I Totally Know Good Literature

Hey ya'll! I have to admit that I had some difficulty coming up with a topic for today's post. I like reading other people's blogs, some of them are people I know, others-not so much. I notice that many people use their blog as a means to share the mundane details of their lives. You'll notice if you read through my older posts that I've done that a little, but they aren't near as interesting to anyone else as they are to me. I figure this is because my life is pretty dull. I've come to terms with the fact that my life is boring. I look at it like this, if my life was exciting, I'd never have time to blog. So, for the meantime, I'll spend my time during my not-so-exciting day to think of topics I can share with you. The way I see it, you're coming out on top of this one.

So on to my daily dribble. I like to read. I love the smell of books and libraries. I could go to a bookstore and spend all day and my money there. I am very picky about what I read. Mostly during the school year, it's reading related to my college classes for my masters degree or professional reading I do to improve and hone my teaching skills. There are times that I read strictly for my own amusement, and receive no significant knowledge as a result. As you may be able to tell, I'm referring to People magazine.

I can pinpoint the beginning of this habit almost to the day. Let me set the scene.....when I went on maternity leave, I had a hard time becoming domesticated. During the school year I cook enough to survive and clean enough to find my stuff and have good smelling clothes. During this three month leave, I did some domestic things. I cooked, I cleaned, I kept my daughter alive. But there were times I had nothing to do. At the time of my maternity leave, David and I were living with my parents in Key West. My parents, Mom in particular, has been the holder and controller of the remote for as long as I can remember. My dad will actively watch a good football game on TV, but mostly he watches TV as he is actively doing something else like taxes or investment club earning statements. I say this so you'll know that during the time I was on leave, I didn't have the same dominion over the TV as my mom. I compensated for this by purchasing and reading People each week.

Now, I had seen the magazine many times. It's always convienently displayed at the check-out as an impulse buy. I don't know if before this time, I had ever bought one of the magazines. I would usually get a "free read" at the check-out, because if you've ever been to Wal-Mart, then you know that checking out can equal about 4 hours. But knowing I wasn't going to watch TV, the house was clean, and I was taking care of an infant that slept almost all day left me with lots of down time. For some reason, I chose People to fill those empty hours. Well, my daughter is now 7 and I think I've bought almost all the weekly issues since then. If I haven't bought it then that means that for some reason I didn't go to the store that week.

So I read it from cover to cover usually. If I know that I'm going to be in a boring situation, I'll take it along with me. There have been many trips to Lowe's with David that my handy, faithful People has come through for me. David usually reads it next and then I pass it along to my mother-in-law. Raelynn has enjoyed them as well, as she loves to wield her scissors and cut pictures out and make collages for me. So please know that I'm doing my part to reuse and not pollute our landfills with once read magazines.

I find the content of People very interesting. I know that my day won't be complete if I don't learn the latest information on what Britney Spears is doing or what celebrity had their baby this week. I like reading these articles, but interestingly (at least to me) I don't enjoy watching their TV counterparts. Everynight when "Access Hollywood" comes on, I'd much rather turn the channel and watch "The Andy Griffiths Show" I also don't frequent the online companion of People. For some reason, I detest them. Go figure. But I digress. I like to read about everyone (famous or not) in the articles. On a side note, I wonder why it has suddenly become so acceptable for celebrities to have children first, then decide to get married. Or perhaps not get married at all, just legally adopt his girlfriend's already adopted kids and hyphenate their names. This seems to be working backward if you ask me. Maybe someday I'll be featured in an issue and someone will actually ask my opinion before I offer it.

I think that some of the attraction of this magazine is because I am a person, hence the magazine is for me-People, that is. Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, and their thirty billion kids are also people, so that would be why they are featured so much. Or maybe it's because they are both so good looking. I don't know, no one asked me. Being a "person" I guess I have a shot of being featured in it one day. I eagerly pick up the 100 Most Beautiful People issue each year and am always disappointed to find that again, I wasn't chosen. I never give up hope that one day I'll be included.

Upon the return from the store when I buy my weekly fix of People, I first remove all the cards inside advertising a subscription for People. I just can't bring myself to fork out that much money at one time for a magazine that I am sure I am this close to quitting next week. As I pull out these cards, I try not to do the math in my head to see how much money I could have saved if I had my own subscription instead of paying the newstand price. I can't explain this logic. If you've read my earlier post where I discussed my lucky pink shirt, then you can start to have some understanding. For the rest of you, I don't know where to begin.

There are two sections of the magazine that I don't care for. I never read the music or book reviews. They are almost always good ones. Good reviews are never any fun to read. If they reviewed an awful book or album and trashed it, I'd read that review and enjoy it. And since I'm picky about what I read (with the exception of People, of course) and my CD collection has more ABBA and Barry Manilow albums than the law allows, those reviews don't help or interest me.

Well, as usual, it's late and I'm tired. I'm sitting here at the computer, with my latest version of People in front of me that I purchased today. I think there is a part of me that wants to go to bed and read it, and another that wants to wait until tomorrow. Since I sometimes drool when I sleep and I don't want to ruin my magazine, I think I'll wait until tomorrow. So for tonight, I'll go to bed and dream of the day that my picture will be featured on the front of People's 100 Most Beautiful People edition....or else dream that Britney and I are BFFs since I know her so well from my People magazine that keeps me informed of her every move.