Well... not really. However, I do find spy novels / movies / television to be very entertaining. I've been watching the first season of the ABC series Alias on DVD. Starring Jennifer Garner, it's about a woman who thinks she's working for the CIA, only to discover she's been working for a terrorist agency that is bent on world domination.
Garner's character -- Sidney Bristow -- then goes to work for the real CIA, all the while keeping her position in the terrorist organization known as SD-6. Acting as a double agent on the CIA's behalf, she's working to take down SD-6 and avenge her late fiance's death (when she told him about her career, SD-6 had him killed).
Bristow and I have a few things in common -- late nights, spontaneous phone calls and ever-changing locations. Several times a month I'll get a call from my agent saying she needs me at such-and-such location for a last-minute booking. Nine times out of ten, I accept the offer and earn my fee. All of this involves acting quickly, hailing a cab for what's often a one-hour meeting, only to return home.
So while I'm not dodging gunfire or saving the world from SD-6 (who, in the third episode, came dangerously close to obtaining a nuclear weapon), I can relate to Sidney's double life. Lying to friends isn't easy, nor is having to make up a multitude of excuses every time something strange happens. For me, it's having a lot of "meetings" related to "work" during the night.
It never surprises me just how little people ask, though. Most of the time, they just accept whatever lies they hear and move on. Perhaps they know something is a miss, perhaps not. My theory is that with life being as difficult and hectic as it is, many people just don't have the time to question and / or investigate the lives of others.
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