Crawling Out From Under the Rock

Not having cable television for most of the last 14 years (except for a few months in our apartment last summer) has its advantages. Everything we want to watch is available on DVD! We had a great time watching episode after episode of LOST. It was very sad when we caught up even though we built toward the season finale with great anticipation! We have been watching some episodes of I Love Lucy, Quantum Leap, etc. We get them all from Netflix. It is so awesome to be able to just get any show you want. There were others that weren't as exciting - like Family Ties with Michael J. Fox - which had way more sexual implications when I watched it with my children than I had remembered - as did --- are you ready for this??? Mork & Mindy! Gross. I was just a kid - and all of that stuff flew right over my head. I am not saying we would never watch them - but likely just opt for more of the other stuff. Yesterday we started watching the first season of Gilmore Girls - and it was awesome. We watched all FOUR episodes - yep we vegged for a few hours and just watched TV! I can't wait to get the next disc!!! What are you watchin'?

Under a Rock and Lovin' It

Watching television has always been an issue for me. Much of what is on television is not worth watching. I can find myself sucked into hours and hours of nothingness, I benefit nothing, I get nothing back and hours of my life that could be so much more wisely invested are gone forever. Even if it wasn't a moral issue - which much of the time it is - it is a waste of time and most television is just stupid. Netflix has allowed us to selectively bring into our home the level of stupidity and waste of time that we are comfortable with.
With this in mind you will see why I find it humorous that while I was gone my husband decided to purchase and install a motorized television antenna. One of the things he was happy about was that we could watch the news. Unlike regular television, the news keeps us informed. But, it makes.me.want.to.crawl.into.my.closet.and.stay.there.forever! This morning my husband woke me up to tell me that he saw our daughter's myspace picture on national television. After talking him down off the ceiling, we decided that it probably wasn't her due to the fact that her myspace is set to "private", and even if it was, why were we freaking about it? He left the boob tube on when he left for work, and I woke to a report that there was a murder in a town just south of us, a girl died when she was hit by a car, and that this hurricane season threatens to be one of the worst in US history. Joy. Back to bed, covers over my head, goodbye.
I think that it is one thing to be informed and have a realistic idea of what is happening out there. I was sad that I didn't know that there were 3 soldiers captured in Iraq, but then I wonder how knowing that would have helped other than if I pray for them. Sadly also that is not my original response - the knee-jerk reaction is to tense every muscle in my body and reach for Pepcid AC. It causes stress, and it is meant to evoke emotion in the listener. Listen to the intensity of voices, the urgency of the music. It is trying to freak us out. Why? Because then what we see on TV can shape our thinking, program an internal agenda, and control what we say and do. (THAT is another whole post!)
I was happy to be able to watch a super sermon on TV with the family on Sunday morning, and I do see advantages to having the ability to get network TV when we want it. But I think for now I'll just stick to reading the news online from time to time. I love it here under my little rock!