The countdown to 'The Games' begins tonight

After tonight -- Oscar night, also known as my Super Bowl -- a new countdown will begin ...

I thrive off of silly enthusiasm. There's nothing I love more in life than living and breathing a new infatuation, usually fleeting, that nonsensically reels me in and rules my little world for a period of time. There was "Karate Kid," when I was a wee child. There was New Kids on the Block in my adolescence. In high school, it was "Dawson's Creek."

And then I started to grow up, and these little fads became few and far between. It made me sad thinking I was officially a boring adult whose thoughts would only be consumed with money and bills and work and boringboringboringboring.

Then came "The Hunger Games," a trilogy about a world where 12 impoverished districts must put forth a girl and a boy between the ages of 12 and 18 each year to fight to the death for the amusement of the Capitol. For one glorious week, I lived and breathed Katniss Everdeen and her boy with the bread. I talked about it with everyone I knew. I begged my friends and family to read the books. I stayed up well into the night finishing each one (and I haven't seen 2 a.m. since my early 20s). I printed out "Hunger Games" Valentines. I LOVED this trilogy.

Finishing the books broke my heart a little. It's so hard to let an infatuation end, wondering again if you'll find something else that will make you feel those things again.

Which is why I have been absolutely giddy every time I see previews for "The Hunger Games" movie. A series of films will stretch out over several years, and will allow this crush to go on for a bit longer.

The new countdown that begins tonight, post-Oscars, leads to March 23, the opening of "The Games," where I plan to totally Geek out and wear a mockingjay somewhere on my person. I've also debated about whether I will give the District 12 salute to the screen when the credits roll. That might be a little too much Geek even for me. But we'll see.

If you haven't read the series, PLEASE DO. Ignore all those ridiculous "Twilight" and "Harry Potter" comparisons that people will make when it comes to Y/A. The trilogy is nothing like either, and it is very much for adults as well as kids.

Go! Now!!!!!!!!!