I'm sitting around, watching Taxi before I go to bed.
So I was watching Northern Exposure today. That's what I do when I don't have some temporary work to do. I get up by 11:30  and turn on A & E to watch News Radio, then I watch Law and Order, then Northern Exposure. I switch to FX for an hour to watch two episodes of M*A*S*H* before turning on Cartoon Network to watch the anime block. Around 5:30 I turn on Simpsons, then Friends, after that the Drew Carey show, and then primetime until 10 PM when I put on Law and Order, then Frasier, then Outlaw Star, then Taxi, and the Daily Show.
Now don't get me wrong, I do other things in this time...write, practice Flash, work on one of my animation projects, read, talk to friends on icq...but that is the basic background to my day.
Today, though, I got inspiration. An epiphany if it were. I was watching Northern Exposure. The character, Michelle, had become so wrought with indecision that she could literlly not decide anything, from the most casual choice to the most major life decision. She was unable due to her fear that she would make the wrong decision.
At one point Michelle wanders into the woods and meets this rabbi spirit. It was the same rabbi spirit that used to appear to the character, Joel Fleischman before he left the show. Michelle is lost and he offers to help her get back to the lodge. As they venture on a path, he says " That's the good thing about not knowing where you're going. All paths lead you there."
As they walk, they talk more extensively. He compares her to a friend he once had, who was also indecisive. Eventually, however, his indecision killed him, when at a fatal moment he couldn't decide. He then explains to Michelle that it is important to make some sort of decision. It doesn't matter if you make the wrong one, just that you do.
Well perhaps it's trite but you know, it's true. Generally speaking, a bad decision won't kill you but being immobilized with indecision will. And even if the bad decision does kill you, well, we all gotta die sometime and wouldn't you rather go out, feeling alive, seeing the results of your choices, than being stagnant because any path could be the wrong path?
After the rabbi disappears, she is left at a path. She can't decide which way to go. She picks one path. As she walks on it, she trips and falls into a stream. However, one of the other characters hears her fall, finds her and rescues her. Sure, she may have fallen and bumped her head but taking the action led to the desired end result.
Ya know, Northern Exposure is cheesy as hell. And it's extremely simple and obvious in its use of life commentary via archetypes, but...damn, I like it.

february          pontification