Searching
My satellite television reception went out the other night and is still out. When you turn on the satellite receiver, there is a message at the bottom of the television screen that reads, "Searching for satellite signal." As frustrating as it is that I have no television reception, at least I know why.
Sometimes I think it would be useful if humans had a similar messaging screen, so that we could communicate to other people what we are searching for. A little LED screen imbedded on the forehead, proclaiming that we are "Searching for car keys" would go a long way toward explaining to others why we are scrambling around the house, reaching under furniture cushions and old newspapers. A message that reads "Searching for Mr. Right" would take a lot of the guesswork out of the singles scene. As would "Searching for Mr. Right Now." Or how about a “Searching for the right word” message during those long pauses in conversation.
It would also be nice to have a second screen – somewhere that we could read our own messages. Imagine how satisfying it would be after standing in front of an open refrigerator – clueless! – for twenty or thirty seconds to simply inch up a shirt sleeve and read the message, "Searching for onion dip."
Of course, there would have to be an on/off switch for these human messaging screens. Suppose you're in a long, boring meeting at work. You wouldn’t want your boss to look over at you and read, "Searching for a way out of here." Or how about those embarrassing encounters when you run into an old friend that you haven't seen in years. "It's so good to see you," you say, just as the message "Searching for name" starts blinking on your forehead. Not good.
Tomorrow the satellite repair guy is coming to fix the problem with my reception. By this time tomorrow evening I will be surfing up and down the 250 channels provided by Directv: Searching for something to watch.
11:08:51 PM 
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