When I sit down to write posts for this blog lately, I ask myself a question: Do I want to write about what's going on in the world today or get my mind (and therefore maybe, yours) off those oft-depressing topics? The topic of Trump leaving the White House is both joyous and depressing in so many ways, especially when you think how poised everyone is at the moment for the peaceful transfer of power to not be so peaceful. At times, I wish my life was playing out on my TiVo and I could press that little button on the remote control that skips me ahead.
I'm installing and configuring a new computer system this week. There's much to do there and in a way, I welcome the distraction. I do find it helps me to not watch the news a lot. During the 1/6 rioting in D.C., I followed some of it and then at one point, because my sleeping lately has been so erratic and so disconnected to any form of Normal Sleep Hours, I suddenly needed a nap.
I turned off CNN, went to sleep for about 75 minutes, then got up, turned on CNN again…and nothing had changed. I was hearing the same newspeople saying the same things as they narrated the same footage of the same protesters breaking the same windows. I really did feel like my life had done one of those TiVo skips. While I like the concept of 24/7 news, one has to remember that there isn't enough news to fill 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They have to repeat, repeat, repeat…and also find ways to make it sound new when they repeat, repeat, repeat.
They also have to dig up a lot of rumors and statements that might at some point be news but aren't yet. I feel like we've now seen every single person in or around an elected office call on every other single person in an elected office to resign that elected office.
In my younger days, before we all lived on this Internet thing, I'd follow breaking news stories like my life depended on not missing a beat. Now I have to remind myself that that's not necessary. Whatever it is, it will be replayed again and again and again, etc., plus it'll be on YouTube or some other site. You almost can't not see it, whatever it is. Have to remember that the next few days while I need to set up my new computer.