Get A Life

So it is another snow day. Sunny but cold day so wandering out is out of the question. No need to go out so stay in the sweats and sit down at the computer and waste some time with multiple cups of coffee.

Cruise around different familiar sites looking for a snippet of something interesting. Click on links to other sites to be overwhelmed with pop-up ads and little else. Comment on things posted by people you don’t know. Examine news stories or watch videos that normal would be passed by. Even waste some time on celebrities and how they react to something stupid like it really matters. Oh and don’t forget to scroll through all those puppies playing in the snow pictures.

Sometimes music can help make the time go by. Sometimes the alcohol will numb the lack of motivation and waste of twenty-four hours.

Boring? Perhaps. Cabin fever? Maybe, but how do we spend our normal days?

Without running chores like picking up the laundry because we are too lazy to iron or take the puppies to the vet after they started sneezing after playing in the snow or standing in line at the grocery store to buy the last of the milk and bread, what do we do. We settle down in front of a big screen and watch a movie between news and entertainment shows.

So I’m not watching mindless television but instead am sitting in front of the small screen writing this. I wander back and forth between email gibberish and social media silliness. It does keep me up-to-the-minute on the news but what can I do about silly politicians doing sillier things or militants or terrorist or jihadist or insurgents or whatever bad guys are doing all over the world or the weather?

Gonna stop now because it is time for another cup of coffee.

I can hear you, my dedicated readers saying, “Get a life.” Well I got a life. This is my life. The life I’ve been living since I arrived at this planet. There have been variations and something’s out of my control like work and school, but this is my life. Well it is at least my life on a snow day.

Oops! I had to stop again because I poured the coffee and left it in the kitchen.

So where was I? Oh yeah, life as we spend it.

Not many of us are Mother Teresa or Martin Luther King or even Steve Jobs, so we just bump along through the years growing older and usually less healthy and probably taking up some bad habits along the way. We sire the next generation, acquire almost as much money as we can spend, become a constant nuisance in the neighborhood and maybe even become a member of our preferred congregation.

And I noticed we do pickup a lot of useless knowledge along the way. Words to ancient songs or quotes from discontinued television shows can be called up at a moments notice but we forget our passwords or where we put our keys or our friend’s children’s names.

When we get together we talk about our lives.

The usual topics of family, housing, automobiles and health can break the ice in any conversation, but I’ve noticed an interesting topic we bring up more often now. After our bonding with similar knowledge of books read or shows watched or which celebrity wore what designer on the red carpet, we turn our talk to high school.

Well not really high school, but close.

When in high school we start comparing our clothing, cars, music, and even girlfriends to figure out who would fit into our group of friends and who would not. The kids with wealth to buy the best of all things create a status that separates those of lesser means.  Without emotional understanding some flaunted their possessions creating envy in others.  The jealousy festered low self-esteem and a feeling of inadequacy. Ostentatiously displaying their opulence gave favor to a few.

Well, that is life.

As we progress through time, we experience events, take photos of places visited and collect an array of ‘stuff’. We buy houses and cars and send our kids to colleges. Our kids take off on their careers and the cycle repeats itself.

Is that what life is all about?

So after the ice is cracked, our high school comparisons continue. Billy got a job with his father at a big law firm downtown and bought a house in a gated neighborhood. Fred just got a new X2-900 with a turbo thing-a-ma-doogle engine that can go from 0 to 60 faster than he could tell about it. Sally’s daughter has become a single mom living at home. Betty has been married four times with six kids, has been laid off of her two jobs and is now living off welfare. Ben has been working at the same job for 35 years and spends every evening at the corner bar. Jenny gets beaten every night but knows how to cover with make-up. Roger bought a used X2-900 without the turbo or the leather seats and is paying for it out of his son’s tuition savings. Susan’s son is going to jail for selling drugs at his tattoo shop. Tom’s sister was in an auto accident without insurance so he is trying to do the right thing and spend money and time with her while his wife has an affair. Jane (who used to be Jack) is Billy’s mistress and has given him HIV but he doesn’t know it yet.

If the conversation ask the question of ‘How do you feel about Benny Schwartz taking over the comedy fake news show?” the answer is ‘Who is Benny?’ When a group is talking about the movie “382 Shades of Monochromatic Darkness” it is time to keep on walking because you haven’t read the book and don’t want to see the movie. If the electronic devices come out it is best to move on because they will be obsolete in ten minutes.

As the talk gets depleted there is always food and drink and the big screen to hold our attention until we become too bored or too sleepy or too drunk to drive to continue.

Now the snow has fallen and the temperatures will be dropping and I’m still in the clothing I woke up in. Just sitting here at the screen pecking away at the keyboard now and then checking to see if I have any mail (which I don’t) or to see if there is any breaking news (which there isn’t) or check social media to see if there are any more pictures of dogs and children playing in the snow (which there are).

Writing down my thoughts of being held hostage by the pretty white carpet outside and occasionally peering out the window to talk to Al. That is the high point of the day. Then settle back down to ponder if the water pipes will freeze or if there will be sleep tonight after drowning myself in coffee all day or if I will venture out into the freeze tomorrow just for a six-pack instead of spending another day within the four walls of my winter cell.

“Get a Life!” 

No thanks; I’ve already got one.