No more TV party tonight…..

As anyone who knows me even casually will tell you, I likes me my TV. But it unnerves me lately how little I get done in a day. In fact, as that same anyone will tell you, I am very slow to return emails, calls, and barely ever go out. And TV is often the culprit, or rather the way that I try not to notice how much time I actually have available to me. So I’m trying a little experiment: TV fasting. Yesterday I refused to turn it on. The results?

Planned, shopped for and cooked a meal. And did all the dishes for it.

Cleared out food that I’m not going to eat from the kitchen cabinets.

Installed new hooks in the bathroom

Scrubbed the tub for the first time in way too long (Virgos avert your eyes).

Finished reading Hayman’s A Life of Jung.

Smoked a pipe.

Posted to LJ.

Read this week’s New Yorker.

Started reading James Robert Baker’s Pete and Tim.

Listened to six albums, confirming that one of my speakers is loose or blown or something, which produces an unfortunate buzzing when it tries to reproduce the more delicate tones in classical recordings

Wrote a bit.

Went to sleep at 10:30 (normal time would be 1:00 am or so). Which allowed me to get up early enough this morning to cook and eat breakfast, and post this without risking being late to the office.

And so on to day two.

0 Comments +

  1. Hey, good for you! I’ve been borderline productive lately, mainly due to the loss of our beloved satellite dish (shuffled off to my parents, who have nearly a hundred years, between them, of cable TV to catch up on). Unfortunately one addiction has been replaced by another: now I can’t stay off-line. I check various sites repeatedly, whenever I’m not working…this one in particular.

    Help.

  2. Hey, good for you! I’ve been borderline productive lately, mainly due to the loss of our beloved satellite dish (shuffled off to my parents, who have nearly a hundred years, between them, of cable TV to catch up on). Unfortunately one addiction has been replaced by another: now I can’t stay off-line. I check various sites repeatedly, whenever I’m not working…this one in particular.

    Help.

  3. I’ve been laying off tv too. It isn’t so bad. I find I have more time too. And I also feel more peaceful. I think commercials make me nervous. Instead, I listen to public radio.

  4. I’ve been laying off tv too. It isn’t so bad. I find I have more time too. And I also feel more peaceful. I think commercials make me nervous. Instead, I listen to public radio.

  5. Television. The Drug of the Nation. Breeding Ignorance and Feeding Radiation….

    Congratulations, Nay.

    Today is the first (OK, second) day of the rest of your life. (laugh)

    I think the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy got it right with that line in my title for this response…

    I think it’s very important to at least set a *very* hard limit on TV. I have almost given it up entirely, except for an occasional will and grace rerun (W&G reruns are proven to have high levels of tryptophan…) at bedtime, or an obsession with James Gandolfini whenever-the-fuck The Sopranos comes back again. But that’s really it.

    Keep coming back, and give a lot of love. It works… πŸ˜‰

  6. what you missed

    You missed a really good Three’s Company last night where Chrissy gets confused about a grocery shopping list and Mr. Roper thinks Jack is coming on to him! Hilarity ensued!

  7. Television. The Drug of the Nation. Breeding Ignorance and Feeding Radiation….

    Congratulations, Nay.

    Today is the first (OK, second) day of the rest of your life. (laugh)

    I think the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy got it right with that line in my title for this response…

    I think it’s very important to at least set a *very* hard limit on TV. I have almost given it up entirely, except for an occasional will and grace rerun (W&G reruns are proven to have high levels of tryptophan…) at bedtime, or an obsession with James Gandolfini whenever-the-fuck The Sopranos comes back again. But that’s really it.

    Keep coming back, and give a lot of love. It works… πŸ˜‰

  8. what you missed

    You missed a really good Three’s Company last night where Chrissy gets confused about a grocery shopping list and Mr. Roper thinks Jack is coming on to him! Hilarity ensued!

  9. The week before I started on NaNoWriMo, I took stock of how much TV I was watching. 75% was programs I’ve already seen more than once, so I looked at the remaining 25% of “new” shows and figured they were spread out enough over the week so they wouldn’t interfere with NaNo. So far, I’ve been keeping to the schedule, but once that thing gets switched on, it’s reeeeeeeeeeally hard to rememeber it has to get switched off at some point.

    Don’t even get me started on how difficult it was to break the weld my hand had on the remote…

  10. The week before I started on NaNoWriMo, I took stock of how much TV I was watching. 75% was programs I’ve already seen more than once, so I looked at the remaining 25% of “new” shows and figured they were spread out enough over the week so they wouldn’t interfere with NaNo. So far, I’ve been keeping to the schedule, but once that thing gets switched on, it’s reeeeeeeeeeally hard to rememeber it has to get switched off at some point.

