Like a lot of other basic white guys born in the 1980’s, I got into Weezer in 1994. Lots of people stuck around in Weezerland until 1996’s Pinkerton. I went the other way and for the next 31 years would happily explain to everyone why Pinkerton was probably the best album of all time and how post-Pinkerton Weezer wasn’t all that bad. I was the Weezer kid in school, I was the guy who really liked Weezer in college, and since then have been “that grown ass adult that really likes Weezer”. I wrote essays on this band. I hate podcasts, but I liked Weezer so much that I even tried podcasting about them. I really liked Weezer. I still do. Sure, there are moments that stand out much better than others to me, but as a whole I just love Weezer. The music makes sense to me, and I hope that everyone reading this can find some music that hits them the same way that Weezer hit me.

Naturally, I dove headfirst into the Weezer fan community as far back as 1995. I joined the fan club! I wrote Mykel & Carli Allen (two amazing sisters who started and ran the fanclub) and Karl Koch (Weezer’s 5th member) with as many questions as I could. When I could get on the internet, I’d spend all of my time looking at any Weezer websites that I could find. This stayed with me for many years, and as the internet grew I was on nearly every Weezer message board that ever existed (my favorites were the RCB and All Things Weezer). Over the past few years, I’ve ditched the message board for Discord, specifically the Weezerpedia discord server. It’s a great place to talk about the band. I’m not always there, but I’ll dip in and out here and there to talk about the band when it hits me.

I had to take a break from being a part of the Weezer fandom this year. I also attempted to join the fandom of another band that I really like, but I just couldn’t do it. Perhaps its because I am getting older. Maybe it has something to do with being one of the only 40-somethings in a Discord server talking about Weezer’s upcoming 20th album. I don’t know. I just kind of feel out of place. That’s been the general vibe of 2025 for me, but it’s not going to define who I am overall. This, like a lot of things in life, are just blips that happen and there’s the other side that we eventually get to. 2026 is right around the corner, and while the changing of the year doesn’t actually do anything it’s a good time to signify a moment of change and growth. I do not want to feel out of place anymore in this life, so I look forward to the end of 2025 as we all move into 2026. Maybe I can finally get back to those Weezer essays and that podcast that I abandoned.