Why do we watch so many tv shows?

Last night I was watching the Golden Globes with my family and the Tivo message popped up asking if we wanted to cancel the show that was about to start recording and stay on the channel we were already on, or switch channels to keep the recording going.  Obviously we stuck with the Golden Globe Awards.  After they were over I looked at all the shows our Tivo records on Sunday night.  There were 4.  It made me begin to think of all the tv shows we record during the week and why we insist on watching so many.

The first answer that came to my head was because anything can happen in a tv show and it doesn't affect the people watching at all aside from the weirdly close connection we feel with these made up characters.  For instance, yes, I felt sad or scared a few times watching Grey's Anatomy because the other characters were sad or in some crazy predicament.  But if one of the main characters died, it wouldn't affect the way I live or any of my day to day activities.  We feel safe when we watch intense, action movies because we get to watch all the action without experiencing all the pain and fear that the characters do.

It feels to me like we live vicariously through these characters.  In comedies people say things you would never say to your wife or girlfriend or whoever.  Somehow, these people can get away with it and still be funny.  These writers find ways to make us want to be like the imaginary characters they come up with.  If you watch an episode of some show where they rob a bank, usually afterwards you feel like you could also rob a bank.  TV shows can often empower us to feel like we can do things greater than our understanding.  They give us confidence that isn't always so false though.  After watching the first eposide of The Firm, I thought, wow I could be a totally amazing lawyer too!  Of course I would need much more schooling before attempting to defend a murderer in front of a New York judge.

Here's the main thing about TV shows: they make our lives interesting.  Some of our lives are already interesting enough, but who besides maybe the president doesn't watch tv on a regular basis?  The answer to that question is someone who doesn't have a tv.  Or someone who turned off their cable.  Which I hear is very bad because you could end up in a roadside ditch or taking in stray animals or something crazy like that.  But seriously, we watch way too much tv.  Why can't people just hang out and talk anymore?  We always have to be doing something "fun" like watching tv or doing something illegal or listening to loud music while we waste gas.

If the size of the object in your house was directly related to how often we use it, I think many of our TVs would come in second to our beds.  I also think if everytime you used something, it got bigger, our TVs would be bigger than our houses.  A lot of us spend a lot of our time sleeping, watching tv, going to school/work, and eating.  I feel like those are our main 4 daily activities as wealthy Americans.  (Yes, if you're reading this blog post, you're wealthy because you have a laptop or a phone.)  So the challenge of this post is to add one more thing to that list.  Make it be 5 things you do everyday.  No, not going to the bathroom or bathing, but something like excersize or cleaning!  Cleaning is a good one.  So is excersize.  Or reading; that would be good too.  Painting is fun.  Being outside especially when it's nice.  Reading outside...two birds, one stone.  Fixing things; that would be great for everyone!  Hey, writing!  I do that.

One Day of Him

Today I was randomly compelled to write a short, very short, story.  Yes, I can do more than write answers to questions.  Have fun interpreting it for yourself!  That's what I always loved about short stories was interpreting them for myself.  Enjoy!

One Day of Him

                It was December 13, the middle winter.  Harsh, cold winds were blowing in all directions.  She sat in her room staring out the window.  Everything is dark.  Everything is chilly.  Life seems to have faded from the cove.  The whole earth is in shadow.  Clouds swirl above devouring the blue sky and sunlight.  Hope has vanished.  Nothing is real anymore.

                She put on her jacket and pants and opened the door to hopelessness, leaving comfort and warmth behind.  She looked everywhere for him.  She rode her bike to the store down the road.  He wasn’t there.  She rode her bike to the gym.  He wasn’t there.  She rode home and got in the car and drove to church.  He wasn’t there either.  She couldn’t smell anymore because of the cold.  She returned home, sad and distraught at the loss of him.  Why did he have to leave, she thought.  Why did he leave so quickly?

                She began to reminisce on him and the things they did together: swimming, riding, running, playing, chasing.  She was chasing him still, even though he was gone.  She wondered if he’d ever be back.  When would that be?  She remembered they would climb onto the roof and lay there and talk.  Talk about anything and everything.  She knew he wouldn’t tell.  He couldn’t.  She remembered tank tops and shorts and flip flops and warm air.

                She went on the roof and tried to talk, but her words froze as they entered the cold winter air.  She watched as they fell from her mouth, down off the roof, and could hear the faint shatter of her hopeful words as they fell to the ground below.  How could this be?  She thought.  How can he just leave?  Where did he go?  Why isn’t he here?  The questions swirled in her mind like a tornado.

