Stand-Up Comedy Routine
Hey everyone! Great to see you all here tonight. Let's give it up for the people who came out of their homes! I mean, this is like a mini-rebellion against our couches. Seriously, it takes effort to leave the comfort of Netflix and that alluring possibility of "one more episode."
You know, speaking of binge-watching, I noticed something the other day. When did we replace the term "watching TV" with "binge-watching"? I feel like I'm trying to convince everyone that I'm doing a cultural study rather than just trying to avoid adulthood. "Oh, you watched The Office for 72 consecutive hours? No, no—I was just conducting a thorough analysis of Dunder Mifflin's corporate dynamics."
And the thing is, I often get caught up in these attempts to justify it to myself. Like, "Hey, I'm doing this fabulous digital detox! I won't be watching anything for the next week!" ...and then it's Tuesday, and I've consumed three seasons of whatever and I'm starting to recognize the theme music as a form of auditory comfort.
Let's talk about social media, shall we? Social media is like being at a high school reunion where no one actually left! We all just kept scrolling through the same awkward updates. "Wow, Karen looks great! Oh wait, nope, that's just a filter... on a picture from 2005." Who knew that the most athletic thing we'd be doing in our thirties is dodging people's carefully curated lives?
And then there's Twitter. Twitter feels like a world where everyone's just yelling their thoughts out into a void. You ever notice the weird things people complain about on there? "My barista spelled my name wrong again!" And I'm sitting here thinking, "All true, but can we just take a moment to appreciate how far we've come? You used to only have to yell at the barista in real life!"
Dating apps? Oh boy, where do I even begin? Dating in the age of apps is like grocery shopping but at a very weird store where the produce is screaming "Swipe left!"
I went on this date not too long ago. We met at a bar, which is standard, right? But the awkwardness shot up like a SpaceX rocket the moment we sat down. Silence for about three minutes. Do you know how long three minutes is when you're sitting across from someone who is just as socially awkward as you? It felt like I was trying to break out of a weird time loop. Finally, I just blurted out, "So, what's your opinion on... weather?" And you know, it turns out we both preferred it sunny over rainy. That was our entire connection! But hey, if you can bond over the climate, you're halfway to a long-term relationship... or a climate change documentary.
You know, sometimes I feel like all adulting is just pretending we know what we're doing until we reach a point where we can yell, "SURPRISE, I'm a professional!" That's why I often find myself in situations that seem entirely normal to other people but scream "fake it till you make it" to me. Like, the other day, I put on a suit for a job interview. But we all know nobody listens to the person in the suit; they listen to the person who's wearing comfy sweatpants and is just nodding along with an exaggerated "Mmm, yes!"
And before I leave you all tonight, let's just take a moment to appreciate how we can sit here in a room together in this crazy world we live in, laughing at shared absurdities while probably having a text conversation with someone who isn't even here. Welcome to modern existence!
Thanks, everyone! You've been awesome!
