I've put this off for too long. Everytime I started on a paragraph of this entry, I'd erase it and turn to something less strenous like going to Wiki and researhing Forks, Washington. I know more about the weather conditions in Forks than I care to remember. It's as bad as when a while back, I was so into Orange County that I get more information on the Real Estate situation in that part of California than the COV of my own flat.
Why do I bother so much about a place almost 24 hours away by plane from my own sunny home these days? I don't know. I have no idea what came over me. Maybe it's the stress and the depression I felt lately. Pure escapism so to speak. Something far and remote from the endless pile of mounting bills and forever dodging phone calls from credit card companies baying for my blood.
It surfaced innocently enough. I've seen the book displayed under 'bestseller' in bookstores. I've picked up the thick volume a gazillion times and I've put it down a gazillion times too. I never did have the desire to purchase it. I was curious wondering what all the buzz and hype was all about but never enough to actually bring it over to the counter and dig out cash for it.
No. I'm just as perplexed as everybody else out there over the huge hoo haa. Titanic, Harry Potter, LOTR, what?. Tsk...tsk..
So I didn't bother with the movie. Even when hubby downloaded it and suggested I watched it when we're at Sunway Pyramid during the kids' school holidays and we're lazing around in the hotel room after an enormous lunch earlier. He knew I love chick flicks because it wouldn't take up much disk space since I only watched once and he can happily erase it and replace it with another slapstick no brainer.
I didn't think much about it at first. Just another teen movie. An angsty, brooding vampire and a pale-faced 17 year old. So?
Almost a year later, while debating whether I should go to work or not and decided not to, hubby happily declared that he has downloaded the sequel to that angsty vampire movie. For lack of nothing better to do, I just sat on the sofa and watched. Hrumph, dishy werewolves, yummy. A phone call from a frantic colleague made me decide to run back to the office but not before I watched the cliff-hanger and go WTF? Urgh.
Months later, hubby offered to transfer some movies into my iphone. I suggested that angsty vampire movie since I didn't get to see it much since the TV at home is on permanent "Kids-in-charge" mode, I thought it would while away the time in the MRT from Pioneer to Tanah Merah (I have to do audit in another campus the next day).
And Wham!! It was then that I became hooked. Maybe it's the only time I can concentrate on the movie without constant interruption. Maybe it's the constant 'not enough money' worries hanging over my head or maybe it's just Edward Cullen. But whatever the excuse might be, I was dragged into that world, kicking and screaming albeit reluctantly.
I became even more depressed. I was very quiet at home. I set about my work mechanically. I cook, I clean, I take care of the kids, I send them to school but my happiest moment will be turning on the ipod apps in my phone in the bus and live that moment with Bella and Edward.
I thought I was sick. Maybe I'm having Obsessive Twilight Disorder. I emailed Bayu, a family friend. She was one of those going crazy over this when it first started and I was the one who laughed at her. It was weird but a total relief after writing her a long email describing my symptoms and begging her for a cure. She wrote back, "LOL"-ing good naturedly and told me to sit it out. Time always settles everything, she says. I didn't believe her at first and am horrified to associate myself with the legions of screaming pre pubescent girls all over the world begging Edward to bite them.
So I did what I have to do. I finally made that purchase. That all too famous book with the black cover with a pair of pale hands cradling an apple.
That was my first mistake. I became more attached. It was way, way better than the movie. Maybe because Edward was painted differently. Maybe Bella was very different in the book. It made me want to crawl inside the book and live in it. I've read it twice since. Ok, so I don't declare that I read it like a million times, but hey, I'm still a responsible mum, I have to work and I'm generally, well, responsible. I'm in the third book now and am holding myself back from purchasing the final volume. I desperately need to read it but I think I'll wait for my next pay cheque. Afterall, what am I but a responsible Twilight fan?
