Narrow media interests

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I remember as a kid getting in conversations with the other kids, and they'd always be talking about movies, music, and stuff that I'd never heard of. To try to be cool and fit in, I'd try to get into it, but I would be so gosh darn bored with it! This pattern has more or less continued to adulthood. Nowadays, I'm not so ashamed of it. My dad always tries to get me to watch these movies with him, but I'd be so bored and uncomfortable I wouldn't really cooperate. My logic is, Why spend all this time watching boring stuff when you could watch the stuff you know livens up your day?

I am constantly at odds with my sister in law and now my niece because they live in the pop culture and follow all the latest trends and fashion. Problem is this very important to them and I could care less. They use phrases with double meanings that are used by "people in the know" spread through movies and extremely boring television shows and wonder why I didn't know things like "see you next tuesday" is a major insult when obviously I am wondering why you want to see me next Tuesday when you appear aggressive towards me. Just say what you mean dammit.

Their world just annoys me no end yet they can't understand why I hate it so much. The whole concept of pop culture and trends is absolutely pointless to me along with the media and entertainment that goes along with it.

I pretty much was raised by a TV. Then when I became an adult, I started losing interest, not all at once. But steadily over time my media interests have become more and more narrow. Now I mostly see it all as the same old stuff, re-packaged for a new generation. Movies held my interest in the 90's as the computer effects got better and better. But now they have reached their limit, almost indistinguishable to the untrained eye. Now I require a story behind those fancy effects. Something major studios don't like to do because they want the movie to translate easily around the world.

I pretty much just watch DVD of TV shows 10 or more years old, or documentaries.

Then there's talking to my dad. He's a video engineer. He's been working in television for around 45 years. His life is TV. Sometimes he can just go on and on about shows I really don't care about. But I humor him and let him go on.

I really don't even listen to very much music anymore either. I just can't sit at home and listen. For some strange reason, I need to be in transit when I listen to music, either walking, driving, riding public transit, something like that. But recently I haven't been getting out much. Higher gas prices has really restricted my movements in recent years. And my neighborhood is boring suburbia, not great for walking. Public transit is also kinda expensive in Portland.

I forgot who said it, but it bares repeating, "it's no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society".