Hello, I'm Dee...and I'm Compulsive
It's a really bad habit. For this particular post, I must blame Sam. (Thanks Sam!) See, she said the fateful words, "Have you read Nalini Singh's Psy/Changeling series?" Now, I'd read Nalini's Desires, but getting myself into a series is just asking for trouble. Why? Because I can't stop until I've read them all. Problem is, there aren't any at the moment. Which means...we be screwed.
It never fails. You know those Dynasties that Silhouette Desire puts out? 12 books on various members of a family? I have to be honest here, I don't like every single piece of romance that gets published. There's some I read and I wonder if the author made it poke my eyes until they bled on purpose. But I finish the book. You know why? Because I HAVE to know if there's anything pertinent to the rest of the series in the book.
It doesn't stop at books and series. Oh no. It applies to movies (Hello! 2 disc set that costs way too much money? I'm your sucker!) and tv shows (God help me, I actually started watching LOST in the big dearth of other television and now I'm screwed there too.) and comic books. I'm practically manic. I simply MUST have the full story. The whole world, if you will.
Here's the worst part. I'm also secretive. I can't have anyone knowing the lengths I'll go to, just to get that final missing book in the series. I'm like a teenage boy hiding porn from his mother. "No, honey, I was just...uh...flipping through pages. Window shopping. Of course I didn't paypal another novella!"
I'm so lame. Cause, you know...I did just paypal a novella.
What are your uncontrollable compulsions? I'd talk about my cake problems, but that's a whole other post.
Dee
Good morning, Dee, my compulsive friend,
Thanks for a good laugh on a Friday morning and high five to a fellow copulsive person. I didn't know there was a name for this until I was in college and took psych. I'm compulsive about organizing paper work. I put everything in binders. I love binders. And dividers. And different colored tabs and markers and pens for different thing....panting...You know...?
Oh Jeanie!
Yes, yes, yes! (Whoops, almost had a Meg Ryan moment there!) I LOVE to color code! I had to stop being so obsessive because Gio was having trouble at school. He'd have absolute freak outs because they didn't color organize their toybins. I think a lot of it has to do with literally growing up in an office. I still go happy crazy at the smell of White-Out!
You know those handout books we get at Nationals? I usually take them apart...so I can organize them by category into my notebooks that are all tabbed and separated. It makes me wildly happy, what can I say?
As for the markers....oh, yes, I love highlighters for just that purpose.
Stationery is a wonderful thing.
Dee
Hey, wait a minute...
I wake up and see "I must blame Sam" ??? LOL
What can I say? Birds of a feather... *G*
Oh, the obsessions. There have been book series that have driven me near mad to get the next ones -- the Sookie Stackhouse books (pre-book 5 -- the first four were brilliant, after that I could take or leave, but I re-read the first four several times), the Stephanie Plums (first 9, after which they faded for me), the In Death series -- that one, I read the first 16, twice. Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar books, which just ended, and I don't really care for his other non-series books as much, but Myron books are fantastic.
TV, though, is worse. I will stay up far too late watching back to backs of whatever show I am addicted to at the moment, and become really absorbed into storylines -- by far the most gripping having been Buffy, Veronica Mars (the current obsession -- I shouldn't admit this, probably, but I just got done reading an entire Wikipedia summary on the Logan/Veronica relationship), and LOST, at least for the first 2 seasons.
There is the cake thing, yes, but the DVD thing probably is my real weakness... I'm not sure whom to blame for that, but I suppose I could blame Dee, you know, just because, LOL.
Sam
I'll take the blame for that!
Anything to increase my All Cake Regime, lol.
You know, come to think of it, I stopped with Plum after book 9 too. Then I read that she says Stephanie will never change and I realized...she's NEVER going to pick between the two guys. Plus, you know, nothing is going to top the image of Lola running down the street from a pack of dogs after her bacon while her spandex skirt rides up to show her thong. That's just damn priceless.
I never did try Anita Blake, thank God. I've heard the misery from others. But I read all the Bridgertons. And I'm getting kind of violently addicted to Immortals After Dark. I could go on. And on. And oh God...ON.
But I won't. :)
Dee
Oh...
