But it would happen that way in real life... (Famous last words)

My life is boring. I would imagine that broad sections of your life are incredibly boring, too. I hope they are. As humans, we simply aren't cut out to wide a roller coaster of emotional extremes on a daily basis, like Jack Bauer does. Jack Bauer isn't human. He's a fictional character. If someone really lived the life Jack Bauer lived, all the Zoloft in the world wouldn't be enough to help him.

If Jack Bauer's life was real, the vast majority of his 24 hours would be spent sleeping (the following events took place between 1 AM and 2 AM...ZZZZZZZZZZZZ), using the rest room, checking Lakers score, and watching the Susan Boyle video on YouTube. And you'd be bored silly by it.

In other words, it doesn't matter how it would happen in real life, no want wants to read an accurate description of everything. Your job as a writer is to cull out the parts where Jack is fiddling around on e-Bay and trying to figure out the best way to deal with ear hair, so we get to see the parts we care about.

I can tell I've forgotten this rule when I read my own dialog and become incredibly bored with it. Typical examples include people saying hello, good-bye, I agree, or How about that Susan Boyle video on YouTube? In other words, if you did what your characters did and no one outside your family finds it interesting, you shouldn't put it in your novel.

So go ahead and write it, then let it sit a while and re-read it. If your action doesn't move the story forward, it needs to go, regardless of how realistic it is.