[flickr id=”8471277317″ thumbnail=”medium_640″ overlay=”true” size=”original” group=”” align=”none”]

Last Friday evening, I decided to go back to campus. Not to go into my studio, not to get work done—I went for fun. This week, I joined a club. I attended my first meeting of the Columbia Whovians.

What are Whovians? Whovians are fans of the longest-running science fiction television series, Doctor Who. Doctor who, in short, is a British television show about an alien and his human companion’s adventures through time and space. I had seen fliers around campus last semester that such a group existed, and though I was excited at the thought of hanging out with other fans of this show, their meetings conflicted with my class schedule. This semester, however, has my Fridays wide open, allowing me to geek out.

I showed up in my Sons of Anarchy/Doctor Who mash-up t-shirt and my full-length, brown wool trench coat, sonic screwdriver pen in my pocket. When I walked in, members of the group got quiet and looked in my direction. After a brief pause, a couple of people shouted, “I love your coat!” These were my people.

The nite started out with a brief catch-up on some hopeful plans for the semester and what we would all like out of the group. Everyone expressed an interest in a group outing to the comic book and entertainment convention, C2E2. We also discussed some initial plans to participate in Manifest, Columbia College Chicago’s annual block party. Then we did what we all love to do: we watched Doctor Who. ON A BIG MOVIE SCREEN.

On the club’s agenda this semester will be more screenings Doctor Who and a few other great shows. They will be screening Torchwood, Sherlock, and some classic Doctor Who (episodes from 1963 before the series came back on in the 2000s). All are welcome. Meetings are on Fridays in Ferguson Hall at 600s Michigan from 4-6pm.

My stress levels have been much lower since attending the meeting on Friday. I think that everyone should find a club or group on campus that interests them just to be able to blow off steam once a week. Graduate school can be very stressful. Having the opportunity to be able to discuss something that you truly enjoy outside of classes and work is very refreshing. In fact, I actually feel that my productivity has gone up this week. After recharging with the Columbia Whovians, I started a new project this week that will ultimately be a portrait that I’ve been wanting to draw for a very long time. I also pulled a ton of paper to be used for future projects, books, and drawings.

I am very much looking forward to this week’s meeting. Feel free to drop by for some wibbly, wobbly, timey-wimey fun! If you are a fan of Doctor Who, you really cannot pass up the chance to see the show on a big screen. Allons-y! You know you want to :)