Monday, March 23, 2009

Do PF Topics Dominate Your Conversations?

It's no secret that I love watching reality shows, and the trashier the better. (Survivor and American Idol are too intellectual for me. Ha ha.)



Anyhow, I'm now hooked on Tough Love on VH1, where a matchmaker attempts to "train" desperate women into marriage-worthy prospects. Please spare me the feminist rant on how this show is demeaning, sexist, etc. Anyone who wants to rant about the misogyny of the show never watched VH1's prior reality show, Tool Academy, which was also very sexist against men.

Either way, ALL of the reality shows on VH1 are sleazy, trashy and probably the sign that the apocalypse is near. I get that. But it takes my mind off trashier (and infuriating) topics like how our government forced the Big 3 automakers to renegotiate their contracts with union workers but didn't require AIG to renegotiate the bonuses prior to handing out bailout money.

That being said, the recent episode highlighted a 38-year old career-minded cast member whose conversations are dominated solely by conversations about her job. She yammered constantly about her career to a physical trainer and her prospective date.

In watching this woman, I came to the horrific realization that my conversations are generally dominated by PF topics. Egads! I'm wondering whether my PF blogging is causing me to think and talk about PF topics constantly, or, whether I'm blogging about PF because I think about it constantly and love to talk about it. It's the classic chicken-or-the-egg debate.

I ask fellow PF bloggers: Outside of your blog, do you talk about PF a lot?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love reality shows too. Mostly the "normal ones" and the ones on Bravo. Don't do the sleazy ones but that is probably because I have a teenage son passing through the living room.

As for your question - No. My kids usually dominate my conversation mostly because I'm talking to other moms.

asgreen said...

I may not talk about it a lot, but I get very excited whenever the topic is brought up. It is one of my favorite things to discuss.

Anonymous said...

Is this the show where he zaps the women while they are at dinner??? lol!
Hey, I just read that the show is produced by Drew Barrymore. Go figure!

Well, PF does not dominate my conversations until someone gets the ball rolling on that subject. Then, I am all over it! Probably domineering at it, too. ;)

Sharon S said...

Hi there-oh, my blog is my PF outlet!! I talk to hubby about finances, but not really anyone else-maybe us Brits are more reserved and shy about sharing that info, LOL!

Anonymous said...

Haha, I love trashy reality shows. Unfortunately, Chad is hogging the TV with the World Baseball Classic so I don't get to watch anything but that.

I actually started my blog because I wanted to talk about PF with someone. Chad doesn't care (I recently asked him what his salary is, and he didn't know!), my sisters think it's rude to talk about money, and my parents are in a completely different place than I am right now. Blogging gets it out of my system.

Anonymous said...

PF comes up a lot in conversation these days, whether you blog about it or not. We all want to know how everyone is weathering the storm and what they're doing differently. But I'm not sure what you end up talking about...I usually hear about how people are cutting back on expenses and debating what to do about their level of 401K contributions. People ask me how business is holding up, and I don't lie - it scares the hell out of me on a daily basis.

I find reading so many PF blogs makes it easier for me to understand what other people are going through, what solutions they've come up with, etc. so that I can converse on more topics than just those that affect me. But then, one of my two biggest social fears is talking about myself too much - so this definitely helps!

Escape Brooklyn said...

Shows like that TOTALLY tempt me to get cable! Clearly I am missing out.

I love talking about PF but find most other folks don't, so I have to get my fill in the blogosphere. Most of my friends/associates are either completely clueless about PF or don't want to talk about it. So I just observe the money taboo and don't say anything unless someone else brings it up. But even then I'm reserved about what I'll share.

Jin6655321 said...

OMG! I'm watching the rerun of that show as I type! Everyone needs a guilty pleasure, right?

I've found it's usually best not to discuss PF with most people. A lot of people I know just stick their fingers in their ear and go "LA LA LA LA LA! IT DOESN'T MATTER 'CAUSE I'M JUST GOING TO MAKE MORE MONEY DOWN THE LINE! I'LL WORRY ABOUT ALL THAT WHEN I'M OLDER. LA LA LA LA LA!!!" Which is kind of like how I was before I decided to get serious about money.

Or, I get someone with wrong/bad information and nothing and no one can convince them that they are wrong because they heard it from their father's best friend's brother's step daughter's husband who's an IRS agent or something.

My close friend and my brother are super good, knowledgeable, and responsible with money. They are about the only ones I talk to about finance.

jpkittie said...

PF is kinda 'taboo' for us...

love survivor ;)

Anonymous said...

Well, let's see. I talk to my mom -- who writes for MSN Money -- and to my husband, often about debt. And for the past 10 months, either we've been ill or our friends have been busy/ill/other. So we don't have a ton of discussions.

But in the rare event that we speak to non-family-members, I do find myself talking about PF a little too much. It's like a sickness. Of course, it was this way last year with weddings when I was planning our ceremony/reception. So maybe I'm just obsessive.

Miss M said...

No, I don't talk much money outside of here in the blogosphere. In a way I'm worried it becomes suspicious, I don't really want acquaintances finding out about the blog. Like PA the blog is my outlet since I don't want to share this information with family/co-workers and Mr M couldn't care less. His eyes glaze over within 30 seconds...

DINKS said...

yup, i talk alot about it with my wife and my brother who's trying to get his stuff worked out.

i also try and sneak it in when talking with friends and all to see if i can get away with it ;)

interesting post!

Anonymous said...

I seem to only talk about politics.

Ms. MoneyChat said...

depends on who i'm talking to.