Random Thoughts

I spent the better part of the month of December in bed with a back problem. The majority of that time I was on some pretty powerful muscle relaxing and pain killing drugs. One of my physical therapists (there are three of them) calls this "better living through chemistry."

During that time I was able to apply my brain to the state of the world, and I came up with the following conclusions:

People have lost all common sense, and daytime television sucks.

I have to admit that I’m not too much of a tv watcher. When I heard friends talk about how they just couldn’t miss "Buffy" or "Alias" or "Sex in the City" I was amazed, as sitting in front of a box for extended periods of time (or sitting anywhere for extended periods of time, for that matter), doesn’t interest me. I like to keep moving.

Let me throw in a disclaimer here: I had bronchitis last January (2005 was not a stellar health year for me) and I got hooked on CSI: Las Vegas. I watched re-runs of that program almost every day until I stripped down to all but a basic cable package—partly because of the price but mostly because I was watching way too much CSI.

I have come away from my recent viewing experiences with one burning question… What the heck are people thinking?????

Have you watched these shows? The Judge Judy, Hatchet, Joe Brown pseudo-courtrooms where the segments are a neat 15 minutes long (Andy Warhol would be so proud), or the Jerry Springer type shows (Which of these twelve men are the fathers of my six children?--DNA, get your free DNA tests right here!). The sitcoms are peopled with incredibly shallow characters. Even the so-called news shows are rife with speculation and inaccurate reporting. I’ve heard enough about the Jen/Brad/Angelina triangle to last a lifetime.

Don’t get me wrong…I do think tv has some value. It provides me handy weather reports and tells me which roads to avoid on my way to work. During my confinement it kept me up to date on the Happy Holidays versus Merry Christmas debate. I now know that the Orlando Magic can’t win a game unless they’re wearing their white pinstripe uniforms (which precludes road wins, unfortunately).

I’m thankful, too, for my neighbor, who has an awesome DVD collection, which she was willing to loan, and for Netflix, which provided me with some excellent filler.

Except for "Van Helsing." Oh dear, don’t get me started…

Happy New Year!

Karen

posted by Karen @ 1:13 PM