Embracing your Weirdness

Each of us has our guilty pleasures, whether we admit it or not. Those things we know we should not like, but for some inexplicable reason, we are drawn to like a moth to a flame.

I have to admit it – my guilty pleasure is Grey’s Anatomy.

In a nutshell, Grey’s Anatomy follows the lives and loves of the interns (and doctors) of Seattle Grace Hospital as they complete their surgical internships. Grey’s Anatomy has become immensely popular in the US, even beating long running and established shows like CSI in the ratings war. At only 3 seasons old, Grey’s is a relative infant, but it has taken the US by storm.

So the question arises – what has made Grey’s Anatomy so popular? And why is it a guilty pleasure?

Today’s answer comes from the part of me that indulges in the guilty pleasure of Greys Anatomy:

Greys Anatomy is so addictive because it is character centred. All the relationships that are so fleeting in other shows are allowed to develop and grow on Grey’s Anatomy. Why wait for 6 years waiting for Grissom and Sara to get together on CSI, only to find out that it did happen, and what’s worse, it all happened off air. In Grey’s Anatomy, we get to see it all. Feelings dictate actions, not the other way around. It is what CSI started with Sara Sidle, but those who were opposed to character-in-CSI hated to see. Whereas from the first Grey’s Anatomy episode, we knew that the long-running ‘will they won’t they’ between Meredith and Derek was going to be important. It’s a soap set in a hospital at the end of the day. And that’s what makes it a ‘guilty pleasure’ – soaps are meant to do that. You shouldn’t want to be nosy. And I think that’s why Grey’s Anatomy will be a success. Because it’s the way that who has ever wanted two characters on TV show to get together would like TV to be, and at least we can enjoy it on Grey’s Anatomy. On Grey’s Anatomy no one is perfect and there isn’t always a happy ending but the voiceovers at the beginning and end of the show have become a trademark of sorts, and highlighted the more serious character developments and issues. And most importantly, they make you think.

I was reading the other day that Blogging is becoming more and more popular, with thousands of Blog’s starting up everyday. And I can see why.

I have always enjoyed writing. There is something about the creative process, of transferring thoughts and idea into prose and narrative. I always thought that the best use of my love of the written word would be writing fiction, but having discovered Blogging, I realise that perhaps it isn’t. Most of my fiction remains unfinished, the muse having disappeared. I have a collection of beginnings, middles, endings, dialogues and outline ideas, but very little finished work. Most of it will never see the light of day.

In Blogging I have found a natural expression, a way of transferring my thoughts and ideas in whatever way I choose. Short or long, one sided or an in depth piece, it is mine to mould as I see fit. I may not post everyday, but I write everyday. It may be an essay on politics or a scribbled note on a scrap of paper but the thoughts and ideas are my own. I have nothing to prove and nothing to gain.

And I find in this form of expression that I can finish what I start.

Inspiration is a funny thing. You can sit for hours waiting for it to come with no success, and then, when you least expect it – it comes from nowhere and often at the most inconvenient time.

I’ve spent ages trying to write fiction, but when I set time aside to write, I am usually left with a blank page. I do my best work late at night when I really should be asleep and when I was young and at school, I always did my best work when I was supposed to be concentrating on other classes. I have come to realise that inspiration cannot be forced, and that it can come from the most unlikely of sources. In any creative activity it is outside stimuli that act as the point of inspiration, whether this is personal knowledge, an overheard conversation, or a newspaper headline. After all the use of imagination is what makes the world go round. All inventions are based on inspiration and imagination in some guise. I have learned that you just need to keep your mind open.

A little inspiration can go a long way. Just hang on in there. That little inspiration will hit, and you probably won’t see it coming. But when it does it will open up a world of possibilities.

If you truly seek inspiration, it is definitely worth the wait.

Watching CSI last night I watched the episode “Turn of the Screws”, which involves rollercoaster’s. At the end Grissom is talking to the guy who maintains the rollercoaster, and they talk about great ‘coasters. Right at the end they mention ‘The Beast’ and ‘Son of Beast’, two of the ‘coasters at Kings Island, Cincinnati, OH.

