Obsessions, big and small ... but mostly big.

I do not have an addictive personality. I do not have compulsive need for things (or substances) - cravings, occasionally - but addictions, no.

What I do have ... are obsessions. I have (largely) illogical, emotional connections to a bizarre array of things. Relationships (mostly fictional), art, books, desserts ... those are the big ones. And when I have a lot of time on my hands, like ... now, I find new things to fill my obsessional void. My current obsession? Grey's Anatomy.

I stopped watching Grey's Anatomy at the beginning of Season 5, when Dr. Erica Hahn (the faboo Brooke Smith), was kicked off the show for not being pretty enough, or nice enough, or something. Dr. Erica Hahn was at the beginning of a relationship with the gorgeous Dr. Calliope Torres (mmmmmmm Sara Ramirez!), the first non-heterosexual relationship for series regulars on the show. And at the time, I thought it was a conspiracy by ABC (and the Disney Corp.) to end lesbian relationships on TV!! Surely, they were behind the lesbian relationship mass extinction. Damn you, Disney! You may have taken part of my soul when I worked for you, but you'll never take away my TV girlfriends!!!

Or, you know, not. Because had I just hung in for 5-6 more episodes beyond the Dr. Erica Hahn debacle, I would have been introduced to Dr. Arizona Robbins, pediatric surgeon extraordinaire, who's not only cute and fabulous with children (she wears heelys!), but is also a lesbian. And the folks at ABC must be satisfied that she's cuter and more personable than Erica Hahn (I'm sorry Brooke Smith ... *I* love you!). So long soap opera story line short, a non-heterosexual representation of Seattle doctors remains. And is one of the few (possibly, only?) lesbian relationships on network TV.

And I've been obsessed with it. I've watched all of seasons 5 & 6 ... twice. In about two weeks. And thanks to ABC.com, I'm all caught up on the beginning of season 7 now, too.

Lara and I had a conversation about this earlier in the year. Some people like Lara, have short fixations, little bursts of excitement that fizzle out as quickly as they pop up. I, on the other hand, tend to get fixated on one thing at a time ... and when I do, it's not a fleeting occurrence - I fixate for life. Examples:

- At 6 years old, my grandfather taped the CBC version of Anne of Green Gables on Beta tapes. I fell in love! I watched those tapes over and over and over ... until I wore them out, about 3 years later. Then my grandfather got fancy and high-tech, bought a cutting-edge VHS player, and Anne of Green Gables on VHS, and then I wore those out, too.

- My grandmother and I used to get chocolate croissants every Sunday after church. Sometimes I could get two. This was a tradition for almost 10 years. I could eat chocolate croissants every day, and be incredibly happy.

- I've had to buy multiple copies of these books because I wore down the binding, and they fell apart:
The Hotel New Hampshire, Sense & Sensibility, Misty of Chincoteague, and Reservation Blues.

- In a word: Xena.

- Fantasy Sports - I spend hours, and hours out of my week obsessing about my Fantasy Sports teams.

These are only a few examples. Sometimes it's a long, slow progression that eventually leads to the assimilation of whatever-it-is into my life, like Grey's Anatomy. Sometimes, it happens all at once - like my discovery of the wonders of hockey. But either way ... sometimes it's the little/big things that get me through the day.

What gets you through the day?

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The top ten signs of Olympic Obsession...

I have spent most of my waking hours (and some of my sleeping ones) watching the Vancouver Olympics. Now I know that the Olympics are the most watched programs on television right now, second only to Tiger Woods and his all-too-polished apologies ... but ... I don't think most people are *truly* obsessed. They watch because it's the only thing on TV.

But luckily for you, I've come up with the 10 tell-tale signs to tell whether you're obsessed or not. (I can't just let anyone go around proclaiming their obsession ... where's the specialness of that?!)

Please note - none of these items apply to Canadians. If you're a Canadian, and you're not obsessed with the Olympics ...

I don't even want to finish that statement. (Except for you, Fee!)

The Top Ten Signs of Olympic Obsession


10. You text the results of the events you're watching.

9. You're willing to watch a "sport" you detest, like Ice Dancing, when there's no other Olympic coverage on either NBC, MSNBC, USA Network, or CNBC. *I hang my head in shame.*

8. You voluntarily watch x-country skiing. All 1 hour and 15 minutes of it.

7. You refer to the Great British curling teams as "Scotland" - because that's where all the GB curlers are from. (duh)

6. You are sadistically fascinated with raving loony sports like the Skeleton and Ski Jumping.

5. You watch any coverage of Stephen Colbert wearing a mountie uniform you can find. Especially if he's talking to Bob Costas.

4. If your response to Russia losing in either figure skating, hockey or curling is, "Die, Ruskie, Die!"*

3. You not only watch curling, but you actually have an idea of what's going on, either because you've read up on it at sites like this, or because you've watched so much of it, you've figured most of it out.

2. You desperately wish there was radio coverage of the Olympics for when you're in the car, cursedly far from a television.

1. You've ever had fantasies of kidnapping Bob Costas, just so you could take his job.

#4 is brought to you by my dad, who is definitely obsessed. 


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This blog post is brought to you by:

NBC
The Canadian Men's Curling Team
The US Women's Curling Team
The Swedish Men's X-Country Skiing Team

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