Friday, April 17, 2009

Is it Time for TwiHab???

This is my brain on Twilight...
Image from here.

For a while now, I've been thinking about how Twilight has essentially taken over my life and wondering if maybe it's time to put the wheels in motion for my own Twintervention. So when I read Themoonisdown's "Twilosophy" post today yesterday [sigh...] over at Letters to Twilight where she mused about her friend who put down Twilight after reading the first book because it was "consuming her thought life," I began digging a little deeper into how I felt about it.

I think about Twilight a LOT. Like all the time. Am I awake? Yes? Then I probably have Twilight on the mind. Am I asleep? Well then ditto: thinking of Twilight. I think about it more than I am even fully comfortable admitting here in the comforting anonymity of bloggyland. It's that bad.

Here is an example of things I would do in a typical day Before Twilight ["B.T."]:
  • Get up, make breakfast, and pack a nice lunch for me and DH to take to work
  • Read news, check email
  • Go to work, do actual work-related stuff while there (most of the time)
  • Grocery shop
  • Go home, make nice dinner for me & DH
  • Do dishes, do some laundry, iron/prepare an outfit for next day at the office
  • Read, maybe watch a little TV with DH
  • Go to sleep
Here is an example of an average day After Twilight [A.T.]:
  • Get up, dash to computer, check blog comments, stats, email, other people's blogs about Twilight, Robert Pattinson, New Moon movie, etc., leave comments
  • Read something Twilight-related (book from the saga, Director's Notebook, whatever...)
  • Skip breakfast; tell DH he is on his own, food-wise; grab some leftovers to have for lunch myself
  • Go to work [grudgingly]; work on blog and wonder how much attention the IT department pays to what I do all day, obsessively email JJ every two seconds about the blog and other Twi-related stuff
  • Leave work--yay!--go home, immediately rush to computer, repeat morning routine of blog, comments, stats, email, reading other blogs and Twi-sites
  • Order take-out for dinner. Again. Eat off paper plates.
  • Work on blog some more; feel sorry for ditching DH (again!) to be on computer; compromise by asking if he wants to watch Twilight dvd with me. Again.
  • Tell DH to do his laundry if he doesn't want to wear dirty clothes to work the following day; find something for myself to wear in pile of clothes that need to be put away but I can't be bothered to deal with
  • Get in bed (mind racing over Twilight-related stuff), get up five or six times to note something interesting I want to write about on the blog (or use voice recorder/"MIB" flashy-thingy if DH is not in bed yet and won't hear me), dream bloggy Twidreams
ARG!!! See the difference? Anyone??? I know it's a barely noticeable change in my habits, but... OK - is it just me?? Seriously, I need to know!

When it's all said and done, though, I know I would do it all over again if given the choice. Pass me the Twi-Ade, 'cause I'm drinkin' it! I am in total agreement with Moon when she says that part of what makes Twilight so special to all of us is that it makes you feel something, and that's not a bad thing; that's what makes life interesting and worth living. So maybe I do need to find a way to have a teeny little bit more balance in my life, but I think I'm largely ok with my obsessive-compulsive Twitarded A.T. self. I just bought Russell Brand's "My Booky Wook" to divert my attention from Twilight, and it's such a gorgeous day outside that I think I'll peel myself away from the computer to go enjoy it for a bit. Right after I finish this post.

Image from here.

P.S. DH agreed to go laptop shopping with me tomorrow, and then I'll be able to blog outside - any everywhere I go!!! Woo-hoo!!!

