Enjoying the Unexpected
I have recently found myself doing two things I never expected to do. And enjoying them. One is so unexpected it never even occurred to me as a possibility. The other is something that I've deliberately avoided for several years with the expectation that I would not enjoy it.
I wonder if you have found yourself enjoying unexpected things recently? I'd love to hear some of them if you have!
To begin with the one I had never even thought about: watching Pride & Prejudice with a seven year old. I have watched (and enjoyed) the BBC 6 hour edition (yes, the one with Colin Firth) many times before. I even own a copy. But it would never have occurred to me that a seven year old would either be interested in it, or be willing to watch the whole thing, let alone that there would be any seven year olds in the world who have already watched it before!
Part of the explanation is that this particular seven year old (one of my neighbours) has a twelve year old sister. A twelve year old watching this series is still unexpected, but makes a bit more sense. I was seventeen when I first read the book and then watched the series during my final year of high school (it was one of our English texts). I look forward to hearing their reactions to the book when they manage to read it eventually!
How did this all begin? I knew that these two girls had watched the series before, and I asked their mother recently whether they had seen the new version of Emma (4 hours long). I thought they would enjoy it, if they enjoyed P&P, and raised the possibility of borrowing it from a friend interstate, so that they could watch it with me. I think the girls arrived on my doorstep the next day to ask me about it! Which then led to us starting to watch P&P together in the meantime.
To their delight, I opened a box of Cadbury Favourites, and we enjoyed eating all that chocolate while watching it! I have watched some with both girls, but the last two times only the seven year old has come. It is interesting to note that she doesn't understand all that goes on, but she is still able to enjoy it. (Plus, on other occassions there have been banana and choc chip muffins and crumpets to eat!)
I find myself hoping that the girls will come visit so that we can keep watching!
The second thing I have found myself unexpectedly doing and enjoying is also television related. But this is a well-known television show which I have been deliberately avoiding for the last few years, even though I have many friends who are sincere (and perhaps even sincerely crazy) fans. A long-running British television show. (If you think you know what it is already, well done! Although I suspect that means you've either already heard this story, or you are one of those fans I've just mentioned!)
During the summer I watched a movie from this television series with the primary school aged children I was looking after (which included the two girls who are watching P&P with me), and to be honest, I found it rather boring. Not much incentive to watch the episodes on television!
And then during winter, I was back home and the last one left up one evening. I was working on a sewing project (my sister's birthday present), and flicked through the channels to find something to watch, mainly to have some background noise. So I stumbled across an episode part way through, and didn't realise what I was watching. It was interesting enough and strange enough to keep me watching while I worked on my project. I had seen the actress in a few other things, which made it partly confusing, and it was only as the show ended and the theme song and credits came up that I realised what I was watching. (This has shocked and amused those fans I mentioned before. One day I'll find out which episode that was, and maybe that will help explain!)
A few weeks after getting back for the second semester of my course I was flicking through the channels to find something to watch at about 7:30pm, maybe closer to 8pm, and I found an episode of this show running. It was definitely the most interesting option for that time slot, and to my delight it turned out to involve Shakespeare and the lost play! So I tuned in the next night to watch 1930s America and the finish of the construction of the Empire State Building!
By that point, I was sucked in, thoroughly enjoying the jumps through time and space with the quirky character of the Doctor (as played by David Tennant).
Why had I been avoiding Doctor Who for so long? Well, I knew it was an enormously long-running series, and I thought it would be too hard to catch up on what was going on even if I wanted to. (Worked out pretty quickly why this wouldn't be a problem!) Then that movie I watched with the children at the beginning of the year, while it had some redeeming features and some interesting moments, was otherwise boring. Who would want to watch these old-school stories and special-effects? I mean, defeating the Daleks in a fight seemed to involve simply pushing them over! But there was also the fact that it is a science fiction show, and it is really hit-and-miss for me whether I will enjoy a sci-fi show. And finally there was the innate obsessive quality the show seemed to have for the friends I know are fans - did I really want to become one of them?
I have been informed that the term for a fan of the show is whovian - although the alternate wholigan was suggested by another friend. Both seem fairly accurate!
