Warning. Drama Llama Free Zone

A calmer llama not a drama llama (source: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/151733)

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that the world seems intent on bouncing from one crazy intense moment to the next with barely a chance to say ‘now let’s put this all in perspective’ in between? It’s hard to read a newspaper, magazine or blog, watch the news, or dip your digital toe into the Twitter stream without becoming aware that there is something super mega-important happening or just about to happen.

Is anyone else starting to feel exhausted by the drama of it all?

It’s not just the gossip-mag style headlines that scream drama anymore (Catherine Middleton pregnancy headline, anyone? If the newspapers are to be believed, that poor girl has been in the first stages of pregnancy almost continually since her marriage almost 18 months ago.) We are bombarded constantly with outrage and indignation and shock over issues large and small. The ranty pants we used to put on for special occasions have become part of our everyday wardrobe.

I wonder sometimes if it is all driven by the constant need to attract an audience. Magazines and newspapers, news and current affairs programs, talkback radio hosts and even bloggers are as much about entertainment as they are about information and, as a society, we seem to need sensationalism and the constant potential for drama to draw us into a conversation or topic or to simply make us pay attention.

Maybe I’m gaining a sense of perspective with age. Maybe I’m simply too tired to have the energy to get worked up by the drama de jour. Either way, I am carving a little space for myself where I can escape to avoid the hype and hysteria. It will be my official Drama Llama Free Zone and you’re all invited, provided you can follow the house rules:

• No hysterial outbursts
• No ranty pants
• No drama llamas (although regular llamas are more than welcome and I’ll even overlook the occasional spit in the eye as long as the topic really warrants it).
• No Brussel sprouts (because I don’t like them and what’s the point in having your own space if you can’t keep out the riff raff?)

Just to make sure that this post doesn’t end up getting me in hot water for inflammatory comments against llamas, I’ll conclude with my favourite YouTube earworm. If you find yourself wandering about in a few hours humming ‘llama, llama, duck’ under your breath, don’t blame me. You’ve been warned.