26 comments:

  1. Darlin I'm right there with ya! I think I can safely admit here that yesterday I finished reading Twilight for what I believe to be the 9th time. I'm only a couple pages into New Moon (5th time on this one because it makes me too sad to read it a bunch of times) but I won't let me read it until my chores are done. Of course, I can't start my chores until I've got myself all caught up on the blogs I follow (98% of which are Twilight related). So to answer your question, no, STY, you are not alone! We could be hooked on much, much, worse. Like crack, internet porn, or the Jonas Brothers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Aunt B!! It's comforting to know I am in good company! But maybe I need to to lay down the law with me, too - lol... And I agree that it's harder to read NM - I'm not like JJ who likes to be all masochistic and wallow.
    : )
    Er, ok, I am going to go on that walk riiiight NOW. Really. I mean it this time...

    ReplyDelete
  3. oh, glad to hear your getting a lap top :) life will be transformed. It wont ease your addiction in any way tho.

    Plus I agree with Aunt B, there are much worse things to give your life over to....and reading is a work out for the brain yay!!!

    My *A.T* life looks like yours :) Some days worse than others, for example I may have commented on several of your posts in one sitting-oops.
    -Corr

    ReplyDelete
  4. I LOVE reading your posts, so please don't stop...I know you probably cant!

    I too look back to B.T. (Nov 2008 for me) and wonder how I filled my days (oh yeah, I once had a clean house and well planned and home cooked meals) I guess I watched a lot of crap on the TV too, now I am reading up a storm, both Twilight and other books to prevent me from picking them up for the 999th time. I do admit to not giving my kids and husband as much attn. but they are all stil clean, fed and alive!! Momma needed a hobby and I got one :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I LOVE reading your post!!

    What's funny about your daily Twilight routine is that mine is somewhat the same. I'm in my nursing program and EMS program and yet I still have time to manage my blog all by myself. There are times when I don't cook and it's take-out or microwaveable dinners. I know crazy huh?!?

    I have a mac laptop (it's my new lover) I blog anywhere and everywhere... it's crazzzy! Wait until you get yours! My day begins with Twilight and ends with Twilight.. I don't remember if I have a boyfriend... Oh wait! I do... (tee hee)...

    ReplyDelete
  6. I just discovered your site and I love your blogs because most of us feel the same way and in my case, none of my friends are in to Twilight, so thus, commenting and reading online helps me feel like I'm apart of a Twilight community. Without all of you, I'd freak out and go insane from my inner thoughts. Umm, ok, well maybe not but that's how I feel.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Agreed! My husband commented how it was actually this time one year ago that I became all Twilight obsessed because he was so busy working. But we all know Edward makes a nice stand in boyfriend! :) And yes, part of the greatness is that it makes you feel something. I often pull up Midnight Sun at work just to get a little "fix" during the day. I also have a co-worker who (out of laziness and forgetting to take it home) has a copy of New Moon in her office. I've been known to go in and sneak a quick read of some of my favorite parts. :)

    Okay, I should actually eat my dinner that is now getting cold because I've been reading the greatness that is your blog!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm so glad that I'm not the only one this is happening to. I think about Twilight all the time. I see people and I think "He/she looks like [insert Twilight character here]." I am on the computer at least twice as much as I ever was before. And about 95% of my computer time is spent reading blogs about Twilight/Rob/New Moon. Before about 95% of my computer time was checking e-mails and reading perezhilton.com. I still read perez, but only looking for Twilight related news. I've even started my own YouTube channel and blog just so I can have an outlet for all my Twilight madness because my friends and family can't stand to hear me talk about it anymore. I hear myself talking about it and I try to stop, but I just can't. There is always something new to say and I swear everything in life somehow ends up relating back to Twilight. I can't tell you how many of my sentences have started with "Well, that's like in Twilight when..." It's kind of insane. When you check into TwiHab I think I need to go with you.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Totally agree with you STY! I put all 4 books on my ipod and listen to them EVERYDAY on the long drive to and from work, on my lunchbreak and while doing mindless chores like laundry and dishes (at times ignoring husband and kids!). Then in the evening when kids are in bed I check all the blogs and websites and look at the books, Notebook, movie companion, etc. I also have the twidar, I see people reading Twilight everywhere I go (dentist, school, work) and am totally unsatisfied when I try to have good Twilight conversations with these people - they're just not that cooperative! Thanks for your great blogging - its nice to know that I'm not alone!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Love your blog...I just recently discovered it. I am in complete agreement with you. I just can not get enough of Twilight and any new info on the movie/actors. I just finished reading Twilight for the 5th time, this year, and this is my fourth time checking blogs today. Lord help me!! I am glad that I am not alone.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I am totally the same. My life now revolves around Twilight. My friends think I'm crazy. One of them bought me Pocket Edward as a belated Christmas present. I was ECSTATIC.
    Anyway, I totally agree. Sometimes I feel pretty stupid being obsessed with Twilight, but then I realise most people don't have something they LOVE. They think they do, but really they don't.
    Plus, I love being part of the Twiverse. I love our community we've made for ourselves. It feels good to have some place to turn to when my friends get fed up with me.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh how I loved reading this article and all the comments that follow. Being a mother, wife and student, I often question my love for Twilight and the time it takes away from other more “productive” activities. I adore the books! And completely agree that the Twilight community is the greatest part of it all. I love the fact that it has embraced all ages, sexes and walks of life bring us together. Making it so much more than just about the books, but about the community at large. Love the blog! Keep up the great work!

