Business out of the way first: I am in the final 100 pages of revising my manuscript to send to my *NEW* agent, that should be to her very, very soon (my MIL is in town, so it’s hard to revise heaving bosoms, so it’s a mite delayed).
But tonight, I plan to Sports Geek out, only there are TWO events happening simultaneously:
The sixth game of the Boston Celtics vs. the Detroit Pistons (basketball, folks) and the finals of the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
I am so torn! Tall, thin men versus words! How do I choose?!?
Basketball is my favorite sport (to watch–I’ve never played), and I am usually a Knicks fan, but this year, for a variety of reasons, I am rooting for my hometown Celtics.
But then–oh, be still my beating heart–there’s a site where you can see if you would have advanced through the first round of the Spelling Bee, on through to the finals (I’ve made it through the first round, thank you very much, although I don’t have enough time today to see if I make it further).
But basketball! With people that look like this, all mean and intense and TALL and focused:
I think I will be flipping between the two, hardly the only one out there, I am sure.
Do you like sports? What teams do you root for? What Regency pastime would you like to try? Which of your obsessions surprise people when they discover it?
What would I have occupied myself were I in the Regency?
I’d like to try being an undercover spy who is also a bastard secret baby, and I’m sure my busoms would heave as I ran through the dark, London streets, chasing my quarry who is the son of the man who impregnated my mother with my half-brother, who was also a bastard secret baby, thereby causing my mother to go insane and forcing me to exact her revenge.
As for sports, I like Ice Hockey.
I’m sort of the anti-sport person. Not that I’m hostile to sports; no, it’s like antimatter: if sports and I ever got together, disaster would follow.
Tonight I’m going to a science fiction & fantasy book discussion group, followed by Battlestar Galactica.
Geeks rule!
Cara
I think I would have liked to try racing my Phaeton at breakneck speeds…that or wagering on which raindrop will drip down the pane of glass on the bow window at White’s. (Clearly neither are feminine pastimes.)
As for today’s sports, I like individual events the best, almost any Olympic sports.
I’m not fond of basketball. The men are too tall and their feet are too big and they look silly hopping around in what looks like underwear. JMO, however!
Soccer players seem pretty hunky, though, and for some reason, their uniforms don’t look like underwear!
I don’t think any of my obsessions surprise people who know me even sort of well. I’m not even remotely closeted in my geekdom or my tomboyishness. 🙂 I’m disappointed more people at work don’t ask me why I have a Jane Austen action figure next to my printer and a pair of model soldiers (a rifleman and a redcoat) guarding my red Swingline stapler, because I’m always eager to talk about my obsessions!
As for sports, I’m a dogged and long-suffering fan of Mariners baseball. I also love college football, having grown up in Alabama in a family of Auburn fans (War Eagle!). I used to love figure skating, which was a surprisingly un-tomboyish taste for me. But I think the new scoring system has ruined the sport, and none of the new skaters move me the way Michelle Kwan, Alexei Yagudin, Yuka Sato, Todd Eldredge, Sale/Pelletier, etc. did.
I think my Regency pastime would be fencing! Which reminds me that I need to call around and find out about fencing lessons. I’ve vowed to take them to help me add authenticity to the fencing and swordfighting scenes in my books.
a pair of model soldiers (a rifleman and a redcoat) guarding my red Swingline stapler
Susan, you are so cool! They’re just the folks to keep evildoers from stealing your shwingline… 🙂
Cara
Susan, you are so cool! They’re just the folks to keep evildoers from stealing your shwingline… 🙂
I think so! Originally I was going to have Napoleon and Wellington facing off across the stapler, but their models cost ten times as much.
My husband’s into hockey, football and baseball. The first two I can sort of tolerate, the third I rather enjoy if the weather’s nice and I can just people-watch. They have good microbrews at our local minor league stadium, too. And I love popcorn and fireworks nights.
I guess I’m there for all the wrong reasons but it works!
As for Regency sports, I would love to ride every day.
Most of my obsessions surprise some people (remember I live in a smallish city in upstate New York). History, classical music, English country dancing and Thai food are all make me a bit weird. But I figure normal is over-rated. 🙂
“I think I would have liked to try racing my Phaeton at breakneck speeds…that or wagering on which raindrop will drip down the pane of glass on the bow window at White’s. (Clearly neither are feminine pastimes.)”
Except in that movie of the Cartland novel, where the heroine races her phaeton and almost gets compromised by the wimpy-looking villain… 🙂 I want to be an Almack’s patroness and terrorize debutantes!
I’m also not shy about revealing my weird obsessions–a Hello Kitty sits on my desk at work, though she probably is not as good at keeping people off the stapler as a Rifleman would be. And in sports, I like soccer! Especially Italian soccer players…
Except in that movie of the Cartland novel, where the heroine races her phaeton and almost gets compromised by the wimpy-looking villain… 🙂 I want to be an Almack’s patroness and terrorize debutantes!
Um..I’ve never read a Cartland novel. Told you I was the world’s worst read romance writer.
Somehow, Amanda, I’m not surprised you would choose to be a patroness.
I’m also not shy about revealing my weird obsessions–a Hello Kitty sits on my desk at work, though she probably is not as good at keeping people off the stapler as a Rifleman would be. And in sports, I like soccer! Especially Italian soccer players…
See, I knew Amanda had good taste. ITALIAN soccer players. Yum.
I forgot to add my weird obsession, although I think there is nothing weird about buying a 300 talking Leonidas action figure or winning a 300 lunch box.
“Um..I’ve never read a Cartland novel. Told you I was the world’s worst read romance writer.”
I’m not actually sure they race the phaetons in the book, just in the movie (a marvelously cheesy made-for-TV thing called “Duel of Hearts”–great clothes! And houses!)
Sports are sorta blah to me altho I do like football (that’s soccer to you) because they don’t wear much and run around in the mud, ditto rugby, e.g. Dieux de Stade (try doing a Google image search–not if you are at work–and see what I mean).
Regency pastimes? Gambling away my husband’s money, adultery, and so on.
Gotta appreciate Janet’s Regency pastimes!
My preferred pastime then would be same as now, and as Elena’s: a daily ride. I’ve also always wanted to learn how to drive a pony cart.
And it is Professor Severus Snape who sits by my thesaurus, wand at the ready.
Er, that didn’t sound quite right for an obsession, did it?
I’ve always been fond of old-fashioned sports, like fencing and riding and archery. I’ve never fired a muzzle-loader, though–that would be something I’d like to try. 🙂
Since my colleagues are all college professors, we are all more or less weird. But my interests in theater and history make me weird in an atypical way for an engineering and science department.
As for modern spectator sports…I liked baseball as a kid, but I really don’t follow any sport now. My university has one of the best college football teams in the country, but I’ve never seen a single game, and couldn’t name even one player. Also atypical, alas! 🙂
Todd-who-needs-a-rifleman-to-guard-his-Swingline
yes i love sports watch it almost 24 hours with my bros. i am a north cali girl. love the sac Kings , oakldand A’s and sf giants. whoo.
kh
Oh, definitely baseball, and definitely the Mets. Okay, so they suck this year, but luckily, so do the Yankees! 🙂
Regency sports though. . . well, I sure wouldn’t mind watching some fencing! 🙂
Lois