Confessions of an addictive personality

Well I think it's time for my confessional.

I have decided that America is drawing out my addictive tendencies and TWO seperate things have drawn me into their web. Number one is Lost. Number two is Facebook.

Now let's get one thing right here...when I say addicted I'm talking about addiction in the fun and yet ever so slightly obsessive sense and not the ridiculous, over the top, pushing God off the throne type sense. So in essence it's not that bad, it's just somewhat ridiculous!

So Lost. Now I missed this when it was first around and came to the conclusion I'd missed the boat. My dad loves it as do a serious chunk of my friends in the UK but when it came to DVD back to back Lost watching sessions I missed the first few and decided Lost was another one of those cult shows that I KNOW I would really enjoy but I'd missed the boat on (much like 24). But no. No, no, no. Thanks to certain gentlemen who shall remain nameless I am very much lost in Lost. Since getting out here to the States another back to back Lost DVD marathon has crossed my path and this time I was very much along for the ride! Over the past 3 weeks we have watched the entirity of season one and half of season two, the remainder is staring at us (that's eleven shows) for a Sunday night, Monday night, Tuesday night marathon in order to be ready for season three's premiere on Wednesday.

Why do I love Lost? How did it get me? These are the questions I keep asking myself. I have thought of a couple of reasons. Firstly it's just so flaming good, it's well written, it's full of tension and it's that suspense/thriller type genre that I love...it's like this show is made for me! Secondly it just reminds me of my dad! Now watching Lost with the lights off takes me back eight years to watching The X-Files with my dad before I went to uni, another thing that I was hooked on. I love the thought of my dad wanting total silence, the way he'd groan and fumble for the remote in double quick time if their was every a trailer mid week or immediately after the previous episode and I remember the amusing sight of my mum grinning and saying "shhhhhh" when I start to speak and most of all the chance to deconstruct shows with dad. Now I'm deconstructing shows with peers but I just can't help wishing I was deconsructing shows with dad! I know you're reading this so I miss you and being able to do that dad. So I'm a Lost fan hook line and sinker.

Now Facebook. This website should come with a health warning, an online friends community based around universities and businesses where you can keep in touch with people you study/studied or work/worked with. Now I have told myself that the reason I have it is for the students in Warwick and Newcastle who I miss now that I'm not working on those campuses but the truth is I love being able to connect with people, network and work out where in the world everyone is. It's so extensive it's scary, pictures, contact details, instant messages, ability to splurge out your brain's thoughts, arrange parties or get togethers, be a part of groups of things you like and everything you can imagine. The health warning needs to be abuot sleeping instead of sitting at a computer trying to dig out that long lost friend who maybe just maybe signed up for facebook in the network of thei Masters degree that you can't for the life of you remember where they went. Facebook is fun and bizzarely enough helpful for ministry, so much so that the operations staff in the Great Lakes region of Campus Crusade are being TOLD to sign up to learn about it and how it can be used for ministry. My Facebook fanatisism can be attributed to Lindsay Dasher for sorting out getting me the email address that allowed me to sign up and Andy Prichard for egging me on "to make sure I can keep in touch with Warwick people." So I'm in...and I love that too.

I'm hoping my new American driven addictive personality is not going to find anything else to play with anytime soon...I haven't got time, ministry, socialising, Lost and Facebook and doing a good job of filling my time!