Ignorance is Bliss

I have wanted to write a blog like this for a long time, but the problem is that I want it to cover such a wide spectrum of topics that sometimes I get overwhelmed. I will at least touch on a few for now. One of the many things I love about living over here is that I have no idea what is happening outside of my little world. We get a weekly English magazine that highlights what has happened in Brussels news-wise in the last week, but by then any of the problems or safety threats are passe and I never even had to worry about them. The only television news we get is world news, so I know what is happening in Iraq and India, but not on my street in Brussels.


To watch TV in English we use Slingbox, which shows us the cable channels from the States. I really think when I return to the States I might use Slingbox as my only form of TV. You watch Slingbox over your computer and our desk chair isn't so comfortable, which creates one downside to watching TV. The other is that there is a two-second pause between each channel as you surf, which really gets old after awhile. Because of these two things, it is just inconvient enough that you only watch the exact television program that you want and don't waste hours just flipping through the channels.


Along the lines of television, I recently did a three-night, overnight babysitting job. The people had Sky TV, which is basically all British channels (about 200, many of which televise American shows) on your TV. I was really looking forward to finally seeing some U.S. television -- that is, until I turned it on. I can honestly say that my stomach started to hurt from having that many visual stimuli after clicking through 50 channels in just a few minutes. My blood pressure also skyrocketed as I saw so many horrible things on the television.

First, I saw a live birth. I mean, come on. Do we really need to see a woman's water break and the baby's head crowning (along with all the other areas that are included in birth) at 8pm?!?! Then there was the Gaming channel where you just watched other people play video games for hours on end. Next was possibly the worst show on television -- "My Super Sweet 16" on MTV. I watched complete brats complain that their $200,000 birthday party wasn't enough. The worst is this clip where the girl starts crying because her mother didn't give her her brand-new Lexus during the actual party. She actually says that her mother has ruined her life because of this! Following along the lines of spending exorbitant amounts of money and not focusing on real life are the two, yes TWO 24-hour-a-day channels that focus on weddings. No, they don't focus on life after the wedding, just on the big day. No wonder there are so many expensive weddings and then divorces within a few years if people only focus on the wedding day and not the next 50 years.


This year we had a wonderful anniversary in London. However, on the actual day of our anniversary, I was locked out of our apartment. After I hauled two suitcases all over Brussels and back to get our extra key (because Kyle was still in London) I returned to do three loads of laundry and a sink full of dishes because Kyle was heading out of town the next day. I am not at all mad about this, I just think that between two 24-hour-a-day wedding TV channels, maybe they should focus on life after the wedding to give people a real idea of what marriage is about. Until then, I'll be watching my Slingbox once a week and living my simple, ignorant, happy life in Brussels.