    Don’t even get me started on how difficult it was to break the weld my hand had on the remote…

  11. The thing about tv that bugs me is that, as much as it gets shit on, there is actually a lot of quality stuff on it. I have to force myself not to try too many new shows, for fear they will become a new commitment.

  12. The thing about tv that bugs me is that, as much as it gets shit on, there is actually a lot of quality stuff on it. I have to force myself not to try too many new shows, for fear they will become a new commitment.

  13. Like many things, I just don’t much like the way that I’ve been using TV lately. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with it, but I don’t like the role it’s been playing in my day-to-day life so much.

  14. Like many things, I just don’t much like the way that I’ve been using TV lately. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with it, but I don’t like the role it’s been playing in my day-to-day life so much.

  15. Re: Now that someone mentioned it …

    Can I:

    Scrub your tub?
    Peel your pickle?
    Fox your pages?
    Sauce your gander?
    Flaut your sanctions?
    Hang your chad?
    Fold your napkin?
    Wipe your windshield?

  16. Re: Now that someone mentioned it …

    Can I:

    Scrub your tub?
    Peel your pickle?
    Fox your pages?
    Sauce your gander?
    Flaut your sanctions?
    Hang your chad?
    Fold your napkin?
    Wipe your windshield?

  17. Tim and Pete totally rocked my world in the early 90s when it came out. I’ll be interested to hear your take on it to see if it’s still relevant or just feels dated now. (Although after last week, Gay Rage should be coming back into style any second now…)

  18. Tim and Pete totally rocked my world in the early 90s when it came out. I’ll be interested to hear your take on it to see if it’s still relevant or just feels dated now. (Although after last week, Gay Rage should be coming back into style any second now…)

  19. This is why I’ve never owned a TV, and why I only watch it at your house. Honestly, I have enormous trouble getting anything done even without it. Today, I’m stranded at home without the car and (incredibly) with no homework, and I’m still groping for a way to begin the day.

    I love when you tell people you don’t have a TV and their first response is to try to help you get one. Like you told them you didn’t have a house or a fridge or a kidney or something. TV is still a naughty luxury for me, and the longer I do without the more content I am to keep it that way.

  20. This is why I’ve never owned a TV, and why I only watch it at your house. Honestly, I have enormous trouble getting anything done even without it. Today, I’m stranded at home without the car and (incredibly) with no homework, and I’m still groping for a way to begin the day.

    I love when you tell people you don’t have a TV and their first response is to try to help you get one. Like you told them you didn’t have a house or a fridge or a kidney or something. TV is still a naughty luxury for me, and the longer I do without the more content I am to keep it that way.

  21. People are amazed that I do not have TV. They just can’t imagine it.

    I gave it up over 15 years ago. I am sometimes culturally out of the loop when people talk about certain shows but I do not mind being out of those loops. It’s a huge time-waster.

  22. People are amazed that I do not have TV. They just can’t imagine it.

    I gave it up over 15 years ago. I am sometimes culturally out of the loop when people talk about certain shows but I do not mind being out of those loops. It’s a huge time-waster.

  23. I’m such a goof. Months later I finally find just the right box to send you something and now I am unable to find your address. Can you please resend me that mailind address at BEARZBUB @ aol dot com.

    When you get a chance can you Sand my Paper?

  24. I’m such a goof. Months later I finally find just the right box to send you something and now I am unable to find your address. Can you please resend me that mailind address at BEARZBUB @ aol dot com.

    When you get a chance can you Sand my Paper?

  25. You might have found the answer to the feeling of vacuousness you’ve written of lately. Keep it up!
    During my recovery. TV was my only companion, excepting visits, for the many weeks I was in the hospital. I became familiar with the schedule, and when I came home, it was an easy way to fill time. That’s what TV is–a way to fill time in between the advertisements.
    I guess is should say that’s what it’s become. Television has a huge potential as a window to vistas we normally would never see, but much of it is squandered. I went without a TV for several years, and didn’t really miss it.
    I’d tend to classify TV as a confection. Wonderful to savor the fine flavors, but unhealthy as a steady diet. I don’t see anything wrong with watching a favorite program regularly, but using it to fill some emptiness is a profound waste.

    How ’bout those Venture Brothers?

  26. You might have found the answer to the feeling of vacuousness you’ve written of lately. Keep it up!
    During my recovery. TV was my only companion, excepting visits, for the many weeks I was in the hospital. I became familiar with the schedule, and when I came home, it was an easy way to fill time. That’s what TV is–a way to fill time in between the advertisements.
    I guess is should say that’s what it’s become. Television has a huge potential as a window to vistas we normally would never see, but much of it is squandered. I went without a TV for several years, and didn’t really miss it.
    I’d tend to classify TV as a confection. Wonderful to savor the fine flavors, but unhealthy as a steady diet. I don’t see anything wrong with watching a favorite program regularly, but using it to fill some emptiness is a profound waste.

    How ’bout those Venture Brothers?

