the tyranny of the telly

‘…. if you’re just starting out as a writer, you could do worse than strip your television’s electric plug-wire, wrap a spike around it, and then stick it back into the wall. See what blows, and how far. Just an idea.’ Stephen King ‘On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft’.

Seriously I don’t know how I had time to do anything before I kind of gave up watching television.

I have so much time now. Sometimes I don’t even know what to do with all. There is life after work: a whole 4 hours of it-or even more!

This last while I’ve spent most of my evenings partaking in the following activities (not all at once though): exercising, cooking, writing, listening to good music, watching good DVDs, cleaning, doing laundry, reading, doing crosswords, listening to the arts show on RTE Radio One….. wooah there nelly-that’s definitely getting dangerously close to a land where parents exist …. moving quickly on ….

I say kind of because I haven’t given it up completely. There are, of course, a few exceptions to even the most stringent of rules. Sometimes you want nothing better than to plonk your ass down and goggle. Bubble gum for the mind and all that. I even found myself watching Winning Streak one Saturday night not so long ago. That was not so much on the rule breaking side of things and more on the sheer desperation side. Even when the only stations that you have are RTE1 and RTE2 you say to yourself ‘I am going to watch television now and, damn it, I’m going to watch whatever is on.’ But is one ever able to deal with the associated guilt: ‘I really should be doing ….’, ‘I still have to do the….’ or ‘I said I’d do the. …’. Curses to stupid television sucking you in at any opportunity it has. Fight back people-fight back against the tyranny! If we stand united we can actually get things done!

One of my mission statements items was to bend that stupid long finger of mine. I have a horrible habit of putting things on there-nay, putting things hanging off the tip of the nail. Particularly writing. God forbid I would actually spend time doing what I enjoy.

Why is it that the things that are best for us are the hardest things to do?


(Winning streak clip for those of you who don’t know what it is-you need to see it to appreciate the level of desperation!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X6Nl4l-dNo )