Nothing to Say

So if you truly have nothing even remotely worth writing about, should that be some kind of signal that you shouldn't be writing? I refuse to believe that. I think I'll just share with you all the musings in my head. Together, they must surely add up to something.

Ryan and I watched "When Harry Met Sally" the other night. It was about the billionth time I've seen it, but we hadn't watched it in a while (it was even Ryan's idea!) Anyway, there is a line in the beginning, when Harry and Sally are driving to New York where he asks her to tell him the story of her life and she says, "The story of my life won't even get us out of Chicago. Nothing's happened to me yet. That's why I'm going to New York." Harry: "So something can happen to you?" Sally: "I'm going to journalism school to become a writer." Harry: "So you can write about things that happen to other people?" This is how I feel sometimes. For instance - I have made a little habit of clicking on links to blogs on friends' blog sites. Most of the time, these secondary blogs are those of people I don't know. But I find them fascinating. One day I was in tears reading the story of the life of someone I don't even know. I've read about travels, adoptions, deaths, children, cooking, you name it. Is this strange? Is it like being addicted to soap operas? But I'm convinced that the reason I like it is because it seems like so much is happening to all these other people! That might be a stretch of a tie-in to Harry & Sally, but there it is.

Loosely related to this are my current musings about reality television. Now, I don't actually watch any - not even "American Idol" if you can believe that. I've only seen part of one episode and that's because I was at my mom's and it was the night of the David Cook/David Archuletta Idol finale. (As an aside, my mother said, after this episode, that she thought the entire show was set up and she would never watch it again. Right.) But I digress. (and does "What Not to Wear" count as reality TV or serious documentary-style television?) Once, when home alone, sick, and with not a lot of motivation to do anything else, I flipped on "Jon & Kate plus 8." I didn't find it that entertaining -- really just one of those times when you find that your mouth is hanging open because you're watching someone with 8 small children fix lunches for all of them. Anyway, there's so much hoopla surrounding them right now. One wonders if they've done their children any favors by having them in front of a TV camera for the majority of their lives. I don't consider this "real" reality television, however. What's real about a family of 10 going to an amusement park. Could any REAL family of 10 afford to do that more than once in their lifetime? And is a million-dollar home REAL? If some TV producers want to come to my house, they can get an extra dose of "REAL reality." Here's Amy looking for something to wear. Here's Amy sorting through all the things that can't be worn because they're not ironed. Here's Amy throwing something wrinkled into the dryer with a damp towel, hoping that they'll come out looking freshly ironed. Here are kids fighting about nothing. Here is a cat, knocking a small terrarium (containing mud and one giant black ant) down out of the window, scattering mud (and one giant black ant, maybe) all over the floor and then staring at you like nothing happened. Here are a couple of kids saying that their "project" is due today. Here's a conversation that starts out, "What project?" Do you see what I mean? That is as real as it gets. Only no one would want to watch it because it would probably remind them too much of what they see every day anyway. :)

Wow - I'm re-reading this and realizing that out of nothing came something. Some semblance of a theme for this blog entry. (Had to look up semblance just now to make sure it was an actual word.)

Oh, and let me know if something interesting is happening in the life of someone you know. I may want to read their blog.