100 Reasons I love America: TV & more!
For graduate students that come to America to complete their Masters, the time right after they land their first jobs is pretty awesome. You’ve just finished the stress of your thesis/project and the stress of interviewing for jobs and now you can relax for a little while. I spent a lot of time watching Rachael Ray’s 30 minute meals and home makeovers. I miss that time and my reasons 21 to 25 to love America are all about that time.
21: Food Network
After work, I would plonk on the couch, turn on Rachael Ray’s 30 minute meals or Giada or Paula Deen and just watch the colorful ingredients being mixed together. When the chefs smacked their lips and declared the final product delicious, my mouth would water and I would soon try out those different recipes myself with my own inspirations and ingredients added to the mix. Yesterday, I thought about this time and it felt so relaxed and without an agenda, I treated myself to a 2 youtube videos of Giada at Home and happily watched the pasta come into being. Thank you America for your chefs and your food shows on TV.
22: HGTV
Ooh! How those couples walk into their first potential houses anticipation and anxiety writ large on their faces! Will they buy the first house with the compromised location, the second house that is a bit run-down or a the third one that is sadly beyond their means? And those exquisite makeovers where the lady of the house predictably holds her hands to her cheeks in an expression of unbelievable delight or she would gently wipe down tears before sharing an intense look with her husband. K and I used to watch them all the time. I miss those shows now.
23: Sitcoms
Friends, Everybody loves Raymond, Full House and more recently How I met your mother and Parenthood— many a delightful evenings have passed sharing the lives of these wonderful people, laughing and delighting in their quirks and sometimes secretly swallowing tears and trying to cover up the lump in my throat. Like old people say, “They don’t make shows like that anymore.” Thank you America for those shows. They will always be a part of who I am ☺
24: Broadway
If we had to move to NYC (I hate snow), broadway plays would be my consolation. I would only move if K promised at least one play a month. The few times I visited NYC and watched Broadway plays, I sat transfixed through the shows and left happier but always wondering if I should have auditioned for a role there instead of you know, becoming a software engineer. I love the glitz, glamor and synchrony in the dance steps and loved the feeling of forgetting being myself on this earth. Thank you America for your Broadway shows!
25: Plays
For many of K’s birthdays when we lived in Lexington, I booked tickets to the Danville theater to watch plays. I loved the whimsical characters and how effortlessly the actors seemed to transform into their roles on stage. We dressed up for the occasion and I always felt mature and lady like attending these plays, something different from my jeans-Kentucky-sweater work days! And then there were the Shakespeare summer festivals in the park. That was part of our Lexington annual summer tradition. I got introduced to funnel cakes at the festival which became as much a part of the ritual as the play itself. Thank you, America for those enchanting Shakespeare festivals on those otherwise sleepy summer days!
