Someone just told me there was a tornado that touched down in Sunset Beach this week…. a TORNADO… in Southern California…. just down the coast from me… and turned over a parked SUV!! First of all, it is so freakishly absurd that we could ever get a tornado here, but more importantly, I NEVER KNEW ABOUT IT! Never heard a warning about it beforehand. It just never would have occurred to me that it was possible. What I mean is, I don’t have a tv and never hear the local news, so this entire week of pounding, merciless storms has only been experienced from inside my house. I’ve heard the wind, seen a little rain out my door, but for the most part, decided to stay inside the whole time… let it pass through… wait for our holy sun to return….

7 or so years ago, i gave up my tv. Gave it to my aunt to have as her second, bedroom tv. I still vividly remember her first response when i carried it in to her house. “Oh, honey…. what will you DO?? What will you do without a tv??” I think she meant, what if an emergency happened and I didn’t have a tv to hear any news, like I was cutting myself off from all of humanity. I laughed and said, “Ha! If there’s ever an emergency SO important, you can call me and tell me about it!”

Maybe i was wrong… maybe there IS a good use for tv after all…. maybe I shouldn’t be living so cut off from the world… perhaps ignorance is NOT bliss, and being oblivious to the unseen whizzing bullets is not the best and only way to live….