Doogie Howsering

I never watched the TV show Doogie Howser, M.D. I did, however, catch the tail end of it at times, because I liked to watch whatever it was that came on after it in those days (funny I can remember Doogie Howser, but can't remember which show it was, the one I actually liked to watch, that came on after it). Anyway, I caught that tail end enough times to assume he ended every episode by recording events and feelings in his electronic journal. Everytime I sit down to write something in here, I think of Doogie.

I used to think that was a pretty lame and stupid part of the show (having no other part of the show to which to compare it, of course, and barring the title, that is). My guess, at the time, was that it was supposed to indicate this whiz kid was so far advanced, he even used his computer -- something the rest of the world was just beginning to accept as replacements for their Selectrics -- for keeping a diary. You see, he was, of course, way too sophisticated for the good old notebook and pen we lowly non-prodigies tended to use for such things. In those days, I would have never used my computer to record anything I was afraid might vanish into thin air, which means I didn't use it too much (except to feed my Tetris and Welltris addictions). Or at least, I didn't use it without compulsively saving stuff in at least three places and making sure I had hardcopies as well.

What a long way we've come. Now we're all "Doogie Howsering," although we call it by the much-less-silly-sounding "blogging." By "all," I mean even those of us who were more likely to flunk a few grades than to skip them when we were in school. Not only that, but we're sharing what we write with almost the entire world. Well, so was he, actually, but he didn't think he was. Then again, maybe he did. Maybe he was so far beyond the rest of us intellectually that he was setting up web logs before anyone else knew how to access them.

So, the question I had for myself today (since it was Memorial Day, I most certainly wasn't telecommuting and doing things like checking my email. That would mean I couldn't separate work from play. Thus, I had plenty of time to ponder profound questions) is: how do I keep myself from turning into a lame Doogie Howser? Not that I could ever have that kind of intelligence, but I could be the sort of person the two words "Doogie" and "Howser" conjure up, even when not strung together, especially had they not been turned into what must have been a fairly successful television show. Believe it or not, I've come up with an answer to this question. What I'm going to do is to avoid writing about my day the way an adolescent would. For instance, I won't write like this.

Today totally sucked. I was supposed to, like, get together with my friend, who was coming from Boston, and she's like, you know, so cool, you know? Anyway, I got this totally random ear infection and didn't feel good enough to go, so I had to stay home. Then, Bob beat me at dominoes, Killer Bunnies (Killer Bunnies is an AWESOME game! Check it out: www.killerbunnies.com), and Cribbage. He never beats me at Cribbage. That's it. Gotta go.