I was going through a closet at my mom’s house when I spotted an old handbag I felt worthy of rescuing and bringing back to New York. Upon opening it, I found a folded piece of yellow paper inside. It had a list of questions written on it in my handwriting, but that I didn’t remember writing:
“In whose house was he raised? Yours or Barbara’s?”
“How much does he eat, how often?”
“Introducing to other dogs?”
I pulled out the next items: two tickets to Dressage at Devon 2008.
Suddenly, my heart swelled at the memory.
I was transported to September 2008, when I first met Pip as a puppy. I had written these questions down, because I was so nervous and excited, I was afraid I would forget to ask them.
Do you remember a commercial that used to say, “Reach out and touch someone?”
If you do, you may also recall that the product they were advertising was a telephone.
Because back in the day, people needed to be encouraged to use the phone.
Let’s pause for a moment of silence.
Not necessarily to mourn, but to consider how times have changed.
Because these days, you have to encourage people not to use the telephone. In fact, you have to beg them not to use the phone. You have to put up signs in hallways so that they won’t use the phone, and you have to designate special railroad cars so they won’t use the phone, and you have to pass laws so they won’t use the phone while they’re driving, because everybody uses the phone all the time, twenty-four seven, nonstop.
In other words, we’re reaching out.
But we’re not touching anybody.
We’re too busy on the phone.
We have priorities.
We’re also watching TV all the time.
Do you remember when you used to have to wait a week for your favorite show to come on? The commercials called it “appointment television” and they encouraged you to “make an appointment” with your television to see your show.
Between you and me, it wasn’t that hard an appointment to get.
Try and see my gynecologist.
Next year.
But to stay on point, somewhere along the line, the appointment book got thrown out the window. And we started watching TV all the time, one show after the other, all the time, twenty-four seven, nonstop.
I do it, too.
Last night, I was watching a new television show, and as soon as it finished, a commercial came on saying that I could get the second episode right away.
But it was already midnight, and I should have been asleep by eleven.
I pressed the On button and started watching.
I watched the whole entire second episode, half-asleep and half-awake, so that not only am I tired today, I didn’t even see the stupid show.
I cannot be trusted with a TV in my room.
I’ve done the same thing when I watch shows on Netflix, where you don’t even have to press the On button to watch the next episode, thus eliminating that single volitional act, that tiny moment when you have a choice about watching another episode or returning to your life.
Nah.
Plus I have been known to combine these nonstop activities, and undoubtedly so have many of you, so that you can be watching your 303rd episode of The Whatever Show, while you’re texting nonstop on the phone or cruising Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter nonstop.
When was the last time you were on the phone with somebody and you suspected they were scrolling through their phone during the conversation?
Or:
When was the last time you were barely listening to somebody while you were on the phone with them, because you were scrolling through your phone during the conversation?
Okay, guilty.
On both counts.
Anyway it’s very clear what the problem is here.
It’s not our fault.
It’s never our fault.
You could’ve guessed I would say that, if you have read me before.
I never blame me, or you.
This is a place where you can come and I will reliably tell you how to solve problems in your life without changing anything you do.
Leave the diets and exercise to everyone else.
This is the true judgment-free zone, and all that we need is an Off Switch.
That’s the solution, right there.
If the television manufacturers would start making televisions with a big red Off Switch right in front, we would have a fighting chance.
It’s their fault.
In fact, the other day, I couldn’t find my remote, so I went to the television to turn it off and I couldn’t even find the Off Switch. I spent fifteen minutes looking for the Off Switch on the front of the TV, then ran my fingers along its sides, feeling up my TV.
The TV enjoyed every minute.
This is what I’m telling you, it’s TV manufacturers conspiring with TVs to get felt up.
With the phones, it’s easy to turn off the phone, but that’s part of the conspiracy.
Here’s how it works:
The phone turns itself off, in that the calls “drop” all the time.
And what happens every time a phone call drops?
We become frenzied and call back instantly.
You could’ve been ending a phone conversation with somebody, but if the call gets dropped, you’re going to call back instantly and spend even more time on the phone.
See, another conspiracy!
More shenanigans with the Off Switch.
Sometimes they don’t give us one, and sometimes they work in mysterious ways.
Today, we discuss regret. Which I have, in spades, of late.
I don’t regret something I bought, which is called buyer’s remorse. I regret something I didn’t buy, and I don’t know what that’s called.
Cheapskate’s remorse?
Or just plain dumb?
I didn’t buy the thing in question because it was expensive and I thought I could do without it, but after doing without it for ten years, I find myself full of regret. I made a mistake. I wish I’d bought one. I yearn for one. I even fantasize about one.
Odd.
I used to lust after men, or jewelry. Thoughts of either could keep me up all night. Men bearing jewelry would be ideal. Men wearing jewelry would not.
But neither of those things is the object of my fantasy, anymore. There’s only one thing I don’t have that would really turn me on.
Nowadays, my idea of a sex toy is a snowblower.
Oh baby.
I want it so bad, it’s good.
But at this point, I’m not sure I can bring myself to buy one. Why?
Regret.
It all started when I was watching the TV news, during the last storm. I love snow coverage, and as soon as there’s flurries in the forecast, I switch on the TV. I wait for the anchorman to stand in the middle of the flakes, like a doll in a snowglobe. Or for him to plunge a yardstick into the drift, like a doctor with a thermometer. Or for the Doppler to creep across the map, inching ominously toward us.
Doppler doesn’t mess around.
It’s radar.
But then the storm comes and goes, and the next day on TV, everybody groans and whines as they shovel out their sidewalks, cars, and driveways. There’s only one happy person.
The guy with the snowblower.
He’s not bent over at all. His hands aren’t cramped, and his nose doesn’t leak.
All he has to do is walk around, with his snowblower doing all the work, parting the drifts like a motorboat in Margate Bay, making a frothy wake.
Oh, yes.
I want one bad.
And I regret that I don’t have one, at the same time that I’m not sure whether I should buy one.
I’ve done without a snowblower for a decade, and I worry that, if I get one now, I’ll get the worst of both worlds. If I’d bought it a long time ago, I could’ve been blowing snow all this time and gotten one cheaper. Because I didn’t, I’ll have done without for a decade, and I’ll be buying one when it cost more.
It’s two for one, mistake-wise.
Regret, regret, regret.
But I kept thinking about getting one, so I went online and studied the websites to make a decision, which is easier said than done. First problem, there’s two types of machines, one called a snowblower and one called a snowthrower.
Who knew?
I read the websites, but I couldn’t figure out the difference between a snowblower and a snowthrower. I have never blown or thrown snow. I have only shoveled it, scraped it, swept it, and cursed it. I’ve gotten excellent at cursing it, and done correctly, it won’t sprain your back.
Only your middle finger.
I bet you curse snow, too. It rarely responds. I suspect its feelings are hurt. It’s used to being wished for, around Christmastime, then oohed and aahed at, even photographed. It remembers when we loved it and called it our winter wonderland.
Then regret sets in, and we regret even the snow.
What happened to those beautiful snowflakes, each one unique?
Who cares?
Die, die, die. Get blown and thrown.
Go away.
The weatherman came on the TV and said there was another storm coming, so I chose the snowblower page and found a grid that let me Shop by Brand, Shop By Type, and Shop By Engine. Then I spotted a category that made it easy:
Shop by In Stock.
Ideal for girls like me.
Who put off buying a snowblower for ten years, and then couldn’t take it anymore and drove to the store, saying:
Gimme what you got.
Sell it to me and stick it in my car.
I don’t care if it blows, throws, or packs the snow into a cone and squirts it with cherry juice.
