Monday, May 4, 2009

Ready.....Set....SWINE FLU!

Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu.
Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu. Swine flu.

I'm getting myself mentally prepared to jump into work feet first. I know I will probably land in a pile of swine flu, and repeat myself every half an hour. I might as well go out in the pig pen and just roll around. I have said that phrase so much in the last week, I don't know which came first: the swine, or the flu.

I know that most "normal people" (non-media) I speak with are tired of hearing about the swine flu. What they don't understand is that sometimes journalists get equally tired of talking about it, seeing it on Twitter pages, interviewing people about it, reading emails about it. When news gets big, it often gets into a repetitive cycle, a little like a broken record. We had this conversation at lot at work - how much is too much? I think that KOMO 1000 actually did a great job of covering the outbreak, with fact, not hysteria. Some of the stories I heard on my radio station calmed my fears, and now I'm just tired of hearing about the whole thing.

I already think the media is backing off the swine flu a little bit. I watched 60 Minutes last night, and was so thrilled they didn't even mention those dreaded words. The last week felt like a swine flu marathon, and the weekend was a much needed break. My Dad was in town, we had a BBQ, we ate at a relaxing pub on Bainbridge Island, we went on a walk to the park. We also used hand sanitizer more than normal.

I've gotten the swine flu out of my system, and I'm hoping the media has as well. I'm ready to start reporting about interesting things - like the astronaut getting ready to blast off in just a few days, he's the pilot, and he's from our state. Now that's something to talk about.

3 comments:

Paula said...

Totally--there must be a shortage of "real" news. I don't like the name Swine Flu, it does make you want to roll around with the pigs. Since the U.S. pork producers are mad that it's called swine flu, anyways, how about calling it the Carnitas flu, since it's from Mexico. Then there are others who call it the B1N1 Flu or something like that. I can't figure out why I'm not in the least concerned and am more than tired of it. I'm guilty of not even listening enough to know what it is supposed to DO to me if I get it.

Emily said...

Mom...pig in Spanish is "cerdo" not "carnitas", ha

Paula said...

Okay, Cerdo Flu, I stand corrected. (I thought carnitas was pork, but maybe it's just a dish involving pork.) So the U.S. equivalent would be Pork Chop Flu? I guess Pig Flu would be too graphic. ("Swine" sounds more evil doesn't it? Like I've heard of men who do very bad things being called "swine".)