Day 6

Ten days ago I got fed up with our TV. Nine days ago I posted it for sale on craigslist. Three days later a guy from Oklahoma walked into our apartment, only to leave a few minutes later hauling away our TV. And this, folks, is Day 6 without a TV.

Matt and I decided when we got married that we would not have a TV the first year of marriage. Call it a romantic gesture. We really wanted to spend that first year in meaningful conversation without the distraction of television. [Insert the inevitable silly comment here about spending our first year in "meaningful conversation". I know it's bound to show up in the comments portion if I don't address it myself.] Let me clarify and say that we did have a television set, but we didn't subscribe to cable, nor did we get any of the free local channels because our apartment was situated on the wrong side of Mt Oread. We kept our TV/DVD player on a rolling cart in the closet and brought it out occasionally to watch a movie. It worked well for us and after our first anniversary we decided to go without for a while longer. Three years and some odd months later we found ourselves in HK and when someone offered to give us a free TV, we took it. We figured it would be a good way to keep up with news in the US, and maybe make us feel a little less homesick if we could watch some US shows now and again. Of course, being on a tight budget, we never sprung for the deluxe cable package and only took the basic channels that came with our internet.

The trouble is that I am a complete and absolute TV addict. I'm really bad at controlling what I watch, too. Especially when it comes to trashy reality TV. Those shows suck me in like a black hole. It's almost as bad as my addiction to potato chips. I think there is something to be said about being deprived as a child that makes you unable to control your urges as an adult. (As a child, both television and potato chips were contraband in our house. Now they are my two worst addictions.) So after six months of rerun MGM movies (not even the good ones, mind you--just the really bad, obscure ones that aren't even available at your local public library) and a few too many weird British jokes on BBC entertainment, I was ready to make a change. I had watched my last cheetah chase on National Geographic. The TV was a total brain drain. Mostly I would watch TV murder dramas on BBC Entertainment. I hate those shows! What was I doing?! I had to go cold-turkey.

So it's gone now. And I'm ok. Actually, Monday night I came home and sat down on the couch while Matt worked on the computer. Suddenly I realized that I had been staring at the wall where the TV used to sit. And I'd even been having intermittent conversations with Matt, like you do when you're watching TV. For an hour! It was strange. I guess old habits die hard. My mind knows the TV is gone, but I guess my body is still stuck in the habit. It's like when you when you play Mario Cart for three straight weeks over Christmas Break and then dream about playing and feel your hands jerking around in your sleep. Or something like that.

Feel inspired to trash your TV? Or do you just think I'm crazy...