    ReplyDelete
  13. @danilovemuffin I agree with you 100%! my friends and husband think I am crazy! But then I get online, and read twi-blogs and connect with other people who love Twilight as much as me, and I don't feel so crazy. =D

    @STY you B.T. and A.T. looks just like mine! My poor husband is so neglected...in fact as I am writing this the hubster is trying to get me to come to bed...he's totally pouting. poor guy.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Just think of it this way... it's important to be excited about something in life! I know BT I was a little bit on autopilot with my home and work routines, but now I start and end each day reading all the blogs and online news, discovering new fanfic, and rereading my books and looking forward to New Moon.

    I've also started going on a walk every day with newfound energy since I've been reinvigorated by the feelings of young love. I feel enthusiastic when I wake up in the mornings and it's fun to look forward to each day! I missed that feeling of enthusiasm for life and am grateful that Twilight brought it back for me.

    ReplyDelete
  15. ARG!!!!! I had posted replies to a bunch of folks yesterday and stupid *&%$#!!! blogger didn't post them! Fuck! OK [takes deep breath] Moving on...

    [begin longest blog comment response thingy e-v-e-r riiiight NOW]

    First, let me just say to EVERYONE who commented on this post, which is near and dear to my heart, that I totally love you guys and if I could I would give you all a big bite-y vampire-y kiss on the neck. OK, not really, I'm not actually the touchy-feely sort but you know what I mean. You guys rock! And I am SO glad that I am not alone here in all my Twilighty madness...

    The specifics (because I really do have something to say to each of these awesome comments and I am so glad everyone shared their stories):

    @Corr - please please don't stop commenting. Comment away! Let me be absolutely clear here; there is NO SUCH THING as excessive commenting. 'nuff said. And I cannot WAIT to get that laptop - yay!

    @want2Binforks - looove the name! And you are 100% right; I don't think I could stop now even if I wanted to - lol! I think I caught on to Twi at about the same time you did; maybe a hair earlier, like maybe September of last year. And I am actually glad on some level to be a late arrival to the scene, because I think if I had discovered it earlier and had to wait for each book to be published and then again for the movie to come out, I am pretty sure I would have went totally bonkers.

    @The Twilight Times - seriously, indoctrinate a friend into the Twidom if you can (they will be mad at first but they will thank you later - lol...) - sharing this with JJ makes it a lot easier!

    @Honolulu Girl - Welcome!! And you, too, should "accidentally" get a friend into Twilight, imho! But if not, it is pretty awesome to have the kind of online community that we do - I am overwhelmed sometimes by the utter awesomeness of all the fellow Twifans out there!

