I'm presuming you actually want to know what these things are. If you don't, then that's a shame, but I'm going to ramble on about them anyway and hope for the best. At the very least, I'll have had fun writing about the stuff I love, right?
I guess I'd better get cracking then.
#1 - Musical Theatre
Singing is basically my life. You're a special person if you can shut me up.
I'm also a massive drama queen and sometimes have to be shoved off stage during drama class. (Sadly I won't be taking it for GCSE, but I like to get my moment in the spotlight.)
And I like to dance, too. Yes, you can dance in a wheelchair.
Singing + Acting + Dancing = Musical Theatre. I've pretty much only ever been in a school play of The Lion King, but I watch it. Lots. The only reason I can't list my top ten favourite musicals is because I keep changing my mind on the order, and just because I kind of lost track of Glee in its last two seasons doesn't mean I don't want to be a member of the New Directions more than I want you to read this post.
No wait, I didn't mean it! Come baaaack ...
#2 - The Olympics and Paralympics
For three and three quarter years out of every four, I will pretty much forget about this particular obsession. I just live my life as normal, surviving on books and musicals and everything else I'm about to talk about. But those other two or three months? That's Games time.
Firstly, it's the one time when I'm actually prepared to watch sport. I guess a lot of people might hate me for this, but football manages to bore and confuse me at the same time, rugby just kind of makes me cringe because people get so injured, and however amazing the Tour de France (that big long cycle race) is, it takes a long time to watch each stage. But gymnastics? Diving? Sports I don't usually get to watch, where British athletes have a chance ALL IN THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS WHEN I HAVE NOTHING MUCH TO DO? Huzzah.
I obviously have my own reasons for loving the Paralympics even more, given the whole "disability inspiration" thing, but what I love most is that The Last Leg (a kind of news satire show involving disabled comedians that started as a way of explaining the London 2012 Paralympics) will be on.
But while all that sport is amazing, what I really love is all the athletes' backstories. For the last couple of weeks, I've just been watching interviews on YouTube pretty much constantly; Laura Trott and Jason Kenny (a pair of British track cyclists who are engaged and have ten Olympic gold medals between them) are pretty much my OTP right now. I read athletes' Twitter feeds because they describe Olympic village banter. Or ... as BBC sport presenters have been brilliantly describing it ...
COPACABANTER.
#3 - Sherlock Holmes
I love any sort of murder mystery in general, whether it's in books or on TV (you should see the creepiness of my Netflix history), but there's just something special about the original consulting detective. Maybe it's because he's captured the imagination of so many amazingly creative people, but anything touched by Sherlock Holmes always seems to turn to gold. Look at Elementary. Look at Robert Downey Jr. Look at Sherl-
Actually, don't look at Sherlock. That entire show in trouble with the fandom for not existing right now.
If anyone knows about some decent books inspired by Sherlock Holmes, please let me know. I've just discovered that Brittany Cavellaro's A Study in Charlotte (which I've been quietly coveting mostly due to its beautiful cover for the last six to nine months) isn't available in eBook format or stocked by my local bookshop, and I'm going to have to order a LOT of books on Amazon to make the shipping worth it. I might as well find some other Sherlockian reads to get at the same time, right?
Okay, that one was slightly to do with books. Forgive me. What was I thinking, talking about books on a book blog?
#4 - London
I've always been somewhat drawn to the capital city of my beautiful little country. It's so ... iconic, I guess? I just love how many places you can get to quickly - and how many places you can get to just by walking - a concreted, twenty-four hour city is kind of mindboggling when you can't even walk a mile to the local train station because there isn't any pavements or street lighting. I will live there one day. I will.
Don't doubt me, internet. London has the West End - not to mention half the publishing houses where I'd love to work in one day. I'll fight my way there no matter what.
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In the comments: What obsessions do you guys have that I might not have heard about? Might we have any in common? Or are mine just too weird for that?
