don't quit your day job

Rarely do I listen to music on the radio anymore. Whilst in my car, I typically tune into NPR, listen to my iPod, or listen to the local classical station. I can't stand the noise that people call music that is played on mainstream radio. Blech!

I am constantly amazed at how well people like Neil Conan does his job! Firstly, he's got to be so well-read (or have really good lackeys who do his pre-reading) to entertain authors and scientists and all other people on his show for 2 hours four days a week. Incredible!

In addition to staying on his toes with his guests, he also has to deal (with ease, I might add) with the yahoos that call in to comment on the subject. So, yeah, the calls are all pre-screened, but you could get a loose canon to call in and go on and on about anything and everything (I'm envisioning someone much like my dad sitting at home calling in to Talk of the Nation ... not a pretty thought!).

But what would really throw me for a loop is the fact that a radio talk so host has to pay attention to everything everyone says. All. Of. The. Time. Because really, his job depends on it.

I know I check in-and-out of listening to the radio, so certainly the host does too! I can't even listen to my kids talk to me for long periods of time, especially about crap I could care less about! I had one kid go on and on and on and on and on and on for a good 10 minutes about ... well, I'm not sure what exactly he was talking about. I just remember that I didn't care, and he was making me exhausted listening to him yammer on.

I guess you could say I'm not a multitasking listener. If there's more than one conversation going on in the room that I'm in, I often check out of the conversation I'm supposed to be involved in.

I eat lunch with five other, quite chatty, lady teachers at school, and the last thing I want, after having listened to either myself speak for the last 6 periods of the day, or 120 kids speak for the last 6 periods, is to listen to menopausal women bitch and moan about everything and anything. There are so many times where there are 2034 conversations going on that my head is spinning and it's all I can do to keep myself from crawling into the corner and sucking my thumb because I'm being over stimulated.

So, for the mean time, I'll stop entertaining the idea of being a radio show host and stick to teaching. I think it's a better fit.