Guilty Pleasures

guilt·y pleas·ure

noun

1. something, such as a movie, television program, or piece of music, that one enjoys despite feeling that it is not generally held in high regard.

   "everybody has a guilty pleasure—for me, it has to be mid 70s disco"

   
   

   
   

   
   

One day last October, in a rare moment of workday down time, my officemate and I were talking.  Begin new officemates, we were, like so many strangers who share a space, feeling each out and getting to know one another.  She and I are of different generations, have only a few common acquaintances, and because of those factors, most of our conversations, up until that day, had fallen into the neutral zone, so-to-speak.  Neither of us had yet been willing to let our guards down and venture into more personal areas of conversation.

Anyway, I honestly do not remember how our conversation started.  I do remember, however, in vivid detail I might add, the exact moment when she said something about "Jax."  I straightened by back and squared my shoulders, as if that would enable me to hear her better, and then with the slightest bit of trepidation and with crossed fingers asked, "Do you by chance watch Sons of Anarchy, too?"  That was the moment my roommate and I first bonded, over our mutual admiration of Jax Teller and our mutual secrecy of watching SOA.

I was a latecomer to Sons of Anarchy, having discovered it through the Facebook postings of some friends from back home as the series began its seventh and final season in early September (about a month and a half before my "SOA fan coming out" conversation with my officemate).  Through the technological wizardry of Netflix, I watched the pilot and that was, as they say, all she wrote.  I was hooked.  That is when I learned first hand what it meant to be a binge watcher.  I gobbled up seasons 1 through 5 during the next three weeks and told no one.  No one.  Not a single living soul.  (Granted, my husband and stepkids knew because they saw it on the TV screen, but that was it.)  Despite how much I obviously enjoyed the show, I mean honestly - for a while I was a binge-watching SOA addict, I was extremely hesitant about anyone knowing.  You can imagine my relief and joy when I found someone who in the same boat as I!

Sons of Anarchy is now off the air; its series finale aired in early December 2014.  I am one of the many loyal fans who, despite my being late to the game, watched every single episode.  I've even rewatched seasons 1 and 2.  But still, seven months after the finale, I'm still hesitant to admit to some people I know, that I watched and <gasp> enjoyed this testosterone driven, bloodbath, male geared, soap opera!  I'm forty-something years old for Pete's sake!  Why do I even care?

In all honesty, I have no idea, but apparently I do care.  Otherwise, I wouldn't consider SOA a guilty pleasure, now would I?

So, enough about me and my guilty pleasure.  Do you have a guilty pleasure and, if so, what is it?