Oh, sure there’s the obvious – Christian Kane is very attractive. His blue-gray eyes twinkle with the promise of adventure at the very least a good time. His overall look inspires thoughts of a night out at the bar being dared into riding the mechanical bull or maybe an evening on a riverbank watching fireflies and talking about dangerous secrets in hushed tones, safe under the cover of night and in the knowledge that when he looks at you he knows those secrets anyway. He works out (at least once in a while) and it shows in his well-muscled arms, thighs, and butt. All of which inspire much less romantic thoughts of tangled sheets, messy kitchens, and maybe a grass stain or five.
All of those physical qualities are attractive and blossom beautifully in a girl’s fertile imagination. But these attributes are only the covering and whatever fantasies my writer’s mind dreams up are just that, fantasies, bedtime stores for a grown woman. Don’t worry, I might write like a crazed fan, but I’m well aware this is all in fun.
All of Christian’s fine and (superficial) attributes are shared by Eliot Spencer. However, Eliot has a couple personality traits, which have given me a new way of understanding and dealing with my own frustrations. First of all, Eliot owns up to the choices he’s made. He might wish for different options or the ability to take advantage of new opportunities but he doesn’t dwell on it. He accepts what is and shrugs off what he can’t change. [The Studio Job]
In “The Tap Out Job”, Eliot gives Sophie a glimpse into his past, when he explains that the men train for such a brutal sport (MMA) partly as an alternative option to farming or machine work which could dry up at any time and will keep them and their families in such a depressed area, and partly as a way to develop a measure of control over a life that seems completely out of their sphere of influence. They can work hard to improve their performance and through a direct result of their performance gain a chance to move beyond one small town. Plus, they have an excuse to vent their frustration by beating up their opponents. Clearly Eliot understands these motives and maybe shared them when he first made his promise to the United States Government.
Through his own training and hard work Eliot has improved his performance outside of the ring. Although he doesn’t talk about his career (or life) some inferences can be made about the “Retrieval Specialist”. He clearly has extensive survival training and ample opportunity to use it, for example. Eliot’s training, experience, success, and the demand for his services has provided him with a level of confidence those Iowa boys can only dream of achieving. He approaches each fight with respect for his opponent(s) abilities and faith in his own abilities. His personal confidence spills over into every aspect of his life. He makes choices and lives with the benefits or consequences. He knows when he makes the choice that he is capable of handling the outcome, whichever it may be.
It is this self-confidence that draws me to Eliot. I want to draw on it for myself. My “bad guys” don’t try to kill me, beat me bloody, or shoot me, but instead I find myself frozen with fear over the “what-ifs” and unable to make the decision. Then there’s the fact that some days I just really want to punch something to release the frustration.
