still extremely hyper and wound-up from the show. The next 45-minutes after the show, you spend wandering around the parking garage because dammit! you can’t remember where you parked the car. Once it was finally found, you make one of your friends drive, because you’re still WAY too excited to be driving. So, you and your other friend sit in the back and roll the windows down and start screaming (this friend finally loosened up and enjoyed the concert) your heads off because 'oh my god, we just saw *NSYNC!' You make it home safely and then fall asleep dreaming sweet *NSYNC dreams...awww, how cute!
*Stage Seven*
Email and Websites
Those fansites that you always go to just become addicting sometimes. One day you sign up for an e-mail list that one of those fansites had. The only e-mails that you had ever gotten before were from your Grandma, who sent you extremely annoying forwards all the time. So, you join this e-mail list and the next day you check your inbox and you have 124 e-mails! Good lord! But, you didn’t mind going through them all because they were all about *NSYNC. The fans always have all the information and you knew about EVERY appearance on TV and all the latest updates on the guys. A couple months later, you’re sitting at the computer checking your mail when it just hits you to start your own fansite. You have no idea what HTML or Javascript or whatever that code stuff is, but you want to make a site anyway. You do some quick HTML research and get the basics halfway down. Then you take all the pics and info that your wonderful e-mail lists send you, and voila! You have your very own *NSYNC fansite! It looks REALLY crappy in the beginning, but soon you get all you HTML down good and the site starts looking better and better. Then more and more fans start coming to your site and *shock shock* they actually like it!
*Stage Eight*
'N Sync theme songs
By this time, you have about 20 tapes full of nothing but *NSYNC appearances. You decide to make copies of some of these and sell them to other fans on the internet to earn some extra change. But, then you trade some of your tapes for home video tapes and those are the best to get. *Highly Recommended* Anyways, so now your collection’s grown to about 30 tapes and you still haven’t had enough. So, instead of trading, you sell some tapes for a while to get some more money to buy other *NSYNC stuff. Those darn yahoo auctions are pretty addictive to you too...there goes all your money! You’re trading and selling stuff with people you have no idea who they are, but it’s all good cuz they’re *NSYNC fans right?!
*Stage Nine*
Now Everyone Knows
It’s been about a year into your obsession now. You’ve come out of that denial stage quite well by this time. EVERYONE knows who your favorite group is now! Even your GRANDMA knows who JC, Justin, Lance, Joey & Chris are and she even knows who’s who. Your two friends that you dragged to that first concert with you still don’t really like *NSYNC, but they call and tell you that they’re on TV. Your DAD has started taping appearances for you if you’re not home and you’ve caught him a couple times humming "Bye Bye Bye". Your MOM likes to watch all the home videos that you buy and she develops a crush on JC, who just happens to be 25 years younger than she is. You’re known at school as that '*NSYNC girl' (or guy, depending on which sex you are...obviously). Your relatives call you after a concert and ask you how it was and if you had a good time. People you don’t even know, will ask you about *NSYNC and how they’re doing...as if you know them personally or something. You’re no longer ashamed to be an *NSYNC fan and you want EVERYTHING & EVERYBODY to know that you LOVE *NSYNC!
*Stage Ten*
The Final Stage
All true *NSYNC fans will reach this stage at one point in their obsession. It hits everyone at different times, but you’ll know it when you get there. At this stage, you realize how much *NSYNC means to you. You no longer care how they style their hair or what ugly clothes they may be wearing...you now just like them for who they are and their music. You don’t get upset if they have girlfriends, because after all, they are just normal guys with normal hormones. Who cares?! You now find it stupid to argue with all the BSB fans about who’s the best, because it doesn’t really matter. BUT, you do like picking on all the little teeny-boppers like you were at one stage in your obsession. It just becomes a fun hobby at concerts and passes the time before the show really quickly *highly recommended* If you’ve reached this stage in your obsession, then you are a calm fan. You no longer totally freak out when you see them in concert...you concentrate heavily upon taking GREAT pictures to put up on your website or send to your e-mail list that you made. In between pictures, you of course scream very loudly and act stupidly, but that’s all just part of having a great concert experience, right?!
So, now you know what the Ten Stages of being an Obsessed *NSYNC fan are...Some of you may skip a couple Stages or may never even make it past stage one. But, if you’re like me and make it to stage ten, then you are a true Obsessed Fan and are proud to let everyone know it! All these things are of course my personal *NSYNC experiences, but I think the majority of us are all the same! Good luck in your *NSYNC future! :)
-Casey
Guide To The *NSYNC Obsession