OBSESSED

For as far back as I can remember, I've have always had intense periods of obsession over certain books, movies, bands etc. Now that I have been diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, it's not so mystifying. Just my nature! It's just how I function, and always have! Always will, probably. I just get into a mindset where I think about it constantly, and can't think about it enough! I have this compulsive need to learn more and more and read and reread. I get so into some things I get a kind of anxiety. Weird! But not bad. We all obsess and we all have things we love. It makes life worth living! Here for you today I've compiled a short list (and LOOONG list of really stupid memes) of my biggest obsessions. I have certainly had many more, but these were, and are, the strongest.

HARRY POTTER

I've been an avid Harry Potter fan for, I'd say, about 15 or 16 years. And not just me! Most of my family and friends love it too. It is creative and funny and amazingly written. J.K. Rowling did an incredible job of showing what "evil" really is, and more importantly, what love really is. What sacrifice consists of, and what bravery means. That not all magic comes from a wand. J.K. Rowling might be a muggle, but she still has powers.

I think Stephen King summed it up nicely while comparing the series to Twilight:

"Harry Potter is all about confronting fears, finding inner strength, and doing what is right in the face of adversity. Twilight is about how important it is to have a boyfriend."

LORD OF THE RINGS

Ahhhhhh, Lord of the Rings! One of my favorite stories of all time.  I may have mentioned before, I loved it so much, I learned to speak Elvish. Like J.K.Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien made magic- he brought entire worlds from his mind and shared them with generations of fans. Though just a mixed group of strangers, the Fellowship saved Middle Earth from evil. That should help put your homework into perspective!

GAME OF THRONES

My newest obsession! Damn you, Elizabeth Record :P

When people ask what I like about it, it's kind of tough to answer, because it really is horrible. The nudity and language and graphic, awful violence is far from family-friendly. But it is still a great book series and show! So complicated and interesting and engaging. And though it is fictional, I do like history, and the series makes me think about how tough life would be like in medieval times, particularly for women. But some GOT women kick ass anyway.

Bonus! Bonus! Bonus! George R. R. Martin lives in Santa Fe! His closeness is super cool. Go, New Mexico!

DISNEY

Yes, Disney! While I liked a lot of Disney movies, my favorites would probably have been "The Lion King" and "Pocahontas." At the end of The Lion King, when Simba finally takes ownership of Pride Rock (goosebumps!) I would get on my hands and knees and do that slow-motion saunter up to the top of Pride Rock, then ROARRR right along with Simba. It was magnificent!

I wanted to BE Pocahontas, and very much liked playing with my Pocahontas Barbies. Except, I always lost her stupid blue necklace right away and it ruined it! Ughh. I remember my Granny once showed me a realistic picture of what Pocahontas actually looked like, and at first I was taken aback at how... ordinary she looked. The movie had Disney-fied her making her lean and tall and beautiful, not very similar to the picture I held in my hand. But then I felt better. She had actually been plain and accomplished quite a bit (yeah, yeah, before becoming sick and dying far away from home). It meant that just maybe plain people like myself can still do great things :)

CHILDREN OF BODOM

If you FORCED me to pick my favorite band, I'd end up here... Children of Bodom. From Finland! At the time of my strongest obsession, I was friends with several others who also loved the band. We wore the T-shirts and hoodies and we argued over the best songs and discussed lyrics. Seriously, one of the greatest times of our lives was when we got to meet the band in Albuquerque, then go see them play live.

One of my good friends, who's name I shall not divulge here, also squabbled with me over who could best write "Children of Bodom" in the correct font. This same friend took a Sharpie and wrote his best version of COB inside the door of my bright yellow locker. For the rest of the year I was paranoid about having my locker open wide enough that the teachers might see the defacement. Turns out, no one noticed and on the last day of 8th grade I wheedled some alcohol wipes out of the school nurse and scrubbed my locker clean.


