Randomness....

I'm having adult-onset ADD symptoms and can't seem to develop a though into a blog-length post, so here's a random set of thoughts:

1. Read Mediated by Steven de Zengotita. I know I've said it before, but it bears repeating. This is a very important book and anyone who reads and writes blogs will be interested in what the author has to say. Stick it out past the first chapter. Your patience will be rewarded. (Thank you Alton Brown.)
2. In recent weeks I've read the first three books of a fantasy series that has some borderline "horror" elements, such as vampires, werewolves and the like. The author is Jim Butcher and the series is called The Dresden Files. Overall they are pretty good, although a bit, well, bloody and all. But I realized I was feeling a bit depressed and it finally dawned on me that the books weren't helping my outlook on life. That's happened to me before with a few mystery writers. Elizabeth George has a well-written series about Detective Lynley. They've made some into BBC Mystery! shows. I read many of the books, starting at the beginning, before realizing that I was feeling weighed down. There was this obligation to get and read the next book in the series, and I admit the series is well-written, but it was depressing to read about the sad and tangled personal lives of the main characters. I finally stopped reading them, and although I wish I knew what happened, I can't face the descriptions of missed chances and miscommunication between people who should know better. I'm affected by what I read.
3. I'm affected by what I watch. My favorite shows are detective/crime dramas. (Do you see a trend here?) But I can only watch so much of shows like CSI before I realize I'm becoming paranoid to leave my house at night! Well, that's a overstatement, but you get the picture. I love the detective work of mysteries and crime dramas, but there is TMI about perversity and evil, and too many pictures of dead bodies...up close and personal. Even the "lighter" crime dramas like NCIS and Numb3rs can get to be too much, especially when it comes to sex crimes. Again...TMI.
4. I am surprised at how petty people can be, and ashamed that I can act the same way. Insecurity often comes out as judging others who do things differently. I pray God just helps me love people, and that He helps others love me when I'm being a pook.
5. I want to know why laundry, food related jobs, and (very) limited housecleaning can take so much of my time. It's like having a newborn and wondering how something so small can take every waking moment. Yes, I waste time, but still.....
6. My son is leaving Saturday for Peru. It has already been an eye-opening experience for him. After leaving the Travel Health Clinic with a sore arm and several prescriptions for malaria prevention and such, my son had a revelation. "We're amazingly safe here in the U.S., aren't we?" Yellow fever, typhoid fever, malaria and such are the stuff of history lessons to him. He's now getting the idea that people all over the world still live, and die, this way. This isn't National Geographic Channel.