Average Things (not writing about them though)

I had a pretty average day today.  It occurs to me that we never write about average things.  Once upon a time there was chumpy, an average guy who never did anything special at all ever.  The End.  Which is an interesting contrast because most of us believe that we're special for some reason or another, and we wonder--is there really a such thing as average?  I'm not sure I believe in it.  Everyone has their story, how they became who they are today.  Sure they aren't always full of life and death struggles or steamy love affairs (though the latter may be a little more common place).  But I suppose that's why we read.  I know that's why I read.

I'm like Bilbo Baggins, I like my average everyday normal life.  But when I read I want to be Legolas, or James Bond to shift the genre.  When we read we're living vicariously through our protagonists, the people we care about enough to learn how they fictionally lived and died.  They become special to us in a way that non-readers cannot understand.  "The movie was better--had all those computer effects!" They bellow at us until they're blue in face.  "Not the same!" We shout back, feeling like we might as well be speaking German to a tub of jello.  They don't get it.

I used to work in the restaurant for a casino in Smith River (I won't mention the name but I'm sure they wouldn't mind the mention).  I hated it there.  I took a novel with me almost everyday and got in serious trouble for it on a regular basis.  But business was slow out there, I often got done with my work quickly and had nothing else to occupy my idle mind.  A coworker of mine came around the corner once while I was nose deep in The Forge in the Forest and was more than a little confused.  "What are you doing?" He asked me, even though the answer was obvious.  "Reading, what's it look like?" I didn't even take my eyes from the text to look at him.  I could tell by the way he twisted his face and scrunched his mouth that I hadn't really answered his question, "Nobody reads books anymore." It was a statement but it sounded more like a question, he continued, "Everybody watch DVDs." Again it sounded like he was asking to make sure that it was what people were doing and that I was a weirdy.  I knew he couldn't understand and in the end I didn't expect him to.  My book was about me and my enjoyment--it wasn't about what he thought.