And I've probably spent this much time and space talking about these two shows because the girls haven't dropped by to watch P&P yet today, and Doctor Who isn't on until tomorrow night. I really should go get some study done!
I wonder if you have found yourself enjoying unexpected things recently? I'd love to hear some of them if you have!
To begin with the one I had never even thought about: watching Pride & Prejudice with a seven year old. I have watched (and enjoyed) the BBC 6 hour edition (yes, the one with Colin Firth) many times before. I even own a copy. But it would never have occurred to me that a seven year old would either be interested in it, or be willing to watch the whole thing, let alone that there would be any seven year olds in the world who have already watched it before!
Part of the explanation is that this particular seven year old (one of my neighbours) has a twelve year old sister. A twelve year old watching this series is still unexpected, but makes a bit more sense. I was seventeen when I first read the book and then watched the series during my final year of high school (it was one of our English texts). I look forward to hearing their reactions to the book when they manage to read it eventually!
How did this all begin? I knew that these two girls had watched the series before, and I asked their mother recently whether they had seen the new version of Emma (4 hours long). I thought they would enjoy it, if they enjoyed P&P, and raised the possibility of borrowing it from a friend interstate, so that they could watch it with me. I think the girls arrived on my doorstep the next day to ask me about it! Which then led to us starting to watch P&P together in the meantime.
To their delight, I opened a box of Cadbury Favourites, and we enjoyed eating all that chocolate while watching it! I have watched some with both girls, but the last two times only the seven year old has come. It is interesting to note that she doesn't understand all that goes on, but she is still able to enjoy it. (Plus, on other occassions there have been banana and choc chip muffins and crumpets to eat!)
I find myself hoping that the girls will come visit so that we can keep watching!
The second thing I have found myself unexpectedly doing and enjoying is also television related. But this is a well-known television show which I have been deliberately avoiding for the last few years, even though I have many friends who are sincere (and perhaps even sincerely crazy) fans. A long-running British television show. (If you think you know what it is already, well done! Although I suspect that means you've either already heard this story, or you are one of those fans I've just mentioned!)
During the summer I watched a movie from this television series with the primary school aged children I was looking after (which included the two girls who are watching P&P with me), and to be honest, I found it rather boring. Not much incentive to watch the episodes on television!
And then during winter, I was back home and the last one left up one evening. I was working on a sewing project (my sister's birthday present), and flicked through the channels to find something to watch, mainly to have some background noise. So I stumbled across an episode part way through, and didn't realise what I was watching. It was interesting enough and strange enough to keep me watching while I worked on my project. I had seen the actress in a few other things, which made it partly confusing, and it was only as the show ended and the theme song and credits came up that I realised what I was watching. (This has shocked and amused those fans I mentioned before. One day I'll find out which episode that was, and maybe that will help explain!)
A few weeks after getting back for the second semester of my course I was flicking through the channels to find something to watch at about 7:30pm, maybe closer to 8pm, and I found an episode of this show running. It was definitely the most interesting option for that time slot, and to my delight it turned out to involve Shakespeare and the lost play! So I tuned in the next night to watch 1930s America and the finish of the construction of the Empire State Building!
By that point, I was sucked in, thoroughly enjoying the jumps through time and space with the quirky character of the Doctor (as played by David Tennant).
Why had I been avoiding Doctor Who for so long? Well, I knew it was an enormously long-running series, and I thought it would be too hard to catch up on what was going on even if I wanted to. (Worked out pretty quickly why this wouldn't be a problem!) Then that movie I watched with the children at the beginning of the year, while it had some redeeming features and some interesting moments, was otherwise boring. Who would want to watch these old-school stories and special-effects? I mean, defeating the Daleks in a fight seemed to involve simply pushing them over! But there was also the fact that it is a science fiction show, and it is really hit-and-miss for me whether I will enjoy a sci-fi show. And finally there was the innate obsessive quality the show seemed to have for the friends I know are fans - did I really want to become one of them?
I have been informed that the term for a fan of the show is whovian - although the alternate wholigan was suggested by another friend. Both seem fairly accurate!
And I've probably spent this much time and space talking about these two shows because the girls haven't dropped by to watch P&P yet today, and Doctor Who isn't on until tomorrow night. I really should go get some study done!
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