  27. I rarely watch tv. Even when I’m told that I should watch something, or want to do so, I often just plumb forget to turn it on. Occasionally I find myself watching something moderately appealing, but that’s rare. Most tv is like junk food–more habit than satisfying.

    I still have a 13″ tv I found in the trash in DC 6 years ago. It’s like an old telephone in the hallway; it’s there if I want to use it, but that’s about it.

  28. I rarely watch tv. Even when I’m told that I should watch something, or want to do so, I often just plumb forget to turn it on. Occasionally I find myself watching something moderately appealing, but that’s rare. Most tv is like junk food–more habit than satisfying.

    I still have a 13″ tv I found in the trash in DC 6 years ago. It’s like an old telephone in the hallway; it’s there if I want to use it, but that’s about it.

  29. I can take or leave TV a lot more than I used to be able to. Probably because there’s so little on TV that’s worth watching anymore. If folks finally start deciding to return to scripted television, then maybe I’ll return. In the meantime, there’s plenty of other non-productive ways to waste one’s time, like websurfing, video games, downloading music/video and masturbating.

    On the other hand, I did leave the house the other day thinking, “I forgot to tape Fairly Oddparents!” Then I remembered I’d seen nearly every episode, like, five times, and didn’t worry about it again.

    Still, this is one non-scripted show that I’ve recently fallen in love with. And it has nothing to do with the actual content.

    But the thing I’ve noticed about TV’s is how utterly disposable they are. In electronics class, when the call came out for old electronic devices to work on, 90% of what came in were old TV’s. Hell, even back in the early 70’s, the German avant-rock band Faust were using a bunch of old television sets as stage lighting. This is hardly a new phenomenon.

  30. I can take or leave TV a lot more than I used to be able to. Probably because there’s so little on TV that’s worth watching anymore. If folks finally start deciding to return to scripted television, then maybe I’ll return. In the meantime, there’s plenty of other non-productive ways to waste one’s time, like websurfing, video games, downloading music/video and masturbating.

    On the other hand, I did leave the house the other day thinking, “I forgot to tape Fairly Oddparents!” Then I remembered I’d seen nearly every episode, like, five times, and didn’t worry about it again.

    Still, this is one non-scripted show that I’ve recently fallen in love with. And it has nothing to do with the actual content.

    But the thing I’ve noticed about TV’s is how utterly disposable they are. In electronics class, when the call came out for old electronic devices to work on, 90% of what came in were old TV’s. Hell, even back in the early 70’s, the German avant-rock band Faust were using a bunch of old television sets as stage lighting. This is hardly a new phenomenon.

  31. My file cabinet may not be in order, and I have far too many papers open on the table in the dining roon, but my tub is always clean – except when I’m in it.

  32. My file cabinet may not be in order, and I have far too many papers open on the table in the dining roon, but my tub is always clean – except when I’m in it.

  33. That is really awesome, Fella! I am making an effort to get up earlier myself and cut down on flatulent internet time … . Wish us luck in habit-hackin’ … .

  34. That is really awesome, Fella! I am making an effort to get up earlier myself and cut down on flatulent internet time … . Wish us luck in habit-hackin’ … .

  35. Like many things, I just don’t much like the way that I’ve been using TV lately. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with it, but I don’t like the role it’s been playing in my day-to-day life so much.

  36. Re: Now that someone mentioned it …

    Can I:

    Scrub your tub?
    Peel your pickle?
    Fox your pages?
    Sauce your gander?
    Flaut your sanctions?
    Hang your chad?
    Fold your napkin?
    Wipe your windshield?

  37. I finally came around to the Venture Brothers – the first couple of episodes left me cold, but the continuing story arcsand the way that they culminated in the final episode sold me.

  38. After reading your journal, it strikes me that the only time you’d get to watch a TV was if you were tieing some delectable young thing to one.

    Or maybe I’m just projecting?

  39. Good news about the bed. Skunky is full of useful info.

    What’s wrong with the car?

    Apparently I’ve had no brakes for months. Wind and road-surface friction alone have been stopping the Jeep, I guess. No longer a problem – now there’s just the issue of paying for the damn repairs.

  40. Good news about the bed. Skunky is full of useful info.

    What’s wrong with the car?

    Apparently I’ve had no brakes for months. Wind and road-surface friction alone have been stopping the Jeep, I guess. No longer a problem – now there’s just the issue of paying for the damn repairs.

  41. Re: Now that someone mentioned it …

    Wax your floor?
    clean your carpet?
    wash you windows?
    wipe your countertop?
    pack your boxes?

    and the list goes on
    (who knew house work could be so sexy)

  42. Re: Now that someone mentioned it …

    Wax your floor?
    clean your carpet?
    wash you windows?
    wipe your countertop?
    pack your boxes?

    and the list goes on
    (who knew house work could be so sexy)

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