ACCIDENTAL CONFESSIONS OF A CELTIC THUNDER FAN

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.