Sept. 27
First off... add this to yesterday's list of things done to occupy myself while not watching TV:
Dropped fresh roll of toilet paper into the toilet.
Yes folks... it's been that kind of week.
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Ok, getting back to the task at hand -- I wonder if I need to set some ground rules in place for this experiment? what counts as not watching TV? Is it simply not turning my TV on at all for the full 30 days, not watching any TV shows on YouTube, and shunning it altogether, at whatever the cost, when I am out and about? What if I am walking through the furniture department at Sears and they have the big flickering wall of TVs on? What if I am at a friend's house and they are watching it? Should my choice infringe on other people?
Is it ok to go to the movies to to watch one on my TV?
I think the guiding principle should be one I read today in a book by Stanford professor Tina Seelig, entitled What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20.
In it, she states the last thing she tells her students on the first day of class each term:
"Never miss an opportunity to be fabulous."
Right. Clear as mud. Now... how the heck do I apply this dictum to my experiment?
Simply put, I vow to not just meet the bare minimum of requirements to qualify for this fast from TV but instead, I will try to do my very best in the spirit of this challenge. See, it's not about only not viewing images on a television for a month. It's about creating space in my life to focus on things I've put on hold... practical projects, the creation of art, reading, cleaning the clogged drain in my bathtub.
So, while at home I will not fill those "free" moments with a TV show or the news, minutes that would slip away insignificantly and be quickly forgotten if I just spent them sitting on my couch in front of a random show. I will use those minutes constructively. I will concentrate my brain on the task at hand instead of being distracted by Mary Heart and the latest on a teen heartthrob's visit to rehab. I will free up the space in my mind to contemplate things important to my life, my future... maybe to the bigger picture of someone else's life and my role in that as part of a community.
Would watching a movie get in the way of that? Maybe, if I simply substituted TV shows for movies and didn't reduce the amount of time I spent in front of the TV. But if I get a hankering for a film, I don't think it is contradicting this project if I watch one occasionally. And let's be real here: It usually takes me weeks to finish a movie! 20 minutes in to it and I am typically fully horizontal on my couch, blanket pulled up around my chin, and off dreaming about fish in ballet slippers or talking porcupines or something. Yes, I know I'm weird. But I have no control over my dreams. So, sue me.
So here's the real moral question:
Is it in keeping with this project if I watch TV somewhere else, like at a friend's house? Like what happened last night.
They didn't sign up for this challenge. They wanted to watch Project Runway. And then, the Gilmore Girls. And then the season opener of SNL.
I wanted to hang out with them and not be a legalistic prude.
What should I have done?
Ok, so I worked on my laptop during Project Runway and got acquainted with my new iPod Nano. Barely watched it. Just background noise.
Gilmore Girls came on and darn it, I tried to ignore them but their pithy dialogue had its way with me and I lost the battle. I watched as Sooki's risotto got a lackluster review from a restaurant critic, as Rory struggled through getting her first D at school, and as Lorelei stuffed her gills with more ice cream and hamburgers and pie than a grown woman of her age should be allowed to consume. I laughed. I cried. It was delightful.
And then SNL came on and I made it through a couple of sketches before I excused myself and went home. Is it just me or is the cast really pushing the envelope this year? All painful, embarrassed groans from me and no laughs. Does anyone else agree that for the majority of what the show is it is highly overrated?
So what is my protocol for TV viewing when I am away from my home? Should I be antisocial and tell people I'll go hang out in another room until they are finished watching? Should I stay there but have a book to read? Should I try to avoid these situations altogether for the next month and be proactive by suggesting more constructive activities me and my friends can do together?
I'm a bit stumped on how to handle this. It's kind of like when you're dieting and you get invited to a party. Do I simply tell my hosts, "No thank you, I'm still full from the 29 years of TV watching that I had right before I came over."
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