Your Never Too Old

Read before you judge, grammar Nazis.

Yesterday I turned 39.  I, fortunately, still have 365 full days until my 40^th birthday since this year is a leap year. That’s right, God saw fit to make 2012 a bissextile year, *just* so I could have one extra day of being in my 30s.

Really the most exciting part of my birthday yesterday was that Shane West (um, er… "he who shall not be named in the Crouch house") from Nikita fame TWEETED ME! Actually, he responded to my tweet.

I ignored the your/you’re issue, because he’s SHANE WEST, people!! He has more important things to do than knowing stupid grammar rules, like looking all beautiful and intense.  Plus, he has 90k followers on twitter but read MY tweet AND responded. And possibly filed for a restraing order.

Your/You're - whatever...



After reading that tweet yesterday afternoon, you might think I did crazy stuff like:

1) Giggled like a school girl

2) Tweeted that Shane West had tweeted me (but not, mind you, re-tweeting, like those two crazy strangers did. That's just weird. Seriously.)

3) Immediately texted my 11 year-old daughter to tell her Shane West tweeted me

4) Called my husband in the middle of a meeting and told him Shane West tweeted me

5) Told my father Shane West tweeted me even though he doesn’t even know who Shane West is

6) Took a screen-saver shot of said tweet

7) Printed the screen-saver shot of the tweet and put it in a scrapbook

8) Printed the screen-saver shot and framed it

9) Blogged the next day about Shane West tweeting me

You MIGHT think I did all that crazy stuff, and I probably would have on Thursday, when I was only 38.  But now I’m 39, and more mature, so I only did eight of those nine things…

On a slightly more serious note, when I turned 29, a very long ten years ago, it motivated me to jump into high gear and get my dissertation finished so I could have my Ph.D. diploma in hand before I turned 30. And I did it, with just a few weeks to spare (I graduated in December of 2002).

I do not have any lofty goals as I turn 39, but I am making a list of Five Things I Want To Do Before I Hit 40.  The list is still circling ‘round  the brain but I’m pretty sure it will involve: auditioning for a musical, taking a hot air balloon ride, submitting my book to a publisher, and being able to execute one single pull-up.

Plus my personal favorite: participating in a flash mob.

Because, you know, it's like Shane says: your never too old.

La Femme NiSecret

I do not own a lot of teleivsion series on DVD. Movies, yes. But not TV shows. But I have a secret.  Not one that will get me in a lot of trouble, but one that I’ve kept because of the harassment that is sure to follow.

Here it is: I have in my possession a copy of every single everything to do with La Femme Nikita. This includes all episodes of the new series Nikita currently running on the CW, and every episode of the original series La Femme Nikita – the USA show from the mid-90s, on which Nikita is loosely based. And I've also got Luc Besson's1990 film La Femme Nikita, which started it all, and the 1993 Bridget Fonda version Point of No Return.

Nikita - Newest Reboot

Obsessed? Maybe a wee bit. In this newest reboot, Maggie Q is gorgeous (and Asian!) and kicks butt. Her romantic interest, ShaneWest, is… well, hubby says I’m not allowed to talk about Shane West any more  because I’m so infatuated with him. (Sigh.) I love this series, and wish on every star I can find each night for its third season renewal.

I also possess a few other series: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Alias, Dollhouse, and  Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles. These four plus the two Nikita series make up six of my eight full collections (the other two are BSG & Firefly, just coz I know somone’s going to ask).

Evidently, I have a "type."  In almost every series I own and have been obsessed with, this is the lead character:

Alias



Buffy

Doll House



Sarah Conner Chronicles



Tough, strong, capable women who are obviously able to use weapons. Really, these ladies are interchangeable.  Drop any of them in any situation and they'll handle it. Here’s the bottom line: they can beat the bad guys bloody, are capable of withstanding torture, change identities more often than I cook, and ALWAYS have good hair days. 

And then, of course, in these shows almost all the leading ladies have a romantic interest who is first their enemy, then becomes their partner/confidant/lover:




                           

 Alias



Sarah Conner Chronicles

 

                   

Dollhouse



       

Buffy



Shane West - rather, "he that shall not be
named in the Crouch house" from Nikita



  And yes, these leading men are also pretty much yummy, ahem… I mean, interchangeable.  Capable men, with dark, brooding looks and good hair days. And did I mention yummy?  



Certainly (besides the yumminess of the guys) the fact that these series contain strong women, who get the job done, and don’t sit around bemoaning their fate draws me to each of the shows.  In my mind, I am exactly like them except for the fact that I drive a minivan. And don’t know some crazy mix of bar brawling and Tae Kwon Do.  And rarely have good hair days. And I sometimes bemoan my fate. Whatever, still… obviously we’re all cut from the same cloth.

So yeah, I have a type. And should Nikita be cancelled (Noooo, please! “Star light, star bright…”), I’m sure I’ll watch, then own, the next of this genre, whatever it happens to be. In the meantime, I'll continue my own fight against that pile of laundry threatening world domination.