lurid storytelling and just how sick of my job I really really am

I'm on assignment right now in Philadelphia, I'm not going to bore you with WHY I'm in Philly and what the story is I'm working on, suffice to say, it's tedious enough to make me cry and with the anxiety of waiting to hear if I'm going to get promoted, I'm having a hard time focusing on my job.

But anyway, yesterday, I had a break between a meeting and an interview and just enough time to get lunch and hang out in my room at the Double Tree and I'm flipping channels, not thinking about anything, watching some Keith Olberman on MSNBC and there's a commercial and I end up flipping to the Jerry Springer show ... remember him?

He's still around.

And he's done away with his "guests" sitting in chairs, what's the point, really? people run out and bash each other from the get-go, why pretend you're going to have a civilized conversation when what's most entertaining is to bash the person who disagrees with you in the face as hard as you can? and now they have puppets, yes, strange little Muppet-like puppets that comment on the action and cheering people in super hero costumes who stand around and watch and also, a human torso! yes, that's right, a human torso! that's not really involved with anything, he just scuttles around the stage ...

It reminded me of my profession - news as the carnival freak show in the American entertainment circus, a series of booths where pedophiles and astronauts in diapers rule the air and there's no analysis of why anything happens. God, I sound bitter I know, but when you're sent to Philadelphia to cover a story as stupid as the one I'm covering right now I don't see any reason to NOT be bitter ...

I wish I had more to say, but I'm hungry and the fine city of Philadelphia beckons ... ugh.