You May Be Right. I May Be Crazy.

If you kindly look to your left you will see my renter this week is the lovely Miss Britt. I haven't known Miss Britt that long but I can tell you one thing, the girl's got spunk. A fellow part time curly, part time straight haired sista, Miss Britt understood my dilemma last week when picking a renter and didn't let that deter her from bidding again. According to her 100 things list, she once turned down a full scholarship to NYU. See what I mean, spunk.

Speaking of spunk...did you guys happen to catch the finale of the show America's Got Talent? Ok, so whether or not they actually were in the possession of talent all along was somewhat questionable, but then this little white girl with a huge black girl's voice came along and won it all. Check out 11 year old Bianca Ryan's video below. I get chills everytime I watch her sing. I promise you won't be disappointed.



Now. Regroup and Refocus.

Approximately six months ago, give or take a month, I drank too much. As a result, I was confined to the couch for the remainder of the weekend. I was sick as a dog and couldn't do anything besides sleep and watch tv. Some of you might say that's not all that different from what I do on a normal day. You would be right.

Anyway, if you're anything like me when you're sick, you start watching things you normally wouldn't otherwise because you don't have the time, the interest or both. This is how I came to know the show Monk.

In case you are like me and haven't had a "stuck on a couch, sick as a dog" channel surfing experience in awhile, let me explain. Monk is a show starring great character actor Tony Shalhoub. Before Monk he was probably best known as the wacky foreign cab driver on Wings. The fact that he's the one who "made it" while actors like Tim Daly and Steven Weber are still paying their dues, amazes me. Not to say he wasn't good on the show. It was, in the truest sense, an ensemble cast. But he didn't have "breakout star" written all over him. That distinction probably went to Thomas Haden Church's lovable twit, Lowell. What can I say? One day you're the apprentice to Kirk Cameron, the next you're Leonardo Dicaprio. Sometimes no one can predict certain success.

But back to Monk. Mr. Monk is a former homicide detective who went over the edge after the murder of his wife, Trudy. Since Monk is known for his uncanny ability to solve any case, the fact that he can't solve one so close to him ultimately destroyed him. So Monk was down, but he wasn't out. He still works as a detective, only on a consultant basis with the police department. The deal is they contract him to come in for those cases that they've hit a wall on. Of course it seems they hit a wall with every case, but I suppose if they didn't there would be no show.

There's one more very important thing you need to know about Monk. It's the detail that sets Monk apart from other mystery shows out there. Monk suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. So here he is, this guy who obsesses over order working in a profession where he's surrounded by anything but. He's a neat freak. He's got a laundry list of fears. Basically think Rainman without the excellent driving.

Every week Monk is put into another awkward scenario. The story is just as much about a mystery as it is about Monk's idiosyncrasies. He's like the idiot savant of crime solving. He's like Sherlock Holmes with hand sanitizer or Angela Lansbury with personality. And once you've watched the show for awhile you realize that the beauty is in the details. When Monk solves the case at the end, you know that somehow, someway some seemingly insignificant detail is going to figure into the solution. So you start paying attention to the details. Even if you don't know why something is important you know it is and knowing my friends, is half the battle.

Although Monk is a great, great show that's not the only reason I like it. I like it because after watching for awhile I realize I too have a little Monk in me. If you get your minds out of the gutter, I will explain. Ok, so maybe I don't count and color coordinate straws or harp on not getting dirty, but there are things that Monk does that I can totally relate to.

For one thing, he really likes things to be perfect. I've gotten much better with this, but when I was younger, I used to try to straighten out objects around me. If a book was crooked on a table. A pen was falling halfway off a desk. You get the idea. If I didn't straighten these things out nothing happened. I didn't have a fit and it didn't bring a screeching halt to my day like it would for Monk and people like him. I've learned to be a lot more accepting of such things, though there is book I'm looking at right now that could use some straightening...

I also have always become easily obsessed with things. When I was a kid I was obsessed with soap operas or specific actors or actresses. Now I'm obsessed with blogging. I'm hear to tell you it doesn't matter what your poison is, the prescription is pretty much the same.

Another way I'm like Monk is that I'm unique in unique ways. Everyone has their things that make them unique, but I'm talking about being unique where most people are not. For instance, I'm Monkesque with driving. I didn't drive right away and when I did, at first I had extreme anxiety attacks. Now I've learned to cope with this particular affliction, but it's all still very Monkified. I like to know where I'm going before I go there. I prefer to drive alone. I don't like to drive on the parkway or the turnpike. Stuff like that.

I also tend to freak out a bit when trying something new. I get overwhelmed. I think I can't do it. I get frustrated easily. When this happens, I have to be left to my own devices. I almost always figure out something when I put my mind to it. And while I'm on sensory overload in the beginning, once I learn to do something I have found I can learn to do it very well. Part of it, I've decided, is a fear of looking stupid in front of others. It's just getting past that initial hump that is the hard part. You would think knowing this about yourself might make it easier, but it's not always the case.

It's things like this you might think put Monk and I at a table for crazy, party of two. But people like Monk and I just like things to be routine. We crave structure. One of my favorite Monk quotes of all time is the following:

Monk: "There's an old saying that goes don't change anything...ever."
Natalie (his assistant): "That's an old saying?"
Monk: "I've been saying it for years."

It doesn't matter whether you're someone who can laugh at people like Monk and call him crazy, or someone who can watch him and relate, you should watch, really.

After all, a man named Seal once taught me a very valuable lesson. We're never gonna survive unless we all get a little crazy.