Rock My World

I have a routine.

I come in to work, find there’s nothing to do and read the news online. I check my email accounts (both) and then hit up ESPN.com or CNN.com and read anything and everything that looks like it might be remotely of interest. After that I read through my bloglist. I realize not everyone posts at 7am EST, so I try to give it some time.

Reading through the bloglist lately I’ve begun to feel uncomfortable. The occurrences that are leading to my distress are happening more frequently and noticeably enough that today I paid attention and gave a name to the issue.

I live in a cave.

I don’t really live in a cave; I live in a condo, but work with me here. People blog about meeting someone “famous” and I have no idea who they are talking about. People blog about reading a book that’s “all the rage” and I’ve never heard of it. There are blogs about visiting places I don’t recognize, of songs and music by people unfamiliar to me, even links to news releases that talk about something that I can’t make sense of. What is going on?

And that’s when it hits me. I live in a cave. I listen to the same sort of music that I have listened to for the past ten years. I read the same sort of books that I have read my entire life. I read news clips that are only about things familiar to me. I don’t read trendy magazines, watch the evening news or late night talk shows and so I am behind the times on who is famous and who isn’t. The truth is, if it’s not football related, sung by Tim McGraw or peculiar enough to be in the headlines of msn.com I don’t know about it.

When I try to think of something new, something different, something out of the norm that I have done recently the only thing I can come up with is that a couple months ago I tried a mango for the first time. A MANGO. I know, crazy, isn’t it?! Sigh. I read about people experimenting with new recipes and I wonder why some people find cooking to be so difficult. I suddenly realized I don’t cook, I heat things up! BIG difference!! Does it really count as a home cooked dinner if I grill chicken on the George Foreman, serve it with a little BBQ sauce that came out of a jar, heat up some frozen green beans and cook some Uncle Ben’s quick serve rice?! I have so much to learn.

So, I’m challenging myself to peek my head out of my cave and have a look around. Help me out! What recipe do you simply love that might shake me up a little? What book have you recently read that challenged you? What music is on your ipod that you just can’t get enough of (and that maybe I haven’t heard of)? What world issue are you passionate about? What publication do you subscribe to that’s not sold on racks at the grocery store? What piece of art struck you at soul’s depth during your last visit to the museum?

Get me out from under this rock!!