Gosh yes, I've been in love with London for as long as I can remember, even before I visited! I've visited three times now and there's always something new to discover. I haven't been in years and I miss it so much.
ReplyDeleteAnd, of course, Sherlock. I need season 4 like RIGHT NOW.
Always something new to discover ... that is exactly London! I guess I'm really lucky living only an hour or so away by train, so I've been there enough times that I can't quite count, but there's still always something new. I hope you'll get to go again soon.
DeleteYES. We all need season 4 - sooner than right now if possible.
I love posts like these, because I love getting to know the blogger behind the blog!
ReplyDeleteI must ask, thoughts on Hamilton?
Aww, thanks Julia! It's good to know that I'm not the only one to have fun with this kind of post.
DeleteRight. Hamilton.
I've seen an AWFUL LOT about it on Pinterest in the last few months, and everything I've seen I like ... it's just that I've been trying to hold off on hearing any of the songs until I can see the show. It doesn't look to be coming to the West End anytime soon though, so I'll probably just cave and get the soundtrack at some point!
Woah you've got a lot of self control. I've been obsessively listening to it on repeat for months now, and while I can see the appeal in waiting to see the live show, I feel like it'll just mean a lot more to me when I do get to see it. Something I really like about Hamilton though is how it doesn't follow the typical 'song, scene, song, scene' pattern of most musicals. Instead it's mostly just song, song, song, song- which is fantastic because you get the full story from just listening!
DeleteSelf control? What even is that? *goes to finish the rest of the comment but gets distracted by a shiny object*
Delete*gathers herself again*
Honestly, I think it's more because I've consciously not looked into it that deeply, so I didn't give myself chance to get obsessed with it yet. That said, if all the songs tell the story I might just get the soundtrack and rely on my own imagination for the rest.
Ohhh, yes yes yes, all of these. HUGE Sherlock Holmes/London fan. London and Paris are my dream cities to travel to, even if they are a bit cliché.
ReplyDeleteI decided last year I wanted to educate myself on musicals, so I've recently gotten into that. Hamilton, Les Mis (which my mom and I just saw on Broadway last week and let me say it was AMAZING), In the Heights, and Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog continue to be my favorites. I'm actually forcing myself to do the thing that terrifies me most and singing a solo to audition for Beauty and the Beast next year.
Travelling to Paris is one of my dreams too ... and it might be cliche, but I guess things are cliche for a reason - enough people must have loved it, right?
DeleteI LOVE Les Mis, and everything I've heard about Hamilton has been amazing so far, but I have to admit I haven't heard of the other two. MUST GOOGLE. And good luck for your audition! I'm sure you'll be amazing - and good for you pushing past the fear. I'm really bad at doing anything that remotely scares me, so you deserve a standing ovation already ;-)
I love London too. It's so much bigger than the cities we have in Australia, and yet it was so much easier to get around. I'd always wanted to live and work there as a little girl, but now that I've actually been, I know that I HAVE to. The only places I felt at home as much were York, and Copenhagen.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I don't know what it is about London, but it's SO easy to navigate - other than the fact that only 24% of Tube stations have completely flat access and I just generally have no sense of direction, but I'll just skip over that - I can't help but wonder how they do that. I'm glad you like York, too; my family are from around there and I always love visiting.
DeleteBut Copenhagen ... Copenhagen I have to get to. One of my IRL friends said exactly the same thing.
Thanks for your comment, Ely! I'm really glad you enjoyed the post.
Yes, the Tube stations killed me. I really struggle with stairs. Well, I struggle with walking in general, but the fact a lot of them didn't have elevators actually really upset me. Here, every single station is either flat or has an elevator. I guess I expected the same from London.
DeleteURGH. These tube stations really need to get their acts together, don't they? I mean admittedly they were built in the Victorian era, when I guess people assumed we'd be forever living in institutions and not needing access to trains, but it's still frustrating. I guess the one good thing is that when they built the Jubilee line, they made it very very accessible. Small victories?
Delete