Adventures on a bus

I'm easily amazed by concepts that most people take for granted. These things usually come in the form of bad ideas that society readily accepts or is simply too occupied to question.

For example, I don't get station wagons with wood paneling on the side. Obviously the car is made out of metal, that's not real wood. Why does it need to look like wood? Is it for nostalgic purposes?

Once on a college road trip, we stayed in a cheap hotel where the walls were covered in sheets of stickers that looked like wood. The concept of going with this fake wood decor as opposed to say, a nice paint job or real wood, baffled me. You can't just put a sticker that looks like wood on something and turn it into wood!

My boyfriend at the time made me a shoebox "sticky wood world" that did just that. I'm talking wood sun, wood people a wooden house and trees. It was an amazing gift that demonstrated just how much he got me but sadly it vanished somewhere in the 10+ moves since then. Also, I guess it's kind of a silly thing for a "grownup" to hold onto.

I came across something yesterday that brought back the same exact feeling. Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you upholstered bus television!

My main concern with upholstering any sort of television, aside from the sheer lack of purpose, is the fact that someone actually does that for a living. There's either a machine out there that was invented to make this happen or a crafty gal or guy who does this by hand.

Why does a television need a carpeted cover? I assure you it's no more aesthetically pleasing than one without. It's truly mind-boggling.

To be fair, my friend pointed out that it's protective and when I got up, since we were lucky enough to score seats just below one of these beauties, I managed to hit my head on it and it didn't hurt.

Was it the clever carpeting that minimized the impact and saved me from a possible bump to the head? Am I so clumsy that I should wear a helmet on any bus I choose to ride where the televisions are not upholstered? And should I just go ahead and upholster my television, computer monitor and maybe even my microwave to make things safer around my apartment?