reality schmeality

Recently I was watching a special about a reality show "controversy" and it made me start to think about reality shows in general. Thinking back to fifteen years ago I don't think I would have wanted to watch someone's life on tv, or would I have cared if they were cheating on each other.

What does it say about our world today that one of the most popular shows on tv is about a couple who happen to have sextuplets? Or that "the octomom" just signed a deal for a reality show of her own. If you think about it there is a reality show for just about everything you could think of. Just to name a few that I have seen, a tatoo parlor, parking enforcement, an airline, rock stars, bounty hunters, a cake bakery and families with a lot of kids. That's just real life reality shows, then you have the game shows; Survior, Big Brother, Who wants to marry a makeover loser (you get the idea). Hey I've got one they haven't done yet but should. It's about a one handed designer and his wife who are normal people trying to make it in this big mixed up world that rewards people with fame and fortune for beeing selfish greedy morons.

I just wonder how these people get to be where they are. There are two shows about couples with sextuplets, one of wich they wife has let the fame go to her head and has become a very demanding diva. The other the couple really seem down to earth and like this fame thing hasn't destroyed their sence of what's important (their family, not the cameras).

Reflecting

I have recently had the opportunity to reflect on many things lately. A couple months ago I started to write a book I started fifteen years ago. This book is loosely based on me in my junior year, so as I write about people I knew and things we did, many memories came flooding back. I have started to think how I used to treat people, and how I didn't realize how some people were better friends then I thought.
One of these friends was a guy named Tim. Tim was a year younger then me and I used to drive him to school. Tim wasn't very popular at all, and sometimes I thought he was very annoying. Tim also worked with me for a while, when we were scheduled together we would drive in together as well. There were many times I would try and ditch him if I was going somewhere after work, or if I had mutual friends over I wouldn't invite him over.
It was one of those days that I should have realized at the time how good a friend Tim was. I had a party at my house with friends from school and work, all of which Tim knew and they knew him. As the party was winding down my friends from school decided they were going home. My friends from work decided they wanted to go see Tim, he lived one neighborhood to the west from me.
A couple of people went a picked him up and brought him back. School friends left at this point. My work friends, most of which live ten or more miles away, decided they were all going to Jane's (name made up) house. Jane has a sound proof basement so it wouldn't wake her parents. Somehow Tim and I were the only ones that got in my car. We were supposed to meet at a parking lot and play follow the leader to her house.
To shorten this story Tim and I got left behind. When we finally got to Jane's house there was a note on the door telling us to go around back. There ended up being a lot of high school drama and I ended up leaving really confused and ticked off at the world. I really needed someone to talk to and the only one that I could turn to was Tim.
There were several other times that high school drama happened and Tim was the only one I could talk to. In my 31 years there have only been five people I could ever just talk to about anything and they would just listen and let me vent, then give some good advice. Tim is the only one that I didn't call a true friend until years later. I wonder if he has any idea how much he meant to me back then, I know it's been fifteen years now but Tim Thank you.