May 21, 2005
What did I do to deserve this?
Well, it appears that I owe Eric a swift kick in the nads. He has called me out to complete a meme, even though I rarely do so. Since I hate backing down from a challenge, I’ll have to give it a try.
The meme is:
List five things that people in your circle of friends or peer group are wild about, but you can’t really understand the fuss over.
Eric’s 5:
1. American Idol
2. Basketball
3. Modern first person shooter video games
4. Anime
5. Barry Bonds
You’ll have to visit his site for his rationale.
So here goes:
First, let me say that American Idol is on my list. But I’ve seen this meme go around quite a bit, and EVERYONE uses American Idol. So yes, it could easily be in the top 5, but I want to go a different route.
1. House – A couple of my coworkers absolutely love this show. So much so that they actually have to make sure they’re home on Tuesday nights for it (hello, get a TiVo people!). It’s kind of a CSI meets ER meets Becker sort of show. And it’s not bad. After all, cranky old white guys are usually somewhat funny to watch. Look at Everybody Loves Raymond and The King of Queens for more evidence of that. But the 1 1/2 episodes I’ve seen of House are just a bit out there. The only full episode I saw was a 12-year-old diver, who just happened to be pregnant, whose rare dangerous response to a pregnancy just happened to coincide with the symptoms of meningitis, which the hospital just happens to be in the middle of fighting an outbreak of. The dialogue is great, but they seem to be working too hard to give this guy something to be cranky about.
2. Chick-Fil-A – Okay. This is a piece of fried chicken. On a hamburger bun. I get it. What’s so great about that?
3. Celebrities – What does it say about your life when you really care that much about Brad and Jen? When you’re actually buying magazines to find out how Britney’s evil spawn is progressing? The rise and fall of Bennifer, followed by Bennifer II (Gardner instead of Lopez), who are about to have a shotgun wedding because Affleck knocked her up? The cult of fame has grown way too large.
4. Strip Clubs – This is a bit more tricky. Frankly, I do enjoy strip clubs. There’s just one problem. They’re not anywhere near worth the money. $10-20 gets you into the joint, drinks are ridiculously expensive, lap dances are anywhere between $10-20 for a 3 minute song… If I won the lottery, I might be willing to toss away money like that. Or, if I weren’t married, it might be more fulfilling. But I’ve always thought that strip clubs and lapdances were about creating the illusion of intimacy. There’s just not enough value for my money when it’s all an illusion.
5. Trendy Night Clubs – Again, if I were single and trying to find women, I might be willing to subject myself to this nonsense. But beyond that, I can’t stand it. When I go out for drinks with friends, I want a couple of things. A place to sit, no cover charge, easy access to the bar (or at least a waitress), and an atmosphere quiet enough that my horrendous hearing isn’t compromised. I don’t dance. I don’t like getting dressed up in anything but casual clothes. I think anyplace you have to wait in line outside a velvet rope, isn’t worth going to in the first place. And last, but not least, what makes a night club trendy is that everyone wants to go there. When everyone wants to go someplace, it’s far too crowded for me.
That’s about it. But, like Eric, I have to now try to call out the bloggers that I’d like to hear this same thing from.
1. JimmyJ & Wilson. You have an assignment. Get to it.
2. The Stern Family. That’s TF, Lucy, and Bonnie.
3. Robert of Libertopia.
4. Jack of Jack’s Right.
5. Quincy of News, the Universe, and Everything.
News, the Universe, and Everything linked with Nailed by the Unrepentant Individual
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Thanks for the invitation. I will post my answers momentarily.
Me too…
Brad, I’ll take your challenge, but I need some more time to think about it. So you don’t like to dress up. That nice picture of you on your blogsite, shows how nice you look when you do dress up. I finally posted my first blog, go take a look. Lucy
Lucy,
That was my wedding day, I consider that an occasion worth dressing for
I had a feeling that was one of your wedding pictures. Very nice. Lucy
Nailed by the Unrepentant Individual
…for a meme. At least it’s a decent one.
The meme* survey is this:
List five things that people in your circle of friends or peer group are wild about, but you can’t really understand the fuss over.
1. American Idol – Yes, this is at th…
OK Brad, I posted your answers. Go look. Lucy
Piece of cake. There are plenty of things that my friends enjoy that I think are dumb/ridiculous/waste of time.
1. CSI – Whether it’s Las Vegas, Miami, NYC…whatever (isn’t there a CSI: Houston now?). I don’t understand it. All my friends always say “you HAVE to watch it”. No, actually, I don’t. Maybe it’s because I generally don’t like dramas. Add that crappy Law & Order stuff to this item as well.
2. Texas Hold ‘Em Poker – My friends want to play it whenever there is a social event. Frankly, it has ruined many nice parties because they insist on starting an impromptu poker game. I like to gamble. I am not particularly a fan of poker, but I will play. But to go on and on about it, and go on and on about the professionals who play. ugh.
3. Console Games – like Playstation II and XBox. I have friends that play almost everyday. You go to their house and the first thing they say is “want to play (insert name of latest PS2 game here)? I have a better idea, let’s be adults and get drunk.
4. Cell Phones with a camera – All my friends have cell phones with a camera. And the pictures look like crap. Pretty un-useful as far as I can tell.
5. Fantasy Baseball – I really don’t get this. Baseball is about the third best sport to begin with, add in the fact that they play 478 games. People really get into the whole fantasy league stuff. Granted, I have participated in football fantasy leagues, but I really didn’t do much with it and it didn’t occupy my thoughts for 18 hours a day.
Bonnie’s 5:
1. “Why aren’t you married yet?” LEAVE ME ALONE! I’LL FIND HIM! and until then, I’ll have a little fun
2. American Idol/Survivor/Big Brother/Bachelor
3. Playstation Portable/XBox… I like playing Halo or DDR on XBox, but more for the social aspect of it. People who take time off of work because a new game is coming out are bigger geeks than I am.
4. Baseball (I know that this comes as a direct blow to my upbringing, but it is boring to watch on tv. I have fun going to games or getting involved in the excitement of playoffs, but I can’t follow the whole team through the whole season, watching every game like my parents)
5. People who haven’t seen Star Wars ever… that is un-American
Bloggers/Friends that I’d like to hear this same thing from…
1) Obi-Jahn Kenobi
2) Nick
3) Sherpa
4) Thaikickboxer
Wilson,
If your friends randomly break out Texas Hold’em games, I gotta come on up there to Boston and hang out with them…
Maybe we should do a friend swap, because despite all the times I try, I can never seem to get a game started!
Brad, You are hopelessly addicted.
My apologies, I posted mine separately. But that didn’t stop Brad from noticing, and taking the opportunity to get in yet another joke in the form of: “lots of people go to college for 8 years, they’re called doctors”.
Man, if I weren’t so thick skinned, I probably would have graduated sooner.