A while ago, I wrote a post asking people to ask me anything PG rated.

I bet you thought I forgot about that, but, no, I’m saving the answers for days like this.  Days when I can’t bring myself to post another YouTube video or a poem or a link or something else that pretends it’s a post but is actually a punishment to the loyal readers of this blog.

Don’t worry, it hurts me more than it hurts you.

So, that day, Poppy from Poppy Cedes asked me, “What do you do to lead a fulfilling life?”

I wish that I had an extraordinarily thoughtful and well crafted response to post here, but I don’t think I do.

Oh, good, they think, more punishment.

See, I’m one of those people who believe that we have everything we need before we even know we have it.

In other words, it’s not a matter of acquiring fulfillment, but it’s a matter of opening one’s eyes and life to the fulfillment that exists within and around us.

I don’t search for fulfillment.

It, to me, is a natural state of being.  Fulfillment is enmeshed deep within every cell of my body and within the ethers of my soul.  Souls have ethers, right?

I feel it when I wake up in the morning.  I feel it when I make my kids’ breakfasts, or change a diaper, or make dinner.  I might not feel it as much when it’s 9:30 and both the children have been refusing to sleep for the past hour and a half, but it’s still there for the most part.

Wait-a-minute! This is not a post about how my kids help me lead a more fulfilling life, and please ignore any indications to the contrary.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that, I mean, the kids, they help me feel fulfilled.

But, I feel fulfilled when I ditch those same kids to go hang out with my friends or on that rare occasion go out on a “date night” with their father.

In fact, I still feel fulfilled if I’m laying on the couch watching a “Law and Order” marathon on TNT which I would totally do if I had cable.

This is where some of you roll your eyes and say, “Nobody could ever be that put together without the aid of mind altering drugs,” so I will state in full disclosure that I am capable of being unhappy, angry, and all of those other very human emotions.  My husband would undoubtedly add here that I am not only capable of these emotions, but I, in fact, display them with all the trappings of a well seasoned professional.

I will also add here, though, that I don’t necessarily equate happiness and fulfillment.

Fulfillment can lead to happiness, happiness is a symptom of fulfillment, but I don’t think they’re exactly the same thing.

Happiness is an emotion, whereas fulfillment is a state of being.  Fulfillment means, to me, that one’s life has meaning and that this meaning is something real, nurturing and positive.

The life that I lead means something, and I carry this belief with me at all times.

Sure, I can do better, I can do more, and one day I will.  But what I do now is real, positive and nurtures my spirit.

To me, that’s fulfillment.

I guess what I am trying (ineffectively it seems) to say is that the secret to my fulfillment is grounded in the total ownership of my life.

I chose to be here, you know?

I choose to stay here, for now.

If I’m not fulfilled, the only person who is really responsible for that is the person staring back at me in the mirror.

I don’t have to change the world or the face of corporate America or your mind or even a diaper to feel like I’ve done something important because I choose to imbue my every action with a sense of importance and meaning.

So, Poppy, to answer your remarkable question, “I choose to be fulfilled in order to feel fulfilled.”

What?!  It makes sense to me.

Someone: Did you see blah-di-blah-blah on TV last night?

Me: Oh, no.  I don’t watch TV.

Looong silence.

And, yes, I do say it with an air of superiority.  Not on purpose, of course, those who know me personally will not be surprised and can attest to the fact that I say, “Excuse me, I need to use the restroom” in that same tone.

Technically, I do watch television.  I’ve got a NetFlix account and I usually rent TV shows from there and watch them.

I tried to explain this to Britt once by saying I do this because I don’t like commercials because I object to being sold something while I’m trying to relax and besides watching television is just not that important.  She countered with, “Or you could say that you love television sooo much that you won’t even tolerate a two minute interruption.” Those of you who know her personally should not be surprised by that.

Before I tell you what I like/watch, it’s probably best to explain what makes me not watch a television show.

1. I hate reality TV.  Like, hate hate.

2. Game shows are stupid.  Yes, even Jeopardy.

3. I will not watch a television show whose characters or events demand the same amount of emotional energy as people in my every day real life.  This is why I stopped watching LOST.  I found myself in turmoil at the end of every.single.episode.  In my real life, I can’t wait more than five minutes for closure to any type of conflict.  There is no way I’m going to wait an entire week or OhmyGod an entire summer before I find out if Sawyer ends up killing Jack.  (Please tell me he did.  Lie to me if you have to.)

4. Generic family based sitcoms with stand up comedians as moms or dads.  I like George Lopez and D.L. Hughley just fine, but I find it highly unlikely that either of them can discipline their children without dropping an F-bomb once ever ten minutes.  The lack of believability just makes it unfunny to me.

So.  Without further ado.  And if by some miracle, or temporary physical incapacity, you haven’t clicked away yet…

“Television for People Who Don’t Watch Television”

Some of these titles (okay, I’ll put stars on them) are no longer “new” and are therefore available in their entirety on NetFlix.

• 30 Rock.  Alec Baldwin is amazingly funny and one of the finest comedic actors of our time.  This more than makes up for the fact that he was married to that strange woman from Batman.  Just say not to silicone, people.
• Glee. Me likey da’ Journey.
• Modern Family.  They sure are.
• King of the Hill*. That boy ain’t right.
• Law & Order: Any Iteration Thereof.  I love the closure.  In just one hour, someone gets victimized, someone else gets caught and we all realize how screwed up our justice system really is.
• True Blood.  Vampires living in rural Louisiana.  What, I ask you, is NOT wonderful about this concept?
• Battlestar Galactica.* Ugh, the new one, obviously.  I’m not a dork, you know.
• Buffy*, Angel* and anything else by Joss Whedon except Dollhouse* which was totally dumb.

I’m also going to look into watching Madmen and Parks and Recreation.  I don’t even know if I got those titles right, that’s how superior I am.

Do you have any suggestions?  Also, I’m curious how much television do you watch every day?

You know, so I can quantify exactly how much better I am than most people.  Heh.

So, I’m going to try my hand at posting every day until… well, I get too busy to post every day.

Undoubtedly this may or may not lead to:

• shorter posts
• posts that may not be “quality” (READ: YouTube videos that may or may not involve kittens.)
• your wanting to unsubscribe.
• itchy hands, watering of the eyes and some GI discomfort.

Seeing as how I’m going to BlogHer in August, I thought it might be a novel idea to, you know, maybe actually act like a blogger and post more than once every two weeks.

You’re welcome.

I’m still recuperating from jet lag and trying to sort through three weeks of laundry.  While I know that you’re waiting with bated breath to hear all about my trip, you’ll have to wait it out just a few more days.

Most of you might have noticed I haven’t been on the Internet for the duration of my trip.  In addition to 382 unread e-mails, I also have several hundred unread posts in my feed reader.  These posts are going to get marked “Read,” and I feel terrible about that.  But I most certainly do care about what has been going on in my bloggy friend’s lives, so…

What is the most important thing that has happened to you in the last three weeks?  Did your baby start walking?  Get a new job?  Did you go on vacation to somewhere cool?  Did you write a post of which you’re particularly proud?  Feel free to link to it.  I’m willing to sort through my spam catcher to find the link because that’s how important you are.

I want to know because, hey, I missed you.

I am so out of inspiration in terms of blogging. I realized I was at a low point when I almost posted a clip of Harold and Kumar’s Escape from Guantanamo Bay. It was that scene where the Feds are interrogating their parents, and… anyway, it’s a sad state of affairs over here in my brain.

So. Um. Any ideas?

You could ask me stuff.

That is APPROPRIATE and PG.