She missed him.  She didn’t want to give him up.  She missed him so much.  She wanted him there with her.  There again to talk.  There again to laugh.  There again to be with her.  The thing she loved most was gone.

The wind picked up and she went back inside.  She went to her room and put on her tank top and shorts and flip flops and sat by the fire.  Hoping some of him could be there with her in that warmth.  But it wasn’t the same.  It wasn’t the same at all.  It was completely different.  She was never this hot with him.  She was always just right.  Not nervous.  Not anxious.  Just relaxed and calm, together and confident.

The gray sky turned black and any form of light disappeared.  She crawled into her warm bed, still thinking of him.  Wishing he would come back for just one day.  One day where they could be together again.  One day to remind her how much she loved him.  She thought of him until she finally fell asleep.

               

She was wakened the next morning by a blinding light shining through her window.  She squinted as she threw off the covers and rubbed her eyes.  She pulled up the blinds and the sun shone on her hopeful face.  She closed her eyes tight and squished her face together like she was making a wish, and then opened the window.  Eyes shut she felt something familiar.  A warm breeze tickled her face and the faint smell of him entered her nostrils.  A huge smile formed on her ecstatic face.  He was back.

She immediately put on her tank top and shorts and flip flops.  She ran downstairs to her bike and rode all around town.  He was at the store.  He was at the gym.  He was at church.  She rode home and climbed to the roof.  Words flowed out of her mouth like a new spring of water.  Her eyes were brighter than ever.  She talked about the warmth she felt.  She talked about the breeze and the sunny sky.  The liveliness he brought to her.  She could hear people working in their yards again.  Grass was being mowed and hedges were being cut.  She was as happy as she could be with him.

She kept talking and talking.  Suddenly a loud wind interrupted her.  She paused and looked at him confused.  He told her he could only stay for today, and that he had to leave tomorrow.  Her smile turned into a frown.  He then reminded her that he would be back again in just a few months.  She didn’t want him to leave again.  But she was happy to have him back for a day.  She was happy to see him again.  She was glad she got to have even one day of him.

Why do we try to impress our guests?

Today was my cousin's birthday celebration and so we picked up one of her friends and went to a movie and stuff.  Once this girl got in the car all the cousins immediately began talking about stuff they'd done.  Stuff like what they did at Disney World and that they went to Disney World and which princesses they saw and then that turned into jokes they knew and that turned into a competition to see who could make this girl laugh.  It made me think of how all of us act when we have guests in our homes.  We do all kinds of crazy things to prepare for their arrival and that made me think, why do we try to impress our guests?

Whenever we would have guests to my house, my parents would basically turn the place upside down.  It was madness.  The house had to be perfect and we all had to look perfect.  But why?  Were we trying to make these people think we were the perfect family?  That our house looked like this all the time?  That the kids never faught?  That there were no merital problems between the parents?  Obviously we don't want people thinking we're an awful family, but do we want them to think we're nothing less than perfect?

I know when my mom goes to people's houses, it's kind of a settling feeling when their house is messy because it means they're just like her.  (Mom, if you're reading this, I'm sorry I just told everyone our house is messy.  It's actually not that bad everyone...)  When we see other people's kids fighting we feel better because our kids aren't the only ones.  So if everyone actually is like everyone else in those ways, why do we feel the need to cover all that up?  Is it so they think we're better than them?  Is it so we can feel like we're better than them?  Either way we come off as snobs, don't ya think?

I know in the South its polite to make your house look excellent for our guests, but its the feeling we try to give the guests and the feeling we try to give ourselves that makes it a bad symbol.  Sometimes its good to let people see the crap in your house, or even your life.  In some ways it's actually more polite to leave your house a little messy to make the guests feel better about their house.  I bet they'll even mention that they're glad your house is kind of messy too. 

My challenge today is to not try to impress your guests with your awesomeness, but try to make them feel good about themselves.  That is what people love right?  To feel good about themselves?  Many of you probably don't own a house but you do have guests of some sort so try that next time you're with them.  Don't focus on what makes you better than them, but try to focus on what makes them better than you.  It will be hard, but it's a small way to challenge yourself everyday.  Competition is good!  Use it to your advantage.

Why do we worry?

I had some extra time on my hands today and I wanted to get in an early December post.  Originally I thought of answering "why do we care what other people think? but my mind is to occupied to think about something that complex.  But a small part of caring about what other people think is worrying.  When something bad happens, the cool kids say "it is what it is."  Because that statement is absolutely true.  You get in a car crash.  There's nothing you can do to go back in time or to magically fix the car before someone finds out.  The weird thing is that after something bad happens, AFTER, we worry.  Why do we worry?