OTIS

Need I really say anything?
;)

While I am certain that I will acquire more and more obsessions, and let up on old ones a bit, I know I will always love these things. Once I love something, I love it forever.

Here's to you and YOUR obsessions!

Sarah


Aaaaaaaaaaand because I'm obsessed with stupid memes, here are some more!

Confessions From My Phone

Hi, ho, there readers! It's been a while. In my defense, I've had a busy month. Driving all over the country and what not! Anyway, I have a "notes" function in my cell phone that I use all. The. Time. I like to write down blog ideas, among other things. And every so often I like to clear it out. So today's blog will be a list of some weird, random, confession-type notes in my phone that, at some point, I felt like sharing with you in a blog!

• Gasoline is one of my favorite smells in the entire world. They say that scent is the strongest sense tied to memory, and I grew up in and around ACE's shop, which is filled to the brim with gas and oil and heavy machinery. To me, gasoline smells comforting and calming.
  
• I recently joined Pottermore, which, if you are unfamiliar with it, is an interactive, online Harry Potter community where you are sorted into houses, get a wand, earn points, etc. I didn't mean to, but I was sorted into Slytherin. I'm not sure how to feel about that.

• When I go to McDonalds and then head straight home, I get a McDouble off the dollar menu for Otis. Always.
  
• I am not afraid of the dark at all, but I do have a nightlight in my kitchen. It projects an image of the planets on the ceiling!
  
• I am a pretty gentle, non-violent person who loves animals very much, but I do draw a line somewhere. For example, a few weeks ago, I had a mother and daughter come into ACE, and they were both visibly upset. The mother approached the counter and said in a quavery voice, "Where is your grasshopper killer?"
  The daughter let out a sob-like breath. "Mom! How can you--"
  Her mother put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, sweetie. I don't have a choice." She turned back to me.
  "Uhhhhhhh, right this way," I managed, and led them to the chemical aisle. I showed them our bottles of Sevin, the product we recommend most for grasshoppers, and left to give them some privacy, because I could tell something very... deep, was going on. Close to 15 minutes passed before they came with their Sevin to the cash register. At this point, the daughter was actually tearing up, and the mother looked like she might be sick. As I scanned and bagged their insecticide, I heard the mother say to her daughter in a low voice, "They're eating all my vegetables. I don't want to kill anything either, but my crops are dying."
  I tried not to gape. They were that upset about killing grasshoppers. Maybe working there has made me jaded and insensitive, but I'm sorry. They're GRASSHOPPERS
  
• My hair is by far my greatest vanity and has been for about ten years now!

• Awhile back, my sister was being awesome like usual and bought me the 96 PACK OF CRAYONS! You know, the ones everyone lusts after in grade school? Yeah. It was pretty amazing. Although I couldn't decide if I felt more grown up or more immature. Hmmmmm
  
• Every year out in the Greenhouse, there are those inevitable days when NOTHING is going on, but I'm stuck out there to man the register and fold boxes. Well, over the years, I've devised ways of keeping myself busy out there. I weave old bits of twine into bracelets, and I make paper snowflakes, and I do a lot of writing! I try to have paper on me at all times- in carry some in my bag, there's a few notebooks by my bed, and I carry a small pad of paper in my ACE apron pocket. When The Urge to Write strikes, I'm prepared!
  
• I've semi-recently begun to see a new psychiatrist, because my old one retired. From the beginning, I could see he was a really nice, sensible guy, but I pushed off any big judgements of him until I knew him a little better. The last time I saw him was right before my sister and I went on our big trip out east. I was telling him how excited I was to go, but how I hated leaving all my pets behind. He nodded, and thought for a minute.
  "You know," he said quietly, almost to himself, "My wife would be annoyed if she knew I told people this..." then he shrugged and leaned towards me conspiratorially. "When we go out of town, she likes to call our house phone and talk to our cats through the answering machine."
  I decided to go ahead and like him.

I promise I'll get back into the habit of writing more.. I miss it!

Happy Saturday :)

Sarah