No Muse

I know I should be writing something for my blog. There may soon be some snippy message from my son telling me that writers write and I need to add something to my space on the Internet.

The problem is simple. I don't have a burning topic I wish to put forth. I don't even have a slightly simmering or only smoking topic. I'm fresh out of topic.

My sister, in a move of complete tenderness and total lack of self preservation, told me that I can be just a little grumpy about life in general. She pointed out that I can get angry over silly things, inconsequential things, unimportant things.

She's right. But then, both of my sisters have this particular gift as well. We just all get upset by different things, making one person's silly and inconsequential, another person's bane of existence.

(Topic ahead.)

I have a cell phone. I rarely use my cell phone and even more rarely do so in a public place. I remember a time before cell phones when life continued even if you were out of reach of the rest of the planet while shopping or going to the bathroom. This is no longer true. The entire world can reach out and touch you at any time.

And people answer their phones no matter what. Any call placed has a 99.534% chance of being answered. The rest of the time, the person is passed out after too much partying.

What I can't figure out is why the person placing a call takes precedence over the people actually present with the recipient of the call. However, people will be out to dinner and answer their cell phone leaving the dinner partner privy to half a conversation while trying to look nonchalant and uninterested.

People shopping are amazing. Mothers love to talk to their friends while wasting time at Wal-Mart. I see this routinely as I spend both too much time and too much money inside the behemoth. These young women are talking to their friends and often as not, they are discussing Friend C and her boyfriend trouble with Friend B while Child A sits in the seat part of the cart screaming his fool head off. They may even tell their children to be quiet because Mommy is on the phone. I want to reach out and touch them. Hard. Several times.

Surely our life isn't so crowded that we have to spend every available shopping minute on the phone. Wait until you get home and instead of tuning into another senseless, useless, waste of time reality TV show, call your friends. You can even do this after you have put the baby to bed. This is what we used to do before cell phones.

Or else, and here is a real challenge, you could simply stop talking about your 'other' friends behind their backs and conversation would, if not completely dry up, decrease by 87.639%.

So, yes. I do, in fact, get angry for the dumbest reason. Watching the kids aged three and younger who are trapped in a shopping cart while their mothers are oblivious to them and the rest of the world is one of those things. Pay attention to your kids. They are the ones who will be selecting your nursing home.