Who the Hell is Krisofer?

My job centers around background checks. I take an average of 40 calls an hour, checking a different person each time.  I always find it interesting the names that people call in with. There are rhyming names, people with the same first and last names, people with initials as their first name. It's just interesting to see that. I always thought my mother had a crazy german last name, I was wrong. Her name is at least somewhat discipherable. Some names I just listen and wonder. 

But last names are nothing. My real issue is what is up with these first names. As a person with a unique first name, I haven't always been appreciative of what my parents gave me. As a teen, I hated having a weird first name. But now, I enjoy not being the same as everyone else. And it seems that parents want that same uniqueness for their kids, but they don't want to sacrifice their traditional names. Their solution . . . to change the name slightly, so it just looks misspelled. Christopher with a k, Todd with an e on the end, Jennifer with two f's or one n; where do people get this stuff. Either put forth the effort to create a unique name or find something that means something to you, or just give them the normal name and suck it up. I'm not suggesting that people name their kids after plastic, or food, but their are interesting names out there if you look.  Read a romance novel, those have a million unique names.  I guess cities and states are passable (Georgia, Houston, Paris), but watch the food and color names if you want your kids to become more than a therapy case (Cookie, Magenta, Apple).  

I guess I just feel that unique names are important. I want to give my children unique names. But unique and changing the spelling of a traditional name aren't the same thing. So, all the people named Sorha (Sarah), Cile (Kyle), Rebica (Rebecca), and Andreu (Andrew) thank or smack your parents and consider what kind of life you're going to create for your own kids.

The Future of Online Games

There's a website . . . www.freerice.com. You need to check this out. The idea is that you choose the correct definition for the word that is given and 10 grains of rice are donated to the United Nations to fight world hunger. What could be easier? You don't even get penalized for getting a word wrong. Just keep trudging through. You have a great SAT/GRE prep and feed people at the same time. I think this is a unique and wonderful idea.  Giving something while learning something.  Educating with definitions while also educating about world issues. Too bad addicting games does not have something this cool.

Vintage TV

A co-worker argued today that older, more classical television programs are better than the television of today.  I think this is a bit generalized and biased, but at the same time, I agree.  The quality of modern television programming isn't exactly amazing. When you look at shows like MASH, I Love Lucy, or more recently Friends; these shows ran for several seasons and had a huge audience.  Today, a show lasting more than five seasons is worth celebration.  Speaking strictly of an American audience, we're too fickle.  The 'family' type show is also gone.  Sitcoms still exist, but the Full House's and the Boy Meets World's are gone.  Heroes, while a very entertaining show, isn't exactly something you can watch with your kids.  The Looney Tunes classics aren't on anymore (to my great disappointment), making it hard to watch cartoons with your kids for fear of simply falling asleep. 

Even the random shows that us twenty-somethings see on TV and get really excited about are rarely on even the most random high-numbered cable channel.  American Gladiators, Supermarket Sweep (which is sadly no longer in rerun), or Angry Beavers. Shows that I thought would be amazing to show to my kids.  My generation had Nick at Nite to watch I Dream of Jeanie, and Bewitched.  What will our kids have? Is it all going to be eventually released on DVD? Or are these amazing pieces of television gone? Although, with the advances in science, our kids will probably just download all of them from some super computer in a machine the size of your thumb that projects a wide screen high-definition quality. What is the world coming to?

Words

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

     -- Robert Frost

What if you got to take the other road? What if that road looped around 

and you were staring at that fork again and this time we can look back 

on the path chosen and be able to wonder what it would be like to go 

the other way. Both paths looked good, right? I mean, can 

you really look at the complete picture of your life thus far and not say, 

it would be interesting to split off right there and go a different way. 

What if I had chosen a different college? Would my high school boyfriend 

and I still be together? I would never have met my fiance, would I have 

met him at a different time?  What if I had taken that trip to New Zealand? 

What if I hadn't had that one night stand?

These are not questions that simply relive one night and continue the course 

of one's life in the same way.  These questions dramatically change the 

life and choices a person has made for themselves.  One can make the fate 

argument, but I find it pointless in this case.  I chose to ignore any 

type of fate, and simply look at a decision in my life.  Two paths to 

take, and take the other. Would you look down that grassy path and say 

it's not worth it? Go back down that known existence.  Is that unknown too 

unknown, can you loop around again?  