And other than books/shows... I guess I am compulsive about anything I want to learn -- friends and Mike have noted I will obsessively throw myself into something for a while, and then at some point I drop back, LOL, which luckily doesn't apply to relationships *G* (well, a few in the past...). I will literally do/think about that thing 24/7 for however long... People who know me think it's strange/amusing, I think. LOL
Like with quilting -- I started quilting out of the blue, and for a year or two I quilted obsessively, every day, I must have turned out like dozens of quilting projects. And now, I'm having to find time and force myself to finish one I'm in the middle of, and who knows what will happen after that? My recent attention has been drifting to embroidery.
Same with just about anything I want to learn -- tarot was another, though that one stuck. I started tarot and lived with it obsessively for a few years, though now I just read here and there, mostly for myself. Then there was tiling, and gardening... the list goes on.
But when I pick something up like that, I throw myself into it 200%, it comes a huge part of my world and then, depending on the thing, it tends to fade a little..or at least take less of a huge part in my life. I guess the same is true with the reading/watching... Interesting.
Sam
My son and my husband's best
My son and my husband's best friend (my son's godfather) are the same. They don't just get interested in guitars, Japanese culture, Native American culture, scuba diving, biking, running, kayaking, metal detecting--they immerse. Totally. (You can change that to read "expensively", if you want, lol.)
Oh (raising hand and waving it) I'm compulsive about being on time! I hate to be late to anything. Everyone in the family is that way.
Count me in
Me too, on the time thing. I had to learn to adjust that, since it's not always fair to be upset when people are 5 minutes late and dinner was actually on the table at five, because I said "dinner is at 5" LOL I don't do that anymore. :) Sometimes people come and dinner isn't even out for an hour - progress. But I am rarely late for anything.
The other is new things. I want to protect and keep new things absolutely pristine as long as possible. The worst case was the house -- and the new dining room table. I think I've gotten better since then, though my family still teases me about the table (which I still protect, with pads that cover it), and the house, well, you know, that only lasted for about three months, keeping it perfectly clean. But I admit, I got a little obnoxious about it, and it probably made people feel unwelcome, and I don't want that either.
But there is something about that dining room table that I have to keep protecting. I just can't give into the "things are meant to be used" -- okay with most other things in the house, but the table, that remains protected, vehemently -- so much so that we had family to dinner, and my sister likes to laugh because she, her husband and her daughter all had this collective gasp one night when I went into the kitchen and my father dragged a salt and pepper shaker across the top (I'd been brave enough to take the pads off that night), and they all lunged to make sure he didn't scratch it...
We just got a new car, and while I am trying to keep it nice, it hasn't even been washed yet, so I think I'm getting better, LOL.
Hey, I yam who I yam.
Sam
I'm definitely like that!
And when I randomly think of something I don't know, I've become a total Wiki whore. Just to KNOW makes me feel better. I have to have the right fact because I hate not knowing something for sure. Just the other day, we watched Factory Girl and it led me on a whole Warhol expedition. Not sure I know all about his work or vision, but it sure was eye opening.
Dee
uh-oh...
I think we scared people off with our crazy??? LOL
Sam
Well....maybe, but I have
Well....maybe, but I have more. I like to keep things pristine, too. I eventually give up, like with the new car, but if I buy something nice to wear, I'm very protective. My dining room table is special, but in a different way. When my dad moved back to the States from Honduras, the shipping crates for his belongings were made of teak and mahogany. He took the crates apart and built me a gorgeous table. It's soft, but we've just let it be used. I think having words pressed into the wood from when my kids did homework on the table adds to the family history thing. But, in general, I think because I grew up not having much, I do try to protect the things I've managed to acquire. It's engrained.
Anyone else feeling compulsive today? Come on. Don't be shy...
Allow me to introduce my mother...
who bought the vacuum of her dreams once. And wouldn't allow any of us to touch it because we were going to bang it into the corners and the wall and ruin it. Hey, we thought, no more vacuuming! Wheee!
Not quite. She made us hand sweep the floor instead. After about a year, she let us use the vacuum...carefully. A year after that it was dented to hell and she didn't care who used it. LOL!
Then she bought a car. The children weren't allowed in the car. Then SPECIFIC children weren't allowed in the car. Finally, she caved and drove us places. But for quite a long time, she had the cleanest car on earth.
This was more fun when she got grandkids and pulled this on them with her new van. Did I mention she has a new vacuum too? LOL!
