WARNING!   The contents of this post contain absolutely no science, pop-science, or bonobo references.

Hey baby I hear the blues a-callin’, tossed salads & scrambled eggs…

Just signed up for cable TV a couple of years ago.  We didn’t own a television when the girls were growing up…yeah, they were envious of their friends watching Bert & Ernie. Eventually we found an old cast-off black&white with a few free channels, but by then the girls were reading (avidly) & drawing (avidly) & not too interested.  Over time we advanced to color TV, but when everything went digital – no ‘free’ channels anymore – we just let it go.  The daily exercise regimen required after hip surgery however was an incentive to join modern day America…Basic+, + we could get a sense of why things are going strangely in modern day America (as if reading the newspapers – yep, I’m one of those – isn’t indication enough).

I’m making some progress in becoming a reformed Cable Luddite.  My friends Chris & Pat do their best trying to drag me into the 21st Cable TV Century, but really, I’m thrilled when I can manage to get back to Rachel Maddow, the Science channel, or Frasier after someone has accidently pressed the ‘wrong’ keys on the cable or TV remotes.  They know me at the call center:  I’ve figured out that if I press ‘1’ to agree to a post-call survey, my distress call is answered right away.  I always tell them they’re doing an excellent job afterward…& really, they do help me figure it out.  I only get annoyed when they start out with “Ma’am, is the TV is plugged in?”

So, FRASIER!  so much better than ambien at bedtime.  I can feel virtuous by exercising & I can tune in or out – the storylines are secondary to the situations.  How on earth did I miss these characters the first time around in the 1990’s?  I’m sure they would have made my then very-stressful-work-&-mother-of-teenage-daughters life more bearable.  Maybe goofy & pompous-but-lovable psychiatrists didn’t seem as funny then.  Well nevermind, the gang’s around again – two full hours nearly every night!  I know, they’re on Netflix, etc, too, but I’m sooo on-top of the remote these days.

Because where else in modern day life can we internally nod & sigh at “It is in darkness that our minds give shape to our deepest anxieties“, or “How loosely woven is the fabric of our happiness” while we’re laughing (ol)?  I love these guys.  I’m continually amazed at the human lusts-&-foibles script, and the consistently terrific comic counter-point about our everyday lives.  To Eddie, Niles, Frasier, Dad, Daphne & Roz…thank you.

“This is Dr. Frasier Crane, wishing you good mental health.”  I wish that for you too.