CBS Interview - The Mentalist

via The Insider

When Harmless Obsessions Go Too Far...

So, I have an obsessive personality. Everyone who knows me realizes this. My obsession du jour has no pattern, really. It always starts out the same way: something grabs hold of my attention momentarily, and I either forget about it within a week's time, or I start looking for more information about it and other people who hold an interest as well. Usually I get bored after a few days, but if not, TROUBLE.

A few past objects of my obsession include: Michael Jackson (from when I was very little), former Falcons player Andre Rison, former Hawks player Spud Webb, Javier Bardem, Seattle Mariners player Ken Griffey, Jr., and Vince Vaughn. But the most intense of them all lasted from 1997 - 2000: Tiger Woods. Given the recent news surrounding him, I'll let that be a post in itself and won't speak more of it here. But I will say that the Tiger Woods obsession was a warning to me that my obsessions can carry me further than I ever originally anticipate. To potentially dangerous places, even. It transcends simply finding someone attractive or thinking they're a great actor, sports player, or singer...the obsession just keeps taking new forms as time goes forward, and the ante keeps upping itself, sometimes without my knowledge. I know it's gone too far when others start taking notice...



Which leads me to where I am now. I watched the movie "Something New" a few years back and was obviously affected by it in a way that I was unaware of at the time. I say this because I can't remember why in late 2008, I randomly decided that "The Mentalist" was the show to watch! I kept seeing really cool previews for it, and posting them to my Facebook profile. But right now, I honestly don't remember if Simon Baker was a factor that led to my interest. I do know for certain that my level of interest in The Mentalist went from 0 - 100 in two months. I began recording every interview he appeared on, configuring my laptop to automatically download embedded videos to my hard drive, installed software to convert said videos into iTunes format so I could download his videos to my iPod. The clincher was when I not only JOINED a Simon Baker fansite, but over a few months time ended up becoming one of the more popular members there. This is pretty scary when you consider that he has a LOT of stans (stalker/fans) ALL over the world. If I've become the most popular, that just doesn't bode well.

This has become more long-winded than I'd like. I'll end this post by mentioning that I decided at the beginning of the year to plan a trip to LA with one of my best friends (who happens to be exceptionally gorgeous and attracts a lot of attention). We've talked about this for several years, but to be completely honest, she and I can go anywhere we want. The only reason I want to go to LA is because of the extremely high possibility that I'll "casually run into" Simon Baker. People who live in LA run into him ALL of the time in the grocery store, at the beach, at the coffee shop, near his home walking on the sidewalk, etc... The reason I've done a 180 and have decided it's not a great idea to go after all is because of how my other celebrity encounters have turned out. Said encounters are the only reason I believe in the "Law Of Attraction"...and thankfully I was not married during any of those encounters. Nothing risque happened at all, but I really need to finally post an entry that goes into my past encounters with celebrities...please don't hold your breath.

Simon Baker in AOL interview

Embedding this here since it's down on the AOL site:

The player will show in this paragraph

An Exercise in Brevity

I'm challenging myself to give an update from the past several months, but without spending the next hour typing about it. I have about 15 minutes, before I pass out due to exhaustion so here goes:

1) My newborn is now a 12-week old. He will be officially 3 months old on Friday. That time FLEW by! He's holding his head up now, and sleeping through the night, as of last night. Life is good! He spits his milk back up a lot more than his brother and sister did. I'm keeping an eye on that because it makes me a little nervous; but in my heart of hearts I believe that everything is completely fine.

2) My 5 year old and 4 year old are such a joy, even at these hyperactive ages. I love them so much. They are both so brilliant in different ways. I see a little bit of young Tami in the both of them. Good and bad qualities. Math comes easy to one of them, the other one is completely vain, one of them doesn't care what anyone thinks of him, while the other can be knocked down with a feather if you don't give her praise. It's simply amazing. And they're such sickeningly beautiful kids inside and out. God TRULY blessed me in a way that I can't ever measure.

3) Haven't been able to find work, so I'm enjoying being a stay-at-home mom. I go on the kids field trips with them, I make dinner (and dessert) every night, I'm involved at their school more and have established a small network of associates in the other moms, I go on play dates with other stay at home moms, and most importantly, my 3 children get ALL of me, not just the ragged, worn out parts leftover from a grueling day at a thankless job. Many would argue that being a mom is the most thankless job ever, and I wouldn't debate them. But I don't think you can beat greeting your kids at 3pm, being home by 3:15pm and having an entire time with those innocent angels FREE from stress. I wouldn't trade this for anything.

4) Hope to have great news to share this upcoming Friday. If the news isn't good, I won't say anything...if it's great, you'll know about it; the whole world will, if you leave it to me! :-)

5) Been working out INTENSELY the last two weeks. I found a wonderful trainer online, and he set up my daily meals and my daily workout plan. Haven't stuck to the diet as well as I should have, though. But I've lost a good 8 -10 lbs and have lost another pants size (fitting back in my 8's; my goal is to get back into my winter pants which are a size 4 -how could I ever have been that skinny????) I'm going to be a fine mofo by Christmas or bust!!



6) Still have an unhealthy obsession for Simon Baker. Pretty pointless to deny it; even my hubby is hip to it. He's not ecstatic about it, but he's known me for the better part of 14 years now...he knows that I'm ALWAYS going to have some type of fascination/obsession over some type of celebrity. Fame intrigues me; always has for some reason.

7) Cultivating, pruning and watering my friendship garden. There were a lot of weeds, that were causing me a lot of grief, and making it impossible for me to enjoy the beauty of the real friendships that were waiting to blossom. I have some really good friends that really love me, and it's high time I start expressing how much I love them as well. I'm getting better at this.

8) 35 in about two weeks. Having a yummy brunch at a wonderful location in Dunwoody the week after my birthday; waiting a week after my actual birthday so that my sis will be back in town and can be there. I can't wait to spend the morning/afternoon having brunch with people I love!!

9) Hubby is enjoying his new job. In-house counsel for an insurance company in metro Atlanta. He brings home the bacon and I fry it up in a pan...and always make him feel like he's the MAN!! Okay, you get the gist...:-)

Not bad for someone who runs their mouth like an out of control faucet. I can update more often if I can keep it simple like this. Until next time!!

Simon Baker and Lawrence Fishburne screen caps

NOTE: Edited to add the following link to the actual video these screen caps are from. Simon Baker's accent makes me want to become an Australian citizen.

Emmy Roundtable with Lawrence Fishburne and Simon Baker

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Simon Baker and Lawrence Fishburne. Wonderful. Lawrence Fishburne is truly the best actor of our time, next to Hugh Jackman in my opinion. And Simon Baker is just delicious to look at. :Sigh:

































































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