Its cyclical
Sort of like Sam's quilts. I'll get caught up in craft projects (stained glass, pottery) and then...it's over. Just like that.
I've stuck with jewellery making the longest but I think its because I give it away. I have very few pieces I've made for myself so I don't "see" it.
But books, yeah. I'm with you on the series thing. I almost hate to buy books if I know they're the beginning of a series because, unfortunately, most series go downhill.
I'm still plugging away with Sookie and with Harper Connolly (Charlaine's other series), I gave up (FINALLY!) on Anita Blake and Merry Gentry after way too long.
I'm still enjoying Carrie Vaughn and Patricia Briggs but those series are relatively young. And I just heard about this new series Halfway to the Grave (Frost) is the beginning.
And do we want to talk about the series I have on my TBR that I haven't even started yet (but I have all the books up to current) for when I do start: JR Ward's Lover Series, Jantzen's Crazy Series, LA Bank's Vampiress series. I think there's another too but I don't want to go look (whimper).
The one thing I'm not overly caught up in is TV. I like Grey's Anatomy (McDreamy and McSteamy!) and I'll look up when I hear Sawyer on Lost just to see if he's shirtless!
I've never seen Buffy but I understand it's one that will suck you in (pun intended).
Well, look at me just blathering on!
I do commend you though for reading comics. I could never seem to find all the connecting issues and would get lost. I find that somehow noble that you read them.
ani
Well, I must admit...
I've somewhat retired from comics, though hubby did buy the newly released continuations of Scud The Disposible Assasin. (I have to wrest those away from him). I was all over Image Comics and I love graphic Novels, but my real obsession was Marvel Comics. I read years and years of X-Men and X-Factor. I was utterly addicted to the Phoenix saga and Madelyn Pryor. I was even a Spidey Girl for a while. But all things fade someday. I still look, occasionally, just to see what's doing.
:)
Dee
I tend to be compulsive
I tend to be compulsive about whatever my interest is at the moment. I've been known to spend $100's of dollars at craft stores to support my latest craft craze (beading, stained glass, scrapbooking, watercolor, etc.), and after several weeks of doing that activity to the exclusion of all else, pack it away and never look at it again. I could open my own store with what's in my attic.
This also extends to authors...I'll read a book and fall in love with it, and spend all my time and money collecting that author's backlist and reading obsessively until there are no more books to read.
I also do it with celebrities. I spent one entire year on a Rudolph Valentino kick; I hunted down and bought every Valentino movie, biography, interview, collected newspaper clippings and photos of him...weird, I know. When I watched the coverage of his funeral, I cried as if he hadn't been dead for 80 years!
Karen,
I did the same thing with Clark Gable--long before the internet when it was hard to find information. For a long time I was a walking, talking Clark Gable trivia reference.
Oh--and I decided that I'd never learned enough about the Revolutionary War, so I researched that for about a year. I was great when it was a Jeopardy category, lol. I'm yelling out the names of the battles, while dh is rolling his eyes.
Hey, Karen--can I explore your crafts attic?
Jeannie
Jeannie, yes!! My husband
Jeannie, yes!! My husband would be eternally grateful if somebody (anybody) would show an interest in my crafts collection, LOL! That's so funny about Clark Cable! I once had a vivid dream that I was a warrior in the Trojan war, fighting alongside the Greeks against Troy (I think I was 13 or 14 at the time). I studied that war obsessively, and when I finally got to take Latin in high-school, I think I knew more facts about the Battle of Troy than the teacher did. Of course, my dreams didn't hold a candle to Brad Pitt as Achilles!
Mike doesn't do this but...
I remember last year we had our new countertops in, they were just a few days old, and all perfect, and the plumbers, two young bucks, came to put in the faucet, dishwasher, etc -- and they were just throwing their tools and whatnot on the countertops -- I nearly had a cat, and a big, fat, furry cat. I didn't even ask them to move the stuff, I moved it, and glared, and reminded them the counters were NEW.
Dolts. And they way overcharged us and thought they were God's gift -- we never called that company back, you can count on it.
Sam
I am obsessive about books
I am obsessive about books and series. I spend $$$$ on Amazon. If I happen to pick up or get a book that is part of a series that is no longer in print I have to head for Amazon and buy ALL the books in that series. And when I was teaching I was obsessive-compulsive about how I arranged things. Homework papers had to go in a specific folder of the right color for each period. And when I ran off worksheets for the kids the extras had to be filed in the right folder. EVERYTHING had to be in a folder.
