Last Updated on: 8th April 2014, 09:38 am
Why is it that on extreme weather days, people always feel the need to start every conversation off with “hot enough for ya?”, as if they somehow have control over a thermostat that they can turn up if you happen to say “no?”, And even if somebody could do that for you, what would be the point? You know that the next person the guy asks is just going to say “yeah, it’s way too hot out here” and he’ll have to turn it down again anyway. And why is it that nobody ever actually says no when somebody asks that question, just to throw the person off?
Why is it that on hot days like this the weather is always the top story on the local news no matter what else is happening? I swear to you, today the weather, gas prices going up and the same stupid power use warning we hear every day beat out a guy with Flesh-eating disease, a murder and a truck accident for top story. Does that seem wrong to anybody else, or is it just me? I mean think about it. What person watching this newscast doesn’t already know that “it’s another scorcher out there”? It’s local news, we all live in the same general area, it’s not going to come as a shock to anybody unless that person has just come out of a coma that it’s ball-melting hot outside. It would be different if they closed things down when it got hot like they do when we get one of those winter storms, but they don’t, so leave telling me that the sun is out until it’s time for the weather where that kind of thing belongs.
Why is it that people can be completely oblivious to the sound of a radio that’s only partly tuned to whatever station they happen to be listening to? Me, that’s one of the first things I notice when I walk into a place, and why not? It’s the sound of static mixed in with the odd bit of music or talking now and then. It’s annoying. I’m trying to hear what’s being said and it keeps fading in and out, how can anybody possibly miss that? Today I was on a bus with a radio that was doing that and nobody said a word about it, nobody turned it off or changed the station, nobody did anything. I watched, I listened, I waited, and nothing. Not even the bus driver, who has to spend hours at a time driving around listening to it took action number 1 to right the situation. But this happens all the time in all sorts of places and it drives me insane. my dentist’s office is like that. They always listen to the same radio station in there day after day and without fail I can walk in there and it still sounds like that. I’ve even mentioned it once or twice and still, nothing. But I suppose it does help support my opinion that nobody pays attention to the things around them anymore.
Why is it that no character in a book ever has to go to the bathroom? Isn’t that weird? I do it, why shouldn’t they? I’m not saying toss it into every book that gets written from now on, I realize that there are certain times when it just wouldn’t fit, like in somebody’s life story. Well ok, maybe if the guy had a particularly poignant thought or world-changing idea while taking a dump you should mention it, but otherwise, don’t worry about it. What I’m talking about are works of fiction where the author has no problem going on for 17 paragraphs about trees and flowers and the way the sun hits the horizon, or the way that Francheska’s clothes looked to Clouse underneath the ballroom lights. All of that and not even a passing acknowledgement that at some point Clouse had to pause momentarily from the business of admiring Francheska to set off in search of the appropriate place to engage in a long overdue draining of his lizard? That’s just not right. I’ve even read books where a character goes into the bathroom, but it’s always to brush his teeth or wash his face, never to pinch a loaf. We all know he’s doing it, so why not just say it? I figure it would add that touch of realism that authors often look for.
