I have a confession to make.  I have an obsession.  If you haven’t yet discovered, I tend to become enamored, involved, or yes, even obsessed with things in my life (I think it’s a bit of the OCD in me). Things that have been the focus of my obsession in the past: my grey pants, Finding Nemo, my Starbucks travel mug, Dove chocolate, the television show Cops, flip flops, baking pies, folding t-shirts, learning the lyrics to “We Didn’t Start the Fire”.  What can I say? I think these small obsession add to my character and make me a VERY interesting person…right?

Something that seems to have some staying power on my top list of obsessions is the NPR radio program This American Life. Yes, it was even the inspiration for my blog title.  If you’ve never listened to This American Life, drop what you’re doing right now and go download an episode on iTunes (it’s a FREE podcast). It’s great to listen to in the car! What is This American Life?  It’s an hour-long weekly radio show (there were also three seasons of a This American Life television show on Showtime, which is also fab-o!) that features usually 3-5 short stories on a given topic.  Sometimes these are perplexing, sometimes they’re HILARIOUS, sometimes they’re sad.  Most of all, they’re just pretty darn interesting!

“Why is this crazy obsessive lady telling me this?” you ask.  Well, I recently started listening to older episodes, and I stumbled across an episode called “Somewhere in the Arabian Sea” detailing the lives of the men and women who live and work on an aircraft carrier!  The radio crew spent a few days on the boat sleeping in bunks, eating with sailors, and just try to find out what life is like for the 5,000 or so people living on this giant ship.  Since this area is so close to home, it was amazing to listen to.  If you’d like to listen to the episode, you may listen to it here.

And go subscribe to the podcast.  Now!