Let me ask you this, has worrying ever made you feel any better?  If you answered yes, you're lying.  Worrying does nothing but waste time and make you feel worse.  We're all guilty of it.  We're worried about what we got on a test even though we already took it and there's nothing we can change about it.  We're worried about what someone will think of our outfit even though we've already put it on and are currently wearing it around people.  We're worried about whether this person likes us or not even though we're about to go to a movie and there's absolutely no backing out now.  Things are what they are.  So you got an 88, NOTHING can change that except maybe random and rare post test extra credit.  So someone thought you looked weird.  It's not like that's all they thought about the entire night.  If they did, they're weirdos.  So you didn't get a second date.  Nothing you can do about that either.  Worrying is pointless.

The creator of the universe even said "worrying does not add a day to your life."  He's right.  However, if worrying did add time to our lives, it would be a good idea to worry a LOT.  But since it does not, worrying is useless and pointless, in fact, it takes away days of your life.  Think about all you could be doing instead of worrying!  Think of all the places you could go! The movies you could watch! The books you could write on worrying!

Being an introvert, I worry a fair amount before I do something.  I'm always telling myself to just do and not worry.  Just say what you're thinking and stop analyzing how people will analyze it.  If you say it, it's out there and its either weird or funny or boring or racist or stupid, but you said it and it's over.  People will think about it for a minute tops.  After that no one will remember it.  Unless it was funny.  Or racist and funny.  Anyway the whole point of this is to get you to challenge yourself to not worry.  A great way to replace worrying is to work.  They both start with the same three letters but one of them creates greatness and one of them creates laziness and sadness and wastes time.  I'm pretty sure I would choose greatness over those other things.  As my aunt Greta would say, "I'm just sayin..."

How Lazy Are We?

Today I was talking to my aunt about the new cell phone that she got and she was complaining because she couldn't figure out how to put the weather on the home screen or something like that with the weather.  Then I started thinking about what else we have apps for on our phones that we really don't need, weather being in the top ten for sure.  Yes, it's nice to know what the temperature is outside, but wouldn't be almost just as easy to stick your hand out the window?  Or...(dramatic pause) go outside for a second?  It made me realize how lazy our phones have made us and sparked the question: how lazy are we?

The phrase "there's an app for that" pretty much applies to almost everything now.  We can do anything we want sitting on the couch because we can do it all on our phones.  On the way home from work the other day, I made some calls, sent some texts, and sent and checked some emails all while I was driving! (Don't do that though, its dangerous.)  There must have been a million less crashes before cell phones because they distract us so much while we drive.  Getting back to laziness, I remember a time when I didn't know how to spell a word, they made us get up out of our seats and walk over to the bookshelf and look it up in the dictionary.  Which to this day I still do not understand how looking up a word we didn't know how to spell helped us know how to spell the word.

Remember when there was no internet?  Probably not.  Do you notice how we feel completely useless when we don't have access to it?  When our 3G is down or the wifi isn't working, all we focus on is getting it back as soon as possible so we can get back to doing things on our phones or the computer.  We act like it's the end of the world.  We act like there's nothing to do anymore.  If there's no internet we don't know what to do.  Mostly because everything we do now is on the internet.  How long do you think you could go without the internet?  I challenge you to try it for just one day.  I bet you can't do it.  You'll have to cheat at some point.  Email, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix.  I'll do it too and tell you how that day went.  (Sucky probably).

Where did this laziness start?  My theory is the remote control (not the clicker because remotes do not click, nor do they zap so it can't be called a zapper).  They were made to make out lives easier.  Think about all the seconds we saved not walking up to the TV to change the channel!  But over time it became the ONLY thing that controlled the TV.  If you couldn't find the remote, you couldn't watch TV.  That wasn't a fact, that was just how we thought.  If anyone ever takes over the world, all they'd have to do is take away our electronics and I'm sure we'd do anything at all to get them back.

People love getting letters in the mail.  I know I do.  Now we only have to move our thumbs to catch up with someone.  How pathetic is that?  Go, now, and write someone a letter.  Seriously do it.  If they're awesome they'll write you a letter back.  If they're lame they'll send you a text that says "hey I got your letter!"  Either way, you're not lazy.  Technology and electronics have turned us into a completely different kind of people.  Humans did just great without the stuff we had now and didn't complain about it at all.  People now don't have the stuff we have and they aren'y complaining either.  I say it's time to start procrastinating being lazy.  If you don't understand that, it means wait to be lazy.  Most people are too lazy to read a blog that addresses our own laziness.  We're all guilty of it and we know it.  But we've become too lazy to care about it.  It's a vicious circle spiraling down a path of...destruction.

