EATING AT MY MIND THIS WEEK ...
GOODBYE,LANDLORDS!
okay, deep breath …
i’ve had a week. a couple of weeks! a lot going on, a lot changing. interviewing for new jobs, feeling out of whack, family drama. sounds like summertime!
but among everything going on right now, there’s one big change i’m really looking forward to. christian and i are buying a house! after years of renting, i’m excited to be able to paint my own walls.
i’ve been thinking about what i want this home to be—beyond the various projects we’ll be working on.
i want to host dinner parties. i want friends to come over and drink a beer on the deck just because they feel like getting outside. i want people to know the guest room is always open if they need it—a philosophy that's been true ever since christian and i began living together. multiple friends have lived with us for a few months at a time over the past five years, and i'm glad we'll have more space now if the people we care about ever need it.
we close on monday, so i’m sure the house will be a fixation for a while—but i know it isn’t for everyone (including me … hgtv is not my fave!), so i’ll keep it to a minimum. promise.
YES, I’M KEEPING UP ...
first, let me establish that i am a big fan of reality tv. always. (:
but i go through phases where it's ALL i want to watch, making it hard to focus on anything else. i typically experience this with each new season of love is blind, but right now, it's perfect match and the kardashians that have my attention. i just finished season two of the ultimatum and started the ultimatum: queer love a couple days ago … s/o to my friend madalyn for letting me know this is a must! she was right!
i hear people hate on reality tv because it tends to be heavily edited and people go on these shows for fame, and to that i say … yeah! so?
it’s all part of why i find it so fascinating. these shows are a window into human experience, even if they don’t capture “reality” in it’s truest form. (obviously people will act differently in front of a camera crew, even if they go on a show with “good intentions,” whatever that means!)
i’d actually argue reality tv creates just as much room for analysis and discussion as any scripted show. it’s an interesting look into persistent cultural norms and expectations—like how so many women on dating shows are still looking for a husband to be their financial provider (e.g., raven on love is blind S3, roxanne on the ultimatum S2, etc.).
just as good: the goldmine of cultural insights that is early 2000s reality tv. you only need to watch a few early episodes of america’s next top model to learn more about how beauty standards and values have changed over time. it’s a time capsule of our collective psyche.
and today … i think we’re in the golden era of reality tv. while there's a lot i could say about this, i'll focus on one key point: now that we've had social media for a while, people seem to be craving authenticity more than ever. we're over the heavily filtered, the obviously edited.
reality tv has been around long enough for us to approach what we watch with a healthy dose of skepticism. producers of these shows know this, the kardashians know this … so they're adapting. they're letting the curtain down just a little, giving us a glimpse behind the scenes.
it’s a delicate balance. reality shows still need drama and big personalities to capture viewers’ interest, but viewers want to feel like we’re seeing something real, something relatable. it feels like the most successful shows right now are the ones that manage to navigate that line—and they’re learning to do that well.
so yeah—reality tv may never be “real” in a strict sense, but it’s evolving to meet the desires of the audience. to me, that’s fascinating to dissect and watch.
INCONVENIENCE ME!
i like the experience of showering at a campground—scalding hot (or freezing cold!) water, spiders on the wall, and wearing flip flops so you don’t accidentally step on the clump of hair left by a stranger. i’m not being sarcastic! as long as the water pressure is decent, there’s something enjoyable about it—like once you’re done, you’ve earned the feeling of cleanliness.
one of the best travel experiences of my life was brushing my teeth in nepal. not riding a gondola in venice, elephants in thailand, camels in morocco, or the world’s longest zipline (also in nepal), though all of these were great memories, too. my very fondest memory is just brushing my teeth.
where i stayed, the sinks were outside in the open air, and it would get very cold at night, and usually the power grid would be off, so it was very dark, too. but every single star was out, seeing my breath made me feel alive, and the simplicity of dental care grounded me while i took in the night sky.
stripping away convenience and comfort puts me in touch with my own humanity.
sure, at home, i’d rather not share my shower with any daddy long legs, and i want to be able to control the temperature of the water. i’d prefer the lights to turn on every time i need them, and i like being able to sleep in my underwear instead of bundled up in multiple pairs of clothes.
but once in a while, i want to be inconvenienced! i want to be forced to contend with the world around me.
all this to say: christian and i went camping last weekend, like we do every summer. it was good for my soul.
cheers to the weekend!
