escapism, part 2

I'm picking back up with my Escapism series, as I talk about the various ways I fill up my time to try to avoid dwelling on our loss (over seven weeks, ooh my god). My husband has been bugging me about this, so here you go. You can read the first part of my Escapism series here.

My name is Alicia, and I have a boyfriend. And no, I'm not talking about my husband (sorry, honey).

He's kinda my flavor of the week, except that week has turned into a few weeks and now I'm heading into that "a few months" category of crazy. I'm afraid I'm stalking him, too. Yeah, that kinda crazy.

It all started when I caught a glimpse of him on TV in a new show, all CGI'd and spiffed up. The hubs wanted to record more episodes, and at first I ignored it, but then he kept turning it on when I was around. And really, it was all rather pretty.

Optimus Prime in the new Transformers: Prime show. Hubba hubba.

And it hit that little girl part of me that thinks fondly of what I loved as a kid. I have a brother, you know, and we often mixed our girl and boy toys. One of my favorites was an Optimus Prime figurine that could turn into a truck. It blew my little girl mind. I loved it. Of course, I still loved my Barbies and my My Little Ponies, but this, this was a man who turned into a truck. 

Optimus Prime is the ultimate good-man. He's a leader to a fault, putting everyone else before himself even though he's so important to protect himself. He thinks before acting... usually. He's a hero you can actually look up to and admire because he's always seeking to do the right thing. One of his biggest faults is probably the fact that he's too good and doesn't take as tough of a stance on the bad guys as he ought to (the endless fighting of Megatron, anyone?). That, and his supreme lack of a sense of humor. A big stiff-upper-lip, that one.

Optimus Prime a la the Bay movies

I don't remember a whole lot about the old Transformers G1 episodes, but the knowledge and love of Transformers has always been there in the back of my head. The live action movies rekindled that love, and the new CGI TV show has solidified Transformers as one of my favorite franchises of all time. Really, if you're at all interested in Transformers and enjoyed the old cartoon or the live-action movies, give Transformers: Prime a try. The writing alone is fantastic, not to mention the art.

And the humor:

Star - why does it all go WRONG? - scream

And the cute:

Well, I'd show the cute, if I could find a decent screen-cap of Bumblebee.

Anyway, I'm a bubbling mess at this point. The point is, I owe Transformers a lot. It gave me something on which to focus that wasn't related to my baby's death or the way my body changed afterward. Instead of haunting my ovulation chart like a boss, I was reading bits of the long and detailed history of Transformers and watching various incarnations. In the quiet moments of the night, I had something to entertain me and draw me away from my grief.

Thanks, Optimus. I owe you one.