Behind the Mask

I love mascots.

Not in a fetishy kind of way. There's nothing sexual about my love for mascots. I just want to be around mascots all the time. Mascots make me happy. In an ideal world, I would be a mascot's handler.

Mascots are the brand ambassador for their band. Mascots can help you fall in love with a team that you never thought you would love. Sometimes, you may not fall in love with the team, but you fall in love with the mascot.

My love (obsession) with mascots is what led me to watch Hulu's original series Behind the Mask. It allows the fan a glimpse into what the job of being a mascot actually entails. If you think these guys have an easy job, think again.

As someone who works in sports, mascots remind me of something that can be easy to forget, especially on a game night. My job is to bring other people entertainment. Sports are fun. Working in sports in fun. (Sometimes stressful, but mostly fun.) Working in tickets, I don't always get to see the joy that my fans have when they attend one of our games. But the games I'm not working, I get to see the joy in my daughter's eyes as she anxiously awaits for the mascot to come visit her.

If you have Hulu,watch the show. As Season One reminds us, players and coaches change, but the mascot is always the same. They are a brand ambassador for your favorite team, just as much as any player. Next time you're at a game and the mascot goes in for a high five, hug, or to use you in a gag, let them. They're just tying to do their job, and like all of us, sometimes they need to be reminded that they're doing an awesome one. 

Realty TV Thoughts - Marriage Bootcamp

I love Marriage Bootcamp. I especially love Marriage Bootcamp: Reality Stars.

While I feel that some of the methods are a bit extreme, I do get that there is a method to the madness in what Jim and Elizabeth put the couples through.

Having paintballs shot at you to see who others blame for the problems in your relationship? It allows you to get a perspective from someone who is outside of the situation. And those people are sometimes better able to see things that those of us in the middle of the situation aren't.

Faking the death of your spouse to get you to really see that the problems you have don't matter more to you than your spouses life? Sometimes it's the snap back to reality that we all need.

This season, the couples went to divorce court to see what it would be like if their marriages reached that point.

During Tyson and Rachel, the only unmarried couple in the groups, time with the Judge, Tyson was asked why he was with Rachel. His response was that she would usually compromise or just go with the flow.

The Judge was quick to point out that not once did Tyson ever say that he loves Rachel. She then looked at Rachel, who was defending Tyson, and said these words:

"Don't make a man tell you he doesn't want you more than once."   

This hit home for me because it is a lesson that I'm still learning. 

The first relationship was 7 years. 7 years of not being able to tell anyone that we were a couple. 7 years of being a mistress in a sense that he had other girlfriends that he would take out on dates, introduce to people, etc. 7 years of being told that I wasn't good enough before I finally left. 

When I finally decided to dive back into dating and got serious, I spent that next relationship hearing how jealous he was of his best friend and his best friend's girlfriend. In my ex's mind, he deserved her because he had met her first. Talk about what you want to hear when you're spending all of your spare money and time flying across the country to be with this person. 

The latest relationship was spent with my ex spending most of our time together on his cell phone with his "friends". He spent the time online flirting with other women, while never once telling me how much he claims I meant to him. While I made myself stay in the relationship for a year for myself, I stayed longer than I should have. 

"Don't make a man tell you he doesn't want you more than once."   

It seems like such simple advice, but can be hard to put into practice when all you want is for the person that you care about to accept you. 

I've made the men in my life tell me less that they don't want me, but my goal is to one day reach the point where I have enough love and respect for myself, that I won't make him say it more than once. 

How The Sisterhood Encouraged Me To Get My God Groove Back

I didn't think that I would get into The Sisterhood. The concept was intriguing to me. A reality show following around wannabe nuns? How could the concept not be intriguing? 

I thought I would only watch one episode before I gave up, but I stuck through all 6 episodes. (Maybe because it was short enough to hold my attention?) 

There were a few things that stood out to me about the show. One was that some of the girls seemed surprised that they would have to give up their phones and makeup while in the convents. (I'm not Catholic, but I could have guessed that one.) One was how Claire was edited to remind me of all of the uber-Baptist that I went to college with. (I have the intellectual relationship with God, and if you don't then you can't be on my level attitude.) But there was one thing that stood out to me more than anything. 

The main thing that stood out to me over the course of the show was Christie's sincere faith. She may have come off a little out there from the editing, but I fell in love with her early on. She may not have worshiped in the way that some people felt she should have, and some cast members made comments about it that upset me more than I thought they would. 

Her sincere faith made me realize that I wanted what she had. I want a faith as strong and sincere as hers. I want to go beyond the intellectual faith, and develop that sincerity in my beliefs. 

In a way, this show has given me a goal to commit to more than just the hours at church during the week. I've been slack on my own devotional time, but this year, I will make more of an effort to study the scriptures on my own. I think it's no coincidence that the devotions I've found to start this year after watching this hit hard on your relationship with God v. your religion. 

 Here's to a closer relationship with God in 2015.