Fun with Daytime TV
Apr. 9th, 2008 12:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vovatI had a doctor's appointment today for a routine checkup, and I can say that that's a place that doesn't believe in the first come, first served policy. I guess they take people with more serious issues first, or something like that, but I ended up waiting for almost an hour when it wasn't even that busy. On the TV in the waiting room, Tyra Banks was talking about ways for girls to get guys back, and having clever exchanges like this (and this is a paraphrase, mind you):
Tyra: Did you give her any reason to be suspicious?
Shifty-Looking Guy: Well, I did cheat on her.
The same guy was talking about how he likes to play video games with his friends, and Tyra asked how old he was, apparently because there's an age at which guys should stop being interested in video games. I can't say I've ever really understood that mentality. Anyway, a lot of the show consisted of Tyra telling girls not to be so suspicious. In the meantime, commercials for her next show were saying something like, "Find out if your guy is showing the signs of having an affair." Oh, Tyra, you and your crazy mixed messages.
The actual doctor visit was pretty uneventful. When the nurse first took my blood pressure, she said it was 130/90. When the doctor took it again, it was 120/70. I'm not sure what the deal with that is, but I definitely like that second result better. {g} I know I need to get more exercise, but that's just such a pain to do.
Tyra: Did you give her any reason to be suspicious?
Shifty-Looking Guy: Well, I did cheat on her.
The same guy was talking about how he likes to play video games with his friends, and Tyra asked how old he was, apparently because there's an age at which guys should stop being interested in video games. I can't say I've ever really understood that mentality. Anyway, a lot of the show consisted of Tyra telling girls not to be so suspicious. In the meantime, commercials for her next show were saying something like, "Find out if your guy is showing the signs of having an affair." Oh, Tyra, you and your crazy mixed messages.
The actual doctor visit was pretty uneventful. When the nurse first took my blood pressure, she said it was 130/90. When the doctor took it again, it was 120/70. I'm not sure what the deal with that is, but I definitely like that second result better. {g} I know I need to get more exercise, but that's just such a pain to do.
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Date: 2008-04-09 04:54 pm (UTC)This has been discussed a lot lately it seems. I guess with the popularity of World of Warcraft and such. I don't see any age problems, but I guess it gets bad when a guy starts ignoring the relationship, along with school, work, eating, going to the bathroom, etc.
Last Summer, I had to get this lump in my breast looked at. The place had that (now thankfully cancelled) Dr. Kieth Ablow(job) show on in the waiting room. The show was about that extreme cage match fighting or whatever it is. Yeah, that's what you want to see in a life or death situation.
I stopped going with my parents to Maggie's vet appointments because her vet would freakin' BLARE the TV in the waiting room.
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Date: 2008-04-09 05:38 pm (UTC)True, but that's the case with ANYTHING, isn't it? I tend to doubt these people who are so bothered by adults playing video games would have the same issue if the guys were obsessed with, say, working on motorcycles or something, even though that could also have the potential to interfere with a relationship.
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Date: 2008-04-09 04:59 pm (UTC)2. I fucking loathe Tyra Banks and her "I used to be kind of pretty so that makes me an expert on everything and I know what's best for everyone" attitude. She's a vapid freak and I hate her.
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Date: 2008-04-09 05:14 pm (UTC)We've discussed those zap a tv keychain thingies, haven't we?
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Date: 2008-04-09 05:20 pm (UTC)And the other day at the Post Office, I saw where they keep the remote. Imma gonna steal it one day...
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Date: 2008-04-09 05:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-09 05:40 pm (UTC)I guess a lot of TV personalities, especially those of the daytime persuasion, are like that. But yeah, Tyra does especially bug me, not only because she has no apparently qualifications (does being a model prepare you for ANY other line of work?), but because I get the impression that she's a real bitch. Besides, she absolutely refused to appear on the Weird Al Show. {g}
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Date: 2008-04-09 06:10 pm (UTC)I tried to watch her show with the models *erk* Is it possible to actually die of that sort of stuff? I nearly did.
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Date: 2008-04-09 07:09 pm (UTC)I think this comes from the same place that "rock music is just for teenagers" once came from (and sometimes still does)-- the fact that, when it first came out, it was something kids were into, but then people grew up with those things and they're still good things and just because they WERE "just for kids" once doesn't mean they always have to be. Particularly when you think of all the video games Rated M for Mature-- um, surely there's an audience for those games? And what you said above about motorcycles and whatnot is a very good example point of how arbitrary a bias it is.
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Date: 2008-04-09 09:45 pm (UTC)Naturally, I have a tiny theory
Date: 2008-04-09 07:48 pm (UTC)Think if has to do with tolerance for sameness. So many video and D&D type games are repetitive, with the same elements, the same requirements for thinking, so if that repetition soothes you, you can love them forever.
If it bores you once you get the idea of how they work, and you're politely trying to play, too, to be sociable, you end up one night sitting there with your mouth hanging open, thinking, "Whut the heck is wrong with you? Is part of your brain stuck back there somewhere, that you can't see the endless, psychosis-inducing sameness?" And, of course, the person you're with loves exactly that - the sameness is the point.
It's all what annoys you, I think. My husband is of the opinion that there is something clearly wrong with men over 30 who are still playing D&D. However, he can play computer mah-jjong endlessly while holding a conversation or watching a video, and he enjoys the sameness, like someone endlessly jangling a set of keys. It's sameness tolerance.
Re: Naturally, I have a tiny theory
Date: 2008-04-09 09:50 pm (UTC)Yeah, but a lot of things in life are like that, aren't they? I do find the sameness to video and other games to be somewhat comforting, yet I really hate getting up and ready in the mornings, which is also very repetitive. In some ways, I think adult life can be MORE repetitive than childhood, but maybe that's why adults are sometimes prone to abandon repetitive entertainment.
I've never played either D&D or mah-jongg, but I get the impression that the latter is even more repetitive than the former.
Re: Naturally, I have a tiny theory
Date: 2008-04-09 10:02 pm (UTC)Or do I take your meaning incorrectly?
D&D is repetitive on several different levels, mah-jongg on far fewer, although when you start with D&D it takes longer to sort out all the patterns. But, again, its how annoying the patterns are to you personally?
Re: Naturally, I have a tiny theory
Date: 2008-04-09 10:18 pm (UTC)I agree, for the most part. On the other hand, I think it's possible to notice the repetition and still enjoy something.
D&D is repetitive on several different levels, mah-jongg on far fewer, although when you start with D&D it takes longer to sort out all the patterns.
In terms of gameplay, that might well be the case. D&D has a narrative component that mah-jongg doesn't have, though, so that might hold people's interests in the game even when the die-rolling starts to get tedious.