Adventures in Cohabitation: Volume 1

WB and I have been cohabitating for almost a whole month now. (Ashleigh - I do realize 'cohabitating' is not a word though I beg your indulgence for the purpose of this and possibly future blogs.) Given that lengthy period of time, I have decided that I am DEFINITELY an expert on the matter, thus dethroning Carrie Underwood from this lofty self-appointed seat. Ms. Underwood has come out strongly against cohabitation lately, stating multiple times that she will not "live with anyone else unless they're my hubby...I find it offensive..."* Thankfully I am not required to live by Ms. Underwood's code of ethics and since i find the term "hubby" offensive, we're even, and now I'm taking your soapbox!


Thankfully, this cohabitation adventure has been relatively non-traumatic thus far (knock on wood.) Our stickiest wicket, if you could call it that, has been television watching, or rather my lack of regard for television watching. Two years sans cable has left me rather ambivalent towards TV watching while WB suffers no such indifference. In short order I have gone from no cable, to my very own personal DVR cable box - it's very shi-shi!

It may have been mentioned in a previous blog that I like to talk. Sadly for WB there is something about watching TV that makes me want to talk EVEN MORE. I can sit silently on the couch reading a book for hours (okay not hours, maybe minutes) but turn on a TV and I've suddenly remembered EVERYTHING that I wanted to tell you! This may be the product of the past two years in which Meredith and I literally watched the same 3 things over, and over, and OVER and OVER. (If you ever need a synopsis of Juno, any of the 8 seasons of West Wing or Across the Universe...I'm your girl. ) So when you've already seen something a hundred times, talking through it, reading through it, cleaning through it really isn't a big deal since it's mostly only on for background noise anyways. Since the advent of my cohabitation with WB I have observed that part of the appeal of television is novelty. Shows are different EVERY SINGLE week, unless of course they are syndicated, but the only real reason for watching a syndicated episode is if you missed it on its first run. Apparently TV's are more multifaceted than just background noise apparatuses and normal people don't re-watch things one hundred times over. This would explain why I get odd looks for reading with the TV on. Then again it could be the same phenomenon that drives my sister to crack my toes when I'm contentedly reading with my feet up on the couch, essentially: love. Regardless, If it weren't for DVR and the ability to pause I would probably be in distinct danger of being garroted.

I actually found myself getting stressed out by my DVR the other night. I was looking through the list of shows that I had recorded thinking, "OH MY GOD! There's so many! When am I going to find time to watch them all before I run out of space and have to delete some!" This is equally as odd as when I found myself trudging towards our room thinking, "man, I HAVE to watch So You Think You Can Dance, I've put it off long enough...sigh..." Now this is not a normal TV watching mentality and, in my humble opinion, being STRESSED by your recorded TV shows is the epitome of ridiculousness! Thus, I turned the TV off and went back to reading my book, which is what I wanted to do in the first place. I have been told by a friend that dedicating a whole day of watching recorded shows can alleviate the stress brought on by and overcrowded DVR but I'm pretty sure that my soul might shrivel up and die if I dedicated a whole day each week to such at thing.

The return of cable to my life has has another massive effect on my life: it has removed my excuse for inexplicable and hypocritical disapproval of most reality shows. (example: I find "The Bachelor" to be asinine and watching it to be on the same miseray scale as watching FOX news, but I still harbor a love for "Flava of Love" and "Dr.Drew's Sex Rehab.") Previously someone would ask me, "hey have you seen (fill in the blank with the name of a TV show" and I would say "oh no, I don't have cable!" I don't get to say that any more which is a pity because "oh no, I just don't really care" doesn't sound quite as socially acceptable.

So now you all know the truth, WB and I have disparate television watching habits. This could spell absolutely relationship disatster. Gee...I really hope that our relationship can survive this... ;)


* Please note that the Carrie Underwood quote has been abridged and taken ENTIRELY out of context for the purpose of this blog :)