Life Beyond the Glare

I came across this entry in one of my favorite geek blogs: Kill Your Cable And Habit (Note: if you don't receive newsletters from Steven Savage you're missing out on some seriously good stuff). The first thing I wanted to do was cheer in the knowledge that YES there are others out there who have also said goodbye to television programming dependency.

Hi. My name is Ashley. I haven't had a drop of cable TV since spring of 2006.

Do I feel tempted now? I used to in the early days, the cold turkey days where it felt like all I needed to make my stressful day better was one hit of 'Modern Marvels", or one of the variously syndicated versions of "Law and Order." But in those days, one hit - even one of the TBS re-runs - would have been one too many.

That blasted TV, that beacon of passive entertainment, was the siren to my Argo. It didn't matter what was on - if it was a hemorrhoid commercial you'd still find me sitting in front of the flickering glare completely mesmerized for the 15 seconds until something else came on. My hobbies suffered, my social life (such as it was) suffered, and my house cleaning habits were non-existent. Who can think about spring cleaning when "Gray's Anatomy" is on???

Zombies are cool.

Since the day I took the plunge from Mt. Comcast things have changed dramatically for me. For one, I became more disciplined in my writing and completed 3 novels, the most recent of which landed a publishing contract for me. I took up new hobbies in climbing and sailing and even took a few art classes that were a great investment of time. And while I can't say that my housekeeping skills have improved, I CAN say that I've helped build a cedar fence, installed floors, and learned carpentry and trim work among other things.

Now I won't say that there aren't still shows that I dearly love - "Big Bang Theory" and "The Walking Dead" being two biggies on that list. But these are all available online, as are full seasons of other things that I love such as the various "Stargate" series and Battlestar Galactica. They're available online, on demand, and on MY schedule without annoying commercials. The last time I tried to actually catch one during its original airing I felt completely ADD by the end of the flickering commercials all trying to vie for my attention.

Never again. With options out there like Netflix and Hulu, who needs the digital version of crack to derail the bigger life that I want to lead? Not this girl, never again.

Hi. My name is Ashley. I haven't had a drop of cable TV since spring of 2006 and I'm here to say: Yes, there IS life beyond the glare.