Put down the remote and back away from the TV slowly...

Growing up in Oklahoma, there was never much to do. The summers were unbearably boring. I usually slept till noon and woke up just in time to watch all my afternoon soaps. The TV remained on until I went to sleep. In fact, I told time by what show was on. If Days of our Lives was on...it was the 2 o'clock hour, Sally Jessy Raphael?...must be 4, The Carol Burnett Show meant it was 5..so the parental units would be home soon.

This was my life until college. Then I had to read books, so I never had time to. I was dumb enough to enroll in Spanish Lit, Russian Lit, and Fitzgerald all in one semester. Have you seen the size of Russian novels?? Luckily, I had the same professor for all three classes, and he pitied me because he knew exactly how much I had to read. So during this time the TV was just a foreign object that sat on top of another larger foreign object that didn't work. (yep, my parents were so typical mallu that they set a TV on top of another non-functioning TV)

Now that my reading days are over...forcing myself to read is like pulling teeth. My eyes start to get heavy, the words blur, and I start seeing hallucinations of myself standing on a table eating icecream with a frog in my pocket. (my initial sleep phase is really strange). Instead, I find myself watching more and more TV!!! This wouldn't be so bad if I was a sane person, but I'm far from it...so my life gets all twisted in the tangle web of reality TV...not to mention my new obsession with LOST. The season finale of lost sent me into a complete tizzy. For the rest of the evening my mind was consumed with thoughts of WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN??? The show had me so completely freaked out that I couldn't go to sleep. I think the last hour I saw before I finally fell asleep was 3 am. This tells me that A. I need to get a life and B. I need to quit watching so much TV.

I have decided to devote an hour a day to reading and hour a day to writing. This should cut my viewing pleasure in half. Perhaps then, I can find my sanity again. I've also decided that my little cousin Les, who is too young to work, will not be following in my footsteps by watching TV all the livelong day this summer. So, I have decided to take it upon myself to bring some culture to her life. I will be taking her to watch Shakespeare in the Park this summer, however...I have a brilliant plan!! I will make her read the plays before we go watch them!! And then, on our car ride there, we will discuss the play...so I can make sure she actually read it and knows a bit what to expect. Gosh...I can't wait to be a mom, so I can torture my own kids in this manner!!