Monday, May 14, 2012

ACCIDENTAL CONFESSIONS OF A CELTIC THUNDER FAN

telephone
Getting to know new people is delicate.  You gently tiptoe around each other, slowly sharing little bits of yourself.  You share one thing, and then sort of sit back and see how it's taken. Do you think the same way? Do they think you're weird, do they think you're cool?  The first bit seems to go alright, so you share another, and another, and another.

Maybe you'll start off with how many kids you have, how long you've been married.  Go on to where you live and what you studied in school.  Bit by bit, you reveal a little more of yourself... that you like the color blue, that you can't stand roller coasters.  Maybe then you share what your hobbies are...  a little reading, a little writing, maybe that you like football.

That you dabble in the occasional stalking of Irish manbands.

Wait, what?  You didn't seriously tell people that, did you?

Yes.  Yes, I did.  I didn't mean to!

If you're new around here, I have a confession.  I like Celtic Thunder, a PBS-pushed Irish lovechild that melds really cute boys with really pretty singing. (Ironically, this is also why I liked Newsies when I was 14.)  I like Celtic Thunder a lot.  I'm a fan.  And when I say "fan," I don't mean "and I buy some of their CDs."  No.  I mean "I've flown to Canada, Texas, and Arkansas to see them."

ARKANSAS, kids. For some reason, this seems more drastic than Canada. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

So, it came up.  I've joined this small Facebook group for bloggers, and we're just getting to know each other. They didn't know I was crazy yet! We were discussing the pro's and con's of maintaining a separate fanpage, when I made a passing reference to my experiences with Celtic Thunder.

Oh Jo... I know. I know.

Well, one of the ever-so-nice girls asked me about it, and I gave the short version of how I got involved.  The short version is good. The short version makes me look less insane.  The short version is almost normal.  Not actually normal, but almost normal.

"Oh, that isn't pathetic at all!" came the response.  (Clearly, it was the REALLY short version.) But, it was like I just. couldn't. leave. it. Oh no...  I had to PROVE that my fanaticism was pathetic and absurd.

I posted a picture.  Not just one picture.  But a picture of a whole bunch of pictures, chronicling some of the meets and meetings that have occurred over the past few years. I would post it here but then YOU would know the depth of pathetic, too.  And we're just going to pretend I'm cool for now.

My friend of many years who started the group just laughed at me. "Oh Jo... I can't believe you made a collage!" I cocked my head at this and realized... Yes. That is a very strange thing to do.  And now everyone knows it.

You can't come back from that, guys! I could be 100% cool from now on, but they can always say, "Yeah... but there's that whole crazy boyband thing."  There is no cool after this.  None.

So, the moral of the story...

If you have a hobby that makes you look a little insane, for heaven's sake, don't tell anyone about it!!  Or at least save it for after you've told them you don't like cheese.


20 comments:

  1. Ha Hahaha haha hahaha! That's all. No, wait... Hahaha!

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  2. I once made a power point presentation about my favourite band. A POWER POINT PRESENTATION, people. Admittedly I was about 12 or 13 (does that make it any more excusable?) but I did INSIST on showing my whole family the damn thing.

    Cringe.

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    1. hahah! Oh this made me laugh... I love it.

      Which band?

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    2. Steps. I'm not sure they made much of an impact over on your side of the pond though.

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  3. Well, a collage is nothing. I mean, do you remember all of the Orlando Bloom paraphernalia we used to send you? Didn't Nattie send you Orlando panties or something? I know I remember sending magazine cut outs, because I never really outgrew the need to cut pictures out of magazines.

    I think everyone has something other people might find strange. I have a note from Nikki Giovanni framed on the wall by my desk.

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  4. You make me LAUGH!!! But let me tell you. I would SO MUCH RATHER know and be friends with the insane, because in reality we all are. The ones who admit it are the strong ones. I love you!

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  5. haha it's kinda like when my friends hear that i blog!

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  6. Replies
    1. See? Should have saved "boyband freak" for after the cheese.

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  7. One of my relatives once asked me, in public right on FB, if Keith was my boyfriend. I wish.

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  8. Not liking cheese, now that is weird. But the whole Celtic boyband thing...totally normal. :)

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  9. Wait. Jo..... You've been to ARKANSAS to see them?!?!? HOW THE HECK DID WE NOT RUN INTO EACH OTHER?? I'm just saying...it's not like I fly OUT of Arkansas on a regular basis to go see them or anything...

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    1. It was actually my first concert ever during the first tour. I have a girlfriend who lives there, but she liked Celtic Thunder a little, and I went with her. I don't EVEN know how I took that into my head. lol

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    2. How's that for timing... The first tour I couldn't make it to the show in Arkansas because of training at work and went to the one in Tulsa instead. I've done my fair share of traveling so I completely understand how it happened. ;)

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  10. I still have friends at church *cough*Goldsworthy*cough* ask how things are going with the "Celtic Cult" that I'm in.

    *eye roll*

    :)

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    Replies
    1. haha Well... there were those few months where it was a valid question.

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  11. LOL...it's the most NORMAL thing I have ever done and I didn't do it until I was, humm "60 something"!!!

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