Bill Murray, Bailiff Byrd and Time Shifting

"If you walk up to some random person on the street, grab them by the shoulder, and say 'Did you just see what I saw?!'... you'll find that no one wants to talk to you." ~ Bill Murray

I don't exactly know how to say this so I'll just blurt it out. My cable company recently stopped providing me with a network channel from out west which was giving me the chance to watch a Judge Judy rerun at 7 p.m. if I missed it on their eastern affiliate at 4 p.m. But they took the channel down. At first I didn't know how to take it but I'm okay with it now.

But I left it on my channel selector favorites list because I believe it still provides me with sort of a connection to people 3,350 kilometers away; a few I know but most I don't. When I flip by it on the menu it's nice to know what they're watching and if they're watching it then that means they're probably okay. And that's comforting. It makes me feel at one with them.

And I imagine myself sitting there with them, stealing their popcorn and we're laughing at Bailiff Byrd as he tells people to leave their papers behind on the table as they exit the courtroom. I realize this confession probably upsets a few eastern people because I'm not imagining myself with them but heck, my mind can't be everywhere at once. That would be nuts.

Some day I'll call someone on the phone who lives on the west coast that I don't know and ask them if they've been missing any popcorn lately. If they have I'll confess; knowing they can't tell anyone because no one would ever believe it.

And we'll laugh about old times we haven't had and chat for a few minutes about Newton and Einstein and the physics of time shifting and about how this is not like that at all.