    @Aggie99 - aw! "greatness"!! Thanks - that really makes me feel good, I gotta tell you! Yes, I've let many a dinner get cold and DH knows that my usual battle cry is "just 5 more minutes!" - lol! That'll teach your husband to work too much - ha!

    @Perpetual fangirl - wait a second, are you me?! Honestly, that was EXACTLY me "B.T." - I was on perezhilton constantly! Now when I go there, I search only for Twilight stuff, too! Frankly I am glad that I don't have to know what Miley Cyrus and the like is up to anymore, since I never really cared in the first place... : )

    @Steph - Whoa - they have all four books available for ipod?! Holy crap I have to have that!!! And just ask JJ - people are not all that cooperative about having a good Twi-chat with a stranger in public. Thank goodness for blogs, that's all I have to say!

    @Anon - I hear you! There's definitely comfort in numbers (even though we are all collectively a little bonky, admittedly - lol!). Glad you enjoy the blog!!

    @danilovemuffin - cute name!! and it's true - when your friends start looking at you funny because of your Twilighty ways, head to the internets! : )I feel silly sometimes, too, but I wouldn't change it for a thing!

    @cuteangiek - glad you enjoy the blog! And I totally enjoyed reading everyone's comments on this one, too! It IS more than just a bunch of books, and if that means that sometimes the house is a tad messy because I'm off on Twiland, so bit it. : )

    @kdgrimmer - I honestly thought my A. T. was a little frightening when I re-read it - lol! I told DH about the general gist of what I had written for "A.T." and he was like "well, if it ever gets that bad I guess I wouldn't like it..." and I didn't have the heart to tell him that it's already that bad - lol!! Eh - if he doesn't see it, I'm not gonna burst his bubble...

    I hope I didn't miss anyone - really, thank you all for sharing here, it was the best!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thank the heavens above!!! It's not only me! I am also over thirty-half way to forty- and have Twilight on the brain!!! I read the series over and over and watch the movie almost everyday. I belong to several fansites and follow several blogs. I even wrote a song and made a video on youtube ("I Wanna be a Cullen.")! Thank you so much for giving this condition a name. I am so TWITARDED!!!

    ReplyDelete
  18. I've also been trying to have a Twi-intervention with myself... I think I can find a balance! Yay! But, Twilight and all you great blog-people will forever hold a place in my heart.
    Sure, we need to have real lives and all. But you and Moon are completely right- we love Twilight for a reason, and if it brings joy into our lives, then what's the problem?
    :) Thanks for being wacky like me.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I can see it now...an episode of "Intervention" where your family actually gathers to talk about your Twilight addiction. They send you off to some distant land where Twilight has never been heard of. You start introducing yourself to others as Edward (or Bella, whichever you prefer), you begin to use cake makeup in a nice shade of white and every so often, you sneak outside to see if you sparkle. *snicker*

    I like Twilight and all but I'm thankful that I have two kids that I have to take care of and keeping myself in the real world is a must. No offense to any of you fellow Twlight lovers, I think Twilight is a fun story and there's nothing wrong with escaping from our regular lives but I think it needs to be kept in perspective.

    ReplyDelete
  20. You are not alone at all. My schedule looks the same, except with college thrown in there instead of work.

    I have skipped meals and sleep because I was reading or blogging. And I have a mini laptop, a mini Dell 9 (this is my exact computer, except with Twilight stickers all over it:http://blog.enterpriseitplanet.com/green/blog/blogpost_img/dell_mini_9.jpg) and I take it with me to bed, the couch, the kitchen table, even the bathtub! It can fit in my purse, so I can blog from anywhere.

    So I know what you mean. I'm on my 6th reading of Twilight right now, and it never gets old!

    ReplyDelete
  21. @Whitley - OOOO!! Mini laptop - sounds awesome (we are still searching for the perfect model (and something we like that we can afford, lol...). that's something I will have to look into - although I have the feeling that DH is going to regret agreeing to make this purchase with me!

