They turned off our cable (and internet) last Friday. I've been stringing the cable company along for months, paying only the past due amount. They have been wonderful about not cutting me off and giving me extra time to pay. But last week a deadline slipped by me and we were cast into static.
I'll readily admit it: I'm a TV addict! I don't sit on the couch and mindlessly stare at the screen in full couch potato mode. But I do like to have the TV on, even though the programming has gotten worse and worse. I love the sound of football games (even if I'm not watching or even paying attention). I love cooking competitions on the Food Channel like Chopped and Iron Chef. I used to love the History and Discovery Channels until they became total slaves to ratings and quit showing history or documentaries or even Deadliest Catch or Survivorman ("Nakeyman" to us because he always finds a way to take his clothes off!).
And I like my news in the morning and my CSI or Criminal Minds or Without A Trace at night.
I bookend my wall-to-wall 16-hour days with an hour of TV in the morning and and an hour or so in the evening as I wind up and wind down. That's about the only down time I take -- and even then I'm multitasking with emails or laundry or tending to kids.
The turning off the cable which, in our modern age of digital signals, means no TV at all. I've thought about turning off the cable for many months as a way to save money but it was never really a REAL consideration for me. I just could never even conceive of that reality! Now I'm living that reality full-time.
We don't have a TV in our little house in Enid and I've never missed it -- probably because there's never been one. This has given me courage that I can survive!
Luckily, my iPhone fills in a lot of gaps with news and weather and internet so I don't ever feel totally unplugged (unless they unplug my iPhone -- which has happened).
Without TV the house is much quieter. It's not depressing like I thought it would be. More reading is going on. My girls are all voracious readers so reading is not a new phenomenon. I'm always glad to see them with their nose in a book enjoying a good story. More movies are being watched. The last two nights Sara-Grace and I have watched movies together. This has been wondeful because I LOVE movies but rarely get to watch them. DVD's are wonderful because when I fall asleep I can just pick up again where I left off the next time I get a chance!
Sara-Grace and I watched "Amelia", the movie about Amelia Earhart with Hilary Swank and Richard Gere. Sara-Grace is doing a report for school on Amelia Earhart soon so this was research - very enjoyable research! I'm so impressed with the way she's immersed herself in her subject and really wants to learn all about it -- not just learn the minimum necessary to do the report for school. This was a beautiful movie! I was very intriqued with how much Richard Gere reminded me of Mark! I knew I married a star!
It will probably be awhile before we get the cable back on. I'm sure there won't be an extra $325 (two months fees plus reconnect fee plus additional deposit) anytime soon. I've been trying to figure out the whole digital converter box thing but even they are cost prohibitive at $30+ each times 9 TVs (I told you I'm an addict!). Maybe I can gradually collect converter boxes but it seems silly to invest almost as much in them as it would cost to turn the cable/internet back on. Maybe I'll just get one or two so we can have our fixes when we're really serious about it. Maybe it will bring about some togetherness. Or maybe it will create friction when we have to all agree on one program! We'll see!
In the meantime, as with most things I've learned recently out of deprivation/necessity, I am realizing how far lessons learned by force go beyond lessons learned by choice. Over and over again, deprivation has taught me appreciation and gratitude -- not just for what I've lost but, more importantly, for what remains or for what I had all along but never appreciated.
I have lost my cable TV but I have been left with much in its place: quiet nights, quiet mornings, books, children with their noses in books, getting to have movies in my life again, and time with my daughter(s).
Once again, deprivation becomes a blessing.
I grew up without cable so when I got my own apartment I just never got it. I did have Cable for a few years High School and only then because I got Straight As and earned it. In college it was free so I was spoiled, but between the two of us Bruce and I have over 300 DVDs (movies, documentaries, tv series, musicals and more) so whenever he complains that we don't have cable I point over to the huuuge bulging shelves with DVDs falling off them and remind him that we have tons we never watch :) So I can easily live without cable, but I do have a digital converter box because I will watch network TV like FOX and ABC sometimes...
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