And then it got even more maddening as you realized you didn't have enough information to even know where to start? For example, perhaps you catch yourself humming a little tune you can't place, and quickly realize you don't know any of the words so you can't even google it? Or you end up asking a friend a question and, as it forms, you realize you sound mildly autistic? ("What was the book you told me about, you know, the book about the girl, and the girl in it, maybe it was a boy, I think the main guy might be a boy, either way, there's this PERSON in it, and I think you said they have a friend ...")
This not-having-enough-initial-info-to-go-on happens to me quite a bit in regular life, but is even more common in pregna-life, and it can be awkward. (e.g., when packing our hospital bag for our kid's birth, I couldn't think of the word "ipod dock" and ended up asking my husband "Where's that thing that....(long pause)...(begin waving arms dramatically) makes the ipod go everywhere?")
Anyway, all this is my way of saying that if this happens to you, DO NOT DESPAIR. Hub and I were recently discussing obscure television shows from the late 80s/early 90s. Some of what we covered you probably aren't familiar with since chances are you didn't have the privilege of spending those years in Canada (Dear Aunt Agnes, anyone?), but others you may remember fondly. I found myself describing a show about which I could remember almost nothing but still insisted on discussing. The following sentence came out of my mouth:
"What is that show, with the girl, oooh, what IS it, she has a mom who is an alien living in space but she's a regular girl and they communicate through a box?"
If you've ever doubted google's power, I invite you to STAND BACK.
"What is the tv show where a girl has a mom who talks to her from a box in space?"
And what do you think is the first link listed?? Go ahead! Try it!
It wasn't even her MOM who was the alien...it's her DAD! But the internet didn't even need that info to take me to the right place! Behold, the power of the interwebs, bringing totally useless topics to your fingertips given only the most inane of clues.
7 comments:
OH MY GOSH. I totally watched that show!
So freaking cool. The power of the internet is mind-blowing. And I totally remembered that show even before I saw the google result. The inordinate amount of time I spent watching mind-numbing tv as a youngster has finally paid off.
Just ask me next time. Because I could have told you that. And her name was Evie. And the mom is the one from Saturday Night Fever. And she made the paint stop mid-air by pressing her fingers together.
And the theme song was "Would you like to swing on a star?"
WHY WHY WHY do I know this?
I wish blogs had a thumbs up button like face book. I would have "thumbs up"-ed this post.
The one thing I remember about that show is the girl freezing time by touching her index fingertips together. To this day, that remains the superpower I wish I had.
Yeah! Donna Pescow was the mom! Oh, and Gurr, you need to check out walmartpeople.com
It's so amazingly atrocious and funny at the same time--like the Zuuiken English things.
I think of that show whenever I need more time and am tempted to press my fingers together to see if it works. Also, the theme song comes to mind with entirely too much frequency. Bless 80's television (o:
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