Reality

I don't watch reality shows. Maybe I'm showing my age, but when I turn on the boob tube it's for a dose of some unreality. Visions of what life would be like with a laugh track or dramatic musical accompaniment. I'm also a great fan of a compelling plot.

I heard a story on the radio the other day that reported on one of the ways producers add tension and drama to these reality shows --by depriving the participants of sleep. Nothing will make you more edgy than getting 3 night's worth of sleep in a week's span. That's what the sleep level has been like chez moi this week, and friends, although I won't tune in to those shows, I'm just about ready to participate in one.

This afternoon's show was Adventures in Multitasking!!! Watch the harried mom, on little sleep and much caffeine, rush to meet a freelance deadline, fix the printer in her son's room, cook dinner, find pictures of Puerto Rico on Google images for the middle school girl's project, scoop youngest off the driveway after a bike wipeout, apply ice, answer 3 phone calls (three more edits! fix page count! reduce picture size & PDF!), translate "hot springs" into Spanish, email documents, remove ice pack, email documents again after they bounce back because they are too big, worry that child protective services will see youngest child's biking bruises and take him away, repeat the words, "DO YOUR HOMEWORK!" 100 times, serve dinner, all in the space of 15 minutes!

Who needs reality? I'm ready for a chick flick.