03 June 2009

The Trouble with Triffids

A couple of weeks ago, Charlie and I went to see the new Star Trek movie.  You know, the one where the HOTTEST MAN ALIVE plays Spock?  Yeah, that one.  When he asked if I wanted to see it, I played it off casually..."Sure, if that's what YOU want to see."  But deep down, I was quivering with excitement.  Not because of the Zachary Quinto factor (although he is TOTALLY quiver-worthy), but because of my secret.  My big, fat, geeky, pocket-protector-wearing secret:

I love Star Trek.

Like, I really love Star Trek.  I've seen pretty much every episode of the original series, and all of the movies (even the ones with folks from "Next Generation," even though I didn't watch that show).  I blame my mother for this -- she let me watch "The Wrath of Khan" at a really young age, and I was hooked.  I think it was Ricardo Montalban as the baddest of baddies that sold me on it.  That, and the ear bugs.

As I got older, however, I quickly learned that crazy love for a 60's TV show is not something that makes you wildly popular.  I was fat, had braces, wore glasses (and some really atrocious outfits), and usually became the teacher's pet.  Star Trek would have been the final nail in my coffin (RIP Jenny, Another Victim of Social Leprosy).  So, I buried my love, wayyyy down deep, underneath my "Friends" DVDs, J. Lo records, and everything else that didn't fit the "artsy indie-rocker" persona I adopted around age 17.

Fast-forward 14 years, and I'm sitting in a dark movie theatre next to my best friend, the guy who has seen me at my absolute worst (and best) and still finds me tolerable enough to stick around.  He's watching the movie, enjoying the special effects, and looks at me in surprise when I say "OOooooh, ROMULANS!"

For a second, I pretended I didn't say anything. "What?" 

"How'd you know they were Romulans?" he asked.

"Well, didn't somebody just SAY they were Romulans?"

"Uh, no..."

A huge dramatic explosion saved me from further discussion.  

After the movie, I was riding a huge geek-high.  When I told Charlie that this was going to be in my top ten movies of all time, he made me explain.  And I cracked...I confessed my secret.  He of course thought it was hilarious, and said something about being Star Trek characters for Halloween.  I stopped dead in my tracks. "Seriously?  You'd do that?"

"C'mon, Austin as a tiny Captain Kirk? How cool would THAT be?" he said.

This, my friends, is why I married this guy.  A few minutes of teasing, and then he's 100% on board with whatever nuttiness I want to pursue.

Now that he knows about my secret love of sci-fi cheese, he's been adding all sorts of random shiz to our Netflix queue.  Like, "The Day of the Triffids," a BBC mini-series from 1980 about poisonous, man-eating plants...THAT CAN WALK!  


It's one of those movies that's a remake of a remake of a remake of a ridiculous 50's novel.  Not quite as good as Star Trek, but I still enjoyed it.

So, my secret's out...anybody else out there have a crazy hidden love?

4 comments:

  1. AWESOME! I love that your hubs is totally on board with whatever you throw out there- clearly he's a keeper! You two are such a great match!!! And seriously, I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE AUSTIN AS CPT. KIRK! Is it October yet???

    I will confess to deep abiding semi-secret loves for the Sound of Music, the Spice Girls, and Wild America with Marty Stouffer. I'm hopeless and I really, really, really wanna zig-a-zig-aaaaaahhhhhh! ;)

    Great post Lady!

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  2. HA! Oh, I don't know, Jenny, treky fan vs. Star Wars fan?? :P

    Quite honestly,I've never seen a Star Trek episode, but I can lay claim to watching Star Wars for the majority of my childhood. Shoot, my mom took me to conventions when I was little!

    If you don't make Austin Cpt.Kirk than you HAVE you make him Yoda or an Ewok.

    Good post! We all carry those nerdy little secrets inside.

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  3. Oh my god. I was in love with Spock for most of my childhood. Many of my childhood fantasies were of myself being Spock's lab assistant and him falling slowly but inevitably in love with me for my logic, beauty and brains. (Perhaps not in that order.)

    I must watch that movie. The thought of a young Spock played by a hot guy is just too much to resist!

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  4. Had no idea about you and sci-fi!!! I guess when we're together, we never really talk about movies/tv. We either gossip about work, talk about the families, kids (2 and 4 legged types), and of course, before the 2 legged kid, we were way too busy drinking our lives away...I miss those crazy nights at Kanpai!!! Perhaps we can find a sitter and give it another try!!!

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