TV love/hate
Television and I have never had what you’d call a great relationship. In an ideal world, I would have cable for the months of September through late December/early January to allow me access to the NFL Network for the seventeen weeks that span the regular football season. I’d then contentedly live out the remainder of the year TV-free.
Unfortunately, that isn’t an option for me anymore. Now that I share my living space with the LB, there is no way that cable could be considered even remotely optional. As with many things, he and I are extreme opposites. While I am prone to filling the apartment with musical sounds directly from my iPod while I’m here alone, he is absolutely compelled to turn on the TV the minute he walks in the door and will not shut it off until the moment he falls asleep. (And sometimes not even then!) That’s cool. To each their own.
I know. You’re thinking, “Then why even mention it QC?” Well, I’m glad you asked.
I’ve become the same kind of person. It’s contagious and now I’m infected. I don’t hit the power switch often, but that doesn’t mean I don’t hang around after he does. I do. It’s partly because due to the limited space offered by our apartment, by having the television on, he kind of hijacks the living room. With all the racket generated, only the bedroom is left unaffected and who wants to hang out in the bedroom all the time?
Last week, I was home alone and it was an occasion when I’d turned to the TV on myself. After scanning all the empty options for that particular time slot, I realized there wasn’t anything on that I had even the teensy tiniest desire to see. So I turned the television OFF. And it made me feel empowered. No lie.
It’s just come to my attention tonight how dissatisfied watching TV leaves me feeling. It’s just such a waste of time! With that in mind, I thought of all the other ways and places I could better spend my time. I used to be an avid reader, but when I changed jobs and became an office based worker, that all went out the window. Working with words on paper and computer screens all day made reading just about the last thing in the world I ever wanted to do once I got home at night. Now, after about a two year hiatus, I think I’m ready to get back in the game. If I have to lock myself in the bedroom sometimes, so be it, but the days are also getting longer and there’s an amazing park just blocks from my place. Just another reason why reading rocks: totally portable.
Creatively, there are a lot of things I want to do as well. I am mentally working out how to reinvent a space currently used for storage as a craft room. There’s a world of possibilities when it comes to projects and, trust me, I have most of the supplies already!
I’m not hating on TV. I recognize a million reasons why I could, but, as I said, everybody has to make their own decisions. I’m not going to stop watching completely. There are still a few shows I enjoy: The Amazing Race and Criminal Minds in particular. Also, I am completely okay with and unapologetic about my addiction to CBS’s Monday night line-up, particularly The Big Bang Theory. My love for Dr. Sheldon Cooper is undying. I could never give him up.
Coincidentally, I found out, through my searches on TBBT tonight, it’s actually Jim Parsons‘ birthday today. 
March 24, 2010 at 9:49 pm
You know. I never did understand why you didn’t have cable, until I got rid of it myself. It’s so freeing and there are 1001 other things I could be doing. I’ve jumped back into reading head first the last couple months. Love it.
I think we have more to offer this world than just being bumps in front of the Tele.