A Leaf and a Bug

I'm branching out from questions tonight and writing a poem to express my feelings right now...enjoy interpretting it.  It's lame and long and it doesn't rhyme but they don't all have to rhyme.  It's called "A Leaf and a Bug"

One day a bug landed on a leaf
they began to talk everyday
they grew together
they grew together
they grew together
they grew together
the leaf asked the bug to stay
the bug said no
but the bug still stayed

for many, many days they talked and talked
they talked almost all the time
it seemed as though they were the only things
left in the world
snuggled together they didn't part
they grew together
they grew together
they grew together
the leaf asked the bug to stay
the bug said maybe
and the bug stayed

they continued to talk
now all the time
the bug danced on the leaf
they were so happy
they grew together
they grew together
the leaf asked the bug to stay
the bug said yes
and there they stayed

the talking continued
the talking grew deeper
the talking grew dangerous
they grew together
and there they stayed

the talking commenced
they were really quite close
the talking grew dangerous
the talking grew dangerous
they grew apart
the leaf asked the bug to leave
the bug crawled onto the brance
from which the leaf grew
the leaf fell to the ground
they were apart

a while later the bug landed on the leaf
they talked again
they grew together
the bug asked the leaf to stay
the leaf said maybe
they were confused
but there they stayed

talking again
they grew together
the talking was confusing
the talking was dangerous
the bug asked the leaf to stay
the lead said no
and blew away
they were apart

days passed
no talking
more days passed
and the leaf flew over to the bug
leaf talked
bug flew away
they were apart

days passed
no talking
more days passed
the leaf flew over to the bug
leaf talked
bug said to leave it alone
and flew away
they were apart

days passed
the leaf missed the bug
the leaf flew over to the bug
but before the leaf got there
the bug flew away
and there the leaf stayed

days passed
more days passed
many days passed
the leaf and the bug crossed paths
they talked
and flew their separate ways

days passed
more days passed
the leaf blew to the bug
but the bug was on another leaf
the leaf tried to blow on past
but the wind was blowing too fast

days passed
the leaf slowly floated away
from bug and its new leaf
so the bug flew on
and on and on

and maybe
looked back

What are we filling our brains with?

The other day i walked upstairs for breakfast and the kids were watching the movie version of the book Alexander's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.  So I started watching it with them.  This Alexander kid was complaining and whining the entire movie.  He really needed to read my happy ending post.  Then I thought, kids around the US are watching this little boy whine and complain and have a bad attitude about everything.  Why in the world would we let our kids who we are teaching to not whine and complain watch this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad movie?  Parents work SO hard to instill good virtues in their kids' brains, but the things kids watch these days completely negate it.  Kids imitate what they see, and if all they see is these shows on TV, that's how they'll act.  In thinking about all the TV shows there are for kids out there, I began to think about all the shows there are for adults out there.  Originally my questions was "What are we filling our kids' brains with?"  But then in thinking about that, the question turned into: What are we filling our brains with?

Our (adults) shows tell us that we can be super successful and have fun all day all at the same time.  Others tell us that being a doctor is easy and that raising kids is easy.  One of my favorite shows, Friends, tells us that sex outside of marriage is COMPLETELY normal and that every single person does it.  That always bothered me but the funny always made it ok somehow.  They make sexual jokes all the time, but with what some people believe, is it ok to laugh?  I'm not saying you should stop watching funny shows that make premarital sex ok, but just think about what you're watching and make sure you don't start to believe the things that go on in that show.

Not only do kids imitate what they see on TV, but adults often do the same.  If a character says something funny on the show, there's a good chance you'll repeat it to your friends who don't watch the show and then they'll all laugh and think you're hilarious, when really you stole that joke.  People feel like they identify with characters in these shows.  If not that, then they find their favorite one and try to act like them.  I used to do that with almost every show I watched.  I wonder how stupid I looked randomly changing personalities for a few months.  I even became a mean person because someone on a TV show that I liked was mean.  It's weird and wrong.

Before I started watching Friends I never cussed.  After I started watching it I started saying cuss words in my head.  Then after a few months of that I started saying them quietly to myself.  After that out loud.  I'm not saying no one should ever cuss, but why do we do it?  That's for another day, but the point is we're imitating what we're watching.  After realizing the variety of shows I watch, I realized I have to make sure I stay myself and don't let the stuff I fill my brain with affect the way I live and act.  You should too.