Messy

I have come to realize why I enjoy using computers so much. When you do "A," they do "B," consistently, unless something is mechanically wrong. Click here, machine responds. Click search, machine returns some form of results.

People, though, aren't as predictable. They're downright messy. It's near impossible to predict someone's reaction to an event, even if you think you know them. You can't analyze their potential emotional response, and even afterward, their response may not make sense. I'm beginning to think you can barely even accurately analyze your own response, or reasons for responding.

This is, I think, what makes all these reality TV shows so popular. After railing against them all this time, I do find myself sucked into the world of "Boy Meets Boy," and yes, it's probably because it's about gay men. Go ahead, call me shallow, but it is fascinating to see people interact and react to each other from a safe, TV-induced distance. You can yell, "what were you thinking?" at the TV, and the program editors just might provide a believable solution in their creative rearranging of events. But there's the problem: these shows are no more "true-life" than Walt Disney's famed True Life Adventures films of the 60's. In these short films, the camera crew went out and captured hours of film, and then tried to tell a coherent story with the footage when they returned to the editing room.

Unfortunately, life doesn't work like that. You can't creatively edit the scenes you take in, to try and make sense of the story. (Well, okay, you can, but it's generally called "psychosis.") You can either just "let it all happen" — and probably appear emotionally distant in the process " or you can jump in and try to deal with the mess.