I guess my answer would depend on when I make that diversion. If it's after 

I met my fiance, can I bring him with me down my other path? If it's before, 

will I remember him as I enter a world where we haven't met? 

I guess, as I struggle within my love for Robert Frost the question of his 

message stays with me.  Am I meant to look down the path I have taken as the 

difference I should embrace, or am I to question each decision I make as if 

I were staring at these paths? Is his poem to tell me that all decisions are 

easy, or that they are all huge complexities that we must combat?  

This internal struggle, ironically, has led me back to the same conclusion 

which Frost himself had reached. The path I chosen made all the difference, 

what difference that was I am not sure I am supposed to know.   

Where have all the sitcoms gone?

While my own addiction intrigues me, I find the emerging and expanding world of reality television overwhelming.  When this movement began I was an early teen and Survivor and American Idol didn't interest angst and dramatic me.  But as I grew and entered college my amazing roommate introduced me to various shows.  One was Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which I'm sure will be discussed in a later post, but the other was the newest cycle of America's Next Top Model. This show opened to me a world of reality that encouraged people's talents and taught them how to improve.  In contrast to reality TV that was all about surviving longer than the person next to you, this show actually helps it's participants walk away with more knowledge than when they started.  With this new mindset I began searching for similar programs, quickly stumbling upon shows like The Biggest Loser, The Apprentice (though I will say the British version holds much more credibility in my view), and most recently Top Chef.  These shows foster the existing talent of their contestants by placing them in challenges and then following up with constructive criticism.  And unlike the aforementioned programs which use the other contestants or the watching audience, who are extremely biased,  these shows use impartial judges who consider the person's potential and ignore the outside drama.  Admittedly, The Biggest Loser is not completely within this outline, the contestants themselves have the most say in their fate.

 

I guess I just respect these shows for their unique reality.  Where showing the actual talent of modeling or cooking can help you improve and learn something at the same time.  I feel that the negative remarks of Simon Cowell or the metaphoric snuffing of a flame is neither constructive or entertaining.  If the fad of reality television is going to continue growing like I'm sure it will, I can easily see it moving away from these more cutthroat shows to programming that shows true talent. The 'find quick love' programs where roses are passed and real emotions are ignored for nude scenes in hot tubs just don't represent America.  Wouldn't you rather take pride in the people in our country who work on a skill.  I would like to think we have a lot of people who work hard to overcome their issues with their weight or who have studied the art of cooking and perfected it rather than focus on one woman in her mid-twenties who "needs" a man.  I just don't want some pathetic blonde who is chasing a man onto prime time television to feel complete representing American women.  I just hope that girls growing up in our country, or any country, don't see that as the norm.  While I feel that America's Next Top Model contestants aren't every girl, they are working for a dream and a goal, not just money.  Top Chef shows amazing skill while teaching a lot to even the masters.  Testing their limits while showing the audience some great food.  What show would you rather be exporting to other countries as a representation of American culture?  As a side note, the Bachelor hasn't gone anywhere whereas America's Next Top Model has been reproduced in over twenty different countries. Karma's a bitch.

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To completely avoid putting anything about me in my first post, I'm going to talk about the title of my blog. "I'm a River Driver and I'm far away from Home," is a song lyric from the aptly named song 'River Driver'.  It's song by the band Great Big Sea.  If you haven't heard of them you're missing out. They've been on tour across Europe this summer and are back in Canada this fall. I'm a sucker for good pub music and that's how I classify this group.  While I understand that this trio of middle-aged (though quite good-looking) men isn't a skinny blonde girl shaking her ass and pretending to sing, I wouldn't let that make you doubt their quality.  Actually listening to the tune and the lyrics are rare in my generations taste of music.  Any generation that hails "singers" who discuss raping and killing their 'bitches' maybe isn't ready for the Newfoundland stylings of GBS.  But, as these youths finish defying their parents and realize that their lives needn't be as angry as all that music, they may find songs with real stories and actual tunes could be more to their liking. And then again . . . maybe not.