We are SO crazy....
Only on Cigars.
I'm actually able to put series aside if they don't hook me, but when they do, look out. I don't care about Lost, but am so into The Wire I'm dreaming about the characters. Now...other things, like, oh, say, Campus 14L Frye Boots in Saddle, size 7.5, which I have lusted after for months, bought once from zappos.com and returned because, really, $250 boots? Yup. Just ordered again. Crazy.
I need, and I do mean NEED the kitchen/house to be relatively tidy with a crumb-free floor. My husband will put something down on the kitchen counter, something like paint thinner or an electric drill that has NO BUSINESS being in the kitchen where I prepare FOOD. I will move it to a shelf in the garage. Six weeks later he'll say, "Where's the paint thinner? I left it right here." and tap the spot in front of the toaster oven. I'll say, "The paint thinner you left there in *expletive deleted* January? It's in the garage." "No, it wasn't that long ago." Then it gets ugly.
Oh booklover1971,
You might want to check the winners on my St. Patrick's Day Swimsuit blog.....:)
Oooh...
*heads back to St Patrick's Day post*
Woo hoo! Thanks, Jeannie! I emailed you.
Margaret
"My husband will put
"My husband will put something down on the kitchen counter, something like paint thinner or an electric drill that has NO BUSINESS being in the kitchen where I prepare FOOD."
OMG, laughing so hard!! This must be a guy-thing, because my husband does the same thing!
Men...
you gotta love them because...well...you just do.
Books and beanie babies
Oh, Dee -
Let me join the compulsively crazy club. Right now I'm in the middle of watching my DVDs of the West Wing. But I also have Buffy, Angel, Alias and Firefly (and Serenity, natch). Season 1 of Lost is sitting there too, but I'm afraid. If I get sucked in now, I may never finish the wip. And when I bought a new set of binders to put my various writing projects in, I made sure I had one of each bright color (pink, yellow, green and light blue). They look so cute on my shelf.
Anyone remember Beanie Babies? For someone like me...crazy times. I spent a good portion of my lunch hours doing recon on the Hallmark store near my office. I had to admit I have two of most of them. Then we get my mother and grandmother involved for those hard to find Beanies(they are also compuslive collectors -dishes, shoes, Boyd's bears) and watch out. I think people might have been maimed.
Just last night my daugher came up from our basement (where one-third of my library is located) and said, "Boy, Mom, you must really like Nora Roberts." I think I own every book she's ever published. MacGregors - God love 'em. Stanislaskis - Are you sure there were only four kids? Donovans...
I can't help myself. But I happen to know the Easter bunny is bringing me a new set of gel pens, a fresh sparkly notebook and the newest J.D. Robb in hardcover. I'm so excited.
-Tasha
Stanislaskis
Oh man, Tasha!!!
I loved love LOVED that series.
Tasha, can you send your
Tasha, can you send your Easter Bunny over to my house when he's finished visiting you? That sounds like a perfect Easter basket!!!
Ahhh, compulsions
Gotta love 'em. I'm like you, Dee. If I start a series, I have to read it all. I'll even buy the first books in the series and save them until the last one is out, just so I can read it through from beginning to end. Of course, in the case of Harry Potter, I had NO such control. But before each new book was released I had to read all of the previous ones to catch up.
I, too, must read all of the
I, too, must read all of the books in a series. The waiting for a new one to come out is awful!
Clearly we are not alone...
Dee, loved your post--of course I'm compulsive. Especially about books--I have to have the whole series, and then I also tend to track down backlists (yes, I did surely troll eBay)... And what with all the new-to-me authors you all keep introducing me to, well, the TBR is going to bury me alive!
I also collected compulsively a bit when my oldest was a baby with a couple of BabyGap lines--you know their little stuffed brown bear? A season or two before my little guy was born, they featured that bear on overalls and footed PJs and little bear-faced slippers and onesies and... well, I HAD to have them. I couldn't justify ALL of them, but I did eventually track down the slippers in most of the sizes. And PJs... and, well, never mind!
I'm sure my DH would rather I was compulsive about cleaning--he'd probably happily buy me a new vacuum or two if it'd help! ;) I think the neat-gene must have skipped right over me!