I have been so busy this week and so absorbed in writing that for the first time since I was a small child I did not even remember there was a Super bowl in progress. I just moved through my day, as I do every Sunday, getting little things done, writing a lot, working out, all the things I can’t get to during the week because of work and commute. About 5:30 I went out to pick up Chinese food for dinner, and the woman at the cash register said something like:
“You drew the short straw eh? Had to go out for food and miss part of the big game?”
“Big game?” I answered puzzled. “Oh! The Super Bowl. I forgot that it was on.”
She of course thought I was joking. The funny thing is I think most of the people I know would react like I did. In the last few years, I have been one of the only ones of my family and friends who was even mildly interested in the game. I guess I have just moved on to a less mass media sporting event centered lifestyle. I don’t even want to see the commercials. I use my TV for watching movies and playing video games. This is really strange. I used to consider myself addicted to TV and now it is not a part of my life. I do watch Rachel Maddow and the Daily Show on my computer, but only when I have nothing else to do. I am in total control of my TV life. I remember when I had to be home to watch my cartoons, that feeling of missing something that was integral to my culture, the amount of idiotic nonsense I watched over and over again. I could probably have written 100 novels by now. And, now, without even noticing I have reduced what I thought of as an addiction to a point where it has almost no effect on my life at all. I guess maybe if you if you get busy you find out what you are truly addicted to.