You know you're obsessed with LOTR when ...

[Ibrîniðilpathânezel]

Oh, my, after all these years, I've probably got a lot of such examples....

...when you use the three books of LotR as HS English Class book reports for three years running, and get away with it because 1). you have to explain the books to the teacher, and 2). you had the same English teacher two years running, and in the second year, he STILL didn't understand them.

...when you take a college course on LotR and wind up teaching the class more than the actual teacher, because you know the book better.

...you sing several selections from the Donald Swann "Road Goes Ever On" cycle for your Master Class, confusing the heck out of the professor running the class (which means, of course, you have to pick "Namarie" to sing for your juries at the end of the semester, just to confuse the heck out of the entire Voice faculty).

...you have an old college friend who, to this day, still calls you Elbereth (and who, in turn, must be called Frodo, because nobody knows who you're talking about if you use their real name).

...you're willing to endure nearly five hours of make-up and costume prep to go to a masquerade as your favorite LotR character, and you're unfortunately not of the right gender... but it works in the end, making the two hours of getting OUT of the make-up and costume worth it.

...you buy a silver GMC Tracker, dub it "Mithrandir," put a decal with the name in the back window (and one of your neighbors finally notices it three years later).

...you devote ten symphonies and suites to interpretations of Tolkien's works, and think you probably have another five or six you could do....

And then there was the example of one of my brothers that got me to read LotR for the first time, 43 years ago:

...you put a fancy embossed opaque dust-jacket on a paperback of RotK so you can take it to church on Sunday, and all the adults around you think you're being good and pious, reading your Bible or prayer book. After seeing him do that and get away with it, I just HAD to read the book to find out what was so interesting about it.

[Thinlómien]

... you say "Tom Bombadil" when you ought to be saying "David Bowie".

Really.

[Eönwë]

1. When you've out-Tolkiened every-one in your year, and when you see someone reading one of his books, you feel the need to talk to them about it slgihtly *cough* enthusiastically.

2. When you're frustrated that your school library doesn't fulfill your Tolkien desires (it only has LOTR, Sil, BoLT and UT - all of which I already finished in Year 7!, well, except LOTR, which I first read in a few years earlier.)

[Groin Redbeard]

When you finally save up enough money to buy your first Lord of the Rings books! It's actually a shame that I haven't bought any sooner. I just got them yesterday and I have been reading them every since!

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

My first copy of LOtR was a paperback boxed set for $45, I bought it myself... a year ago. And I still have it!

You are obsessed with LotR when... You are in Sculpture class and You are supposed to do a sculpture of a quote and of course I had to go with

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo going out of your door, you step onto the road and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."

And my art teacher was familiar with LotR, so she said I could! I made a wonderful sculpture of the Barrow-Downs, full with logo!