..and another one bit the dust....
and the vista of freedom is before her.
Mark and I cancelled our Cable and DVR subscription three months ago. It was not easy. It was so not easy that we had hemmed and hawed on cancelling Cable and the DVR for, oh, I don't know, a year?
At first, it was, we can dig it. Yes, we can.
Then it was, "well, Mad Men is going to premiere on July 25th".
Then it was," Oh, but the DVR".
Until, FINALLY, we got down to brass tacks, crunched the numbers, did the math, may it do ya fine, and found that we could save upwards of $40 a month by cutting that jugular from our finances.
We held the knife in our hand and, the hand shook and finally, FINALLY, we CUT.
We wailed and mourned and lamented, "I miss the DVR", "I miss the Fast Forwarding", "I miss the Cable Guide".
We were junkies in the thrall of withdrawl.
Laughably, hilariously, we did this, even after we had been bitched and complained about how, "There is NEVER anything on T.V.".
The first week was the worst. I could feel the stubbornness and frustration and sadness ebb from my mind to my fingers as I held the television remote, the one that used to have no purpose other than turning the T.V. on.
The T.V. remote had been promoted and it must have felt soooo fine, yes indeed. It must have felt the glory of sunshine and use on that day, if it was something that feels. If I were the T.V. Remote, I would have been laughing at the Cable remote and thinking, "Ahh...you had YOUR day in the sun, didn't you? All smug and expensive and fancy but, NOW? Now, I am the one they use! I am the one they Touch and YOU are turned in and useless!"
So triumphant, that television remote.
I celebrate with it, ayuh.
We found, after a channel search, that we had about thirty channels, about ten of them boring or useless to us, (yes, the Spanish channels can be entertaining but, we can only take about five minutes of them before we're done. Nope, not learning Spanish that way...) and then there are the weather channels, we only need one, if any at all. We prefer to look outside because, there is no better weather predictor than...well...the OUTSIDE. ;)
We found that we had all the channels we needed, all the biggies, the, "Prime Time" channels and, what Mark calls the, "Cheap MTV" and a channel that has REALLY eclectic taste in movies. I mean, this channel shows, "The Outer Limits" and then showcases Claude Van Dam movies. Woah.
We also have a whole lot of PBS channels.
I'm actually a long time fan of PBS. "Lark Rise to Candleford", "Anne Of Green Gables", "Anne Of Avonlea", "Masterpiece Theater", "Doctor Who", "Knit and Crochet Now" and a whole lot of other shows. PBS is wooooonnnderful. PBS is Fab-YOU-lous. PBS deserves at least one dollar of your hard earned money a year. Not because it's "boring" or because it's, "poor people T.V." (and thank God if PBS is poor people T.V. and for shame on the others who have money for ignoring it. We could ALL use a lot more intelligent television programming).
Best and not at all least, there is a PBS Kids channel and, my Son has a love for Sesame Street. Oh...yeah, I let him watch T.V.
Not gonna hide it, I do.
Television may sometimes be the Devil but, it's not always the Devil and, I thank my stars for having Sesame street so I can be a little bit selfish everyday.
Judge me as you will, may it do ya fine.
Even though I don't have Cable, it seems that I am STILL stuck in Television's orbit and, I am disgusted with myself.
I turn it off and turn the radio on and...I miss the television. I feel like a junkie who just CANNOT QUIT and, It pisses me off.
What is so damn great about T.V.?
When I was 15, quick on 16, I lived with a family from my church. They were educated people. One was a professor. They did not have television. They listened to Classical music. For dinner, I had cottage cheese with fruit and it was...weird.
I was polite and out of my element and wanted to assimilate.
After the period of adjustment, I adjusted just fine. I would listen to CD's and sang to them as my heart willed it and found peace and joy in it. I gained an appreciation for music that I had not known before. I found a deep friendship and witnessed a family. I had time to dream MY dreams, not those fueled by special effects and fantasy stories. I discussed and my brain grew and I felt loved and happy.
I did not, in the six months I lived with these wonderful people, miss the television.
In fact, when I moved onto another church family for the remaining six months, I still did not watch television. I saw T.V. as an alien being, one I did not understand and, being satisfied and comfortable and confident with entertainments beyond a flickering screen, had no interest in.
I went outside. Colors were bright, things were verdant, life was full and I walked and enjoyed and partook and felt...fulfilled from it.
Later, television invaded my life and somehow...it sunk it's teeth in and attached itself to my brain lobes and began to suck and suck and drain and drug me.
There is fine, fine, fine television folks and, that is as you may choose it but, for me and myself, sometimes I find that I become a drooling, mouth breather when I watch.
Not having cable helps and, like a recovered T.V. junkie, I miss my, "fixes" but, I know I can measure them out and, if I don't think about a show, I don't need to see it. Better to play with my child, to see him, feel him, BE with Him.
As for my friend who stated she would be getting rid of cable, BRAVO for you. No, it is not easy to give it up and, it can take some adjustment but, think about the WORLD outside and all that you can do when you're not a slave to the T.V.
Free, free at last! God Almighty! Free At Last!
If you doubt, doubt will ride with you. If you believe, have faith, faith will carry you far.
I still watch T.V. but, it's limited and it's going, going...someday...hopefully, gone.
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