I have ridden both of those ‘coasters (before Son of Beast was involved in an accident that hurt a bunch of people about a week after I rode it). The Beast was a really cool ride. It was fast, wooden, and really quite cool. Son of Beast on the other hand was too big, too fast, and too furious. I felt like my brain had been bounced around inside of my head when I got off. John had hurt his knees. I think we all felt pretty battered. Maybe a trip in a washing machine would have been more comfortable. But the park was really quite cool. It was definitely an experience to remember with lots of different rides (which really were quite different not the same on a theme like some parks.

I think the main thing about my trip was the variety of things I did. Much more than I would have done back home in the same amount of time! I went to places I have seen on TV, and I now here them talk about on shows. How cool is that?! Same sort of thing with New York and Chicago – I now see those places on TV and in movies.

Firey Sunset,
originally uploaded by moonshine037.

There is something about the sky that fascinates me. Not just the science behind it (although that is interesting), but the ‘fluidity’. I’ve been taking photos of skies for a while and something about them has been bugging me.

A photo of the sky is like a snapshot of time, like moments, they can only come once, and will never be the same again. The sky moves, it is always alive. If you take a photo of the sky, its liek you are preserving that moment, to share it with people not lucky enough to share that single moment in time. Time is fleeting, and as I get older, it seems to go quickly, even on a really slow day it is soon past. Every time I see a stunning sky I am reminded to treasure every moment, because it can never come again.

Plus – skies are just really cool!

While I was working in America, every morning at breakfast, somebody had a big idea for the day. The idea is to inspire the boys, to give them something to think about as they start the day. I gave a big idea once a week. It is something I really do believe in.

I’ll tell you my big idea for today…

“My big idea is… ‘To take advantage of every opportunity’.

At Camp – to do merit badges and other fun activities

Through Scouts – to do fun things, see places, and grow as a person

In life – seize new challenges and experiences and make the most of them

So take advantage of every opportunity and you never know where you’ll end up!”

I did the same big idea each week for each new group of boys. I always did it on a Wednesday, in the (probably futile) hope that it would inspire just one boy to come to my presentation on the UK that evening. What I didn’t realise was quite how much of an impact it had on the other staff members. I guess I noticed that a couple of people started saying “take advantage of every opportunity” in a very ‘English’ accent for a couple of weeks but in the last week I was lucky enough to have my Big Idea stolen and given to the entire breakfast sitting in an ‘English’ accent.

It seems that my idea really did get remembered. Maybe because I have a different accent to everyone else, or maybe because it is actually a really great piece of advice.

So there you go – take advantage of every opportunity and you never know where you’ll end up!

One day left. I worked it out the other day using some random tool on the internet – 3 years, 6 months, and 15 days since I began work. Thats a long time. Although I don’t leave until tomorrow, I had my leaving do this evening. It was very nice. I will always remember the people in this job. They are nice, normal, sensible people. And I am going to miss them all.

Looking back at the last three (nearly four ) years of my life, I can see how much I have changed. I am now a totally different person than I was.

Actually, thats not true. I think maybe I am the person I always was, but that I have the confidence to do different things. I think that the real me was trying to escape. Having a job, going to university, my invovlemnet with scouts, and the American Adventure have all been a fundamental underpinning of my development.

I am happy in my own life and in my own skin and I just want to make the most of what I’ve got.

Less than a week to go. It seems like only yesterday that I was stood nervously in the reception area, and now its almost over. They’ve been good to me I must admit – very flexible and the pay wasn’t bad either. If I’m honest (and when am I ever not?!?) my values and the organisations values do not match up (polar opposites in fact!). So it comes to a point where you have to pick yourself up and look at where you are headed – and if you don’t know where that is or have gotten stuck in a rut, then maybe, just maybe, its time for a change.

I’ve got the American adventure coming up soon. Its costing a small fortune, but I’ve found a cheap place to stay in New York (just a youth hostel) – which is about £400 less than a lot of places so I can put up with ‘Dorm’ accomoadaton for five nights! And then I can spend more money on seeing things and doing stuff – generally having a good time on what I save. Because lets face it, when I get back I will be unemployed and quite skint, so I’ll need every penny!

I just realised that I do have a really great life!

Off to enjoy the weekend.