    @koolio - well, I got my sister into Twilight, so the rest of the fam is going to have their work cut out for them. : )

    @Lita Undefeated - welcome! I'm glad you now know what to call your "affliction" and that you like Twitarded! I will definitely check out your song/video - I actually went to youtube yesterday to check it out but I was swept up in watching video of that English lady singing on "Britain's Got Talent" and got all weepy and stuff (I am SUCH a sap!). : )

    @EtomyB - I don't think I have a choice but to be wacky, so I am also thankful to be in such good company!

    ReplyDelete
  22. You guys are hysterical! STY, you KNOW I loved the post and the comments are so validating. Once of the things I love about your blog and the others I read is how nice it is to know that I'm not the only Cullen Lovin' Freak out there. I can't decide whether or not I want intervention, though. Sure, it would be nice to have all that free time back again, but I'd just waste it on something else, right? Now, I'm off to find the series on iTunes (so I can hide my re-reading from DH)!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  23. FANFIC ADDICTION ALERT!!!
    I agree with everything all of you have said, and the change in my day is almost identical. I didn't even know how to use blogs before and I had no idea this was going to happen to me when I was taken to see the movie. I have also read, re-read and listened to all the books. So, thank goodness that Twicrackaddict had a post one day about Wide Awake, a fanfiction. That got me into the wonderful world of Twilight fanfiction! There are communities on fanfiction.net that will give you the best stories with over 1000 reviews, be sure to click M rating if you want the very spicy ones that will make up for all of your frustration while reading the fade to black honeymoon scene in Breaking Dawn. Wide Awake, and The Red Line seem to be the biggest and they're both awesome. But there are thousands more! And I read them on my phone, I copy and paste them and send them as an attachment to my Kindle, and now yayay!!! Twilighted.net who has premier fanfics pre vetted for quality, is doing podcasts of the most popular ones, so you can listen to them on your drive/run/not cleaning the house!!!! And my husband doesn't know what hit him, they're sooo hot!! Some really talented people are writing! The stories can take some getting used to if they're AU 'alternate universe" cause the plots are diff but same charaters. So many wonderful versions of Robward. Enjoy and I'm happy to send links if someone needs help finding what I'm talking about. Check out www.twilighted.net, www.livejournal.com, and www.fanfiction.net.

    ReplyDelete
  24. hey scentaddict thanks for the comment & all the tips!!! i totally forgot that i heard about twilighted doing fanfic podcasts!! i was in such a huge hurry to post last night - DH was like over my shoulder asking if i was almost done on the computer for the night so that we could watch "Lost" from last week and there I was looking at all that saucy fanfic! Ah, good times, good times...

    Unfortunately, most of the people who read my fanfic post won't see this because you left your comment under the "twihab" post...

    if you want, maybe cut and paste it into a comment under fanfic post? and i can delete it from here... let me know! if i don't hear back from you (sometimes i forget where i leave comments - lol) i am going to re-post it over with the fanfic post anyway - and will credit you! - because you have some great suggestions and CLEARLY the masses want their twiporn!

    : )

    ReplyDelete
  25. It's definitely nice to know that there are plenty of us obsessed Twilight lovers out there. Three of my closest friends considered me legally insane until I finally convinced them to watch the movie and now they all just as obsessed as I am and they've all started reading the books too! Every Tuesday night you'll find the four of us at my house watching the movie, my hubby's in Iraq right now and although I miss him and love him dearly it still helps having the house to myself on Tues nights. My friends and I are all in agreement that Twilight is on our minds at least every other second of the day!

    ReplyDelete
  26. I'm at work and realized i wanted to read every single one of your posts from day one...I had started towards the latter half...anyhoo this is my day to a T..as in Twilight. Seriously...things get neglected now. It's all consuming. AMEN girl.
    jen (sotwired)

    ReplyDelete

Comments are our life now. Leave one!