My Name is Shannon & I am addicted to Television...

The first step to any problem is admitting you have a problem. Yes folks it's sad but true I am a T.V. Junkie. I think I have been since I was a child.

It all began when I started School, and I would get home from school and my step sisters who were ten and 12 years older than me, would be there watching their soaps until Mom and Dad got home from work. From there the T.V. became my babysitter, once they started their full time summer jobs, and having boyfriends. My Mom and Dad would go out every Saturday night for their date nights, and my Brother would be working. Mind you we did live above a restaurant, that my step dad was the manager of. Scott my big brother started working their when he was 13, and then when I was say about 10 my parents thought I would be okay cause he was just downstairs working if I ever had a problem of needed anything. So I would walk up to Jumbo video get my Beta movies and watch those until it got too late or my brother came home and told me to get to bed. This progressed to eventually I moved out on my own and maybe not watched as much as I would in the past. However there would be days off were I might not leave the house pulled in by the bright picture. Before you knew it the whole day was gone!

There was a time in Banff where my roomate moved out, and I was living on my own for a month without t.v. I believe I suffered withdrawl a bit, but I had wonderful neighbors down the hall who I miss dearly, Veronique. She and I would watch movies and such until it was late then I would head back to my place, and read until bed. A month later my father sent me a t.v.
Skip forward to living and traveling the U.K. , Scotland and such. Most of the hostels that I stayed in didn't have t.v. this took a bit of adjusting. Mind you I think the symptoms of withdrawl were disguised by the copious amounts of alcohol I was consuming, and social network I developed while I was there. When I moved back to Banff I had a new set of roomates who were great and all but I never felt overly comfortable there. So I would always be out with friends or at the movies. Once again there would be a t.v. not usually cable but we would rent movies and somehow I would end up in front of a t.v.

Point being T.V. was always there in one form or another. Last fall Paul and I decided to get cable cause it was included in our internet/phone deal. I didn't realize how much time I was spending in front of the T.V. until, recently.

We had a terrible thunderstorm here the other night and since then our digital cable has been out. We think what happened was there was a surge and now the cable input is toast. Short of buying a new t.v. there is not much we can do, and I realized that first night I had a problem. I was wandering around our tiny apartment, staring at the back of my husbands head while he was playing his computer game. Bored, lost, no idea what to do with myself! Mind you there are things that needed to be done I have just been avoiding them with the help of the boob tube. I tried finishing my book, with the radio on in the background. Just wasn't the same. It was then I realized this was a bigger issue. Since then, nearly a week, things are getting better, Paul and I have been playing actual board games at night, which is great, cause I think he was getting a little to pulled in by his computer games. I have been out twice this week with friends from work which I never have really done before. Paul and his friend Chris came out one of those nights, which was great, he finally got to spend time with some people I have met and we had a fantastic time! Before cable when we first got married we would play board games or cards every night, or would go for walks in the morning before work. Our lifestyle overall was a healthier one. Even while we were on Vacation we didn't have a t.v. on we just spent time together doing things we love to do!

The moral of this blog entry, turn off the t.v., spend time with your loved ones or even just get out and enjoy the day! I feel like I have been missing out on so much! Don't get me wrong I still have moments like late at night when the world is quiet that I miss my old friend. Instead I have just been turning to my book, embracing my imagination which has been neglected.