I was right ...

... it was a long day. I kept looking at my watch all through the day, always hoping the time would be later, but always it was earlier. When I'm having a good day, when my mood and energy are good, a long day is great; it means more day to enjoy. But when I'm having a bad day, it's not great at all. And this is part of why TV is such a great drug: it makes the time pass faster. With the TV on, before I know it, it's dark out, time to feed the animals, brush teeth, fall into bed.

The day started badly. The morning newscast was appalling (I'm an ultra-blue liberal in an increasingly red era), my apartment manager is leaving pissy notices at my door again, I'm in the middle of an awful fight with a friend, I think one of my cats is sick and may need to see a vet, and my apartment is a wreck. A shower and some time writing helped lift my mood, though. And when I went out about 2:00 PM to do some errands that I expected to be enjoyable, things were looking up. But the temp peaked at 93 today (it felt hotter), and my car's AC is broken, and on the way home I got caught in rush-hour traffic. By the time I got home I was overheated and exhausted, and not at all ready to have my dogs jump all over me, wanting to play. I wanted distraction. I wanted comfort. I wanted some company. And I couldn't have it.

Because I'm in withdrawal from one of my best drugs. I want my TV back. I want the company of Roseanne and Dan; Toby, Josh, and C.J.; Lennie, Jack, and Abbie; and of course Jean-Luc, Worf, and Data. They're such good friends. While they're with me, I get to live their lives and their troubles, and see it all resolved in just an hour or a half-hour (well, usually), and in most cases I also have the comfort of knowing in advance what will happen. While I'm with my friends, I don't think so much about my own life and how much it sucks. I miss my friends. And they're so close by ... the remote control is right here, all I have to do is pick up, aim, and press a few buttons. I could be visiting with Roseanne right now. And after that, twice with Law & Order, and then Everybody Loves Raymond, and then King of Queens, and then Cheers, twice, and then Roseanne, twice more, and then....

I no longer have to look at the TV schedule. I know it, all 24 hours and 7 days of it.

I should have slept after I got home this afternoon. I've gotten a bit of a second wind since then, but I'm still in a bad mood. I was short with a friend who dropped by, and impatient with my dogs. But I let myself get caught up in some computer stuff -- mainly an eBay auction that still had 2-1/2 hours to run -- instead. (Yes, I have a computer addiction too.)

The AA saying is, One day at a time, and that's the only way I can do this recovery. If I have to think about all my tomorrows without TV, I'm sunk. Today was even a little worse than that ... I had to take it about 2 hours at a time. That was all I could face -- getting through the next hour or two.

I'm Chris S., recovering TV addict. Thanks. I'm open to feedback.