I'm a Nerd

So, my previous post warrants a little explanation. I am a nerd. I have watched all three Lord of the Rings movies several times, and my husband and I actually enjoy watching the special features as much as the actual movies. As my fellow nerds know, the entire trilogy was made in New Zealand. Weta Workshop was in charge of the special effects, the costuming, the weapons, and sound mixing. This company is based in Wellington, New Zealand. I happen to know the names of the guys in charge of all the departments (they get a lot of interviews in the special features), and could probably tell you about every detail that went into filming and producing each movie. See? I'm a nerd. Sometimes I forget that there are people that haven't spend hours and hours watching and discussing Richard Taylor's explanations of the process that went into making the Orc costumes. This is why my head was ready to explode when I watched the Bachelor, and they were standing on the actual site Edoras used to be built, and they flew over the Misty Mountains, and they didn't even bring up Middle Earth. Not in a single moment of any of the three dates. I am such a geek.

But I found something out last night. There are much MUCH bigger geeks out there. We watched a documentary called "Ringers: Lord of the Fans." It followed the popularity of the books and movies, starting in the '50s and ending up at the movie premiere of Return of the King. It was a little creepy, to be honest. Here are some things I learned about the history of the books/movies:

1. The hippie movement in the '60s used the books as a guide to life. (Think long-bottom leaf and hobbits' love of mushrooms.) There was an illegal publishing of the series that had psychedelic pictures on the covers. Tim and I plan to ask the parents about that scene.

2. Led Zepplin's music is full of Lord of the Rings references. They started out playing at a club called Middle Earth. Same with David Bowie.

3. The term "ringers" refers to people that are willing to sell their house to fly to Wellington to be at the "Return of the King" premiere. There was a tour of them that went out to see the movie and tour "Middle Earth" on a big bus. Really. A lady sold her house because she felt she needed to be there.

4. There are a large number of people that are willing to sleep on the pavement for a week to see a movie that will also be showing later on. They call it "fun."

5. A lot of people described the books as "bringing meaning into their life." or "filling a void," or "answering questions they felt needed to be answered." I guess they haven't read the Book of Mormon.

I could go on about the other disturbing facts I learned about many of the super fans that are out there (a lot of which were wearing hobbit and elf costumes while being interviewed, although some were also dressed as Klingons and pirates), but I think you get the picture. I may be able to win at the Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit game (which we own), but I don't own a hobbit costume and I have a life outside Middle Earth. But if I go to New Zealand someday, I will still be excited when I see the landmarks that show up in the movies.

My Head Almost Exploded

I watch the Bachelor, as we have already established from previous posts. So, this week was the week they go some place ridiculously expensive and do super amazing dates. This year they went to New Zealand. An entire week in New Zealand and there were NO LORD OF THE RINGS REFERENCES!!! What??? So my conclusion is that, either the girls didn't want to come across as geeky, or none of them are worthy of a trip to New Zealand.

Best Dates Ever

I feel like, since I wrote a huge long thing about how crappy my dating life has been, I should at least mention my best dates. Because, even though I did blow up the fountain at prom and get left at the top of the mountain with one ski, I have had some fun dates. The problem with good dates is that there's not much of a story behind it. So this will probably be brief. That would be a first, wouldn't it?

#5. Best Prom Ever: So, junior year, prom was a disaster, but my good friend Keith took me to Prom my senior year. Here are some things that were fun about the date: 1) Keith had already seen the worst of me (tear-stained with bad hair the night of the Preference date gone bad), and still wanted to take me to Prom, so I didn't have to try to impress him. 2) Keith helped me get over the fountain experience by taking me to the exact spot the fountain had been the previous year (no fountain this time), and we danced right on the spot and laughed about it. 3) Nothing went wrong. 4) I got to hang out with my good friend all day and wear a fancy dress without anything going wrong. It was my favorite date in high school.

#4. Bon Jovi, the first time: It wasn't so much the guy I was with (it wasn't at all the guy I was with) that made it so much fun. It was that I got to spend the evening with Bon Jovi, and I finally had an excuse to wear leather pants.

#3. U2: Who wouldn't want to spend a night with Bono? And Tim? I managed to buy 2 tickets to U2, and, after much deliberation, asked Tim to go with me. It was our first date, and I am super glad I took him. Things sure did work out! And he bought dinner and paid for parking, so that was nice. Plus, we can both remember what we did on our first date. And who doesn't like U2?

#2. Romantic surprise: Our first Valentine's Day as a married couple was very modest. We ate Quiznos at the park down the street from our apartment. The next year, we had more money, and Tim surprised me by making reservations at the Roof in Salt Lake, and didn't tell me what was going on until we got halfway to Salt Lake and I started to get nervous. The food was excellent, of course, but part of the fun was that he did something totally surprising and romantic.

#1. Our first date as parents: After our first baby was born, we felt doomed to be stuck at home every night for the next 12 years, until we felt comfortable leaving the oldest at home in charge. So when my mom offered to watch our newborn for an hour so we could get out, it was as good as flying on a private jet to Italy to eat pizza. We were in Vicksburg, though, so we went to Sonic and got cheeseburgers, ate them there, and went to the outlet mall so I could buy some in-between pants. It may not sound like much, but the feeling we had cannot be replicated. Children are a blessing, and so are dates without them. It's good to look back at that day and remember that even though we can't get out much, we can always leave the kids with someone for an hour and go get burgers together.

There you have it, folks. I've been on lots of really fantastic dates, but those are the ones that I really remember. All I need to be happy on a date is leather pants, Bon Jovi, Bono, or a cheeseburger.