My brain’s too full (again)

It’s a sentiment that I’ve probably expressed before, but I feel as if my brain has too much stuff in it. Sometimes – like tonight – when I emerge from the cinema after a particularly stimulating movie it’s like my brain is on the verge of exploding. Friends and family might interject by saying that this is because I spend all day and night ingesting information from the Internet – which is true – but the difference is that everything on the Internet is already already cooked well-done, and partially digested, even.

A heavy diet of this “junk information” has completely ruined me for anything even remotely intellectually challenging. I make 2 passes at a crossword before deciding that I won’t get any more clues out; I only read as a distraction to pass the time while doing unavoidable business; and I absolutely can’t stand television.

The whole point of TV is to enslave – keep you watching, book you into a timeslot where they sell you ads by demographic, drip-feed you stories one 45-minute piece at a time. Who has time for that? You only need to know the key memes, or the right buttons to push, to get other people to volunteer lots of information which you then pick apart discussion-forum style:

  • Big Bang Theory/The IT Crowd: my real life, except people laugh at the jokes.
  • Modern Family/3 and a Half Men/How I Met Your Mother: oh, that’s the one with that… guy… from y’know… and the hot chicks, right?
  • Sex and the city / Desperate Housewives: 4 vaginas in various states of decay, wrapped in designer clothes and acting like cunts.
  • Law / medical dramas: (s)he slept with who?!
  • Crime shows: the answer is… science!

Instead I’ve imprisoned myself in a virtual jail of my own design. Instead of zoning out in front of the TV every night like a normal couple, I’m leashed to the computer: checking Facebook, ensuring that I’m not missing any offers on OzBargain, seeing if anybody has replied to my forum posts, flogging myself to write the next GeekReads or THRIFTerrific blog post, etc.

Fortunately, Jenny suffers no such problem. She’ll happily while away the time watching (or rewatching) her favourite TV shows and movies while I’m here in front of the computer Googling to see if the correct expression is “while away the time” or “wile away the time”.

I think writing is my catharsis, purging my mind of the thoughts that build up like the pile of rubbish being delivered by never-ending stream of garbage trucks. A rare moment of output instead of input, a verbal overflow. But considering the above, it makes me wonder what kind of writer I’d be if I wasn’t constantly filling my mind with other peoples’ ideas. Am I really creative, or am I simply processing information like a worm turning food scraps into vermicast*?

Do I have a point? No, not really. I’m just rambling to relieve the pressure (and to avoid writing what I “should” be writing, which is a review of The Social Network for GeekReads). By the way, I apologise if anybody is offended at my using the word “cunt”, although you shouldn’t be surprised.

OK, I think I feel a little better now. Thanks for listening.

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* This analogy will probably make more sense once I get around to finishing my “worm farming” post on THRIFTerrific.