At Least I'm not That Loser on the Fan Sites...

... but I'm not much better.

I have a problem. (Yes, I know you know that.) But let me discuss this particular problem with you. Ever since I was a little girl, I have become, shall we say, involved (I don't care for the term "obsessed") with my favorite shows and movies. I get hung up on a movie or a show and and bam! The people become, you know, real to me and they really are a family and they really do love each other and the fact that these plotlines are fictional is not a fact I care to be reminded of, okay?

Proof of my deep love for just one show...

Along with this "hangup" (think watching the same movies a zillion times in a row, which has certainly done little to inhibit my movie-quoting sickness) is the fact that I am a total bonus features/trivia junkie. I remember vividly the first time I found a "fan site" when I was about 12 and discovered the treasure trove of trivia that is the world wide web. (I'm a slave to alliteration, remember?) Anyway, places like IMDB are my downfall... I don't just want to watch the movie, I want to KNOW these people! It's crazy, I'm aware. My husband knows that a fail-proof gift for me is any DVD full of bonus features. Making-of, behind-the-scenes stuff... I could watch it for days. I need to know what Walt Disney's favorite Sherman brothers song was (Feed the Birds, fyi) or how Anne Hathaway felt while filming Princess Diaries 2: The Royal Engagement (she was nervous until director Garry Marshall assured her it would be a success.) I know you're jealous of my knowledge of these things. I could look up quotes and trivia on my favorite actors all day long. (It's a given that Disney trivia is in a class all its own.)

Then, with shows like Psych, you've got Comic Con panels (I know, I don't even know who I am anymore!) along with places like to Twitter to actually interact with the cast. What?! It's even worse if there's some kind of love story- Shawn and Juliet, Jim and Pam, and most recently Lee and Amanda from my current obsession. I just HAVE to see if they get together, stay together, get back together... it's important! This is real love, people!

So, imagine the disaster that is inevitable when entire SEASONS of shows (not just little YouTube clips) became available to me on Netflix! I can watch all the episodes whenever I want? This sounds delightful but is actually dangerous to my mental health since I become, like I said, a little "consumed" with these shows, watch them nonstop, and then feel something akin to grief when they're finished. It happened just recently when I discovered Scarecrow and Mrs. King (a classic from the 80s, btw) on Netflix. Fortunately for my sanity, it was on DVD so I could only watch 4-5 episodes at a time. BUT when I finished Season 2 only to discover Seasons 3-4 were not available. Clearly I couldn't go on living without finishing the series, so my sweet husband let us sign up for Amazon Prime where all four seasons were available on INSTANT video! Holy Moses, that was good news. Until, of course, I was on spring break and sick at that and decided it would be a fine idea to watch seasons 3 and 4 in the space of 3 days.

Ha! Now, not only can I not close my eyes without mashed-up scenes playing in my head, but snippets of the Soviet embassy, nuclear weapons, and KGB agents along with code names and top secret information and heaven knows what else I've ingested from three straight days of watching a spy show from 30 years ago. I love it, don't get me wrong. I just don't quite know how to handle the fact that it's OVER. To quote Meg Ryan, "I feel like a part of me has died." Okay, that's melodramatic, but don't you understand? These people are my friends! I love them! I love that they love each other... seriously, they get married in the last season and it's soooo sweet and I'm aware that I'm only confirming suspicions that I'm insane so I'll stop.

Anyway, there's not much of a point to all this other than just being transparent and sharing one of my quirkier quirks with all you nice boys and girls. Still like me? I hoped you would. Maybe one day I'll do a "The Making-of A Dash of Ash"... wouldn't that be a treat? Okay, maybe not. At least I (mostly) keep all of this to myself, considering there are websites full of people who devote themselves to finding and adding this stuff. I loftily remind myself that I only voraciously consume it... at least I'm not a contributor. That makes it better, right?

I'm off to hang out with my friends now. (I hope you're envisioning me with real people and not another episode of Scarecrow and Mrs. King, but then you'd be wrong.)

Ash