Addictions

by Christie Kelley

Well it seems this blog is putting virtual pounds on me with all the food talk lately. So I thought I'd break it up by talking about addictions...hmm, I have a bad feeling this may lead to more food talk. I'm not talking about bad addictions but ones that make you feel good.

I guess I'll have to 'fess up. When I read Trish's post about not liking coffee or tea, my mouth gaped. You may have read that I brought my coffeemaker with me to my sister-in-law's house over Thanksgiving. I will admit, I'm addicted to coffee.



And Starbucks. Ahh, Starbucks.

There is just nothing better then when the gingerbread lattes come back to the stores. I wish Starbucks would have gingerbread flavoring all year long. A hint of nutmeg, some ginger and coffee. It's the best.

When it gets warm outside there's the carmel frappuccino. A delicious blend of coffee, carmel and ice. Mmmm, perhaps it's time to move on to another addiction that doesn't make me want to make a Starbucks run.

So the other addiction started as a child with me. Reading. I couldn't get enough books as a child. I was so lucky that I had three libraries within walking distance of my house. I came from a family of readers. My mom and dad both read, my brothers and sisters read too.

Then as a teenager, I discovered romance books. Yep, I'm addicted. There is nothing like pulling out a romance and curling up in a chair for a few hours to escape the stress of the day. Before I started writing, I probably read 2-3 books a week. Now, I'm ashamed to admit that I'm lucky if I get that much reading done in a month. But when I read, I still reach for a romance over any other genre. I force myself to read the literary selections of my neighborhood bookclub. I know it's good for me to read outside of romance but honestly, I'm tired of emotionally draining books with unhappy ending. I want the happy ending!

Onward to the last addiction I will admit to on a public blog. But I have to warn you, I'm back to food.

Chocolate.

Good chocolate, not cheap stuff you can get anywhere. I want Godiva...preferably truffles. Just biting into the creamy dark chocolate and soft filling is a fantasy for your tastebuds. I'm hoping Santa will drop some off under my Christmas tree this year.


So now it's time for confession. I want to know all about your legal addictions. Nothing illegal or morally questionable. What food is your addiction/comfort? What is the one thing you must have when shopping in the mall? Come on, we all have them.

In addition to one of the 12 Days presents, I'm giving away a signed copy of Every Night I'm Yours to one lucky commentor! Source URL: http://gbejadacosta.blogspot.com/search/label/addictions
Visit Gbejada Costa for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection

TV for Writers

by Susan Sey

I avoid TV. It's not because I have anything against it, though. I don't. In fact, I love TV. I love it the way I love ice cream. The way I love Diet Coke. The way I love books.

I love TV quite a lot.

In fact, when TV lives up to its potential, I am powerless to stop myself. I am an addict, & this is why I avoid it. In real time, anyway. DVDS are another story.

When the Sopranos ended its run to such acclaim a few years ago I thought, "Okay, time to see what all the fuss was about." Blockbuster.com sent me the first season on DVD over the Fourth of July. By Labor Day my husband & I (he's as bad as I am) had pounded through all eight seasons. I'll leave you to do the math but the number of hours we spent parked in front of the TV during those few weeks is cringe-worthy. We were lucky nobody staged an intervention. Especially since it wasn't the first time we'd behaved in such a fashion.

Lost did it to us, too. That pilot episode when the plane first crashed? Yowza. And five, six seasons later, bad guy Ben just keeps the passive-aggressive fun coming. Good times.

I mourned when we finished the last DVD of Arrested Development. In addition to the razor-sharp humor (a character with sexual identity issues inadvertantly bills himself as an "analrapist" on his business cards, a combination analyst & therapist), it also provided me with my first opportunity in a number of years to remark upon how darn cute that Jason Bateman was.

The Office (the British original) introduced me to a brand of cringing comedy that was so excruciatingly honest I didn't know for a solid three DVDs if I liked it or not. Turns out I do. (The American version introduced me to John Krasinski, on whom I instantly developed a minor crush. I still like the British version better, though. Ricky Gervais is incredibly talented.)

And now we're addicted to a new one--The Wire, a cop show set in Baltimore's west side. The writing is again razor sharp & the dialogue rings incredibly true. But there was one episode in the first season--one scene actually--that sealed the deal for me. It's a scene in which Detective Jimmy McNulty & his partner Bunk revisit a crime scene to role play a murder. They say nothing but the f-word for about four solid minutes, each time with a different intonation & a different meaning. By the end of the scene they'd drawn a completely new conclusion about the crime & so had the audience--through nothing but about four minutes of the f-bomb.

I don't know if that's quality writing or acting, or maybe both, but I was totally sold. We watched Season One in five days.

We start Season Two tonight.

How about you? For your money, what's the best TV show on the air right now? Off the air? Who's telling the best story these days? I'd love to know because, at the rate we're eating up The Wire, we're going to need a new addiction one of these days pretty soon.Source URL: http://gbejadacosta.blogspot.com/search/label/addictions
Visit Gbejada Costa for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection