One genre of TV show i never liked, even back when i watched TV, was The Soap Opera.
On the rare occasion when i would be exposed to portions of one, i was unimpressed and bored. Those who liked them said it was because i wasn't keeping up with the stories and characters. My feeling is that it is because the stuff that happens on those shows is so outrageously out of tune with what really happens in every day life that it's not worth the trouble to get involved with the characters.
Then there's Ms. S, my Monday lady.
Over 20 years ago, a new secretary was hired in the office where she worked at the time. This secretary, on her first day, tuned the break room TV to Days of Our Lives and told everyone, "I am not going to miss my story!" Everyone had to watch, unless they preferred to sit at the other end of the break room and read, or go eat elsewhere.
Ms. S became hooked on Days of Our Lives.
Ms. S is one of those people who always has the TV on. When i show up to work, whether she's in her room or not, whether she's awake and dressed or not, the TV is on.
The TV is in her bedroom/sitting room and is positioned so it can be viewed while in the kitchen also, and can be heard from the laundry area. As i go back and forth, cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming, mopping, folding clothes, heading out the back door to sweep the porch, i try to mostly ignore the moving wallpaper, but i do catch bits and pieces. It can't be helped.
When i arrive between 9:30-10am (she won't let me come earlier in the morning, she says she doesn't want to have to talk to anyone before that time of day, and since she's retired, she doesn't have to), the TV is on, but it's not time for her story yet.
Instead, we have Supernatural.
If you aren't familiar with that program, i do not recommend it. Not to get into a long conversation about religion or spirituality or anything but that show bothers and upsets me greatly. Every show has blood and gore, which i cannot stand. They battle dark spiritual forces, Hollywood style, making it all look amazing and adventurous. Battling dark forces is neither.
They have angels running around talking about how G-d is missing from heaven, which i find both silly and blasphemous.
Thus, for the first time in my life, i actually look forward to the time of day when a Soap Opera will come on.
No, i still don't follow the story. Since i only catch glimpses of it as i'm in and around cleaning i cannot keep the characters straight, nor do i want to. If Ms. S goes outside to do something during a commercial, i will pay attention and tell her what happened when she gets back if it starts before she comes back in. That's about all i can stand.
When Days of Our Lives is over, Maury Povich comes on. Even she got tired of that show and she switches over to Andy Griffith or The Rifleman.
Every Monday, i'm glad all over again that i never got into The Soap Opera as a form of entertainment. Now if i could just get her to put on Animal Planet or something innocuous before her story, i might find something i'd want to watch.
Then again, probably not.
Today is:
50 Ways To Leave Your Lover Day -- marking the debut of the song, think of 50 ways to stay with the one you love, and do one!
BPT Remembrance Day -- try to remember what breakfast was like BPT (before Pop-Tarts)
Cathode Ray Day -- the kinescope (cathode ray tube) was patented by Vladimir Zworykin on this day in 1938
Dot Your I's With Smileys Day -- a great internet generated idea, if you are a 9-year-old girl
Fete des Cafres -- Reunion (Abolition Day)
Go Caroling Day -- if you have the voice for it, enjoy
Icelandic Yuletide Lad of the Day, Bjugnakraekir -- Sausage-pilferer, who will steal any kind of sausage you don't manage to hide from him
International Human Solidarity Day -- UN
Louisiana Purchase Day -- US
Macau Special Administrative Region Establishment Day -- Macau
Mudd Day -- for Samuel Mudd, the doctor who accidentally treated a disguised John Wilkes Boothe after he assassinated Lincoln; don't hang your head in shame if your name is Mudd! Today is your day.
National Fried Shrimp Day
National Sangria Day (If you still aren't ready for Christmas, you might need it.)
Old St. Thomas' Eve -- St. Thomas, whose feast is now in July, was formerly celebrated on Dec. 21, and the evening before used for prognostication; related observance
Tammasmass E'en -- Orkney Islands, UK (from tonight until Yule, no work was undertaken or amusements enjoyed after sunset; all alemaking for the Yule celebrations had to be done by this day
Snowflake-Riding Championships -- Fairy Calendar (no Goblins allowed!)
St. Dominic of Silos' Day (Patron of captives, pregnant women, prisoners, and shepherds; against hydrophobia, insects, mad dogs, and rabies)
Try to Remember Where You Hid The Christmas Gifts Day -- it's getting close, and you don't want to have to go out at the last minute and buy more; sponsored by "Marlar in the Morning," QFL-101 Radio, Rockford, Illinois
Winter Solstice Eve
Anniversary Today:
Donald Trump weds Marla Maples, 1993
Montgomery Bus Boycott ends, 1956
Birthdays Today:
Jonah Hill, 1983
David Cook, 1982
Billy Bragg, 1957
Jenny Agutter, 1952
Uri Geller, 1946
Peter Criss, 1945
William Julius Wilson, 1935
John Hillerman, 1932
David Levine, 1926
George Roy Hill, 1922
Irene Dunne, 1898
Susanne K. Langer, 1895
Robert Gordon Menzies, 1894
Hazel Virginia Hotchkiss Wightman, 1886
Wesley Branch Rickey, 1881
Harvey Firestone, 1868
Debuting/Premiering Today:
"The Sunshine Boys"(Play), 1972
"The Dating Game"(TV), 1965
It's a Wonderful Life(Film), 1946
Today in History:
Vespasian enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor, 69
Richard the Lionheart is captured in Vienna, 1192
Suleiman the Magnificent accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually settle on Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta, 1522
Peter the Great orders the Russian New Year changed from Sept 1 to Jan 1, 1699
The Louisiana Purchase is formally transferred from France to US for $27M, 1803
The international cantilever railway bridge opens at Niagara Falls, 1883
North America's longest railway, at 50,000km, the Canadian National Railways, is established, 1919
The first international dogsled mail leaves Minot, Maine for Montreal, Quebec, 1928
The cathode-ray tube is patented by Russian immigrant Vladimir Zworykin, 1938
Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom, 1955
Djibouti and Vietnam join the United Nations, 1977
NeXT merges with Apple Computer, starting the path to Mac OS X, 1996
US District Court Judge John E. Jones III rules against mandating the teaching of "intelligent design" in his ruling of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, 2005
Queen Elizabeth II becomes the oldest ever monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days, 2007
Intercontinental Exchange purchases the New York Stock Exchange, 2012
On the rare occasion when i would be exposed to portions of one, i was unimpressed and bored. Those who liked them said it was because i wasn't keeping up with the stories and characters. My feeling is that it is because the stuff that happens on those shows is so outrageously out of tune with what really happens in every day life that it's not worth the trouble to get involved with the characters.
Then there's Ms. S, my Monday lady.
Over 20 years ago, a new secretary was hired in the office where she worked at the time. This secretary, on her first day, tuned the break room TV to Days of Our Lives and told everyone, "I am not going to miss my story!" Everyone had to watch, unless they preferred to sit at the other end of the break room and read, or go eat elsewhere.
Ms. S became hooked on Days of Our Lives.
Ms. S is one of those people who always has the TV on. When i show up to work, whether she's in her room or not, whether she's awake and dressed or not, the TV is on.
The TV is in her bedroom/sitting room and is positioned so it can be viewed while in the kitchen also, and can be heard from the laundry area. As i go back and forth, cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming, mopping, folding clothes, heading out the back door to sweep the porch, i try to mostly ignore the moving wallpaper, but i do catch bits and pieces. It can't be helped.
When i arrive between 9:30-10am (she won't let me come earlier in the morning, she says she doesn't want to have to talk to anyone before that time of day, and since she's retired, she doesn't have to), the TV is on, but it's not time for her story yet.
Instead, we have Supernatural.
If you aren't familiar with that program, i do not recommend it. Not to get into a long conversation about religion or spirituality or anything but that show bothers and upsets me greatly. Every show has blood and gore, which i cannot stand. They battle dark spiritual forces, Hollywood style, making it all look amazing and adventurous. Battling dark forces is neither.
They have angels running around talking about how G-d is missing from heaven, which i find both silly and blasphemous.
Thus, for the first time in my life, i actually look forward to the time of day when a Soap Opera will come on.
No, i still don't follow the story. Since i only catch glimpses of it as i'm in and around cleaning i cannot keep the characters straight, nor do i want to. If Ms. S goes outside to do something during a commercial, i will pay attention and tell her what happened when she gets back if it starts before she comes back in. That's about all i can stand.
When Days of Our Lives is over, Maury Povich comes on. Even she got tired of that show and she switches over to Andy Griffith or The Rifleman.
Every Monday, i'm glad all over again that i never got into The Soap Opera as a form of entertainment. Now if i could just get her to put on Animal Planet or something innocuous before her story, i might find something i'd want to watch.
Then again, probably not.
Today is:
50 Ways To Leave Your Lover Day -- marking the debut of the song, think of 50 ways to stay with the one you love, and do one!
BPT Remembrance Day -- try to remember what breakfast was like BPT (before Pop-Tarts)
Cathode Ray Day -- the kinescope (cathode ray tube) was patented by Vladimir Zworykin on this day in 1938
Dot Your I's With Smileys Day -- a great internet generated idea, if you are a 9-year-old girl
Fete des Cafres -- Reunion (Abolition Day)
Go Caroling Day -- if you have the voice for it, enjoy
Icelandic Yuletide Lad of the Day, Bjugnakraekir -- Sausage-pilferer, who will steal any kind of sausage you don't manage to hide from him
International Human Solidarity Day -- UN
Louisiana Purchase Day -- US
Macau Special Administrative Region Establishment Day -- Macau
Mudd Day -- for Samuel Mudd, the doctor who accidentally treated a disguised John Wilkes Boothe after he assassinated Lincoln; don't hang your head in shame if your name is Mudd! Today is your day.
National Fried Shrimp Day
National Sangria Day (If you still aren't ready for Christmas, you might need it.)
Old St. Thomas' Eve -- St. Thomas, whose feast is now in July, was formerly celebrated on Dec. 21, and the evening before used for prognostication; related observance
Tammasmass E'en -- Orkney Islands, UK (from tonight until Yule, no work was undertaken or amusements enjoyed after sunset; all alemaking for the Yule celebrations had to be done by this day
Snowflake-Riding Championships -- Fairy Calendar (no Goblins allowed!)
St. Dominic of Silos' Day (Patron of captives, pregnant women, prisoners, and shepherds; against hydrophobia, insects, mad dogs, and rabies)
Try to Remember Where You Hid The Christmas Gifts Day -- it's getting close, and you don't want to have to go out at the last minute and buy more; sponsored by "Marlar in the Morning," QFL-101 Radio, Rockford, Illinois
Winter Solstice Eve
Anniversary Today:
Donald Trump weds Marla Maples, 1993
Montgomery Bus Boycott ends, 1956
Birthdays Today:
Jonah Hill, 1983
David Cook, 1982
Billy Bragg, 1957
Jenny Agutter, 1952
Uri Geller, 1946
Peter Criss, 1945
William Julius Wilson, 1935
John Hillerman, 1932
David Levine, 1926
George Roy Hill, 1922
Irene Dunne, 1898
Susanne K. Langer, 1895
Robert Gordon Menzies, 1894
Hazel Virginia Hotchkiss Wightman, 1886
Wesley Branch Rickey, 1881
Harvey Firestone, 1868
Debuting/Premiering Today:
"The Sunshine Boys"(Play), 1972
"The Dating Game"(TV), 1965
It's a Wonderful Life(Film), 1946
Today in History:
Vespasian enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor, 69
Richard the Lionheart is captured in Vienna, 1192
Suleiman the Magnificent accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually settle on Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta, 1522
Peter the Great orders the Russian New Year changed from Sept 1 to Jan 1, 1699
The Louisiana Purchase is formally transferred from France to US for $27M, 1803
The international cantilever railway bridge opens at Niagara Falls, 1883
North America's longest railway, at 50,000km, the Canadian National Railways, is established, 1919
The first international dogsled mail leaves Minot, Maine for Montreal, Quebec, 1928
The cathode-ray tube is patented by Russian immigrant Vladimir Zworykin, 1938
Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom, 1955
Djibouti and Vietnam join the United Nations, 1977
NeXT merges with Apple Computer, starting the path to Mac OS X, 1996
US District Court Judge John E. Jones III rules against mandating the teaching of "intelligent design" in his ruling of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, 2005
Queen Elizabeth II becomes the oldest ever monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days, 2007
Intercontinental Exchange purchases the New York Stock Exchange, 2012