bandwagons ahoy!

there's something infinately ridiculous about the popularity of reality as entertainment. has our country of spoiled brats, carefully sheltered and protected from terrible monstrosities (like prevention of unwanted pregnancies or sex between consenting adults!) by our Big Brother, become so involved in the self-centered dramas of our own lives that we'd rather watch paris hilton's latest exploits than update ourselves on the conflicts that effect us on deeper levels?

the fact that every major cable station (in my area NBC, CBS, FOX and ABC) has stuffed their prime time programming with various takes on survivor says yes. i've seen people in the grocery store who are more caught up in discussing the pros and cons of each america's next top model into the cell phone glued to their ear than they are about the current state of their stain-covered child who is happily building a fort constructed of campbell's potato soup cans in the middle of the aisle.

however, this could be merely a hopeful beating of the dead horse that is the american dream -- squashed to pieces by a government intent on destroying any and every pathway between the lower and upper classes, pitching us into the past and darkening the lines between the unwashed masses and sparkling elite. if a guy with gray hair and minimal talent can make a ford commercial, maybe you can too! who says there's no hope for the children of low income families at a time when community colleges are disappearing due to lack of federal funding and university education is becoming increasingly unaffordable? there's always chef ramsey and hell's kitchen! forget history and mathematics, work on perfecting that saffron spiced lamb chop with crab meat and artichoke heart stuffing, kids. just try not to drool on the plate while you do it.

so, anyway, i've decided to become one of the many and half-heartedly join the world of internet blogging. sometimes being part of the solution entails first becoming part of the problem.

now i don't want anyone getting the idea that i'm some do-gooder save the whales type. i'm as caught up in the shallow, culture-free day-to-day living as the next girl. i have been known to tell salvation army collectors that i have no change to help battered women while a shiny white cardboard box housing the latest pair of ninety-dollar steve madden sandals sprawls in all its glory on my passanger seat, right there in plain view. i'm quite the proponent of poor choices, which can be justifiable so long as the decision making process is an informed one.

i just like to bitch a lot, preferably with an audience.

the gamut of my disdain runs from the white house to the tip jar on the counter at my local chinese take-out place (more on that later) to the audacity of the last male who balked at an opportunity to take me to dinner.

like a lot of other things, mockery is better in numbers. and what is the spice of life if not mockery?