Secret Pleasures…..
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 08:39AM Sophie Kinsella wrote about them in Can You Keep a Secret. Carrie Bradshaw called them our secret single behaviors. But most of us just call them guilty pleasures or dirty little secrets. You know, those things you’ll only dare to perform in the safety of solitude.
Go on. Admit it. You have at least a couple.
For some it’s food, for others it’s television, for the rest of us, it’s Alexander Skarsgard from True Blood.....erm, maybe that’s just me. But come on, have you seen that man? All of a sudden I have an affinity for Swedish men. Yum.
Years ago, I had a friend who warned me to never put myself in the position to have people judge me. In my youth, I thought that meant towing the line in public and always presenting the best version of myself, never giving anybody any reason for pause. We all tow the line from time to time forcing our guilty pleasures into the closet.
But why must we hide our behaviors or the little secrets that make us interesting? Those very same behaviors or secrets are exactly why people love us. Are they so bad they need to be swept under the carpet? So hideous that we need to wait till our husbands are gone before we dare to perform them? No. Potentially embarrassing, maybe. Incomprehensible? Almost always. Brain numbing? Hell, yes.
I’m not willing to hide anymore. And to prove it, find my guilty pleasures/single behaviors /dirty little secrets below. Promise you won’t judge me too harshly? No, really, promise before you keep reading.
Did you pinky swear? Here goes.
1. I crumble Oreos into cookies and cream ice-cream and eat it straight out of the tub when I think no one is looking.
2. I sometimes double dip
3. I eat chicken with ketchup
4. I suck the marrow out of chicken bones (I think you have to be African to understand the joy of this one)
5. I eat McDonald’s cheeseburgers – I know, I know
6. When hubby’s not home I turn up the music and pretend I’m on American Idol. Yes, I even do judges comments. I do a decent Randy Jackson impression.
7. Sometimes I pretend I’m on America’s Best Dance Crew and dance around the living room with the puppy as my “Crew”
8. I sometimes act out scenes from my books dialogue and all
9. I dance spontaneously to songs only I can hear.
10. I watched Knight Rider. No, not the cool 80’s version with a bare-chested Hasslehoff, but the crap 2008 version.
11. Reality Shows. Specifically, yes, I’m naming names: Real Housewives Atlanta and New York, NYC Prep, Rachel Zoe Project, Miami social, Oh screw it, pretty much anything on Bravo. Don’t judge me!
12. So You Think You Can Dance
13. BBC’s Mistresses
There I said them. Well, not all of them. God forbid you all have that kind of ammunition. As I get older, I think back to my friend and her piece of advice. I now realize the underlying truth in her statement. I need to treat all of my life as if I’m dancing and no one’s watching. Once I can let go of caring what people think, I’ll truly be free and no one can judge me.
What’s your guilty pleasure/little secret? C’mon, I can’t be the only one to share.
Reader Comments (13)
Go, Nana!!! I, too, am a Bravo addict. Can't wait for Rachel to return next week.
Don't even get me started on TV...Charmed reruns, Leverage, The Closer, Burn Notice, Dark Blue...
And you have to watch Drop Dead Diva on Lifetime...
And...I better stop watching TV and put butt in chair...
Hugs!!!
M.
Ugh yes, MUST start watching Drop Dead Diva. Totally forgot about it. Will start DVRing tonight. RACHEL woot!
And why oh why is Burn Notice a guilty pleasure. I scream that one from the roof tops. Fiona is my idol. Lol!
xoxo!
I too have learned and continue to learn that our little "secrets" make us more interesting and that people will accept most of them as they too have secrets.
I like to eat coffee or chocolate ice cream with potato chips, mmmmm, the crunch and the cold. I've found unsalted potato chips (I know, how boring...) so I don't overdo on the sodium, which is a problem in my older age. I love a bunch of the reality shows and am hooked on True Blood. Too bad it only runs in the summer. I would prefer to stay up late and write or watch tv or whatever and sleep in in the morning. I hate cleaning house and it shows, I love chocolate and have found that I can endure on dark chocolate, especially dark chocolate M&M's. I live alone and have for many years, but I hate being lonely. I love my privacy and don't know if I could ever live with someone, but I do crave companionship and some tender lovin'.
That's my story....don't judge me to harshly either.
Sunny
Uh, you do NOT have to be African to suck out bone marrow, lol. My mother has done this since childhood! I think it's just a non-American kind of thing though my mom was born here. People in America generally don't have to make sure they get all the nutrients out of food in order to have good nutrition as people in other countries do.
Me?
When everyone's gone I turn up the music and sing my heart out. I know this frightens the neighbors, but hey, I gotta be me.
Patti
Ice-cream and potato chips?? Sunny you've given me a new culinary depravity to addict myself to. Lol.
I just had the conversation with some friends this weekend about how i'm not meant to live with other people. Hubby's different because we've been together for so long he gets me, but anyone new forget about it.
Thanks for sharing Sunny!
Patti, Lol! It's true. My Filipino friends do this too! Girl, you sang! Yes I said "sang". Picture Pattie la Belle talking to you. The neighbors can deal. Although, exactly what are you singing. If you're going for some Marilyn Manson, I can understand the fear. Lol.
I sing in my car...like REALLY sing, out LOUD. I totally get in to it. The best is when folks in other cars look at me like I'm insane at first, but then they get a big smile on their face.
HAHHAH, that is the best. I might be one of the ones who gave you the crazy look, then proceeded to start singing as well :)
okay I admit that I do have some guilty pleasures...sometimes when I need a break from writing I'll put in my Bon Jovi live tour DVD and sing and dance to the music. My 3 children (cats) think I'm crazy. Of course this only happens when my husband is at work. Good exercise trying to keep up with Jon though!!!
The ice cream and chips isn't the craziest thing --- I love mayonnaise sandwiches -- just mayo on two slices of bread.
I love to sing in the car and when it's one of my favorite songs I'll be-bop along dancing with my head etc. regardless of whether anyone sees me. But when I'm singing along on the radio and I'm at a light and there's a car next to me...I pretend that I have a cell phone receiver in my other ear so that it looks like I'm talking on my phone...
I've written some of my best dialogue scenes by acting them out. Sometimes when I'm home alone and having a hard time with a spot in my book, I'll spend a few hours 'in character' talking to myself and the cats.
Every now and then I have to go to McDonald's as well. It's the American way...
I'm with you on #12, I LOVE me some So You Think You Can Dance.
Guilty pleasures, hmm let me see..
When I'm home alone (which is rare with 3 kids) I love to get a glass of wine and pop in one of my John Mayer concert dvd and 100% completely pretend that I am at the concert. Yes, screaming at the stage, err TV, and all.
LOL
I hear you Nana. You call them guilty pleasures I call them normal. LOL. I enjoyed your post. Now that they are supposed to be guilty pleasures I have to go and rethink my habits.
I act out my scenes too but more to time them or sound them out (doesn't sound like a GP to me);
Okay, I pretend I am having on Jay Leno or Oprah or some other talk show, as a famous African writer and I do the interview out loud when I think no one is there to hear me...
Empi
Empi, Lol. I totally pretend Oprah has me on her show too. sometimes I even pick out just the right outfit :)
Nana
La-Tessa, ain't no shame in screaming at the television. Tell your husband and kids not to be alarmed. Some concerts require screaming. Lol.
Nana