OMGZEITGEIST

Zeitgeist is "the spirit of the times" or "the spirit of the age." Zeitgeist is the general cultural, intellectual, ethical, spiritual, or political climate within a nation or even specific groups, along with the general ambiance, morals, sociocultural direction, and mood associated with an era.The term is a loanword from German Zeit – "time" and Geist – "spirit" (cognate with English "ghost").

-"Zeitgeist" article on Wikipedia

I have never liked fads. I never had any pogs, never wore bell bottoms in middle school, and I don’t like Twilight. Lots of people have liked or do like these things, but they don’t interest me. One reason is that I could never see the point of scattering little pieces of cardboard around, I think bell bottoms are ugly, and I’m not into vampires. The other reason is that I generally tend to dislike anything that is currently considered “cool.”


What I have is sort of the opposite of a hipster’s “I liked it before it was cool.” I’m more of the “I liked it way way after it was cool” type. I couldn’t see the point of green nail polish when the popular girls were wearing it in middle school, but in college it was hard to find me without my fingernails painted a strange shade. I was disinterested in the early hullabaloo surrounding the Harry Potter series, and didn’t see any of the movies until at least five of them were out, and now I have seen all of them and have read the books through several times. I absolutely refused to join any social networking sites when they first became really popular, and now my computer is rarely on without being accompanied by facebook.

The only thing I have been on the bandwagon at the time for was the Lord of the Rings movies, and I think that mostly had to do with the fact that I was hanging out every day with a group of friends that were all into them too. Fangirling alone in your apartment is not as much fun as fangirling with a bunch of people. They call solo fangirling “stalking.”

Don’t get me wrong, I will enjoy something whether or not others enjoy it. Although I will usually try to share it with someone else if they will listen, and the one who falls victim to this most often is my poor husband: “So she didn’t want to tell him about it and asked her friends not to tell him, but then this other guy who knew about it tried to tell him so they all tried to make him be quiet and...” He is very sweet and just sits there and lets me talk, and eventually I realize I’ve been talking for ten minutes and he’s been mentally checked out for at least 7 of those minutes, and I finish up with “...but whatever, you don’t care anyway, go back to what you were doing,” and laugh at myself. (And he goes back to playing video games, breathing a sigh of relief that he’s not going to be quizzed on it later.)

I like to watch very popular television programs after they have reached the peak of their popularity and are on the down slope. I never watched Scrubs (until about a week ago), Bones (until the middle of season 5), or NCIS (until about season 6 or so) when other people were watching them. I love all these shows, but one thing I can’t stand is a cliffhanger. I will wait for six months to a year before catching up with them, and then watch everything that’s available except the last two or three episodes. I’m okay to be left hanging between regular episodes, but every single show on television likes to do a little “OH NO WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT” episode near the end of the season that makes every viewer hate summer.

And I like summer.

So I don’t watch TV like other people do. The exception to this rule is pretty much everything on USA Network (Burn Notice, White Collar, Royal Pains, etc.). The nice thing about USA Network is that instead of doing one season of shows beginning in the fall and ending in the spring, they break up the season into two chunks. Like, the first half of the season will show in the spring and the second half in the fall, or the first half in the summer and the second half in the winter. Then they stagger when the shows are on, so that there’s always something new showing, no matter what time of year it is. Of course, with a double dose of cliffhanger opportunities per season, there’s more “OH NO WHAT WILL HAPPEN” frustration, but since after one half season ends, another great show starts up again, I can’t be too sad about the disappointing ending of Covert Affairs because, ooh, Burn Notice!

I really enjoy reading a book series after the author is finished writing it. For some people, the anticipation makes the book even better, but for me it’s annoying; I just want to find out what happens! With things that I love, I don’t mind much, because every time a new book comes out is an excuse for me to read the whole series from the beginning again. But my friends have a hard time convincing me to pick up a new series sometimes.

Thankfully, I did not miss out on the works of Jim Butcher due to the persistence of our good friend JR. I was disinclined to start the Dresden Files series: he had made the mistake of telling me that not only was the author remotely close to finishing them but that they also predominantly featured vampires. I never really got excited about vampiry things before the universe got all “OMGZEITGEIST” about them, so now that they are a fad I’m even more disinterested.

JR baited me with Butcher’s finished series, The Codex Alera. The two things that drew me: no vampires, and JR’s description: “Somebody challenged him to write a story combining Ancient Rome and... Pokémon.” That description may turn some people off, so don’t worry, Butcher’s “furies” aren’t really anything like Pokémon. It is plenty Ancient Rome-y, though, and the history major in me was like, “YES PLEASE.”

After I shook JR down for his copies of every book in the series and read them twice, I figured that the Dresden Files would be okay to try, too, vampires and all. I shouldn’t have worried: Butcher’s vampires do not sparkle.

I don’t like popular things. I almost have to be forced to try something that everyone else in the world won’t shut up about. Usually I shrug and say no thank you, but on the rare occasion, I will regret not trying something sooner.

I’m too slow to catch up on what’s popular that I will never be a fashionista, but give me time and I will most likely come around and watch that movie or read that comic that you recommended. 

Unless it’s about vampires.