A while back, a friend of mine mentioned something that they were thrilled about and asked me if I was excited about it too. I replied with a simple, "Yeah, that's cool." This person gave me a rather bewildered look and said, "You don't really get excited about anything, do you?" Slightly affronted, I explained that just because I'm not one of those people that publicly jumps up and down and squeals with delight doesn't mean that I am never excited.
There are two reasons why I may not seem overly enthused all the time.
Firstly, I generally express my feelings of joy, sorrow, anger, etc. in private. My freshman year of college, I came home from a date that I was actually very excited about and my roommates promptly came out of their rooms to ask me how it went. All I said was that I had a lot of fun. Not satisfied with my casual answer, one roommate exclaimed, "Can you please show some excitement, Celia?" I jumped up in the air once and flashed a small smile. Once I got to the privacy of my room, however, I could not stop smiling. The door opened suddenly and my roommate was able to witness the true merriment I had been feeling all along. So really, it's not that there is a serious lack of feeling in my life. I'm just not very good at showing other people how I feel.
Secondly, different things excite different people. Something that excites you might not excite me and vice versa. Some people get really excited about cars. I appreciate a sleek shiny vehicle as much as the next person but I can guarantee that I will never be talking excitedly about any car's horsepower. Some people really love art. I like making crafts and being artsy in my own way but you will never find me overcome with emotion while staring at a painting in an art museum.
So what kinds of things get Celia all riled up, you may ask? Well, I'll tell you.
Movies - I love watching movies. I love quoting them. (Before she left on her mission, my old roommate Jen and I would text movie lines back and forth to each other for hours. "Don't want that...don't want that...") I love movies that transport me to another world or another time. I love movies that cause me to be emotionally invested in the futures of the characters. Some people go to movies for the social aspect of it. They go because their friends are going. I (generally, not always)go into a movie theater and try to forget all of the people around me so I can focus on what is going on on screen. Weird? Yeah probably. But that's the way I like to be entertained. ("Are you not entertained?")
Music - I come from a very musical family and I minored in the subject so I better be somewhat emotionally drawn to music. The story I am about to relate very aptly expresses my experience with music: I really liked the soundtrack for the Star Trek movie that came out a few years back so I bought it on iTunes. (I love movie soundtracks in case you didn't know!) I was listening to it one day while studying for a test. In one of the pieces, the main theme was being played on the oboe but then the violin section, almost imperceptibly, took over the melody. It sounded so cool to me that I dragged my roommates into my room to listen to it. They just looked at me and said, "Uh yeah, that's cool," and then left. I couldn't believe they didn't appreciate the pure genius exhibited in those notes the same way I did. (Here's a link to it so you can listen and decide for yourself. I bet most of you will probably respond similarly to how my roommates responded and that's okay. What I'm talking about starts at 0:23.)
http://youtu.be/ZEDLQD7l-dM
Books - I have never understood people who do not enjoy reading. That is a completely foreign concept to me. I love curling up in a blanket on the couch to read a book. I love to imagine the characters and the scenery. I am one of those people that can, and often does, stay up all night to finish a book. Whenever I go to the library, I come home with three or four books I didn't intend to check out when I first walked in. I love reading! And I think it's one of the only forms of entertainment out there that can expand your vocabulary. Seriously, what's not to love?
Politics - I am probably a little overly-passionate about politics in this country. Anyone who ran into me after last month's election would probably agree. There are very few times in my life when I've shown my anger as openly as I did then. Though I like to talk politics, it often brings out a side of me most people rarely see. When I was a senior in a high school, part of our grade was based on our participation in Mock Congress. For two days, all the seniors gathered into their designated "senates" and debated bills of their own making. I think I talked more animatedly during that two day period than I did the rest of the school days combined. What can I say? When you run into idiots you have to defend your beliefs from their idiotic attacks. Just kidding...but really.
Boys - I would be remiss and dishonest if I chose to neglect them but...I'll just leave it at that.
American History - I love American history! When I found an entire section in the BYU library on the American Revolution, I just about died from sheer joy. George Washington is one of my heroes. I have more books on the founding of America than on any other subject. My favorite subjects to study are, in order, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, WWII, the Great Depression, and WWI. I get a little bit giddy everytime I watch this scene from the movie Gettysburg.
http://youtu.be/-kdOKJXfTU4
I love America!
The Celtics - Win or lose, I love my boys in green! I get slightly hysterical during their games and witnesses to my hysterics are often bewildered at my sudden release of emotion. If I had a Bucket List, watching a Celtics game in Boston would definitely be on it.
So next time you think I don't get excited about anything, think again. Ask me to participate in any of these things and, trust me, you'll probably get more excitement than you bargained for. :)
