Bikers, Timelords and Footballers, Oh My!: A Fan Friday Link-Up...

...on Sunday night. 

I had originally planned on something of a follow-up to my last post, but I've been so deep in the feels lately that I need to come up for air for a minute. 

So instead of further musings on things that hurt but are good things, I'm gonna link up with Sarah for Fan Friday. I'm a fan of a lot of things, so this'll be E-Z-peasy, assuming I don't get too wine drunk to finish this post. Here's what I've been consuming lately. 

Pretty much the whole show, right there. 

Sons of Anarchy: I remember watching the first handful of episodes with my dad when it first aired, but I soon wound up with some thing or other taking up all my time, so the show fell off my radar. One day, the Chef was talking about Sons and I thought 'hey, I think I recall liking that show!"

The first 4 seasons were on Netflix, and I located the rest of it online. Because the Chef and his wife both watch Sons, they understood when at work, I would randomly laugh out loud, or whimper, yell or cry when I'm watching  in the office and doing paperwork. Jesus that show stresses me out. 

Not as much as Doctor Who, though - but that's not so much about plot and story things as from being really frakking frustrated with the way the show is being run. I'll explain that mess one day...

Double the Doctor!

I'm still not 100% on how I feel about the big 50th anniversary special, but I don't hate it. It was a good story, full of feels and giggles and the way it incorporated ALL THE DOCTORS was pretty darn awesome... But a certain major plot point did kind of feel like a giant middle finger to the entire fandom. If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about.

Again, that's the show, right there.

Then there's Downton Abbey, or as I like to call it "No One's Allowed To Be Happy" might possibly be even more emotionally taxing than Doctor Who. That show is a big fan of the Break the Cutie and Break the Haughty tropes. Especially with Mary. Good greif. I didn't really like her all tha tmuch but now I just want to hold her and tell her everything is going to be okay. I hope.

Also, how fabulous was Shirley McClain as Cora's mother?

I need season 4. Neeeeeeeeeddd.

And finally, there's the AFC Wimbly Womblies! 

I'm gonna leave it there, because I'm getting dangerously close to weepy drunk. Later, ya'll.

Diana and I

Yesterday, as I was more or less putting off finishing my last post, I had a sudden, desperate need to get the hell out of my house. I had no idea where I wanted to go or what I wanted to do, I just knew that I needed to be somewhere that wasn't my house. I needed to see something that wasn't my computer screen, or my TV screen or my walls or my ceiling.

So I got in the car, and after stopping at Sheetz to grab a Mountain Dew, I went North and found myself wandering around Hagerstown. (This is about 15-30 minutes’ drive from my house, depending which part of the city we’re talking about.)

Now, usually when I need to get away for a few hours, I wind up by the Potomac River, either at the C&O canal in Williamsport, or down in Shepherdstown, or occasionally in Harper's Ferry. Those places are all pretty good for spending time alone with the voices in my head. This time, though I found myself at the city park in Hagerstown. I hadn't been planning on going there, but I was glad I did.

I did some wandering around the park, mostly around the lake because I always find the ducks, geese and swans pretty friggin entertaining. As I wandered, I listened to my Existential Crisis playlist (I really have one of those. Srsly.) and thought lots of thinky thoughts.

But the best part was the art. Within the park is a little building called The Washington County Museum of Fine Arts. And in that museum is one of my favorite pieces of art ever.

This beautiful lady here is Diana of the Chase. She was sculpted in 1922 (lookin' pretty damn fine for a woman 91 years young, yeah?) and was a gift from the artist, Anna Hyatt Huntington to the museum in 1941, for their 10th anniversary.

I fell in love with this piece a few years ago when I was taking that general ed Art Appreciation class, and we had to visit a gallery and pick a piece of art to write about. I can't remember what the hell the details of the assignment were or what exactly I had to say about her, but I know that it took me a while to write something that wasn't just gushing about how amazing she is.

Now, there are a lot of things I love that I can't quite explain why, other than just you know, it appeals to me, but this thing, this I know why.

I’ve always loved Diana. Or Artemis. Whichever you want to call her. I’m not saying I identify with her, or anything. I wish I identified with her, even a little bit. I wish I could be more like her - this amazing, strong woman who is totally contented with her dogs, her bow, and the hunt. She is perfectly happy on her own.

So what does it say about me, then, that my favorite version of her story is the one where she falls in love with Orion? I mean, the thing I admire most is that she’s happy on her own, but my favorite story is the one where she isn’t on her own. (Well, until until her d-bag brother tricks her killing him and all...)

She found this person, a fellow hunter, perfectly suited to her, and she loved him. Wanted to marry him. She was willing to redefine herself - virgin goddess of the hunt, of women and childbirth - to be with him.

..I’m not sure where I’m going with this.

Maybe I’ve just been spending too much time thinking about Love and shit. Partly because it seems in the last few months I get asked about my love life much more frequently than usual. And partly because I’m going to a wedding tomorrow and I’m wrestling with conflicting feelings of “OMG IM SO HAPPY FOR YOU” and “your happiness offends me.”

...or maybe I’ve just had too much to drink tonight.