What do YOU do when the sky’s falling?

I know the answer should be something like, “Hold it up!” or, “Stick your finger in the dike!” or, some really smart economic idea that I’d need a whiteboard to explain (If I understood it in the first place).

But my answer, in the face of the terrifying election that defines our next 4-8 years, and the economy doing its crazy roller coaster stuff, and the mom and the MIL having more surgery and starting chemo this week…my answer, friends, is pure pop culture distraction. And in case you’re of a similar disposition, let me share with you some doozies. You’ll thank me at 3 am when you realize you’ve gotta get up in 3 hours. No, really, don’t call. Just tweet me. Which brings me to Numero Uno…

Twitter is a crackalicious timeline of people updating random thoughts, ideas, and lunch favorites, in 140 characters or less. You choose people to follow, and others follow you. For a stay at home freelance mom like myself, it makes up for the water cooler chat I miss, without all the constant signing of birthday cards.

Free Tetris Mmmmhmmmm, that’s right. Free Tetris, baby. No signing up, no trial period, just free tetris till your bleary little eyes can’t figure out which way to turn those darned blocks. In fact, while checking the link, I had to go and play up to Level 9, beating my record of 8. YESSSS! The only think missing is the Russian music. And guess where I heard about it? That’s right, Twitter.

www.dailytuneage.com (Thanks to Aubs for tweeting this!) A song a day. Can’t beat it. For fogies like me who are just now catching on to the Arcade Fire (Hey, I never said I was hip, just that I love music) this site brings you a daily dose of music that was actually produced IN THIS DECADE! I know, it’s crazy.

And finally, for something produced in this decade that looks like it’s from another era, my timesuck extraordinaire is Mad Men. This show is so stylized, yet so richly layered, I could just keep watching it over and over and catching something new every time. Created by Matthew Weiner of Sopranos fame, but it departs mightily from that show in that there’s virtually no cursing and very little overt violence. While I didn’t mind it on the Sopranos, I also find it refreshing to have a show without it. Plenty of sex though, never fear.:)

Set in the early 1960′s, the drama of Madison Avenue bigwig Don Draper and the ladies who love him, as well as an amazing supporting cast. It won an Emmy last week, and it could have won them all, as far as I’m concerned. We watched the first season in 3 days on DVD, and I wanted to smoke a pack of cigarettes and drink all afternoon. Go watch it, you’ll see what I mean.

And, to bring it all full circle, the characters from Mad Men follow me on Twitter. I said something once about how much it kicks ass and the next thing I know fictional characters from a bygone era are telling me how they spent their day. And I like it! It completely feeds into the notion that they exist in some alternate universe. I’ve never been great with this reality thing.

So tell me. How are you keeping your head occupied in these troubled times? Are you consuming or producing? And what do I need to be listening to?

Note: This is Betty Draper, the perfect wife of Ad man Don Draper. The divine January Jones plays her. After a neighbor upsets Betty’s children by threatening to shoot their dog, who chased his homing pigeons, she goes all sniper on us. No More Mrs. Nice Girl. Betty takes some shots at the man’s pigeons with an empty BB gun, in a filmy negligee with a smoke hanging out of her mouth.  It’s one of my favorite scenes ever.